August/September Days

At the beginning of the year I made a monthly calendar by hand, and each month I've been adding stamps and drawings for the big events that happen.

Here is August, a butterfly made out of different scraps of fancy paper.  For June, July, and August I went with a Hungry Caterpillar theme.  June was the caterpillar, July was the cocoon, and August was the butterfly.  

In the beginning of the month we went up to New York for our friend Derick's bachelor party.  My mom's sister Lynn had a birthday, and I totally failed to call her to wish her a happy birthday. Boo me!!!  I hope she had a lovely day!  

When I flipped over to September I was really pleased.  I forgot what I had drawn, and it's way cooler than what we've been staring at for the last month.  I'm beyond over the butterfly I made for August.  

This month is going to be another busy one.  We have two weddings to go to.  The first one is Aaron's cousin's wedding, and we'll be traveling down to D.C. for the day to celebrate with his family.  At the end of the month we have Aaron's best buddy Derick's wedding.  Aaron is in this wedding, and it's all the way at the tippy top of Vermont, so it will be a long weekend of celebrating.  We can't wait!  :)  

I was busy all day with the house, and getting ready for tomorrow's festivities, and I'm beat!  Hope ya'll have a great day, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Calendar Talk

I know it's July 8th, and I shouldn't have anymore June things to post about, BUT here is my handmade calendar from June, and my July calendar.  

I really like June's calendar.  I think that might have played a big role in my procrastinating.  I want June to stick around a little longer, please.  

We managed to jam a whole lot into this month.  We started it off in Bennington, Vermont watching Peter Dinklage talk, and checking out local tourist attractions.  Then right into my niece's baptism.  Next, the week of birthdays, beginning with my cousin's, then my uncle's, finishing off with my Grandmom's birthday, she turned 82!!!  Aaron & I went to our first rodeo in Cowtown, NJ.  We traveled up to the Adirondack's, and celebrated our friends' bridal shower.  Sadly, only to return to a beyond sick pup, and we had to say goodbye to Moose.  The month ended with our six year anniversary of being a couple, but we didn't do anything.  

July is supposed to look like a cocoon.  Ya know?  Like the very hungry caterpillar from June ate just the right amount, and is now hiding out while it transforms.  July is a good time for reflection, shedding old ways, and finding new beginnings.  

Today we went to an ice cream festival.  It was crazy hot outside, so we didn't stay long, but we did listen to some live music, and eat some creamy vanilla ice creams.  Plus, we got to try some pasta from this new restaurant we've been wanting to try out.  All the vendors were local creameries, eateries, crafts people, and brewers.  I wish I had a bottomless pit for a stomach, so I could have tried more than one ice cream! 

Tomorrow is my sister-in-law's birthday, and Friday is my cousin's birthday!  Then on the 21st we'll be celebrating my brother's engagement.  I can tell this month is going to get just as busy as June.  

Well I hope ya'll are staying out of the heat, and happy DIYing, chris.  

Happy Birthday, Aaron!!!

Wow, May really snuck up on me.  Since yesterday was Monday I didn't do an April wrap-up, and I'm going to skip it again, because ... today is Aaron's BIRTHDAY! Yay, Aaron!  I love him bunches!  I'm happy to be with him for another birthday, and I look forward to many more in the years to come!  

Aaron's mom makes a fantastic cake, any kind - she can bake it.  So of course Aaron has a favorite cake recipe, and it's yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  It's mostly about the frosting, Melinda (my mother-in-law) has the most amazing frosting recipe.  While we lived with them out in California (where Aaron's from) she taught me how to make a sheet cake with her fantastic frosting.  For the first time, I attempted to make a layered cake.

I think I did pretty dang good for my first time.  I also attempted those cute 'happy birthday' banners too.  I've been seeing them around the internet a lot, and they were easy to make.  Plus we only had one candle, but I did have all the stuff to make the bunting.  

