3. The countdown has begun...

Wow!!

It's been a cracking start so far, but what is missing is a countdown to the big day. Although there are many different printables out there I've had a go at making a couple of my own. 

31 day countdown :)

This one stands on its own, you need a cheap photo/place sitting stand, I picked this one up at The Range for under £1.50 and it has a curly metal top.  I disguised the bright silver metal effect with a black paper coil bead, and paint.

You need 14 or 18 cards (I made 18 [2 each of 0,1,2,3] so that you don't have duplicate designs on the numbers) each card is 8.5cm x 4cm

and 3 panels 9cm x 9cm for the back, the inside back to cover the stand and the front flap.

decorate each card with Halloween style papers, then stamp or print on the numbers.

Decorate.

The front says 31 days to go on the outside and Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) on the inside.

The back is a Happy Halloween collage, with the skull for when you get to the special day.

The outside back can be on show all year round:  

Use 2 tie wraps or book rings to bind it together and let the countdown commence.

However this year I also fancied a 99 day travelling one for my desk at work : 

For this I went with a more blackboard style, you need either 2 sheets of black A4 card or one sheet of 12x12.

1 White Pen or chalk paint

2 papers for the front decoration 

2 tie wraps or book rings.

Cut the paper as shown below.

5 strips of 4cm wide, each will then be cut into 4x 7cm

and for the cover you need one strip 9cm wide, which you then score on the 2cm, 8cm, 1cm, 1cm,(the 2x 1cms score lines are to create a little gusset, to give the rings a bit more room, these will be a valley fold) 8cm, 2cm, and finally the front flap at around 2.5cm.

Image transfer or stamp your numbers on each of the cards, 

Draw or print your sentiments, inside and outside, front and back.

tie wrap together, use 2 little velcro dots for the fastener and the stand.

to make it stand turn it back in on its self, and attach the fastener to create a little pyramid.

If you have joined in with this, leave a comment and if possible please post a picture. 

I have entered this into the Paula Holifields Crafts Challenge

Thanks for joining me, and come back tomorrow for some fun with Lou

Jaz x

P.s at some point soon you're going to need an old paperback book, and an old key or kilt pin.