Elmer's #CanYouTopThis Challenge- Christmas/Birthday Countdown!

December is a really big deal in our house.  Not only is it Christmas time, but the boy's birthday as well.  This is the first year the boys understand that Christmas (Dec. 25th) & their birthday (Dec. 26th) are right around the corner.  Because of this realization, I am bombarded with questions on a daily basis.  Most of those questions are as follows:

• Is it Christmas time yet?
• Is Santa coming to my house today?
• Is Santa coming tomorrow?
• Is today my birthday?
• Am I 4 now?
• Am I still 3?

Since we have twin boys, we get twice the joy along with two times the questions. Every. Day. All. Day. Long. After a month of questions I decided that I would have to make some kind of Christmas/Birthday countdown in order to save my sanity.  I figured I could pull out the construction paper & Elmer's glue, making a paper chain with a star or something on top.  You know, like the one you made in first grade?  I thought that would be simple enough.  Then I saw Tonya Staab's Can You Top This Challenge.  This provided the perfect opportunity to do something more.  So I decided to take the #Canyoutopthis Challenge.

Supplies:

• 28"x40" Elmer's tri-fold board
• Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick
• Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive
• Hot Glue
• Elmer's Construction Paper
• Fabric of choice to cover tri-fold board
• Scrapbook & Card stock of choice
• 24 Thumb Tacks
• Paint of choice (I use Plaid Folk Art)

Somehow between my birthday (I turned 29 again last week), Thanksgiving, tons of Black Friday shopping, & life in general I found the time to create a Christmas/Birthday countdown.  It started with purchasing an Elmers 28"x40" Tri-fold board at Walmart. 

 

We made a quick stop at Joann Fabrics where the boys & I picked out a light blue fabric from the remnant bin.   When we got home the boys & I pulled out my paper trimmer so I could start cutting out 3"x3" black squares.

Next I got out my Cricut so I could save time (and sanity) cutting out circles.  The boys helped me choose some red, green, & white scrapbook/card stock paper.  I cut out 3" circles for the calendar & 2" numbers for the dates.  So now it was looking like this...

 

While my kiddos were sleeping I glued the squares, circles & numbers together using my Elmer's Repositionable Glue Stick.  I LOVE this stuff!  It's the only thing I use on the boy's scrapbooks.  It's great because you can fix or change things if you do not like it (or if you goof up a lot like me).  No worries about permanent glue.

   

I also attached the light blue fabric to the tri-fold board so it could dry overnight.  I used Elmer's Multipurpose Spray Adhesive, which I had on hand, to glue fabric to front of the board.  Then I used some hot glue to attach the fabric along the edges on the back side.

Next was Black Friday shopping... I had to take a break from all the glue fun to go get my shop on...  After catching up on some sleep (we stayed up all night) & finding way too many good deals it was time to grab my templates, the Cricut, & get back to work.  I used some of our Elmer's Construction Paper that we had on hand for the Christmas tree & balloons.  The Cricut cut December out in 4" letters.  I glued everything together again using the repositionable glue sticks, even attaching the shapes & letters to the fabric using the same glue.  Found some Santa hat photos of the boys & added those to the Birthday side of the board (they love seeing themselves).  I painted some thumb tacks red & green so I could easily remove them from the board.  This is the final result:

If you are interested in the Can You Top This Challenge there is still time to enter.  View any of these blogs for entry rules:

• Create Celebrate Explore with Tonya
• Sarah's Deals
• Super Saving Sense with Sarah
• Dealusional
• Confessions of an Overworked Mom
• Mama Buzz