perpetual postcard calendar

I found this idea back in December, on Design Sponge, and I immediately wanted to make one for my friend Nan. She has written down everything that her baby does every day since the day he was born, so I figured that this would be easy and fun for her to fill out.

Of course I made one for myself in the process. I find that making 2 of something is way more fun than just making 1. And it also doesn't take you any more time, so.

It makes sense, right? (validate my insanity, will ya?)

I searched etsy to find the perfect ingredients, and found these:

Vintage berry baskets, from LA, never used.

These are what I really, really wanted to use- but they are so fragile that daily use or just one tumble onto the floor would ruin them. (I know, because I already broke one in the midst of making these fun calendars.)

Classic berry baskets, also found on etsy. I couldn't find them in natural, like I wanted- so I painted them.

Kobe wanted to know what the hell I was doing, sitting on the floor under the window taking photos of green berry baskets.

"I'm trying to find the best spot in the house for natural light so my photos don't look so lame-o, that's what I'm doing kitten."

Then she insisted that I get my butt back on the couch, so that she could take her 10th nap of the day on my torso.

I used 4 packs of 4x6 index cards, (I messed up a lot) and I used my printer to date the cards.

The date stamp that I liked the best was $30 at Office Depot, and I really didn't want to spend that kind of cash for one project that could easily be completed with my printer.

I searched and looked, but couldn't find any vintage postcards that were perfect. Nobody had a set with 12, and the sets I could find were in 4's or 6's- and those were way too expensive to be cutting up, and I just couldn't find any that that I liked. So I dived into my stash of cards and postcards. (I have a small fortune in cards. I love them. Yes I need them all!)

I ended up using the "Take Care" postcard set. It's by one of my very favorite artists- Nikki McClure. She has the most amazingly simple style- and she writes children's books (I currently have all of her books in my Amazon shopping cart- I'm just waiting for the perfect time to ask Danny to buy them for me, a time when he's not really listening, and says yes to whatever I ask.)

The finished calendar. I love how it turned out. It's exactly what I wanted- Isn't it nice when things work out?

Painting the baskets was easy- 2 quick coats of acrylic, and a quick spray of gloss varnish. The paint also stiffened them up, making them even more durable.

Now I just need to get into the habit of writing in mine everyday....

(some photos are from the design sponge website)