Free December Calendars (Yes, Multiple) and Desktop Backgrounds

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Most of our family had dinner at my cousin's house that day. She and her husband did a lovely job of hosting and even volunteered to have Christmas at their house!

 It's a new month, so I have a new calendar for you, but you have a choice to make! I made TWO calendars for December--one bright and fun, the other more traditional with reds, greens, and golds. Of course, you can always refuse to choose and just download both versions! I always use the calendars I post as the lockscreen on my iPad and the interior screen on my phone, so this time I'll have a different calendar for each device.

My mom and I went shopping Monday and found some beautiful ribbons at Michael's. Both of us bought far more than we will (ever) use, but we justified that by telling each other that we could sell the remnants in our flea market booth. Some of the ribbon I bought was so bright and fun that I decided to make the calendar using the same colors. It would make a good January calendar, too, and I thought about saving it for next month, but I've never offered a choice before and wanted to see what would happen if I did. So...here is the first calendar....

And these are the ribbons that inspired it....

Don't they just make you smile? I think these will look great on the silver foil paper I will use to wrap my gifts! I also picked up some jingle bells and glittery plastic poinsettias in the same colors. I can't wait to wrap everything!

When I finished the first calendar, I could hear my mom saying, "That doesn't look very Christmas-y," (Sorry, Mom!) and I had to agree, so I made another. Easy fix.

Both pages were made on my iPad with Coolibah, my favorite and most-used app! Each little sparkly gem on that tree was lovingly placed there for you by my caring fingers. If you need help getting the calendar to your iWhatever or phone, click here for instructions. This post from last January tells how you can make your own calendar using Coolibah. You can use this blank December calendar if you want to try it.

Andy thought I had lost it because I spent so much time on these, but I have a plan. I am going to use one or both of these as a scrapbook page! I realized recently that most of the calendars I've posted could be used that way. If you are a digi-scrapper, just use the page as your background and layer your picture over the actual calendar. If you are a paper scrapper, print the calendar (I'd probably use cardstock or a matte photo paper) then print your photo to fit right over the days and dates. 

If I can manage to corral both boys at any point during the next few weeks, I'll try it and show you how it turns out. 

I'm trying something else new this month. I would like to use the calendars I make as the desktop on my computer, but there's so much going on that it's hard to distinguish the icons. Soooo.... 

 I simply left the basic design and shrunk down the days and dates, leaving lots of free space for the icons. I was going to save this idea for January, but I'm really not very good at waiting.

There you have it! Now no one has an excuse for not knowing what day it is!

I'd love to hear from you! Let me know which calendar you like, or if the desktop idea worked for you. If you are able to use any of my calendars as a scrapbook page I'd love to see them or any calendars you create with Coolibah! Please send pics!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Just a Peek at My New Room

Did you notice that I haven't been around for a while? The past couple of weeks have kept me hopping! I was in charge of the projects for last Friday's "Stamp Club." The next day I had a table at a local holiday show, so I had to make sure I had lots of Christmas cards and mini albums. Then on Sunday, Andy suggested that we move my scraproom--aka craproom! 

 When Cole graduated from high school in 2007, Michael moved into Cole's room and I moved from a tiny little corner alcove in my bedroom into Michael's room. Michael graduated in 2011 and ever since he moved out last January, I have been trying to decide if the extra space I would gain would be worth moving ALL THAT STUFF. 

 Oh, boy, is it ever! 

We started working Sunday morning, clearing everything out of the bigger room and piling it into the dining room, sitting room, and living room. We even had an antique rocking chair in our kitchen for several days! I moved, sorted, and rearranged all week while Andy was at work. We're still not quite finished, but we are getting very close! 

 I thought I had more pics of my old room, but I haven't been able to find them, so we'll have to make do with just one. This is what my work surface looked like on the rare occasion when it was clean: 

 It's an antique library table set at a right angle to an eight foot long cabinet, both topped with glass shelving that was headed for the dumpster at Andy's office (so it didn't cover the whole surface). On the other side of the room I had an actual sewing table for my sewing machine, a table Andy built for me several years ago that held the computer, and a small desk sat in the middle of the room like an island. I had lots of shelving to hold embellishments, stamps, and other supplies. 

 This is what you see when you walk into my new room: 

 The big computer desk in the corner is new to my room, but not new to us. We used to have it in our bedroom, but we don't have a computer up there anymore, so it needed a new purpose. I love the way it anchors that corner! To the right is the desk that served as an island in the old room. It's a sewing table again, as it has been several times in its life. There was just enough room on the wall between the computer desk and the sewing table to hang a couple of spool holders for my thread. Next to the sewing table is a tall narrow chest of drawers that I painted for my grandparents a few years back. They recently downsized, so the chest came to stay with me. It's perfect for holding all my fabric and sewing supplies. At the very edge of the picture is a plastic storage cart that holds all my punches. Well, almost all. The big cabinet is around the corner. You'll see it next time. The table in the foreground is the library table that was against the wall in the smaller room. I did a little work on the finish (just on the top) and had a piece of glass cut for it so it fits properly. It looks awesome! It might even be pretty enough to motivate me to keep it clean! You can't tell from this angle, but there is still a lot of open floor space. I could pretty much waltz all the way around the library table!

