
A few weeks ago, my crafting Soul Sister, Alex of Me and Annabelle Lee shared her stunning Halloween Countdown DIY.
Although why I feel the need to add “stunning” when all of Alex’s Goth it Yourself makes are amazing, is a mystery.
I’ll tell you what else is a mystery… how eerily in tune Alex and I are when it comes to the timing of our projects. More than a few times, one of us has posted a DIY and the other has said: “Hey! I’m working on one like that, too!”
Spooky.
Talking of spooky, it’s only 6 months until Halloween.

Yay!
Actually, that’s bloody scary. It seems like such a long way off, but I have SO much to do before this year’s Halloween Open House!
Eeek!
It’s just as well I don’t decorate for both Halloweens.
I’m sorry, what now?!
Who or what is Walpurgisnacht?

Did you know that 30th April is directly opposite Halloween on the calendar and is celebrated in some European countries as a second Halloween? I discovered this only recently when I was invited to take part in a Walpurgisnacht (pronounced Val-poor-gess-nacht) card exchange on the Halloween Forum.
Also known as Witches’ Night and Hexennacht, Walpurgisnacht falls on the eve of 1 May (Beltane) and is a time when witches would meet on the Brocken Mountain in Germany to celebrate the arrival of spring. As with Beltane, Walpurgis Night is celebrated with dancing and bonfires and in Southern Germany, there’s even dressing up and a form of trick or treating, just like Halloween.
Who knew?
DIY Halloween Countdown Chalkboard

When Alex posted her countdown to Halloween sign, it was a make I hadn’t got around to yet but the moment I saw it, I knew it was going to be a blatant steal. I even had a board all ready to go in the form of a £2.49, 38cm (15in) x 20cm (8in) 3D heart slogan plaque from B&M.
That I entirely forgot to photograph before I started decorating it.
Say nothing.
You’ll just have to imagine how it started out… cream, with white lovey-dovey words and three wooden hearts across the middle in varying shades of brown.
Now I realise 185 doesn’t have quite the same ring to it and my hideous writing is nowhere near as stylish as Alex’s creation, but I thought those hearts were crying out to become a chalkboard number counter… and “6 months” doesn’t fit.
But Walpurgisnacht is a brilliant time to start the countdown to Halloween. No?
What I used:

First I painted the entire board in black gesso to cover the original colours and wording. You can easily use black acrylic. I wanted the rest of the board to be smooth, so I painted a second coat in some black silk emulsion I had left over from the spell chair.
I used DecoArt Chalkboard Paint to make chalkboards on the hearts, then cut the text in grey vinyl on the Cricut. Cheating big time, I used the same font and wording as Alex.
Why re-invent the wheel, when your muse has already done such an excellent job?
Halloween and hearts aren’t a natural pairing, so I glued on embellishments that I made with air-dry clay and a mould I bought on Amazon. Then I created the eye – my current crafting crush.
Finally, I thought it would look spookaliciously strange and peculiar to add the disembodied remains of a miniature skeleton from one of my other new Halloween projects (to follow soon). You might recognise them from my Mummified Fairies. As it happens, the feet are perfect for holding the chalk!
Don’t you just love those serendipitous moments?
I’m really pleased with this project. As a passionate Halloween decorator, a visual countdown to Witching Hour is vital if I’m to keep track of exactly how much time I don’t have until the Big Day. Because if the next 185 days pass as quickly as the previous 180, then I really need to get my skates on!
I hope you love this DIY as much as I do. Drop a comment below to let me know, or come on over to Instagram or Facebook for a chinwag.
A hui hou,
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Love it! Thanks for this!
You’re more than welcome. So glad you like it. Sue x
I’ve been on a mental countdown for a while now, yet you have a much better knowledge of the intervening holidays than I do. If you have any tips, books or links to learn the basics of them, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve tried quite a few books and they tend to be either too much info at one time or more geared towards the spook factor than real information. I really want to have a better understanding and do so on my own since I suffer badly from Anxiety so searching out a local group or even coven is impossible at this point.
Looking around the room I’m in know, I have the perfect board to transform for counting down, although it means that I’m going to have to find a new way to display my favorite Dylan Thomas poem, Do not go gentle into that good night. Time to whip up something for it using the Adobe software.
That sounds brilliant, Gwen. I can’t wait to see how you get on. In terms of more learning, If you’re looking for a great starting point for what and when to celebrate, I can thoroughly recommend Kate West’s The Real Witch’s Year. Kate is wonderful and this is a very easy read. I’m not sure where in the world you are, but it’s readily available in the UK. Here’s a link to it on Amazon, so you can see what it looks like: http://amzn.to/2wanPKr Sue x
Thanks, my dear,
Checking out the book now!
Fantastic. Let me know what you think. Sx