I’m so pleased and thrilled to introduce to you one of my blog contributors: Natalie. She’s going to be the genius behind the monthly crafting blogs.
Happy New Year, crafters! The first craft I am going to be showing you is a calendar. It is a fitting first craft for the start of a new year and ideal for seasoned crafters and beginners alike. It can be as detailed or simple as you would like.
Directions:
For this craft I won’t go step-by-step explaining what I did for each calendar month, but instead I’ll explain each technique I used. All supplies used in this project were purchased from Paper Source. All ideas are 100% mine and I wasn’t compensated by Paper Source for this blog. Open the calendar pack and choose a month you’d like to start with. Don’t feel like you have to start with January. Select a month that you feel especially inspired to work on–the month of your birthday, anniversary, or an upcoming vacation. I started with January because I knew what I wanted to do for it.
Basic Stamping:
The supplies I chose for this particular project were:
My choice of stamps.
The embossing powder color choices.
I selected a color from my ColorBox Petal Stamp pad set and applied the color to the stamp I wanted. The ColorBox Petal Stamp pad set is nice because I can either stamp using all of the colors (making a multicolor rainbow effect) or pull out individual colors. It’s not only a fun craft tool but also a great value. Once I applied the color, I selected a spot and stamped on it.
Crafter’s Tip: Here’s a two-part secret to great stamping. 1) Once you select a spot, commit to it! If you hesitate you will smudge the ink on your page. 2) Do not rock your stamp back and forth. That will create an unwanted shadowing effect.
Heat Embossing:
The next technique I used is called Heat Embossing and because I used it on January and October I’ll show you pictures from both months.
Allow your heating tool to run until it gets hot. By the way, use good judgment when using your heat tool- don’t allow it to sit unattended while it is on and don’t allow children to use it unsupervised. Also, when checking if the heat tool is hot enough to use, don’t press your hand directly on the top where the heat is coming out. Anyway, once the heat tool is sufficiently hot, point it at the area where your stamp is, and in a couple of seconds you’ll begin to see the powder on the stamp change grainy to smooth and shiny.
Using the VersaMark stamp pad, select a stamp you’d like to use and apply the ink. Once you’ve applied the ink to the stamp, apply the stamp to the paper. Open your embossing powder and generously shake the embossing powder onto the inked portion of your paper. It’s important to do this over a piece of scrap paper or a paper towel. If you collect the excess powder and dump it back into your embossing powder container, it’ll last you a long time.
Once you’ve dumped the excess embossing powder back into the container and the powder now resembles your stamp, this is the time to use your heat tool.
I used wild plum embossing powder for May. It’s a gorgeous bright color for spring.
Stickers:
February was one of the simplest months on the calendar, but it’s also very cute because sometimes less is more. I just added a couple of heart stickers to the paper. Make sure that when you apply embellishments of any kind, the spacing makes sense for whatever you’re doing. In the small space toward the bottom of the page, I wanted to add a little something else, so I used my GellyRoll pens to add “XOXO”.
I also used Jolee’s Boutique embellishing stickers to decorate the calendar. These stickers are really great, not only for this project but also for scrap booking. Each pack is sold as a theme, making it very easy to decorate something very specific.
September looks beautiful and colorful, doesn’t it?
I think August looks fantastic, don’t you?
Paper Punch:
Paper Punches, like the EK Tools punch I used on this project, are a really wonderful tool. They come in hundreds of different sizes as well as in different patterns. For this project I used the punch to apply flower-like designs to the month of March. There’s a lock on the back of the punch that slides down to open. Once you’ve unlocked the punch and it’s in the open position, take your craft paper or any scrap paper with a design that works with your project, and slide the paper in. Much like a hole punch for a piece of lined paper, you press down on the punch and the paper in the design will fall out.
Finally, I’m going to explain how to put the pages on the ribbon for hanging on a wall. Unravel your roll of ribbon approx. 4 feet, leaving room in between months (there are 2 inches between the months in the photos below). Once you’ve established how far you want the months to be separated, run the double sided tape runner down the middle of the back of the page and press hard to the ribbon. Be sure to line up the ribbon to the tape on the back of the page. Continue until the first 6 months of the year are on the ribbon and cut off any excess ribbon. Repeat steps 1-3 on the opposite side, being sure to line up the last 6 months of the year with the pages you have already taped on.
Here’s how your calendar should look. It’s a great conversation piece for your home or your office.
There you have it! If you have any questions about how I did anything here, feel free to email me at:
Likewise, if there is a craft or product you’d like to see used in future postings or if you’d like to retain me for custom work, you can email me for this as well.
Next month I’ll show you how to make Valentine’s Day cards that come straight from the heart.
Natalie
