Calendar Making Woes and Joys

 

 

I have a "Love / Hate" relationship with my calendars. I have been making them since my daughter turned 1. She's 12 now. That's a lot of calendars and a ton of scrapbooking!  The first year I made them, I decided the month before Christmas that I was going to make 5 handmade calendars for the grandparents, great grandparents and one for myself. I had no idea of the time and stress this gift might cause. Even those simple calendars required me working day and night. My husband became an over night scrapbooking sensation, popping eyelets through pages and stamping the month names onto the calendars...even SPETEMBER (his mom got that calendar). My initial intention with calendars was to make one, a highlight of MacLean's first year. They were so well received that I keep making new ones...every year. 

 

These calendars highlight special moments that occurred in the previous year, during that month. We had a fantastic 2016! A new puppy, growing children, my nephews starting preschool and kindergarten. I was so excited about how the calendars turned out this year! Each layout, more special than the last. This year's calendars were equally as pressed for time as the first simple one I sat down to do in 2005, the technique, however, has improved. 

I use many different scrapbooking techniques in my calendars. Each page begins with a photo, from there, I draw out colours, find coordinating papers and look for inspiration. I often find inspiration at a local scrapbooking store, The Scrapyard, its a vortex of creativity. They offer many classes and have the most wonderful scrapbookers on site. There is always someone around, willing to offer you some helpful advice or to teach you the latest technique. 

 

When I make calendar layouts, I always leave the brand strip on the bottom of the page. I bind the calendars myself and find that this extra bit of paper helps with reinforcing your coil. I later choose a coordinating paper that I can fold over the front and back of the layout to ensure a strong reinforcement. This is challenging. Not reinforcing. Mixing your patterns. The blank calendar page gets glued onto the back of your layout. Its not always easy to match the black and orange layout to whatever colour scheme you chose for your November layout. Neutral patterns come in handy for that!

 

As you can see from this photo. I opted for a black and white wood grain print, which works well with my November layout and even better with the October prints!

This year, I used so many new photo editing apps. These added even more detail and interest to my layouts. I've always loved the instagram filters but there are so many other special apps out there. A few of my favourites are "A Beautiful Mess," which is an amazing collage app and "Waterlogue," with this app you have the ability to change your photos into watercolour "paintings." A Beautiful Mess allows you to put photos into collage frames, add filters, wording, images and borders. Waterlogue, has so many different styles of watercolour that you can create photos that look like historic artworks or even comic book frames. When these two apps are used in conjunction with each other, you can create interesting pieces like this...

 

When you're rushing to create a Halloween page, having the ability to print a photo layout like this one, on an 8.5 X 11 photo page, makes it very quick to create a 12 X 12 scrapbooking layout. As you can imagine, most of the layout is covered, you only have a few details to add to your hybrid digital / handmade scrapbooking piece. 

Typically, the last layout in my calendar is a family photo in front of our tree. I was renovating for guests prior to Christmas and designing a calendar. Decorating my tree would have to come after I mailed the calendars out to two sets of grandparents. I found inspiration for my December layout in an old photo of my brother and I at Christmas and an old Christmas book, T'was the Night Before Christmas. This copy of the classic Christmas story belonged to my children's great grandmother. I couldn't help but photocopy the image of Santa in the chimney onto cardstock and fussy cut it, to add as an important vintage element on my holiday layout. I just love the way it turned out. 

 

These gifts are so personal, my mother in law's calendar features very different photos than the one for my mom. My mother's calendar is drenched with photos of her grandchildren (my neice and nephews that live so close to me). My own often features family photos of my little family unit of four. All of the layouts, however, are made from the same papers and elements and come together quickly. The first one taking 2-3 hours to create and the final one, 15 to 20 minutes to recreate. 

I hope after reading this article, you find some inspiration to sit down with your photos and make something beautiful for someone you love. This project always causes stress because I never start it early enough. I'll never stop making them though, I enjoy them way too much. 

Thanks for reading!!  Feel free to comment below with any questions or concerns, or if you just liked this Big Idea. 

Easter Bunnies Everywhere

 

Easter has invaded my home. I love to switch things up decor-wise and I'm a total sucker for a holiday! These two love birds (bunnies?) have set up camp on my dining table, my dish towels are pink and green, even my bathroom looks like this...

