My 2011 Calendar (tutorial) ...

Hi, today I want to share my gorgeous 2011 calendar that I made - with the help of Nitwit Collections!

I used the digital calendar kit that Mary Fran designed here and supplemented it with a few pieces of patterned paper and some white cardstock. I don't know about you but we tend to use our calendars as mini filing cabinets :lol: Tickets to concerts get clipped to the appropriate month page, hospital appointment letters get paper clipped to the back etc. So really we need more than just a calendar, we need somewhere to  keep all those important pieces of paper safe too. I have adapted Mary Fran's calendar slightly to incorporate some cardstock pockets on the reverse of each month to store the documents and tickets.

Download the calendar kit, unzip and print out each month - I printed at 90% so that they would fit on an A4 piece of paper - then I cut them all out

 I used a sheet of A4 cardstock for each page of the calendar and scored about 4 inches from the bottom

When I folded it over it created a pocket (well at least the beginnings of a pocket) and I made the fold nice and crisp by using a bone folder to smooth along the edge

I glued my pages to the cardstock and then trimmed down one edge leaving a narrow border all around

I glued down each side of the flap and then folded it back over to secure the pocket

This is where I added some extra pieces of patterned paper to make the pockets look a little prettier (even though they won't be seen as they are on the back of each page, but pretty is good!)

I repeated the process of gluing, trimming and sticking for each calendar month

the fronts:

the backs:

To join the calendar pages together I used my Bind-It-All (but you could use bookrings and punched holes or even tie pretty ribbons through the holes)

From start to finish the calendar took less than 2 hours and it is so pretty, the pockets on the back just make it even more useful - we won't lose those important pieces of paper now!

A Card Tutorial ...

Today was my turn to post on the Scattered Scarlet blog and I have done a tutorial to make this card.

If you'd like to see how I made it check out the blog here

Butterfly Banner ...

I created this banner for my craft room last week and posted about it over at the Sweet Shoppe Designs forum so thought I would add it here too

The banner was a Maya Road butterfly chipboard album that I repurposed

I used 6 of the 'pages' to make my banner and covered them with Melissa's Bee Happy papers (totally gorgeous papers by the way, I could easily wallpaper my house them ). You only need to cover one side.

When you have them covered turn over and use a hot glue gun to attach braid, lace or pompom trim around the edge. Go slowly and do small sections. Watch your fingers because that glue can get HOT! Apply small lengths of the glue and then press the trim into it getting it as close to the edge as you can.

It doesn't matter how messy and untidy it is as no one is going to see the back. I used lace on some of my butterflies and I can tell you the back of those ones are really untidy

The hot glue will dry really quickly so you can flip the butterfly over and decorate the front.

I coloured my chipboard letters with a Promarker first as it is quick but any felt pen or paint would work.

Then I covered each letter with glue and added some chunky glitter from Doodlebug - my new passion

Choose paper flowers that come in different sizes so that they can be stacked and glued onto the butterfly and then glue the chipboard letter on the top.

Then either punch holes and string the butterflies or use little clips to attach them onto a string

Here are some of the butterflies

Bumble Boy ...

How I made this ...

Resize, print and cut papers. Stitch around edge with sewing machine

Glue to cardblank and tie with a ribbon

Cut shape with nestabilities label die, glue to white card and stitch around the edge

Use dimensionals to attach to card

Stamp image, colour with distress inks (I'm still learning how to do this) and cut out

Use a glue pen to cover the wings in glue then add glitter

I used glamour dust glitter and a sakura glue pen

See those stray bits of glitter? Use a dry paintbrush to swoosh them away when the glue is dry

Select a sentiment stamp, add ink and press firmly onto cardstock



Trim to a tag shape, punch a hole and tie onto the ribbon with twine

Hey presto! You've made a Bumble Buy card like mine :)

(Papers - Bees Knees by Libby Weifenbach at Sweet Shoppe Designs, Stamp - Hanglar, Colour medium - Ranger Distress Inks, Glamour Dust glitter, Sakura glue pen, Nestabilities die, Papertrey sentiment stamp and twine, Beresfords ribbon, sewing machine)