Halloween Calendar

I was ready for a break from Christmas cards.  I remembered some time ago coming across a Halloween theme challenge blog and thought I would check them out.  Lucky me, Haunted Design House is still running, had a new challenge, and have extended the length of their challenges to 2 weeks.  Now I finally have enough time to make some art and post my creations.

For this challenge, they asked to stay away from things too "sweet".  After some thought, I came upon the idea of a count-down calendar.  The project came together fairly quickly, but the most difficult was creating a list of 31 things to do before Halloween!  I'll include my list at the end so that you can create your own calendar.

For the base I wanted something sturdy, so I used a jumbo mini-wheats cereal box.  The paper is Echo Park the Apothecary Emporium which I bought some time ago.  To cover the seams and edges I used hockey tape (how evil is that?).  I wanted the tape to have some flex so that the calendar could be folded to be mailed.  This calendar is to be a gift for my beloved sister, for whom Halloween is a year-round theme.

The title is cut at 3" from sunset cardstock from page 77 of the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  It has two pages of Halloween theme shapes.  I wanted to sponge the edges of the title with grey wool ink, but my sponge is the wrong sized tool for the job.  A sponge dauber would have been better.  I outlined the title with a black pen and liquid glass.  I placed the title on some baking parchment paper so I would be able to lift it off when it dried.  The liquid glass would have looked better if there had been more sponged ink on the title.  Oh, well.  I popped up the title with 3D foam tape. 

I punched holes at the top through the double seam for extra strength.  I added white eyelets and some grey wool baker's twine.  On the corners I used my paper piercer to punch holes for the skull brads from the haunted assortment collection. 

I cut the bat cards at 3" from black cardstock from page 76 of the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  I sponged all the edges with black ink.  The numbers are cut from sunset cardstock from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  The single digits are 1.5", and the double digits are 1.25".  I distressed all the edges with a finishing file.  They are perfect for small items like these cricut cut-outs.

For the eyes, I used bitty sparkles.  I miss-guessed the size for the white inserts.  They are too tall, and I had to color the tops with a black marker so they wouldn't show when the wings are closed.  I suggest using a 1.75"x 1.5" rectangle, or a 1.5" square.   I used a fiscars embossing punch on the edges, but I don't think it shows up in the photo.

I used tombow adhesive to attach the paper to the boxboard, the inserts to the bats, and the bats to the paper.  I used liquid glass to attach the numbers to the bats.  To have the bat wings stay together I used velcro dots.  The are just the right size.  I will need to order a second package to finish the calendar.  I may order some black netting too, to soften the edges.

I will enter this project in two challenges:
     Haunted Design House - dark, gothic, or Halloween art
     Use It Tuesday - "Make it sparkle"  - from my scrappy stash: paper, sparkles, eyelets (more than 2 years old)

I searched the internet for ideas of what to put in the calendar, but there was very little there, and what I could find were mostly activities for pre-schoolers.  Keeping in mind the things my sister and brother-in-law like to do, this is the list I came up with.  Please feel free to modify the list to suit the age/interests of your calendar users.

Passive/Solitary Activities
 - listen to spooky music
 - watch a spooky movie
 - watch a monster movie
 -  watch a Halloween movie
 - read a spooky book
 - read a ghost story book
 - read a monster book
 - read a Halloween book

Group Activities
 -  visit a haunted house
 - host or attend a Halloween costume party
 - play a zombie game
 - play a vampire game
 - play a monster game
 - play a horror game
 - take a walk/drive to see Halloween decorated yards
 - take a walk through a grave yard at night
 - tell ghost stories in a park or forest at night

Mildly Creative Activities
 - decorate your house with Halloween things
- decorate your yard with Halloween things
 - prepare goodie bags for Trick-or-Treaters
 - create a playlist of your favorite spooky music
 - practice your evil laugh
 - wear Halloween theme clothes
- make a Halloween snack
 - enjoy a Halloween beverage

Seriously Creative Activities
 - make shadow puppets to act out a spooky poem
 - make a Halloween costume
 - carve pumpkins
 - make a Halloween craft
 -  assemble a monster defense kit (garlic, silver bullets, etc)
 - create a spooky story to explain the noises your house makes