Reusable Vacation Countdown

For the unofficial start of summer (it sure feels like summer here today!) I've got a little project I made in my excitement for our upcoming trip to California.  I wanted to use things I had.  Check!  I wanted it to be small.  Check!  I also wanted it to be easy to put up out of the way as our house is still on the market.  Check!
 I got to thinking a little bit and decided it would be fun to use the little clothespins I bought at a craft store years ago.  One thing led to another and I ended up making a countdown that can be reconfigured and reused for a variety of purposes.

all of my materials except the scotch tape for wrapping the box

I started off with a small priority mailer from the post office.  We had a bunch in the basement from when we used to mail things more often.  Probably just about any small box would work, but the post office boxes are nice and sturdy.  After assembling it, I wrapped it up with some scrapbook paper.  I did a little trial and error to find a good size for the little folded pieces of paper.  I cut them about 1X2" long then folded them in half.  I found some string and wrapped it around the box several times and tied it off in the back.  If I hadn't packed all of my stamps away, I probably would have stamped the numbers directly on the papers, but printing off the little numbers and the title on the computer worked just as well.  Inside each folded paper is a little activity to help us get ready for our trip.  One is giving ourselves pedicures (I've got two little girls).  Another is picking out which toys to bring on the trip (very important!).  One is packing our suitcases (it will just seem more exciting this way and less of a chore right?  right?)
Since all of the little cards are just clothespinned on rather than glued down, it will be easy to reuse this countdown.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out I think I might just make one in Christmas colors for an advent calendar this year.

UPDATE: I'd recommend a little bit of tape on the back to keep the string in place as you use it, the strings have been sliding down a bit for me. 

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http://justagirlblog.com/