A few months ago, I posted a picture of an altered cookie sheet turned birthday countdown calendar and I have received enough responses about it that I thought it might be helpful to post a how to of sorts. My friend Janelle actually prompted this craft-making session since her little guy Lucas has an upcoming birthday and she wanted to make one for him. She brought over the necessary items and we got to work yesterday.
Items needed:
cookie sheet
patterned paper
1 1/2" square punch
number & letter stickers/rub-ons
mod podge
foam brush
small magnets with self-adhesion
wooden doodad
Instructions:
1. Collect materials needed for project.
2. Choose pattern papers that coordinate (or not, your choice) and punch 30 squares.
3. Line them up on the cookie sheet and arrange to desired visual effect. I'm pretty boring and did six rows of five squares.
4. You can do one of two things to add the numbers on- collect the squares from the top left and go right down and make a stack or leave them where they are at laid out on the cookie sheet and add on numbers so you can see them all at once. Remember to begin at "30" from the top left to make it a countdown to the child's birth date appearing at the bottom right.
5 & 6. Using the foam brush and Mod Podge (an adhesive typically used for decoupage), apply a light coating on the backside of each square and carefully place on the cookie sheet. Apply enough pressure to all corners so the square stays in place.
7. While the squares are drying, make good use of your time by applying the magnets to the back of the pre-made wood doodad. This will be used as a place holder to count down days until your child's birthday. You can purchase pre-painted wood cut outs at Michael's or similar or paint your own.
(this little airplane totally makes me ache for a little boy in our house!)
8. This is also a good time to make your child's name on some cardstock using letter stickers. Since I only made one countdown calendar, I put my children's names on individually with magnets and just switch them out depending on whose birthday we are celebrating. And bonus, they are magnetic so I stick them on the back of the cookie sheet when they aren't in use so we don't lose them when being stored…
9. An almost finished cookie sheet- now you just need to add a little title with stickers or rub-ons to polish it off and either go over the paper squares with a light coat of Mod Podge or use a clear satin spray to set it all for good.
Janelle sent me a photo of her finished project, I love that she added her personal touch here and there for Lucas and Axel.
Speaking of, here's Janelle with her littlest guy- isn't he a sweetheart?
A parting shot of my original countdown calendar- see now you have one more girls and one for boys to decide how you might like to make your own!
Unfortunately, I haven't kicked the dessert habit yet.