WALL CALENDAR TUTORIAL...PREPARING FOR 2013 IN STYLE!

2013 Wall Calendar

 

As I discussed yesterday, this year was a good year to create my own calendar. In MY studio there is little space that doesn't get covered up, so a wall calendar with deadlines and highlights is just the thing for me.  I had SO much fun making this calendar that I wanted to share the HOW TO with you!

 

The materials you will need are:

14" x 14" stretched canvas (this is so you can poke things in it easily) OR you could use a sheet of Styrofoam; it just may not last for YEARS...:)

10 1/4" x 10 1/4" pieces of...PAPER, BRISTOL BOARD, WATERCOLOR PAPER...something easy to poke things in to...(you'll eventually need 12...but I say do them as you wish throughout the month)

Acrylic paint and all the materials to paint NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO PAINT YOUR BACKGROUND YOU CAN SKIP THIS AND JUST GET WRAPPING PAPER, WALL PAPER...SOMETHING YOU CAN GLUE ON THE SURFACE OF THE CANVAS...FOR THIS YOU WOULD NEED SCOTCH SUPER 77 MULTI-PURPOSE ADHESIVE MADE BY 3-M or modge podge if you feel talented enough to get a smooth surface by applying your paper to the canvas...

Pens, ruler, markers...anything you want to use to make lines and write with...

STICKERS, BRADS...OBJECTS D'ART YOU MIGHT WANT TO DOLL UP YOUR PERSONALIZED CALENDAR!  I used SPARE PARTS brads from Hobby Lobby and some stickers...

an ICE PIC OR CLAY TOOL to poke holes in your paper and canvas easily so your brads will fit through; holding your paper to canvas.

Be creative in your choice of additional "texture" for your pages...OR, be REALLY creative and draw everything! HA...

 

STEP ONE you've already seen...cut your calendar page 10 1/4" x 10 1/4" and then make your squares 1 1/2"...this is approximate...but I found it worked well for me.  Leave the top row open so you can put your month design...It will be 1 1/2 " x 10 1/4" long...see photo! Put your numbers in your square wherever you wish...January 1 starts on Tuesday this year...it has 31 days.

Note that I found some fun 3-D letters that I will use for my months...and I stamped the rest of the word January because I am terrible at lettering!...You could: Cut the word out of a magazine; use a stencil; go freehand if you are better than I; type the word in any font you wish and print it and then SPRAY IT WITH KMAR VARNISH and then modge podge it on...use your imagination!

 

STEP TWO: A. Prepare your wall canvas...your base for your calendar.  You can PAINT IT, or as I mentioned apply wall paper scraps, collage from a magazine, paint it a solid color and apply decals...adhere a favorite wrapping paper...the base is up to you! OR, you could print a photo you love and apply it...click HERE for a tutorial from Pinterest on how to do this last one...

This is MY base...I basically cleaned off my palette and spread it on with my palette knife.  It was a little too dark, so I applied two thin coats (watered down) of a Golden product called Absorbent Ground.  It is a product that watercolor artists use to re-surface their paper over areas they don't want...it allows a surface that can accept paint...I like it for that reason, and it lightens things...ha

 

B. I then drew my design on my canvas...keeping in mind that the whole big part of the middle would be covering the surface with your page...I bet you could guess that I would put trees on mine somewhere!!

 

I drew the trees with a sharpie marker...painted more Absorbent Ground on the trees to make them a little more noticeable and used my sharpie to put the knot holes in my trees...If you look closely you can see the horizontal lines I drew as guides for where I would put my calendar page...

 

C. I drew my robin and juniper berries on top and bottom and painted them...

 

AND. last but not least I used my ice pic to poke holes through the calendar page into the canvas and put two snow brads on the corners to hold my page in place! You can use these holes for all your pages...or poke away anywhere on future pages...as long as it is under the page no one will see it!!

 



And, Voila' you have your calendar...now all you have to do is SOMETIME during the month of January make a February page...I'll try to do one and post it to help you remember!!

 

HAPPY CREATING...and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!