I've made cake from scratch before, but usually red velvet, so the yellow cake from scratch was another first.  My mom told me I should enter a contest with my cake, but she usually likes everything having to do with chocolate.  :)  Everyone agreed it was good.  I thought it was a nice creamy flavor, and very moist.  Definitely different from my usual Duncan Hines box mix.  Another baking tip Melinda taught me, Duncan is the best box mix, and I totally agree.  

On a similar topic I also worked on my May calendar today.

As usually with my LARGE family there are a lot of birthdays. Happy B-day Aaron, Happy Birthday Chris Helmerson (my brother on the 9th), Happy B-day Regina (my cousin on the 16th, and Happy Birthday Michael (another cousin on the 18th)!!!!  Plus we can celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Mother's Day.  I like how Cinco de Mayo's day turned out.  

Here is the top of my May calendar. 

Until tomorrow, Happy DIYing, chris. 

March in Numbers

March in Numbers

I loved March's handmade calendar.  That dang elephant pair is too darn cute!  Our special days I marked are Jessica's birthday, Daylight Savings, St. Patrick's Day, the First Day of Spring, and Cricket's 7 Month mark.  

  ON THE BLOG:

*I started a Facebook page for 365 at the end of February, and I'm up to 170 FOLLOWERS!  Thank you everyone!  I'm happy to have ya'll here, and I hope you keep coming back!  

*At the end of last month I had seven awesome Google+ followers, and now the blog is up to 19 FOLLOWERS!  Thank you new comers & returning followers!  Come, stay awhile, have a cup of tea, and tell your friends!  :)  I'm so happy to have your company.  

*I made 31 blog posts!  Of all those blog entries I posted 5 recipes, 11 DIYs, and 8 photo based project posts.  

FOR WORK:

*I traveled to 14 different schools.  Collecting payment for 985 miles driven!  I took approximately 2768 individual pictures and 3 group photos.  

MY PERSONAL LIFE:

*Aaron and I sent special happy thoughts to Jessica on March 3rd for her birthday.  We made a card, but it never made it :(  The card made it all the way to California, and then came all the way back to Delaware, and it's been sitting on the desk ever since.  Opps!  I'm terrible with celebrating birthdays!  

*On March 20th we gathered to celebrate my brother, Chris announcing his engagement to his lovely girlfriend Jamie!  

*Cricket reached her 7 month mark, since her cancer diagnosis.

 April's special dates include Easter, our one year wedding anniversary!, and Chris' birthday on the twenty-fifth.

April's little nest calendar is pretty cute too! March was a great month, and April will only be better!  Happy DIYing, chris!

Finishing touches on the Calendar!

Finishing off my monthly calendar!  I should go ahead and mark all the birthdays and holiday's now, but I would rather do it each month at the beginning.  So, first I matched up all the months that will pair together for binding.   I glued an extra scrapbook sheet onto the day's for December and the January art.  This helps add strength for binding.  Next, cut up a bunch of 1.5 inch strips off of basic printer paper.  Add a line of glue on one side of a strip.  I used Elmer's No-Wrinkle Dual Tip Glue Pen (the fat end).  

Then, place the strip half way on the days for June at the top.  

Now place August's sheet which matches up with June's days on top of each other.  Line them up perfectly first, then apply glue to the other half of the strip.  Fold it over apply pressure all over making sure to smooth the pieces together.  

Continue to do that for all the corresponding sheets.  Once you have all of the sheets matched up together stand them up, and line the middles up perfectly.  Stick a needle and embroidery thread through an inch up from the end of the binding sheets.  

Stitch a straight run up the middle.  I went back over the front stitches so it was one continuos line, hopefully that will add strength.  

I made sure to space the stitches so the last one went out the back, and then I knotted it on the backside and cut it off.  

I have a tiny nail in the wall for my calendar already, so I used a binder clip to hold the first month up.  

