I’m not big on Halloween. Plenty of other people all about celebrating Halloween. As I was perusing Pintrest for something totally not related to the holiday I found a great idea – a countdown calendar for Halloween. Perfect for anyone with little kids!
You will need:
- a picture frame – I recommend 11×12″ minimum
- string or jewelry wire – I used 20 gauge for the webbing and 16 gauge for the support threads
- needle nose plier (if you use wire)
- glue
- mini-clothes pins
- spider buttons ( I found mine on eBay)
- bucket or bag for holding spider clips
I made a minor modification to the original idea. Instead of using yarn for the web, I am concerned the yarn will start to sag after a year or two, I used jewelry wire. I had some old frames already and spray painted them black. I used a staple gun to attach the wire, twisted it around, and added a dollop of hot glue just to be safe and secure.
The support wires run top to bottom and side to side first. I then added the corner to corner wires. I wrapped one corner around over the topside of the frame. At the center point I wrapped the wire around the others to help make a secure knot effect.
I took the smaller gauge wire and cut off a length. I didn’t measure it but almost an armlength maybe? Starting in the center I wrapped the end around one of the support wires, twisting it off to secure it. I then wove the wire over and under the support threads, wrapping around the support thread every now and then. When I got to the end, I twisted the wire over, under and around to make knot. I then cut some more wire and started again, spacing out the wire as I went along. When completed, I put a drop of clear superglue on each “knot” in the web for extra security.
Now for the fun stuff. I found the Spider Buttons on eBay . I didn’t have much luck with any of local craft stores. I did have some from my Mom’s stash ages ago. I bought the small clothespins at Hobby Lobby using my 40% off coupon of course. The problem is the clothespins come 30 in the package and October has 31 days. So what to do about the extra day? Why a giant spider in the middle of the web of course! I hot glued the spider buttons to the clothespins while catching up on past episodes of “Criminal Minds”. I used a scrap of leftover Halloween looking fabric to make a small bag for the clips.
Since this is a gift, I attached 2 cup hooks to the bottom of the frame. I hung a small “Happy Halloween” wooden sign on 1 of the hooks and a bag for the spider clips hung on the other cup hook. I added some extra spiders and Halloween themed buttons to the corners for additional pizzazz.
The finished product looks quite good if I do say so myself. For the countdown you can either add all the clips to the webbing and remove them day by day or you can add 1 clip for each day. The large spider in the center is either Day 1 or Day 31 depending on how you are counting.
