2009 – Late as Usual

Every year my pal Terri and I collaborate on a calendar, making two pages each of six months. Each year we swear we’re going to get an early start on next year’s calendars, and each year we’re not nearly done by the time January rolls around.  This year was no exception, of course. I managed to finish January by the first week of January, which I think is quite an accomplishment, but the rest of the pages only just got done this afternoon.  (Still, I’m way ahead of the game compared to last year.)

January’s pages are currently at work.  I taped together two 8″ page protectors, tacked them my corkboard and just switch out the pages every month.   I keep the “used” pages in an 8″ album and print out a little summary of the month’s activities to go with them.  It’s rather like a decorative diary and so much fun to look back through every December. 

I can’t wait to see what Terri has come up with!  It seems like our pages get better every year.  For March’s design, I took inspiration from the Laurel Burch cigar box I made for a swap last month. It took quite awhile to do, but it’s a ton of fun cutting, pasting and punching and I really like the bold colors.

A vintage Mother’s Day theme seemed appropriate for May. This is definitely more my usual style.  For some reason, crystal gems always look like silver studs when they’re scanned.  I’ve had the laser-cut border stickers for at least eight years.  (I wonder if they still make those?)

July is an homage to Terri, who loves her some cowgirls! I had the perfect suede ribbon in my stash (and no idea where I got it).  It came with the eyelets already installed; I just added a length of hemp cord.  The background is acrylic paint and the papers are by one of my favorite companies, Daisy D’s.

September is all about the magic! I used paper from the “Once Upon a Time” line by Die Cuts with a View for the background pages. (It’s so handy to have them cut to 8″ square already!)  The fairy image is from a collage sheet available at Shabby Cottage Studio.

This is the top page for November; I haven’t had a chance to make the bottom yet. I’m all in an Asian mood lately because I’ve been playing a game called “Liong: The Lost Amulets,” which is far too much fun.  (Meaning I’ve wasted hours playing it instead of making calendar pages!)  The background is fabric from a fat-quarter stack I got at Joann’s.

I can’t wait to put these together with Terri’s pages to make a wonderful 2009!