 That's all I have for you right now. I'll post more pics as I get the rest of the room situated. I can't wait to show you the closet--Andy wired a switch into the doorframe so the light comes on when the doors are open and goes off when the doors are closed! It's sooooo cool! 

 Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

Free November 2012 Calendar

It's time for a new calendar for your iWhatever! Where did October go?! 

If you need a walk-through to save this to your iPod, iPad, iPhone, or other device, you can find instructions HERE.

Or, if you're not real excited about my design, follow this link to learn how to design your own calendar using Coolibah. Feel free to use this November calendar as part of your design: 

I thought the old skeleton keys and charms, along with the flowers and jewels felt very romantic and called for a "romantic" font, so I used Jane Austen. As soon as it starts to cool off I'm ready to curl up and re-read a few of her books, which never lose their charm, or watch "Pride and Prejudice." (My favorite version stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Mcafadyen.) I understand that Miss Austen once said that her main character would always find her true love. Who can resist a good love story with a happy ending? 

If you've never read any Jane Austen, you should know that it takes a bit to get used to reading the English language of the 1790's. After reading a book or two, you just might catch yourself speaking in a very different way. While I have thought  in Jane Austin-isms, I believe I've always caught myself before saying anything out loud, but a friend of mine said her husband has looked sideways at her and said, "You're reading Jane Austen again, aren't you?" after she used some archaic phrase or arranged her words peculiarly. I can almost feel myself slipping into that rhythm now....

Are you a Jane Austen fan? What's your favorite? 

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

"Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum"

They say everyone marches to the beat of their own drum. If that is indeed the case, ^this is my kind of drum! It's a drum, it's a lamp, it's a coffee table! It can't decide on just one thing to be, so it's all three. Sounds like a perfect metaphor for my personality. lol 

We had this old bass drum for the kids to play with when I taught preschool at Honeytree. When we decided it was time to close our doors, of course the drum had to come home with me. I knew that someday I would be inspired to do something really cool with it. So for almost five years, it has collected dust and spiders in my garage. When I pulled it out, it looked like this:

I don't know when or where it lost its other head, but I only needed one to make our table. I cut a circle from a piece of plywood and secured it inside the top edge with a few screws.

I used some scrap 2x2's to mount four wood fence post toppers inside the bottom. I'm skipping over that part because it was kind of complicated and I don't have pics to help with the explanation. If you reeeeally want to know how I did it, leave a comment asking about it and I'll get back to you. I attached a light socket to the 2x2's and painted everything black. Once the paint dried I put the head back on and plugged it in. 

In Aurora, band doesn't begin until sixth grade, but my son Michael has been a percussionist at heart since he started going to early morning practice and spending time around marching band kids with me when he was three years old. He now shares a townhouse with two classmates who were in the drumline with him. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect home for this!  

I have a whole TOWER of drums in my garage now,

just waiting to be made into something cool. I see 

another coffee table, an end table, and maybe even 

a couple of hanging lights! Of course I'll let you know 

how they turn out.

One more band-related item....

It's time for the Aurora Bands' annual Halloween Carnival and Chili Supper. The bands have hosted these festivities since the 1920's! Mom and I have cooked the chili and some scrumptious beef barley soup for the past 7 or 8 years, but this year I passed the ladle on to those who still have children in band. Since I didn't have to do all that shopping, chopping, and stirring, I painted a sign! One of the boys brought me a four foot by eight foot sheet of plywood. That's a BIG sign!

Now I'm ready for my chili!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time....

I Actually Have a Written Recipe!

Today is my grandmother's birthday! I knew exactly what to do for her. She and Grandpa love the glazed pecans I make each fall, so I prettied up an empty Starbuck's bottle, filled it up, and delivered it this afternoon. Of course, I didn't want to cause problems -- those two are very protective of their sweets -- so I gave Grandpa his own bottle! (But his isn't as pretty!)

I'll start with the recipe first, so you'll have something yummy to snack on while you "cutify" your bottles. I don't normally use recipes. I throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and most of the time it's edible. But I did start with a recipe for the glazed pecans. Of course I tweaked it a little (I tweak just about everything I touch!) and this is what I ended up with....  

How cool is THAT ^ ?! That is a photo of the pecans I glazed, and my handwriting in a computer font!

This recipe is SO easy! It's good with almonds and walnuts, too, but pecans are my favorite. The original recipe calls for only three cups of pecans, but there is plenty of sugar on them even if I use more than four cups. 

*************************************************

Now on to the cute packaging.... 

I started with a strip of white cardstock 5.5 inches wide and punched one edge using the EK Flower Burst Large Edger

Then I flipped over the strip and punched the other edge, creating three full flowers and part of a fourth.

Next I inked the edges a bit and ran the strip thru my Xyron to thoroughly cover the back with adhesive.

