Paperchain Days

There's just something about construction paper. No matter how much we have on hand (and let's be honest, there's usually lots) I can always talk myself into buying a few fresh pads of the stuff. It's just like opening a new box of crayons - the colors are bright, the paper is smooth, the pack is full of promise ... it even smells good!

Fall is such a great papercraft time of year, too ... pumpkin faces, handprint turkeys, paper snowflakes and of course, good ole paper chains. And so that (at last!) brings me to the point of my post! ;)

Because I have a middle son who likes to know at all times how many days it is until the next big thing (holiday, birthday or other special event) I decided to make a paper chain with a holiday twist:

I used regular construction paper for the days leading up to the upcoming holidays, and patterned paper for the big days themselves. Above you see from left to right, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

And below you see how it looked strung across our windows:

I toyed with the idea of making a year-long chain, but after an hour's worth of snipping, stapling and draping, I figured I'll revisit that thought in January.

Here is the Halloween corner (9 orange and purple, 1 patterned):

And the Thanksgiving section (21 pale blue and brown, 1 patterned):

Next came Christmas (28 red, white and green and 3 purple, 1 pink, 1 patterned):

Oh, right! I made sure to put in a party-patterned link for Earlybird's birthday!

And finishing up the right side of the window is New Year's (6 multicolors and 1 confetti patterned):

Now we're ready to count ... one day at a time, one link a day.

And so my curious Crackerjack can simply check the windows to know in a glance how many days there are until the next special day. But of course, when you're eight every day is the next special day. :)