Danielle's Corner

2012 Calendar December 22, 2011

Posted by Danielle in Crafts, Family Stuff.
Tags: calendar, Copic, Create with TLC, Cricut, Distress Ink, Glimmer Mist, Hero Arts, Martha Stewart, Memory Box, Perfect Pearls, QuicKutz, Spellbinders, Stickles
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Here is my attempt at a 2012 calendar, 12″x12″, and done completely from scratch!  Quite the attempt for me, as I am not really a scrapbooker… and I have, until this project, only completed 8″x8″ calendars from pre-made calendar kits!  It was quite the experience.  There are some things I would change, but all in all, I am pleased with the result.  I used White Grandee paper from Patricia, the Paper Temptress.  She sure has some gorgeous papers!  This one was perfect for my calendar though.  It was somewhat similar to a watercolor type paper.  It took extremely well to different inks and Glimmer Mists.  In fact, it sucked in the glue so fast I had to be careful to lay things down where I wanted them or they were not coming back up!  The base calendar dies are from the QuicKutz Calendar Kit.  That basically included two week templates, the abbreviations for the days of the week, the numbers for the days, and the abbreviations for the months.  As you will see, I chose not to use the month dies; instead, I cut the names out with the Designer’s Calendar Cricut cartridge.  I also made use of my Bind It All and the 1 1/4″ wires.  They were easy to do!  I was surprised at how quickly it came together for binding.  In fact, all the month names and the accompanying graphics on either side come from Designer’s Calendar.  Most of them are layered, embossed, and spritzed with Glimmer Mist.  Also, where there are fancy photo corners, the Paper Shapers punches sure came in handy!

For the cover, I used 12″x12″ paper from the ATD Serendipity paper pad.  The orange and kraft cardstock is from Archivers, and I cut the year out using the Art Philosophy cartridge that my wonderful husband got me for my birthday this year.

The first month!  Aren’t my nieces adorable??  They are playing in the snow outside.  Julia is actually in a “snow fort” that Daddy built for the kids to play in.  They were doing some renovations on their house at that time, so it worked out to make a perfect little play place.  The background for this is “finger painted” with Distress inks and Perfect Pearls mixed with water, so it has just a hint of a shine.  I used Weathered Wood, Broken China, Stormy Sky, and Faded Jeans.  ”Snow Angels” was cut using the Jasmine cartridge.  The mittens are from Designer’s Calendar.  I used Stardust Stickles on the edges of the snowflakes to give them a little more glittery look.

For this month, I cut out circles in different patterns of paper and cardstock.  The plain white cardstock is embossed using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, too.  Then, I laid them out in a pattern.  The red satin ribbon is from Michaels.  These pictures are from Julia’s first birthday party.  Bill had just gotten his Ipod Touch, and he, Jack, and Emma played Angry Birds for quite a while in the afternoon.  (At least until the battery got drained!)  Emma was hilarious.  She hated the pigs with helmets!  Every time they got to a screen with the pigs with helmets, she would run away screaming that they were scary.  The bottom picture is Papa with the birthday girl.  I wanted something clean and easy to read for the font, so I used the Printing 101 cartridge.

I really like how this month turned out.  The background is the same finger paint technique using Distress inks and Perfect Pearls mixed with water.  This time, I used Mustard Seed, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, and Weathered Wood.  I then covered most of it up, but even the little hints that you see really made a difference in my opinion.  The stark white was just too much of a contrast.  The pictures are from when Bill and I visited my parents while they were staying at a condo down in Florida last March.  They had a beautiful view of the ocean, and Bill and I walked down there one evening.  The picture of my parents is when we went out to eat at a local restaurant… I can’t remember the name — was it Gulf View Restaurant or something??  The food was fantastic!  Anyhow, I covered the background with some pre-cut die cut squares that I purchased from Michaels years ago.  The White Grandee paper sucked up the glue so much, it made the squares look textured, an effect that I like.  The cardstock I matted the pictures on is from Archivers, and I punched the corners using the Layered Arches corner punch by Martha Stewart.  The text is from the Jasmine Cricut cartridge.

