31 Days of Halloween 2014 - Day 1: Halloween Countdown Calendar with Free Printables!

Woo Hoo!!

I sure do love this time of year :D  Pumpkins, Leaves, Costumes - it all makes me smile.  I've done 31 Days of Halloween the past 2 years, and I'm so excited to do it again this year.  To start things off with a bang, here's a tutorial for a countdown calendar with some free printables for you.  To make things even better, this calendar can be changed out for the holidays, too -I LOVE stuff like that!

Okay, here's what you'll need:

Sheet metal
Fabric of your choice
spray adhesive
velcro (strips and dots)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Ruler
paper punch (optional, but makes things easier and faster)
Cardstock
trim (rickrack, ribbon, etc. - also optional)
Magnetic tin to hold the countdown chips

Let's get started!

Lay your fabric out and place the sheet metal on top of it.  Cut around the edge, leaving about 1-1.5 inches the spare.

LOVE this fabric :)  Got it last year at Halloween.

Now place your sheet metal on the bottom and spray with the adhesive.  Lay fabric on top and smooth all the wrinkles out.

Flip it all over so the top of the fabric is lying facedown and you are looking at the back of the sheet metal.  Spray the adhesive along the edges of the fabric.  Fold over the long sides onto itself (not the sheet metal), then do the short sides.

Cut your strips of velcro in half and use your glue gun to attach the prickly side to the folded edge of fabric.  Let dry (cool) completely and then stick the smooth piece onto the prickly side.  Glue the back side of the smooth piece and press down the the metal.  Let cool and peel the velcro apart, re-glueing any areas that aren't firmly in place.  Do this on the long sides first and then the short sides.  Before attaching short sides, fold corners in and under both long and short sides.  

You now have a removable piece of fabric!

Turn the whole thing over.  Figure out where you want your trim to go and hot glue it in place.  If you have any bows or holiday buttons you want to attach, now is the time to do it.

Print off the numbers in whatever font you choose onto cardstock.  For extra durability, you can get the paper laminated before punching them all out.  I chose the Masquerade font, so that it would work for any holiday.  I love me some options, so I've given y'all a bunch :)  They're all ready to use a 1" circle punch on them.

"Cracked" Font
"Creaky Frank" Font
"Deutsch Gothic" Font
"Dracula" Font
"Ghoulish Fright" Font
"Masquerade" Font
"Octin Vintage" Font
"Papyrus" Font
"Tattoo Lettering Black" Font
"Tattoo Lettering White" Font

Put your sticky velcro dots (soft white side) on the backs of each paper dot.  Place the prickly, clear side of the dots on the fabric using some hot glue (these are not meant for fabric, so they won't stick so well if you don't use the hot glue)

Put the rest of the numbers in your little metal tin and attach it to the magnet board, ready and waiting for each day :D

I got the label for the tin from this website - she has SO MANY cute things :D  You should definitely check her out!

Even Malcolm the Mummy likes it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay tuned for more fun Halloween goodies with this year's 31 Days of Halloween!!