Sunday, December 9, 2007

More Christmas gifts, cards, and calendar to share

I've been into making calendars for myself and as gifts. This is a calendar I made using a Junkitz base board and calendar grid. The base board is made of masonite, I think. The grid is blank except for the month. I used stamps for the numbers and embellished with stickers, doodles, and chalk. Across the bottom is a phrase on vellum that says, "Live Well Laugh Often Love Much".


I tried to decorate each month differently. I like a dimensional look so I used foam dots to mount some of the stickers. Here's February.
I'm not sure if this calendar will stay in my studio or go in my office. I'm also making small desktop calendars for colleagues. Originally I made them as to fit into CD cases. This idea changed when I discovered that the pages were too fat to fit into the case. Instead, I made hard covers from leftover chipboard and bound them with book rings. Here are some examples.
If you want the month template, just send me an email (see side bar) and I'll be happy to send it to you for the years 2008 and 2009.

At yesterday's crop, I focused on making Christmas cards. This is a criss cross card design which I got from the Splitcoaststampers web site. This is an amazing site full of ideas, tutorials, and samples of things made with Stampin' Up stamps.
I used these materials to make this card:

Stampin' Up -- flower from In the Spotlight stamp set, Christmas sentiment from Star-Studded Season stamp set, Round Tab punch, Pink Passion craft ink, Hologram Highlights embossing powder
Autumn Leaves -- swirl from the Swirls stamp set
Whispers -- green ink
Die Cut With A View -- green and pink card stock
Bazzill -- white card stock
Creative Memories -- circle punches
Michael's -- ribbon
Staples -- gold brad

Here are some more cards I made after lifting the designs from Splitcoaststampers as well.
Again, I used Stampin' Up and Autumn Leaves stamp sets. I'll just keep making these designs over and over again until I run out of supplies. Then, I'll create a different design. I'm trying to use the hoard of supplies I have now instead of going out and buying new things. Also, making the calendars are a great way to use your cut paper and odds and ends.

I'm hoping Santa will bring me this



as well as this

and this


and finally this



so I can make my own books. This would have been handy for binding my desktop calendars. Maybe I can do this next year.

Well, I'm off to make some more Christmas cards. I've got a ton to make and only a few weeks left.


5 comments:

Unknown said...

Those are beautiful cards! Anyone who gets them will be lucky!

Unknown said...

Thanks Bethany. I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a blessed Christmas.

Robin Dini Photography said...

I love the simplicity of your cards. They are handmade and very elegant. Hard to pull off sometimes :) I hope santa brought you what you asked for. Happy New Year.

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a wonderful comment.

mike said...

To my wonderful, beautiful and above creative wife who I adore dearly. Just stopping by to wish you a "Happy Birthday".
Keep the creative juices flowing sweetie.

Love,

Ekim