Perpetual Birthday Calendar and Box

NOTE: The stamp set referred to in this post has been retired by Stampin' Up and is no longer available. You may be able to still find it on Ebay. However, I updated this post with a new perpetual calendar and storage box with preprinted monthly pages that you can decorate any way you wish. This is the link to the new post: Updated Perpetual Calendar                                          

Stampin' Up sells a great Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set and kit. However, I thought this box would work better in my situation. I created the box and used the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set on p. 12 of the 2015-2016 Catalog (#137167) to stamp and decorate each month’s insert. I added 1 inch punched out circles to the top of each sheet as dividers so I can add a card or two behind each month’s insert. All I have left to do is add the names and birthdays! Instructions for the box are below. I also have a PDF available for the calendar inserts that you can just print, cut and stamp.

The stamps are also great for backgrounds on cards and scrapbook pages! It is one of my favorite sets! Here are links to the stamp set and the Stampin' Up Perpetual Calendar Kit:

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Box Instructions: (Finished Box is 5x7 inches, 1-1/2 inches deep)
You need to cut two pieces to make the box to hold the perpetual birthday calendar sheets.
1. One piece 9 x 7 inches.
2. One piece 6 x 6.5 inches.
Scoring and Assembly (See photos that follow):
1. On the 9 x 7 inch piece, with the 9 inch side across the top of your scoreboard, score at 0.5, 2, 7 and 8.5 inches. Cut diagonal pieces off each side of the top. I put the ruler on 0 for the right middle score line and placed the ruler at 3 inches on the second score line in a downward direction, marked and cut. Use the cut-off piece to guide your cutting the diagonal piece off the other side so they will match.
2. On the 6 x 6.5 inch piece, with the 6.5 inch side at the top, score at 0.5 and 2 inches. With the 6 inch piece across the top and the score lines on top, score at 0.5 and 5.5 inches. Cut out the pieces as shown in the diagram, leaving a sort of T-shape.
3. With the half inch score line at the top of the second piece, attach it to the first piece, lining up the score lines. This makes one long piece. Then fold in the side tabs of the second piece and attach to the first piece to form the sides of the box.
4. Bring up the front section and attach it to the long side tabs, forming your completed box. I used Tombow mono-multi to give me some wiggle room, but you can use sticky strip or other double-sided tape of your choice.
5. Cut DSP to fit the front and sides of box and add ribbon or other decoration to your box.

Piece #1 - 9 x 7 inches. Cut top corners as shown. 

Piece #2 - 6 x 6-1/2 inches - Cut pieces off at score lines as shown. 

Attach the two pieces together

Fold on score lines to form box. 

Bring up front and attach as shown

Card Inserts: (finished size 4-1/2 x 7 inches)
Print numbered sheets with lines on your computer, then cut to size and stamp. I have a PDF available at my Etsy Shop. See link to my shop on the right.

Whether you go with the kit from Stampin' Up or my version, I think you'll find a perpetual birthday calendar is a great thing to have! You don't have to remember to transfer birthdays from one year's calendar to the next. You always have the dates when you need them and it's easy to add new ones! Enjoy creating and thanks for visiting!

Denim "Jeans" Card

I have another idea for a guy’s card. I recently watched a video by Melanie Muenchinger on how to do a denim technique. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=quick+denim+technique+direct+to+paper&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=98DBD9BB081C4DD89D8798DBD9BB081C4DD89D87. I thought I would take it a step further and make a card that actually looked like a pair of jeans! I did find, however, that the newer Stampin’ Up ink pads don’t work. You need the older type pads. All you do is take any blue ink pad and drag it down across some white cardstock until you get the shade you want. I used Pacific Point. I layered the pieces so I would have functional pockets to put the money in.

Here are the instructions:

I would recommend doing the denim technique on a full sheet of white cardstock and then cutting the pieces as shown in the photo. I left it white to show the dimensions. You will need the following pieces for the “jeans:”

4 x 5-1/4” piece for layer 1

4 x 4-1/2” piece for layer 2

4 x ½” for waistband

3-1/2 x ½” for zipper flap

¾” x ½” for tab to attach button to (I actually had a jeans snap in my button bin so I used that.)