 

Yup. If you know me, you'll realize those are my Christmas "Hope" letters, minus the "E." Do my guests appreciate these little seasonal nods? Probably not, they may not even notice, but I do. They bring me joy, so I'm going to keep these accents around! 

On that note, I've just switched over my Valentine's Printer's Tray to my very favourite lay out. I love the Easter Tray because my kids were so little and sweet when I made it. 

 

So good riddance Valentine's! 

 

I pulled all of my Valentine memories out of my Tray, packed them into the ziplock that I keep in my scrapbooking room and switched to Easter. 

 

Those of you that have read my last article on the Printer's Tray know that the only permanent embellishment on there is the lace border. Everything else switches out. 

http://melsbigideas.blogspot.ca/2017/02/valentine-day-printer-tray.html?m=0

All of the small layouts in the compartments are tightly fit and feature a tab for easy removal. The borders are either sticker borders or have bits of Velcro connected to the back. 

 

As you can see, most of the layouts are decorated with Easter themed paper. I printed all photos in sepia and added orange details with a marker to coordinate with the papers. 

 

I also used a series of stamps with brown archival ink. The tabs are attached with Tom Holtz Tiny Attacher Staples...which are pretty much a tea bag staple.  Super cute!!  I never use just one. 2 or even 3 are much more decorative. 

 

I added details to my son's T-shirt. I had these adorable flocked rub on transfers, which were perfect for this project!  

 

I added this cupcake decoration to the printer Tray handle with appropriately coloured ribbon. Voila! Easter Decor!  Hopefully this inspires you to go out and create!

If you have any questions or you just liked this Big Idea, feel free to comment below. Thanks for reading!!

Let Love Grow: Making Your Own Wedding Favours

When planning a wedding, arguments tend to happen. I'm sure Wedding Favours have caused an argument...or two.  Wedding favours are an old tradition, a tradition, I'm sure many brides and grooms may decide to scrap. I like to think of Favours as a potential place to save some money and highlight your talents. Especially if you're ambitious and you can create something handmade on your own. A favour is a nice way to say thank you to each of your guests. Favours contribute to decor and I, personally, think it's lovely to leave a special event with a small momento. A small and useful momento is even better!

I made these for a friend's wedding this summer. They were quick, relatively inexpensive and a perfect gift from a gardener. Though my friend Sarah has many talents, gardening is one of the more obvious talents she possesses. Every summer she grows and harvests beautiful zucchinis, tomatoes, herbs, carrots, potatoes and onions. Her yard is highlighted by the lovely flowers growing in her flower beds and in her ceramic pots.  A personalized packet of wildflower seeds from a gardener and nature lover seemed like the best choice as a gift from my dear friend, Sarah. 

These Favours were small enough to be slipped into a purse. The intention for these seeds was for a wedding guest to later spread on their property, in a place that's special to them or on their favourite walk. As a wedding guest spreads the seeds, it was my hope that they would think of that special couple on their special day and "Let Love Grow."

I don't know if you've ever seen wildflower seeds before but my first thought for Favours was to either find or make vellum envelopes. Wildflower seeds are far less pretty than I anticipated...

Needless to say, I opted for the adorable yellow polka dotted paper Recollections brand envelopes that I found on sale at Michaels.  If  you were to use vellum, I'd recommend adding some dried lavender for interest sake. 

I decided to label the envelopes with the Bride and Groom's names, the wedding date and the "Let Love Grow" quote. I wanted the favours to look hand stamped and I wanted them on craft paper. I'm not a super techy kind of girl, the most simple way I've found to do this is to draw out multiple labels on a piece of white paper and then photocopy them onto craft cardstock.  I had a ton of Favours to make, photocopying was going to save me a lot of time!!

After I made the copies, I trimmed the labels, edged them with gold ink and glued the labels onto the envelopes. I then filled each envelope with a heaping tablespoon of seeds, sealed the envelopes and added a piece of decorative washi tape to the back, as an extra little detail and to prevent them from opening and growing a small garden in a guest's favourite handbag.  

 

These favours were extremely well received and looked adorable, featured as a part of the table decor. Thank you for reading!!  If you have any questions or you just liked this big idea, feel free to comment below! 

When Life Gives You Pallets...Make Signs, Really Beautiful, Decorative Signs.

