Easter Egg Countdown

Materials:
Poster board or colored cardboard
Foam sheet
Plastic eggs
Plastic grass
Small toys, candies and coins
Ribbon for trim

1.) Heat up glue gun.

2.) Measure out 1inch thick strips of colored foam for the basket, length is determined by size of foam sheet and size of desired basket. Determine size of basket (rather how many days you want your countdown to be. The longer the countdown, the larger the basket.) The 5 day example has vertical strips that are 5 1/2 inches long and the horizontal are 11 inches long.

3.) Lay the strips out, starting at the upper left corner, and glue the corners of a vertical strip on top of the corner of a horizontal strip. Glue another horizontal strip on top of the vertical strip, glue another horizontal strip underneath the vertical and continue on, lining the strips up so that they are adjacent with no gaps, separated by the vertical strip.

4.) Take a vertical strip and repeat the process, gluing it down 1/4 inch apart from the first row. Continue until all strips are used or desired basket size is reached.

5.) Measure out the poster board or cardboard for the backing of the basket. This is dependent on how much of a back ground you would like to have. If you want to apply lots of decorations, a faux handle or have built a larger basket, you'll need more room. The example backing is 9 1/2 inches in height, 11 inches long.

6.) Take one end of your basket and begin gluing it to the poster board. Once dry, be sure to glue down the other end, but leaving space between the basket and the poster board so that plastic grass can be stuffed in there later.

7.) Measure and cut a bottom for the basket out of poster board, so that grass doesn't fall out the bottom later. You can either do like in the example and have a longer bottom so that the calendar can stand on it's own or a smaller one to suit your needs. The example bottom is 2 1/2 inches deep and 11 inches long.

8.) Apply glue to the bottom of the basket for about 2 inches in length. Press poster board bottom to basket, let dry. Continue on until bottom is securely affixed to basket.

9.) Write numbers on eggs using markers, glitter glue, fabric paint or whatever you feel is fun!

10.) Trim the top of the calendar with decorations, ribbon, writing on your greeting, painting it on or affixing a computer printed one.

11.) Fill the plastic eggs with small toys, candy or coins.

12.) Apply glue to back center of the eggs and press gently against basket and hold until glue has hardened.

13.) Once all the eggs have been glued on, you're done!

Everyday, remove one egg off the basket and enjoy the treats inside, or simply squeeze open the egg and remove the treats, leaving the egg attached.

Tags:glue+gun, glue+gun+crafts, glue+gun+projects, craft+projects, easter+eggs, easter, crafts+for+kids, calender