For the pockets, use a 2-inch circle punch and cut a small semi-circle piece from each side of the 4 x 4-1/2 inch piece (layer 2).

After the pieces are all cut, make faux stitch marks on all the pieces.

Attach the waistband with dimensionals to the top of layer 1.

Attach layer 2 with the pockets to layer 1 with dimensionals, making sure you don’t obstruct the pockets so you can insert the cash.

Attach the zipper flap without dimensionals to layer 2.

Attach the small tab to the waistband without dimensionals and attach your button.

Attach small silver punched circles to the edges of the pockets to resemble grommets or use small silver brads.

I then attached the finished “Jeans” to a piece of black cardstock cut at 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 and then attached that to the actual card. (Cut white cardstock at 5-3/4 x 9 and score at 4-1/2). Finished card size is 4-1/2 x 5-3/4 inches. If you don’t want to layer the jeans, you can attach it directly to your card and have a card that is an actual A2 size or 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches.

Stamp and attach the greeting of your choice, fold the cash and insert in pockets. Done!

Note: I think this would also make a cute gal’s card by using rhinestones, etc. and bling up the jeans!

"Cool" Summer Cards

Here are a couple cards I made with a summer theme. The popsicle card was actually “cased” from a shirt my granddaughter was wearing the other day. It was so darn cute I had to try to recreate it. I hand cut the popsicle. The popsicle stick is from the word window punch, and the remaining face pieces are either punched or cut from various Cricut cartridges. Unfortunately the background paper is retired, but you could use any cute ice cream themed paper.  It was a really fun card to make. I can’t wait to see if she likes it!

The second watermelon card is certainly not original. I have seen watermelon cards all over Pinterest, but I had to make one for myself. Everything used to make this card is current product from Stampin’ Up. I used watermelon wonder, cool cucumber and daffodil delight colors. The watermelon is super easy, just punch some circles, cut them in half, and layer together. The “seeds” are hearts cut in half and reshaped a little bit. The sentiment  is part of a stamp from the “You’re So Sweet” stamp set from Stampin’ Up! (p. 57 of the new catalog)

Hope you are having a fun summer! Enjoy!

June Paper Pumpkin Kit

June's Paper Pumpkin Kit had two different cards you could make. In the first picture, the card on the left is made according to the instructions. The card on the right is a card I made using the supplies included, plus some scraps of Bermuda Bay DSP from the Brights DSP stack. The bottom card is a version of the second card from the kit. Sometimes just seeing what's in the kit inspires you to create something else. If not, you can always make it like the instructions show you and you end up with some very cute projects. The kit this month makes 8 cards of 2 different designs along with 8 envelopes and liners. EVERYTHING is included, stamps, cardstock, embellishments, ink spot(s) and most of the time even adhesive! When you order your first kit they even include a clear stamp block!

There are many ways to try Paper Pumpkin. You can purchase a one month subscription for $19.95, 3 months, 6 months or a year. You can cancel at any time or skip a month by notifying them by the 10th of the month before the kits are sent out. It's a simple click of a button on the website, no questions asked! If you would like to give Paper Pumpkin kits a try, the links are below. I think you'll be impressed by the quality of the kits. You always have leftovers to use for other projects and who doesn't like a pleasant surprise in the mail every month?! It's almost time for the July kits to be mailed out. I'm excited!

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Happy 4th!

Very simple to make 4th of July card! It's a basic 4 x 5-1/2 card using Whisper White Cardstock, layered with the Real Red diagonal stripe DSP from the new Brights Collection Designer Series Paper Stack. I used Night of Navy for the corner piece cut at 2 x 2-1/2 and added punched out stars in whisper white. I used the scrap strip from punching out the stars to make the banner and inlaid Real Red cardstock stars on top. The "Happy" is from the Crazy About You stamp set and I cut the "TH" from the Birthday stamp. I used an old retired number 4 stamp. You can use whatever you have on hand. I stamped a tiny red star and cut the entire sentiment out with the new 1-1/2 inch circle punch and added a Night of Navy circle behind it cut with the 1-3/4-inch circle punch. HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!