Sparkle Crafts

The Windward Ho! Book Seven Treasure Map!

Ahoy! We are so excited to launch our seventh and final Windward Ho! book. Hands to Hearties follows our favorite pirate girls as they search for their eighth member of the crew, Fiona. Through a series of uncanny events, the girls make their way back into the world of the Windward, only to discover that they must travel through a series of mysterious clues in order to achieve their goal.

Journey with these adventurers around the world with story — and through your very own treasure map!

Each of the ten little doors opens to a clue to the matching story, so you can listen and open a door each day! This calendar involves a little DIY (cutting and gluing), so we've created a tutorial post to show you what to do. If you want to see the process in action, take a look at last year's video tutorial at the bottom of this post — it's the same construction process!

Windward Ho! Book Seven: Hands to Hearties Treasure Map Materials:
a sharp x-acto knife or matte knife
a metal-edged ruler
a glue stick
a surface for cutting (i.e. an art board)
the two pages of the Treasure Map

Instructions:

1) Download the 11x17 color printable here.

There are two pages — a front and a back — which will be overlaid to complete the map.

We recommend doing this project without children so they can be surprised by the images behind the door.

2) Print the file.

You'll want to print on 11x17 cardstock (ledger size). We chose a glossy finish because it looks so sharp.

You may wish to send this out to a local printer. I used the Office Depot down the street and simply placed the order on their website. You can use any business that can print on 11x17 cardstock. You can email it to a printer, upload it to a website, or move it to a flash drive and take it to the print shop.

Suggestion: Print 2-3 copies of each page so you have a fresh copy in case you make a mistake.

3) Cut the doors of the first page.

Place the first page on a safe surface — one that won’t be damaged from cuts.

Using the metal-edged ruler as a guide, cut where you see the lines for the 3-sided door with the x-acto knife — try not to open or bend them.

Suggestion: Go slowly and take breaks. It requires focus and a steady hand.

4) Glue the back side of the first page.

Turn the first page over (carefully so as to protect the newly-cut doors) and add glue from the glue stick to the areas outside the doors.

Important: Be sure to keep glue OFF the actual doors, otherwise the doors won't open!

5) Lay the first page on top of the second page.

Make sure the sides match perfectly and then use your hands to smooth the entire top.

And there you have it! Your own Windward Ho! treasure map!

Quick video tutorial
We made a tutorial to go with our 2016 Junkyard Tales Advent Calendar — which is constructed exactly the same way. Check it out here.