NEW YEAR NEW CALENDAR

I made six little calendars this year, one for myself, the other five for gift-giving. 

The stack of the 12 months fits inside a darling little floppy disk holder that measures about 3 3/4" x 3 3/4". Just like the more traditional CD holders, this one snaps open and flips backwards to form a sturdy stand. 

Here is how it looks open, and all ready for the new year:

The calendar pages themselves measure approximately 3 1/4" x 3 1/4". I debated for quite awhile how I was going to decorate each month.

Of course, I wanted to do some stamping. I thought maybe some little seasonal background stamps, a bit of Washi Tape, maybe a simple watercolor wash background. Unfortunately, nothing truly clicked.

I started rummaging through all my Stampin' Up! stamps for ideas, and as soon as I saw this nefarious bunch of snowmen, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: One detailed image per calendar page, starting with this gang.

The natural way to progress through the year is to do them in order. Yeah, right. That somehow didn't work. As I was shuffling through the stamp sets, I would come across one that would be perfect for such and such a month. But not the one I was currently on. Instead of simply setting each of my new finds aside for when I reached the designated months, I decided that I DID NOT HAVE TO DO IT IN ORDER.

So, that's how I ended up choosing and stamping each months' image -- haphazardly. The way I do a lot of my creating.

As I finished stamping each of the month's six images, I started to line them up in order along a table edge, leaving spaces for the months I still needed to complete.

This process took me a few days. I have to admit that it took longer than I'd wished to fill in a few of the months' blanks.

In my search for the perfect images, I knew I definitely did not want to use the traditional images for each month, such as spooky for October, hearts for February, etc. I just wanted each month to represent a seasonal feeling.

One thing to keep in mind when viewing my selections is that I live in central Wisconsin. These images obviously would not work for someone living in Hawaii, for example. Just sayin'.

Since I was taking an inordinately long amount of time to get this project finished in time for Christmas giving, it didn't leave me with much wiggle room to get the images colored. Thus, I decided to give each page a hint of color. And that would suffice. And that is what I did.

Of course, first up is January:

February proved to be one of my more challenging months. I did not want to make it blatant hearts and flowers, you know, Valentines, etc. So, I finally hit upon this cute paisley design:

March in Wisconsin can be windy and blustery. The image I chose was actually from a Christmas set. I guess it was meant to be a dove of peace or somesuch. I decided it would simply be a bird being tossed in the wind:

In Wisconsin, even though our beloved robins start to show up in March, I chose to use him for my April page since by then, they are around all the time:

I will always remember the only time I went fishing while wading in a stream with my husband and father-in-law on opening day, early May. Even cooler than the fishing experience though was the discovery of a nest of newly-laid eggs. So, in memory of that occasion, I chose a nest full of eggs:

Being a June bride myself, I decided that my June page would reflect a bridal choice of image:

During July in Wisconsin, it is wonderful to witness all the beautiful butterflies:

August, while often being hot and humid, brings to my mind the serenity and coolness of some sort of waterfowl (in this case, a Canada Goose) drifting lazily among the reeds of a quiet shadowy pond:

September is when the farmers markets are full of newly-picked apples:

Of course, colorful fall foliage is always the focus of October in Wisconsin:

This sheaf of bundled wheat represents to me the abundance of Thanksgiving:

And, finally, a precious chickadee among holly branches is perfect for my December page:

OK. Now that we've reached the end of the year, and after looking closely at each month once again, I think I have made a decision to change a few things. After all, that is a woman's prerogative: to change her mind.

I'm sure you are all aware of the amazing success of the adult coloring book fad. I have decided to make my little calendar my own personal adult coloring book. I plan to "finish" each page by further coloring the images with some of my Prismacolor pencils, in addition to the marker coloring I've already done. 

Stay tuned. I will share my "new" pages with you in a future post -- when I get them finished!

With that said, the other five calendar recipients are welcome to do the same with their own personal copy!

Seasonal 

Smiles.