Gift Set for my Aunt

Awhile ago I posted a patterned paper calendar I made for my Aunt. The calendar is here. I realized that I never posted on my blog the rest of the set that I made for her. So I thought I would share it with you today. :) 

I made her a coordinating set of goodies for her to keep on her desk.

It included a PTI notebook and RSVP pen with matching paper.

A desk calendar...

And a set of magnets. 

Using a circle punch, I punched out some circles and attached them to epoxy circles. Then I glued these epoxy stickers to strong earth magnets. I needed a way to secure them, so I attached the mini magnets to a long magnet strip and glued that to a bookmark diecut. It kept everything in place so they didn't go sliding around.

Here's the whole set! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great sunny day! :)

ETA: I was emailed a few questions so thought I'd add some details about how I made some of this! The basic dimensions for the notebook and RSVP pen are on Kim's blog here. I bought the magnets from this ebay seller here and attached them with E-6000 glue. HTH!

Seasonal Holiday Calendar

Hi there! Today I thought I'd share with you a patterned paper calendar I made for my mom. You can find the other two other calendars I made here and here.

My mother loves holidays and I remember fondly when we were growing up how she would decorate for each holiday with lots of decorations set all over the house.

In Florida the seasons don't really change outside, so it was especially fun as a kid to have all of the decorations up in the house to mark the changing of the seasons and holidays throughout the year.

Even though all of us are grown now and not living in the house, she still decorates for every holiday and season and I'm so glad she does. :)

So I knew when making a calendar for her that I wanted to incorporate the holidays and seasons for her. 

A way to thank her for all of the warm memories from growing up! :)

I used various PTI patterned papers from several different pads. The months are stamped with PTI's Calendar Basics set.

And here are the remaining months...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful, sunshine-filled day! :)

Butterfly Calendar plus a tip!

Happy New Year to you all. Hope your year is getting off to a good start! :) Today I'm sharing with you another calendar I made using patterned paper. The first one is here. This can be a great way to go if you're trying to make a lot of calendars. You use up a lot of PP and can get them done relatively quickly.

The paper I used for this calendar is from the Mariposa 12x12 stack by DCWV. I think it's my most favorite paper ever and I was actually cringing a little when I diecut these pages, lol. But I knew this was a great chance to use the paper and then be able to stare at it all year, since I made this calendar for myself. ;) I love making cards and gifts for other people, but this time it was fun to keep something that I made for a change.

I stamped the months with Brilliance Graphite Black (love this black!) and the holidays with Memento Desert Sand, using the PTI stamp set Calendar Basics.

Here's the next month, February. And even though this page is one of my favorites, this is where I ran into a problem using the PP...

Do you see the very bottom of the white paper? Part of the word "Butterflies" is hidden behind the month page! Ack! I was not happy about it, but only had one more of this paper left. I didn't want to sacrifice a brand new sheet for a calendar I am keeping for myself!

To make sure this didn't happen again, I came up with a system to "preview" the calendar page, before diecutting it. I trimmed a sample calendar page from an acrylic Papertrey Ink stamp box. Then I outlined the edge of the clear page diecut with a black sharpie and inserted a sample month page.

And I was much happier with the results. Now it is possible to see exactly what the page looks like before you trim. No more wasted patterned paper! This also can work for any PTI die that you have, if you want to paper piece, you can see exactly what it will look like first. 

Here are the rest of the months. There is a variety so the calendar won't become too repetitious, but the pages still go together with the butterfly and nature theme throughout.

That's all for today! By the way, tomorrow is the first anniversary of my blog! I'm very excited and can't believe that it's already been a year. Check back if you can, there will be a PTI giveaway. Hope you are having a wonderful and sunny day! :)

The First Handmade Calendar of the Season

Today's post features the calendars I'll be making for Christmas this year. Papertrey Ink released a great Calendar die and stamp set which makes assembling these a snap. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hand stamp dozens and dozens of calendar pages, so I opted to diecut patterned paper. If you find some cool patterns this works really well!

Here's a calendar I made for my Aunt. Her birthday is in late November, so I'm giving her this calendar a little earlier for her birthday. I used my favorite Papertrey Ink Patterned Paper: Black and White Basics. Interesting because I've never been a big fan of black, but in crafting I think it's one of my most favorite colors. It also happens to be my Aunt's favorite color so I thought this would be perfect for her. I'm making more of these for Christmas gifts in different PTI PP designs too.

I didn't make a cover because the spine already has the 2011 calendar label and I think that works and you get the idea. Besides I didn't want to hide that pretty paper! The spine was stamped on adhesive paper trimmed to fit (1/4" x 4-3/4").

I stamped the months in red and the holiday circle images in a pale light blue. Here's a closeup.

And here are a few of the other months just to give you an idea. You can click on them to see them bigger if you would like. So here you go. :)

February...

June...

September...

November...

December...

I think the idea is to find some nice coordinating PP, vary the background slightly each month to keep it interesting, stamp the months in a contrasting bold color and the holidays in a lighter color.

Thanks for taking a look. Hope those with snow keep warm, and that you all have a wonderful, sunny day today!

ETA: You can see the entire gift set I made for my Aunt HERE.