I apologize for the yucky pictures, but both of my camera’s broke and so I’m limited to my cell phone at this point. I made a book of days, a kind of perpetual calendar to have all my birthdays, anniversaries, & date-driven traditions, etc. all in one place so it’s easy to put them in my calendar each year.
To make them, I used MOSTLY stuff I already had. *I* used (but PLEASE substitute for what you have on hand!):
- 2 pieces of cardstock (for the covers)
- 12 sets of 2 pieces of pretty/seasonal paper or cardstock for the pages
- 24 pages of printer paper
- some way to label the months (if you didn’t want to do it on the computer)
- a yard of pretty ribbon & hole punch (or other way to bind the book)
- some way to title the book (letter stickers, computer print out, markers, whatever you have on hand!)
Since I had 12×12 paper & cardstock, I just cut my pieces down to 8×8. Most of the papers I had were seasonal and were not double-sided, so I glued two sheets of scrapbook paper together.
Then I made a document on my computer. I made a text box (I used MS Publisher) that was 7×7 and put a border on it so I would know where to cut. Inside of that, I picked a font I liked, left a line or two at the top to stamp the month (you could just print if if you want), and then made a line for days 1-15. I made the exact same box on page 2 except I made it days 16-31. See picture below.
If you are using the computer to type in the months, change the month, make sure the number of days in the month are correct and print. Repeat for each month of the year. Cut them out and glue them to your scrapbook/cardstock pages.
Punch holes in where you want them for the method you are using to bind the book. I punched 4 holes in the book and left the ribbon loose enough to be able to open the book flat without bending the pages. It looks kind of funny, but I picked function over beauty. I glued (with Aileen’s Tacky Glue) the ribbon together in the back because I didn’t like what tying a bow did to it.
Fill in with everyone’s birthday’s or anniversaries and you will never have to hunt through an address book, calendar or date book again. Update as birth announcements & wedding invites come in and you will be all set. Bring it out to update your new calendar each year. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Did this post inspire you to make your own? I know you are talented ladies–show me your beautiful creations!!
This post is linked to the Make It Homemade Carnival #155 hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven and Show Me How #5 @ It’s a Blog Party.