Forgive my excitement, but this is the first time I’ve won something I was seriously excited about since the time I won a trip to B.C. back in the twelfth grade…

Check out the Hero Arts Blog today – the Countdown Calendar that I made for a class I taught this past Sunday at The Paperie won FIRST PLACE in the Hero Arts Paper Challenge last week! VERY thrilling, especially considering all of the ridiculously talented folks who submit to the contests.  

Click to enlarge

Supplies:  Karen Foster 8×8 Countdown Calendar; Making Memories Fa La La Patterned Papers;  Hero Arts Jolly Christmas ClearDesign Stamps; EK Success Paper Shapers 5/8″ Circle Punch; double sided tape, Basic Grey Precision File Set (to sand edges).

This Calendar can be made in 2 hours or less! All you need to do is cut twenty-five 1.5″ squares out of some patterned paper and adhere the squares to the box.  Using double sided paper, like the Making Memories Fa La La collection, will make it even easier to coordinate colours.

Before taping, you should place all of your squares on the surface of the Calendar to plan where each colour will go. Then work on one box at a time, tracing the half circle on the reverse side of each square with pencil so you know exactly where to place your punch. The finger openings are slightly off-center on some of the boxes so tracing is a good way to ensure you have proper paper placement each time.

Once your half circles are punched, adhere the squares to each box and sand the edges with the Basic Grey File kit, using the largest file for the sides and the smaller file for the finger openings. Adhere the number stickers that came with the Calendar to the right corners of each box.

Stamp a few critters from the Hero Arts Jolly Christmas ClearDesign stamp set on Ivory paper, colour, cut out and adhere to some of the boxes, trimming off the excess so the animals appear to be peeking. That’s all there is to it! This project can be used year after year, and if you ever got sick of the colour scheme you could turn the individual boxes around and decorate the other side!