Reusable Cotton-ball Santa Countdown

I got a Christmas project done today, technically two days into December, but better late than never, right...?

I saw this idea for a cute Christmas Countdown on the Crafts Unleashed blog. Where she shares her cute printable.  In typical fashion, I used her idea as a springboard, and took a left turn and came up with my own design. 

 I had all the materials on hand, so this project cost nothing. 

Excellent!

Here's how to make your own:

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Print off Santa pages.

2. Red, Black, skin colored, and blue paint

3. Glue

4. Glue gun/sticks

5. Velcro stickers

6. Canvas board

7. Cottonballs

8. Thick cardboard

STEP ONE: Print off the Santa pages and paint in the red hat, black eyes, and skin colored nose. 

At first I was careful to paint into the line, then I was like, "Hey, I'm cutting this all out, I don't need to be that careful."

STEP TWO: Using the cut out beard piece as the pattern, use it to trace around a circle on the canvas board. 

STEP THREE:  Paint on the canvas the skin-colored paint.  On the top-half is needed.  Blend in rosy checks, if desired.

STEP FOUR: Paint the rest of the canvas blue.  

I colored it all blue, then added dark blue and blended it in the bottom.  Then I added a little white and blended it in at the top. 

STEP FIVE: Paint in snowflakes.

Here's a look at how I did that. 

 

STEP SIX: Glue the beard in place. Then add the mustache, nose, eye pieces, and two hat pieces.  Glue everything in place.

STEP SEVEN: Using very thick cardboard, trace out 25 circles and cut them out.

STEP EIGHT: Hot glue Velcro pieces in place on the beard. I did them next to the numbers. (I used sticky Velcro, but they don't ever seem to quite stick as well, so the extra hot glue should ensure everything stays put.)

Hot glue cotton-balls onto cardboard circles.  Once cooled, hot glue the Velcro on the back of the cardboard.

STEP NINE: I made a tiny pom-pom out of gold yard, and glued it to a little squared cardboard, then glued it in place at the end of Santa's hat. 

ALL DONE! 

And from here I can't decide if I want to start at the top and go from 1 to 25.  

Or start at the bottom and countdown from 25 to 1.

Decisions, decisions.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Ho-Ho-HO! 

23 days to go!