Santa Countdown

Look how fun this Santa Countdown turned out! My son's 1st grade class is super excited to start using it.

It only has 14 links because that is how many school days they have come Monday! How can that be!!!!!!

How did I make it you say? Well, with my Kiwi Lane templates of course! :)

Here is my general idea that I started with. -note I didn't end up using the star

Supplies:

Kiwi Lane Templates

Rings -Background and cap "ball"

Celebrate -Mustache

Wacky -cap

Tiny Wacky -beard

Pattern and solid paper, ink, daubers, scissors, pencil, cotton balls, adhesive, foam tape

I made this project with I Believe from My Minds Eye paper and the solid is Stampin Up.

First, trace your rings. A quick trick to cutting them easily is,once traced, cut a slit from outer to center ring then cut along the lines. Don't worry, you will be able to hide the slit in your layering. Also, don't cut the center out of the smallest ring for this project.  -note if your paper has a special pattern be careful where you cut your slit to make sure it will be hidden.

To make the cap I used the large "cloud" from Wacky. I could tell from my template design that I would need to make some adjustments, that is what you see here and in the next photo. -Note I started making it in white but changed my mind to the print you see on the final product.

I purposely made the cap long because I knew that I wanted to fold it to give it a little extra dimension.

You will want to play with your folds and then I used the largest ring, that the cap would attach to, as a template to trim it to fit.-Here is a photo with the the print! :) The "ball" at the end of the cap is the smallest ring with out the center cut from it. - I think the spoon was from a scoop of Nutella to help me concentratet! LOL

Use the "paisley" from Celebrate to make the mustache. I first cut it with print paper and then changed my mind to white. I know, one of the points of the templates is to reduce paper use, but I was a little (a lot) distracted during this project. LOL -note when tracing the "paisley" make sure that one is right side up and the other right side down or you will have a problem, yep still distracted!

In this picture you can also see how I did the beard. First lay your ring on the paper about where you want the final placement. Then use the "cloud" from Tiny Wacky to trace it out.

Here I'm showing how I used the 3rd smaller ring for the top of the beard placement. I drew a line from the ring placement, cut a slit and tucked the ring into the beard. The idea being to make it sturdier but leave some red to be his "mouth". I don't have a photo but the eyes are cute from the circle and oval from Tiny Shapes.

With all the piece cut it is time to put it together! But first ink and distress to your liking.  I used foam tape to apply the mustache for a little more dimension. I used all 3 rings as you can see in this photo, although the stripe (2nd ring) does not really show in the final shot.

As you are layering it together keep in mind that the 3rd smaller ring is both the "mouth" and "nose" so play with it until you like it. I chose to add some cotton balls for fun, but that is totally up to you.

Here is how I attached the chain. And you are DONE!