For this month, I used some of DCWV’s glitter paper from the La Creme cardstock stack.  I thought it set off the pictures well.  For this month, I used the Storybook cartridge for the font and for the birds.  They have iRock gems for eyes, and some gold Stickles as wing accents.  The flowers in between the letters I cut using a Stampin’ Up punch.  Then, I added the little iRock gem as a center.

May’s background is sprayed heavily with Glimmer Mist — Chocolate Covered Cherries and Iridescent Gold.  The flowers are Prima flowers and the centers are iRock gems.  I really like the photos on this month, too.  Eric and Andrea came over with the kids, and we went to Metro Beach Metro Park (where the photo of Jack was taken) out on the nature trails. We also went to the Detroit Zoo, which is where the picture of Julia and Papa was taken.  The third picture is of Drake when we met the ornithologists at Metro Beach.  They were tagging and releasing the birds, and they were quite knowledgeable.  Drake was afraid to touch the birds, so he only touched this particular bird… I got to see a female who was about to lay an egg.  It looked huge compared to the tiny bird; the ornithologist said he guessed that she would lay it that afternoon some time.  The decorations surrounding the month’s name are different this time around, too.  Instead of a Cricut cut, I used K&Company’s Daisies Layered Accents.  They were super easy to use… Peel off the backing on the adhesive, and attach!

The background for this month is similar to the one I did for February.  The ribbon is also from Michaels.  I cut the text using the Printing 101 cartridge.  The sailboat is from Designer’s Calendar.  I love the picture of Julia stomping on the bubbles!  This summer, Drake was absolutely obsessed with blowing bubbles.  And yes, I do mean obsessed.  He would be outside blowing bubbles for HOURS.  Oh, the other thing slightly different with June is that I did not emboss the butterflies.  Instead, I used Purple, Black Diamond, and Diamond Stickles as well as Flamingo Pink Liquid Pearls to decorate the wings.

I really like July’s result.  The picture of Drake and my parents is one taken at Stony Creek Metropark.  They were looking at the fish in the pond there.  Drake’s still got that goofy fake smile, which Bill and I were hoping he would grow out of this summer…. maybe next year!  The other picture was taken at the Walter and Mary Burke Park in New Baltimore, right on Anchor Bay.  He’s actually looking at a little girl as he climbed out of the slide.  Bill and I had gone to that park for Emily’s graduation (my best friend’s niece) and thought it was really nice.  When John and Marilyn came up to visit with Drake this summer, we took them there.  The firecracker is colored in with Copic markers; it and the sentiment are from TLC Creations.  The sentiment is colored using Distress inks in Worn Lipstick, Barn Door, and Vintage Photo.  The 4th of July die cut is from the Ultimate Creative Series Sampler cartridge.  I really like the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis sets, and the border is from the Fleur de Lis Accents set.  This background is also one of my favorites.  I used clear embossing powder and Distress inks to create a resist technique using the Many Petals stamp by Hero Arts.  Then, after embossing the image, I went over the flower portion with Worn Lipstick and Barn Door.  I used Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint for the green, and a little hint of Vintage Paper for the browns.

These pictures are from when we all went to Petoskey, MI for vacation.  Jessica even flew in from California!  I drove up separately with Drake, and my parents drove their vehicle.  We met Eric, Andrea, and the kids.  The condo was right near a small beach, and that’s where the kayaking photo was taken.  Jessica is in the front, Drake in the middle, and I’m in the rear.  We were also literally right across the street from Petoskey State Park.  I got some mini hikes in there, which was really nice.  The park was quite full, and they had a gorgeous beach that we made use of also.  The second photo is in Boyne, where Eric was dying to do the Zip Line.  This photo is one he took of Jessica and me getting rigged up.  Next time, if there is a next time, Jessica and I are going to do the longer “tour” instead of just the last line down to the resort.  This background is Graphite Glimmer Mist, and the text was cut using George and Basic Shapes.

