iKristin
88 MPH
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2009
- Messages
- 2,355
I just spent the last couple hours working on my niece's countdown calendar she's been begging me for (otherwise she calls me daily to ask how many days lol). Well I wanted to share some of my tips and share my progress from start to finish. My countdown calendar is made for 30 days (29, plus the day you leave). Anything more and you will be out of room on the poster board. You can always make multiples if your countdown is longer by taking another poster board and cutting it to fit JUST where the countdown calendar space is. Taping this gently to the original board will allow you to remove it after that countdown is down so you can continue on with the rest of your countdown.
The point of my countdown calendar is to allow the child/children to decorate and color each Mickey head for the day they are marking off their calendar. It makes a neat little space for them to be creative and you end up with a bunch of different Mickey's! ENJOY!!
Tools Used:
- All 32 Mickey Mouse head paint sample colors from Home Depot (including black & white)
- Punch out colored letters (comes in kit from Joann Fabric)
- Sheets of letter/number stickers (comes from Dollar Tree! Comes in different colors, used black)
- Left over Disneyland scrapbook stickers (comes from World Of Disney store)
- Colored glitter glue (comes from Dollar Tree!)
- Scissors
- ZOTS (glue dots)
- Tape
- Black Sharpie
- Measuring tape (since the poster board is too long for a ruler)
- Ruler
- 1 white poster board (2 for a buck at Dollar Tree!)
STEP ONE:
Cut out all 32 of the Mickey paint sample heads. Don't try and tear the paint strip off, it will rip the Mickey and is better when it's cut because it is thicker (avoids the use of messy glue!). A tip I found for cutting it a bit easier is to lightly bend all around the edge of the Mickey head; there is a fine line from where it is measured to be placed by the sample making machine. Bending this around the edges gently allowed for the scissors to smoothly cut around the edge without having to pay super close attention to where the edge of the Mickey head was and the actual backing. I did this while watching a good Disney movie! Makes it a not so boring job. The white and black Mickey heads will show their purpose later on in the process.
STEP TWO:
I used the measurements of five slots by 6 slots for a total of 30 spaces for countdown. Each slot is 3 inches long by 3 and 3/4 inches high. I placed this 3/4 of an inch above the bottom since I had a sticker border left over from a scrapbook kit I had purchased at World Of Disney (scrapbook kit is still available for around $14.95). I wanted to make sure I had 3 inches on each side of the board from top to bottom for 15 Mickey heads per side (a rainbow effect) and also wanted a large enough space at the top for a banner ("Karissa's Disneyland Countdown). After marking all the measurements with a pencil softly so that they can easily be erased, I placed all my Mickey Heads and punch out letters where I wanted them then slowly. After getting all the pieces where I wanted them I used ZOTS and stuck all the pieces down. Since I left the backing on the Mickey Heads it made it so much easier to only use 3 ZOTS per head instead of having to cover it with sticky messy glue!! Also makes it an easy job if you want older kids to help. [photo shows laying out pieces for placement]
STEP THREE:
After sticking all the punch out letters and Mickey heads down, go over all your fine line marking with a ruler and a black Sharpie so that the middle slots are all marked nicely. Now for the use of the white and black Mickey heads!! The white is actually going to be used as a stencil for the coloring in Mickey's in each of the slots! You could always get 29 white paint samples, but the texture makes for not so fun coloring unless using Sharpies; color crayons and color pencils don't show up much and regular markers wipe off this type of texture. So I found it better to just stencil each head with the white Mickey and a Sharpie. I placed a piece of tape on the back of the white Mickey head and stuck it in the center of each slot. This made it easier to trace quickly and not have to worry about the head moving out of place. Leave the last slot EMPTY of a traced Mickey since the black Mickey head will be going in this place (sadly my black Mickey head got ruined and I had to trace then fill in with black marker to replace it). The last slot is for the day you leave. You can decorate this one with as much excitement as you'd like!! [photo shows tracing Mickeys in slots]
STEP FOUR:
This can of course be done last or now, whichever you'd like. But go ahead and decorate your final countdown slot!! I used a Disneyland castle sticker, glitter glue to trace the head and silver letter stickers to make mention that we will be in Disneyland that day!! The yellow stars are also part of the letter/number stickers that I got at the Dollar Tree, they have symbols as well.