I ran a kraft paper scallop circle and a single punched flower through, also. The flowers on the strip didn't match up when I wrapped them around the bottle, so I came up with a plan. (AKA embellishment!)

I adhered the stip of flowers to the bottle. Since there were only three, the ends didn't meet. That's what the circle and the extra flower are for!

I layered first the scalloped circle, then the flower over the gap, covering the ends of the flower strip, and topped it all off with a bit of twine and a big blue button in the center of the flower. The fact that the twine will help hold down any edges that might pop loose is a bonus.

Here is another look at the finished bottle: 

The "Happy Birthday" is from Perfectly Penned by Stampin' Up! and I used the Apothecary Accents Framelits to cut the tag. (I trimmed off one end.) I also punched a scalloped circle from white cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug in a swirly embossing folder before adhering it to the lid. 

So...what does Grandpa's bottle look like? I camouflaged it so he could hide it from Grandma!

However, you'll be glad to know, they were sharing very nicely when I left!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

As for the rest of you, thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow is my last day of early morning band and Saturday is the last competition of the season, so I hope to be around a little more frequently again! See you next week!

Introducing the New Baby!

I admit it. I am neglectful. It has been over two weeks since my last post. I'm sorry my dear little blog. I've been so busy trying to take care of your new sibling that I haven't spent the time with you that you truly deserve. 

Don't worry folks! I'm almost 48 years old with two boys, 23 and 20, and there are no living breathing siblings on the horizon. However, I DO have a "new baby" here in www land. I opened an Etsy shop! 

I know.... One would think that working with the marching band, serving on the school board, keeping up with the booth at Uncle Doc's, and tending to this blog, along with all the extra odds and ends I find myself doing would be enough. *big eye roll* I have known for a while that an Ebay or Etsy store would be the best way for me to sell some of the things I love to make, but I just never took the leap. 

A couple of weeks ago I sent a Manilla Envelope Mini Album and a Wedding Mini Album to my sister in law, Amy, who lives in Los Angeles. She called to tell me that several people saw the albums and wanted to know how they could order from me! Eeek! So I hurriedly studied the pros and cons of Ebay and Etsy and decided that Etsy sounded like a better fit for me. Now, not only can I take orders, I can take payment with a credit card! (Insert "oohs" and "aahs" here!) 

There's a lot to absorb and it's a bit overwhelming, but I am officially an online seller! As of this moment, I only have two items in my store, but I have pictures ready to post for several others. I will have mini albums, wedding invitations, hand-crafted cards and stationery, and maybe eventually some pre-made scrapbook pages. If you would like to pop over and check it out, my address is etsy.com/shop/personallycreated. I still need to set up some areas of my shop, like the "policies" and "about" pages, but I figure that can wait until marching season ends next Saturday.

I tried something else new last night. I joined a Linky Party! Sounds fun, right? I've seen them before and never played along, but this one was on a blog that I really like called Heartwarming Vintage. I posted a picture of a card I made using some of their stamps. Now when someone looks at my card they will be directed to my blog. I'm linked to that blog. Clever, huh?

Ok. Time for me to get back to other things. I'm going to put some more items in my shop and make something cool to share with you. Hopefully I'll be back VERY soon! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Free October Calendar for Your iWhatever or Other Device

Happy October!

I had a whole little story about how Kelly Rippa almost used MY word, "iWhatever," the other day, but I decided to do a little research first and found that I am not the coiner-of-that-phrase. Nope. I'm at least five years late. Now I'm really bummed. 

Oh, well.... I can say that I appear to be the only maker of " iWhatever calendars" on the internet! I'm the only one that calls them that, at the very least, because this site is the only thing that came up when I Googled it!  

Here is your new calendar for October. It doesn't have nearly as many layers of embellishments as most of my others have had, but I didn't want to make it all foo-fooey. I wanted it to have a Halloween-ish feel to it. I made it on Coolibah, my favorite iWhatever app known to humanity, but I just couldn't get it to look right. I decided that the colors weren't working, so I used a photo editing app called Snapseed to change it to black and white. Perfect! It's a little shorter from side to side than the others have been, so don't panic if it doesn't fit the screen the same way. You can adjust the size when you save it to your lockscreen.

For those of you who have never done this before, you can put this calendar on your phone, iPod, iPad, or even your laptop or desktop computer by following the directions you will find here. 

If you would like to make your own calendar using Coolibah, I give directions in this post. Feel free to use either of these calendars. Just save them to your Photo Album and use them like any other picture. 

I hope one of these tickles your fancy!

 AHS MARCHING BAND UPDATE

The band has marched in two competitions so far. We drove about 3 hours Saturday to compete at Sullivan, which is near St. Louis. The color guard (the girls I work with who spin the flags and rifles) didn't score very well last weekend in Webb City, but I am VERY happy to say they won Outstanding Color Guard in Sullivan. The Houn Dawgs also won Outstanding Percussion and First Place in our class. Only one band outscored us all day, and it was in the bigger class. Two down, three to go! (That means only fifteen more days of waking up before dawn! Woohoo!)

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!