Poppy turned 2
March 1, 2013
Poppy turns 3!
March 1, 2014Fancy Dry-Erase Calendar
Between doctors appointments, birthday parties, and activities it has gotten difficult to keep track of everything, and I have been known to forget a thing or two (ooooooops!). I’m not good about keeping a date-book in my purse because all I carry is a diaper-bag these days and most of the time it stays in the car to make my life a little easier when packing the kids up. I’m also really bad at using the calendar function in my phone. Hell, who am I kidding – I am bad about using my phone for anything but texting, calling, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. And yes, I have an iPhone that I barely know how to use. It was actually my husband who suggested getting some type of calendar and putting it in a central location so that we could start keeping track of everything… I guess he got fed-up with my forgetting dates & times of things. I decided to go ahead and get something but a simple paper calendar just wouldn’t do.
I loved seeing all of the glass dry erase calendars but none fit what I had in mind. Of course that always leads to me making it myself. While out at the Treasure Island Flea Market *THE BEST* I found an awesome large detailed vintage frame that was missing the glass. I scored the frame for $15 and took it to a local glass shop and had a custom piece of glass made for the frame. They were so efficient they even permanently mounted the glass in the frame for me since it didn’t have a backing to it. The glass cost me $10! So far, it’s a pretty cheap project.
I was torn on what I wanted to do with the color scheme & overall design of it. I knew it would be hanging in the laundry room which is a soft Robins egg blue. I thought green would be pretty against it so I went to Home Depot and picked up 7 different shades of green paint samples. I wanted to do 5 squares for each day of the week so I got 5 of each color. *as seen in the bottom of the picture*. Before I did anything with the paint chips, I needed to make the actual calendar box grid. I already had white vinyl for my Cricut so by hand I cut 4 thick strips to make the initial large calendar box & than proceeded to cut the additional strips for the grid a bit thinner. I measured all strips before cutting so that they were precise.
While I was cutting the strips out by hand, my Cricut was cutting out the “MONTH” title & the “SMTWTHFS” letters out of the same white vinyl. Once everything was cut out, I measured the glass and made tiny sharpie marks for the size and placement of the grid. Than I started applying everything.
This is where I got indecisive. I loved how simple and clean the calendar was without anything behind it, however, I felt like it needed something to make it ‘pop’. I added one row of the green paint chips (trimmed down to the size of the square) and applied with a super skinny paint brush and mod podge. And after adding the row of green I thought, maybe it needs a fabric backing… I tried it out & it was cute, but just didn’t look right…. perhaps too busy?
Having said that, let’s all take a moment to notice how adorable that printed burlap is! Printed burlap? Be still my heart! But, as you can see, it just didn’t look right and what a waste of the fabric since it would be hidden by the rows of green paint chips. Bummer. But I will definitely use the fabric elsewhere! So, I went ahead and added all of the rows of paint chips. I cut them all with my paper-cutter to make sure that they were all perfectly sized. And here’s a tip; to glue them on, I didn’t want to see any glue residue so I applied the glue ONLY where the white strips were so it would be hidden. Yes, I am that obsessive.
Please ignore my lack of baseboard… the house was IS under construction.
It’s pretty cute, right? The ombre effect with the green paint chips turned out way better than I had hoped, thankfully! Time to hang it!
It’s pretty cute, right? The ombre effect with the green paint chips turned out way better than I had hoped, thankfully! Time to hang it!
April. What a busy month! Thank God for the calendar because all of that was just way too much for this mama to remember. I write the dates on with the dry erase markers but I cut each month out with my Cricut in whatever color/design feels right for it. I’ve also color-coordinated each family member & type of activity… I write a little quote at the bottom of the calendar when there is free space, too. Oh, and that little dry erase marker holder? I made that, too.
I bought this cute little tin cup on clearance at TJ Maxx ($2) and c
ut it in half – SO NOT EASY & VERY SHARP! and then tacked it up onto the wall with tiny little dark nails so they wouldn’t stick out. It holds my assortment of markers beautifully!
All in all, the calendar has been fun. And cute. And really, I love that the most about it; fun & functional.
ut it in half – SO NOT EASY & VERY SHARP! and then tacked it up onto the wall with tiny little dark nails so they wouldn’t stick out. It holds my assortment of markers beautifully!
All in all, the calendar has been fun. And cute. And really, I love that the most about it; fun & functional.
Enjoy!
xo
ER
1 Comment
Absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to try this.