[photos show full calendar with last slot decorated, and actual slot up close]
STEP FIVE:
Mark your days down! Take your number stickers and count DOWN from the first slot to the one before the last slot. This is your countdown time. [photo shows added numbers]
STEP SIX:
Decorate your calendar the rest of the way, however you'd like!! I used special Disney vacation stickers that I got at Joann Fabric in the scrapbook section, so that the stickers matched the theme of going to Disneyland. [photos show top banner decor and a finished product!!]
The point of my countdown calendar is to allow the child/children to decorate and color each Mickey head for the day they are marking off their calendar. It makes a neat little space for them to be creative and you end up with a bunch of different Mickey's! ENJOY!!
Tools Used:
- All 32 Mickey Mouse head paint sample colors from Home Depot (including black & white)
- Punch out colored letters (comes in kit from Joann Fabric)
- Sheets of letter/number stickers (comes from Dollar Tree! Comes in different colors, used black)
- Left over Disneyland scrapbook stickers (comes from World Of Disney store)
- Colored glitter glue (comes from Dollar Tree!)
- Scissors
- ZOTS (glue dots)
- Tape
- Black Sharpie
- Measuring tape (since the poster board is too long for a ruler)
- Ruler
- 1 white poster board (2 for a buck at Dollar Tree!)
STEP ONE:
Cut out all 32 of the Mickey paint sample heads. Don't try and tear the paint strip off, it will rip the Mickey and is better when it's cut because it is thicker (avoids the use of messy glue!). A tip I found for cutting it a bit easier is to lightly bend all around the edge of the Mickey head; there is a fine line from where it is measured to be placed by the sample making machine. Bending this around the edges gently allowed for the scissors to smoothly cut around the edge without having to pay super close attention to where the edge of the Mickey head was and the actual backing. I did this while watching a good Disney movie! Makes it a not so boring job. The white and black Mickey heads will show their purpose later on in the process.
STEP TWO:
I used the measurements of five slots by 6 slots for a total of 30 spaces for countdown. Each slot is 3 inches long by 3 and 3/4 inches high. I placed this 3/4 of an inch above the bottom since I had a sticker border left over from a scrapbook kit I had purchased at World Of Disney (scrapbook kit is still available for around $14.95). I wanted to make sure I had 3 inches on each side of the board from top to bottom for 15 Mickey heads per side (a rainbow effect) and also wanted a large enough space at the top for a banner ("Karissa's Disneyland Countdown). After marking all the measurements with a pencil softly so that they can easily be erased, I placed all my Mickey Heads and punch out letters where I wanted them then slowly. After getting all the pieces where I wanted them I used ZOTS and stuck all the pieces down. Since I left the backing on the Mickey Heads it made it so much easier to only use 3 ZOTS per head instead of having to cover it with sticky messy glue!! Also makes it an easy job if you want older kids to help. [photo shows laying out pieces for placement]
STEP THREE:
After sticking all the punch out letters and Mickey heads down, go over all your fine line marking with a ruler and a black Sharpie so that the middle slots are all marked nicely. Now for the use of the white and black Mickey heads!! The white is actually going to be used as a stencil for the coloring in Mickey's in each of the slots! You could always get 29 white paint samples, but the texture makes for not so fun coloring unless using Sharpies; color crayons and color pencils don't show up much and regular markers wipe off this type of texture. So I found it better to just stencil each head with the white Mickey and a Sharpie. I placed a piece of tape on the back of the white Mickey head and stuck it in the center of each slot. This made it easier to trace quickly and not have to worry about the head moving out of place. Leave the last slot EMPTY of a traced Mickey since the black Mickey head will be going in this place (sadly my black Mickey head got ruined and I had to trace then fill in with black marker to replace it). The last slot is for the day you leave. You can decorate this one with as much excitement as you'd like!! [photo shows tracing Mickeys in slots]
STEP FOUR:
This can of course be done last or now, whichever you'd like. But go ahead and decorate your final countdown slot!! I used a Disneyland castle sticker, glitter glue to trace the head and silver letter stickers to make mention that we will be in Disneyland that day!! The yellow stars are also part of the letter/number stickers that I got at the Dollar Tree, they have symbols as well.
[photos show full calendar with last slot decorated, and actual slot up close]
STEP FIVE:
Mark your days down! Take your number stickers and count DOWN from the first slot to the one before the last slot. This is your countdown time. [photo shows added numbers]
STEP SIX:
Decorate your calendar the rest of the way, however you'd like!! I used special Disney vacation stickers that I got at Joann Fabric in the scrapbook section, so that the stickers matched the theme of going to Disneyland. [photos show top banner decor and a finished product!!]