These pictures are some that Eric sent to me.  Jack’s kindergarten class used real sunflowers as a guide to paint their own rendition of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.  Jack is really enjoying kindergarten, and he is definitely becoming more confident with his gross and fine motor skills this year!  These shapes both came from the Ultimate Creative Series Sampler cartridge.  The sunflowers have Rock Candy Distress Stickles in the center to brighten them up, and I used Glossy Accents on the raccoon’s nose.  The right paw actually has a pop dot under it, but that is really difficult to see.

I really like how October’s background came out, big droplets and all.  I used a combination of four Glimmer Mists to get this effect — Lavender Fields, Juniper, Scarlet, and Iridescent Gold.  At first, I was disappointed with how splotchy the big droplets were, but then I changed my mind and decided I liked them.  The tree is a picture that I took this Fall when I was out with my dad.  He and I were distributing meals for the Meals on Wheels program, and this tree was near one of the houses we stopped at.  It’s one of my favorite shades of reds, so I snapped a picture of it with my phone’s camera.  The witch die cut is from the Ultimate Creative Series Sampler cartridge, and the tree is technically a leaf from the Art Philosophy cartridge… but I cut it out larger and used brown for the trunk.  I think it worked out okay.  I used Storybook for the text, if you didn’t already figure that one out since I’d used it on other months.

Well, with the number of pictures I had to include with this month, I kept the background simple and more “manly” than some of the other months.  Jack has a birthday November 8; Bill and Eric both share November 10.  I thought this paper suited them, and I cut out the “Birthday Boy” sentiment from the Storybook cartridge and then added an “S” to it since there are three of them sharing the month.

Finally, on to the last month!  I know Bill hates these pictures, but he is (almost) always game for being in them.  I need to do them fairly early in the month so I have time to finish the calendars that I’m generally working on for Debb and my mom… and this year for myself, too!  The background for this one is back to the finger painting technique with Distress inks.  This time I used Festive Berries, Pumice Stone, Worn Lipstick, and Iced Spruce.  I also changed up the Perfect Pearls and used Perfect Gold instead of Perfect Pearl.  I thought it would go better with the poinsettia that I spritzed with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist… although I did do the bells in silver!  The poinsettia was created with the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die set.  Then, I used three iRock gems for the center.  The bells are a Memory Box die called Jingle Bell Border, the latest variety of dies that I’ve gotten into.  They are much more delicate cuts than you get with most Spellbinders dies, and the designs are quite different as well.  The remainder of the die cuts are all from the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I am really loving how you can combine the die cuts with stamps to jazz them up a little bit.  The ticket has the December and 25 stamps from the Cherish the Day set.  The holly stamps are from the A Holiday stamp set (a generous freebie when I purchased the Art Philosophy cartridge!).    The remaining stamps for the tree and the gift are included in the bundle that comes with the cartridge itself.  I must say, I am very impressed with the CTMH acrylic stamps.  They are high quality and take to inks very well!

Oh, I did not list all the designer papers/cardstocks I used in the project.  They included the following:  Cloud 9 Design, The Paper Studio, DCWV, Recollections, Heidi Grace Designs, ATD, Best Occasions, and most of the solid cardstock was from a variety pack I purchased at Archivers.

And so now what?  Well, after completing my first “from scratch” calendar, I must say that I like the size, but it is a tad on the heavy side!  I do not think I will use the number dies from the calendar set again.  They were just way too labor-intensive!  I had to run all the numbers through my Cuttlebug, then separate them, lay them out on the calendar to make sure I didn’t miss any, and then glue them all down by hand!  Now they are the perfect size for this particular calendar set…….. but I will be searching high and low for a nice set of numbers to use instead next year!  I will also cut the weeks out of smooth cardstock instead of the textured stuff I used this year so that I can use stamps for the numbers and not have them come out looking like they are missing pieces.  I think I will also use the entire bottom section for the weeks, and fill it up with five weeks.  The month’s name will have to go on the top portion of the calendar along with the photos.  Some months, my numbers overlapped funny because I only had four weeks to play with.  So, for example, in June I doubled up the first week with days 1-9.  Two days overlapped in that week… whereas if I had overlapped at the end of the month, I would have had the last two weeks of the month sharing one row.  I wanted the calendar to be big enough that I can write on it with little trouble.  Live and learn, right??