I first heard of these adorable three dimensional countdown calendars last Christmas, but couldn't find any in stock anywhere to get one made in time for Christmas ... they were selling like hotcakes everywhere! Then this Spring, Ellen got them in the store. I was so anxious to make something with it, I thought a "Summer Time Fun" theme would be a good way to occupy my bored children this summer!
Supplies:
- Stamps: Kim Hughes Little Gal & Number Fun
- Paper: BasicGrey Lime Rickey, Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock
- Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
- Copic Sketch Markers: B05, E55, E57, R27, R29, R81, R85, Y15, YR04, YG13 & Copic Multiliner
- Spellbinders dies: Star Nestabilities, Sm Pinked Circle Nestabilities, Flower Creations 3, Tags 5
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Accessories: Karen Foster 3D Countdown Calendar, Art Flowers, Card Buttons, Gemstone Crystals, Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch & Baker's Twine, Ranger Star Dust Stickles & White Opaque Pen
I'm sorry I didn't get a better photo of the dimension of this calendar, so you could see that overall, it is about 1-5/8" deep, 8" tall and 8-1/2" wide. You can see the dimension a little better in the product view at the store HERE. Each individual drawer is about 1-1/2" square and pulls all the way out of its little cubby. This makes it easy to alter AND to hide small treasures or treats, like this:
(Kim Hughes' Little Gal ice cream, stamped twice with Tuxedo Black ink on Natural White cardstock, colored with Copic markers & cut out. Adhered together with Baker's Twine between; accented with Star Dust Stickles).
I think we'll be shuffling this ice cream around for at least a once per week treat (wink)! The idea is to hide a little something in each box for each day ... a small trinket, money, movie tickets, jewelry; a slip of paper that says family bicycle ride, swimming, trip to the library, instructions for a craft, or something as simple as an "I love you" note -- anything for the kids to look forward to each day.
The calendar comes with a template to use, to make cutting paper to cover the drawer-front easy. Then I just used a liquid glue to adhere the papers to the drawers. By using one collection of patterned paper (BasicGrey's Lime Rickey), I was assured all the colors and patterns would mix well together, for a fun summery look!
A full set of number stickers are also included with the calendar (like the 1, 3 & 7 shown below). I used mostly those but also added some stamped numbers from Kim Hughes' Number Fun stamp set, just to change things up a bit.
Here are some closeup views of the drawers, with notes about each one:
1-Button with number sticker, tied with Baker's Twine; 2-Photo of my oldest daughter at the beach last summer, with Art Flowers and Crystal Gemstones; 3-Number sticker; 6-Spellbinders Pinked Circle Nestabilities die cut & Kim Hughes' Number Fun stamped and Crystal Gemstones; 7-Number sticker; 8-Spellbinders Star Nestabilities die cut & Kim Hughes Number Fun stamped, with Baker's Twine tied Card Buttons.
4-Kim Hughes' Little Gal ladybug stamped & colored with Copic marker, with number sticker, Art Flower & Crystal Gemstones; 5-Spellbinders Star Nestabilities die cut with number sticker; 9-Number sticker; 10-Kim Hughes' Little Gal bird stamped for number "1", colored with Copics + number sticker.
11-Number stickers on coordinating paper and cut out; 12-Kim Hughes Little Gal kite stamped for number "1", colored with Copics; Number Fun "2" stamped & accented with White Opaque pen; 16-Spellbinders Scalloped Heart Nestabilities die cut with number stickers; 17-Kim Hughes' Number Fun stamps; 18-Kim Hughes' Little Gal flower stamp with Art Flower, Crystal Gemstone and number sticker.
14-Photo of my youngest daughter at the beach last summer, with Art Flowers & Crystal Gemstones; 15-Number stickers with Art Flower & Crystal Gemstone; 19-Number stickers; 20-Number stickers and Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch, with Crystal Gemstones; 24-Spellbinders Pinked Circle Nestabilities with number stickers; 25-Kim Hughes' Number Fun stamps with Art Flowers & Crystal Gemstones.
21-Spellbinders Tags 5 die cut with number stickers and Baker's Twine; 22-Kim Hughes' Little Gal rainbow stamped and colored with Copics, accented with Star Dust Stickles & Number Fun stamps; 23-Spellbinders Flower Creations 3 die cut flower center, number handwritten with black Copic Multiliner & accented with Crystal Gemstones.
If you've made it this far, here's a big bonus ... if you keep the embellishments relatively flat on the fronts of these drawers, the drawers can be taken out, turned around and altered again on the other side, for a totally different theme! That's another reason I didn't use all the number stickers on this project -- now I'll have some left to use on the other sides! I think I'll be doing a holiday countdown calendar this Fall, so watch for that!
Thanks for visiting the CLASSroom today ... I hope your summer isn't as boring as my kids think theirs is!