Rustic Wedding Décor

Our mothers have all encouraged us at one time or another, to “make lemonade.”  What I am proposing is most definitely not to add a bunch of extra and unnecessary sugar to our lives (and a pinch of salt, if you don’t already know that, its truly the secret to a really spectacular pitcher of lemonade). I’m proposing we look around, find useful objects and make something beautiful.  We have all received a large delivery at one time or another, you’ve seen them abandoned in back alleys, I’m talking about pallets.  Pallets are full of useful wood.  They are naturally aged, attractive and very splintery! Instead of throwing them onto a fire pit, which would be far less labour intense and may actually lead to some unintended fun, give them a quick sand and pull out your power tools.

This Summer, I had the opportunity to help out my wonderful neighbours with some rustic wedding décor.  Where did we start?  Pallets.  Every wedding needs signage and lots of it!  Parking directions, seating arrangements and heart warming quotes to set the mood.  Pallets were an extremely affordable option.    Affordable, as in, FREE! 

I don’t know if you’ve ever lifted a pallet before but they’re heavy and large.  For this handy stuff, I enlisted the help of my creative, strong and helpful husband and our neighbour, the husband to be.  We knew our signs had to stand up to the elements.  You never know what kind of weather a wedding day will bring!  They had to be sturdy enough to not blow over in the wind, survive a hail storm, deal with sweltering heat…let’s just say, the local weather is unpredictable in August and this was an outdoor wedding.

My hubby and I took some time to break the pallets down.  You’re going to need a crowbar and a strong back!  A full size pallet was simply too large for our signs. We broke down one pallet completely to salvage wood and cut another down the middle, next to the support beam, to form the actual sign.  Many of your boards will break, depending on the dimensions of your sign, even a broken board may be useful.  They typically break on the end joints as opposed to the middle of the board.  Trim the ends, measure and mark with a square and cut to your required length.  

My absolute favourite tip?  SAVE ALL OF YOUR NAILS!!  These can be reused.  A rusty nail is exactly the look you desire.  A rusty nail that you bend over and smash into your sign, is even better!

Once your boards are cut, it’s time to rebuild your sign! Try to create a closeness between your boards, this will make your sign more legible.  A typical pallet has large gaps between wooden boards, so remove a few and add filler boards from your secondary pallet.  Choose interesting boards for a rustic project, knots and bark are your friend.

Though it looks lovely, as is, the wedding colours were yellow and blue.  I couldn’t resist the opportunity to distress!

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is my favourite paint to work with!!  I used her Old White and English Yellow. I also used Minwax Water Based Wood Stain in Grey.

I used a dry brush to apply grey stain and white and yellow chalk paint. I added all three colours, one after another with no dry time in between.  I applied colours with quick brush strokes; making sure to apply heavily to the corners and edges, avoiding the centre of the boards, which were reserved for writing.  I used a few different brush sizes…and my bare hands.

If you’re hands don’t look like this when you’re done, you’re probably doing it wrong.  Kidding!  I’m a TOTAL MESS – Every creative project, I end up looking like the I was the project!  Glitter, glue, paint, googly eyes; if I’m using a product, guaranteed I’ll be digging it out from under nails for a week!

Final step of distressing….a quick sand to blend your colours, now you’re ready for words!!! When you write your message on your sign, be sure to use a pencil first.  Pencil can always be erased or sanded off at a later date.  Plan your message and your font, in accordance with the spacing on your pallet sign.  It needs to be very easy to read.  Choose a tall font when you have wide boards and smaller font with narrower boards.  If you don’t like the look of your writing, or if you do not have a steady hand, use a stencil!!

 I used white chalk paint to write my message.  It goes on thick, it’s bright and easy to read from a distance.  When you’re ready to commit to your penciled in message, start with an angled brush.  The beauty of an angled brush is that your wording will appear straighter, more angular and neater.  Start with thin lines and build them outward to the thickness you desire.  Allow some time for your first coat to dry, before cutting in with a fine detail brush.  I outlined my lettering with my detail brush, this makes an overall difference in the quality of your font and the darkness of your letters.

It is very important to note that sometimes imperfections will appear as interest.  However, if you’re unhappy with a result, sand the surface and start over!  This is your project, have fun!  If you’re pleased with your work, that will shine through.  Anyone looking at it will admire your style and talent.

  

Please comment below if you have any questions or if you just liked this Big Idea!!