Then I stamped cupcakes for the birthday's during January, and we have a graduation party to go to on the 28th so I stamped a party hat & wrote the time down.  

I also colored the cupcakes in with colored pencil, and wrote the birthday person's name in sharpie next to it.  

                                        

Oh, and today is our one month anniversary, Happy DIYing!

December

For the last month of the year, December, I decided to freehand a Christmas tree with glitter glue. Then I wrote out 'December' at the bottom.  Tomorrow I'll put the finishing touches on whole calendar.  

Hope you've enjoyed!  Happy DIYing!

November

Today I worked on November.  For this month I wanted to revisit a classic children's craft - the paper turkey.  I'm sure anyone who attended public elementary school in the US made one of these at least once.   To start I cut out all my turkey pieces, 17 feathers, one rainbow shape, one circle with a flat bottom.  one turkey head & neck, one beak, and one wing.  

Second, I glued all the feathers down to the scrapbook paper.  Starting on the bottom and working my way toward the center.  Glue one feather down on the left, than one the right to keep things symmetrical. 

Then, I wrapped maroon yarn, one brown, and one black embroidery thread around the rainbow shape.  I taped down the ends on the back.  When that was done I hot glued that overtop of the feathers.  

Next, I glued the neck to the circle, then the beak to the head, and the wing to the body.  Then I hot glued the front part of the turkey to the yarn.  

Finally, I wrote 'November' out in gold glitter glue.  

Happy DIYing!

October

Since October is my favorite month I wanted to try using a printmaking technique.  I'm a little rusty, because I haven't attempted any printmaking in almost six years.  For some reason I was waiting until I got all the 'appropriate' equipment and space for such a project, but alas I could wait no longer.  The stuff I used isn't the best, because I used what was lying around my house.  Nonetheless I'm happy with the results.  

First I sketched out my stencils on foam, and then I cut them out.  Then I glued them down on a (terrible) piece of plastic I had from my printmaking days.  For better results I would suggest a nicer piece of plastic, and foam that has adhesive on the back.  

(this is after printing with the stencil)

Then I used a piece of glass and rolled out some black printmaking ink with a brayer.  My brayer was 8 inches wide, and I found that was too big for this job.  It was hard to create even pressure over the brayer, thus making it hard to get an even coat of ink on the foam.  After I felt my brayer was properly charged, or evenly coated in ink I rolled it over my foam stencil.  This should coat the foam in a nice even layer of black ink, if not you can go back over any spots that may need more ink.  if there are any spots of ink on the plastic, be sure to wipe them off with a paper towel before proceeding on to the next step.  

Next, carefully place your stencil face down (or ink down) on the paper you wish to print to, and add pressure over the surface area.  If this is your first time trying this I suggest testing it out on scrap paper first.  You can use your stencil to make multiple prints, just apply more ink.  After evenly applying pressure all over the back of your stencil, you can carefully lift it off of your paper.   

After that I placed a paper towel over the print so I didn't smudge it, and above it I wrote out 'October' in pastels.  I used two different oranges, a yellow, and a brown to add depth to the coloring of the letters.  When I was done with the lettering, I covered the moon with orange, and filled in the windows of the haunted house, and traced the outline of the tree.  Once that was complete I sprayed it with a clear glossy finish so the pastels didn't smudge.  

Happy DIYing!

September

For the change of seasons in September I wanted to try a different technique.  First, I started with a piece of white fabric, about 12 inches by 22 inches in size.  I ironed the fabric flat.  Then, I placed two 4 x 5 inch blocks on top of them centering each block.  I then used black ink to trace around both blocks.  I let the outside edge be messy, but made sure there would be a crisp edge on the inside.  Then, I removed the blocks leaving two clean white apertures.  

After the black ink dried I used brown, red, and green pens to doodle an image for September.  I used the bottom square to test how the pens looked on the white fabric before starting in the top square.  When I felt comfortable, I started with the brown pen working in the corners.  

I wrote out 'September' in green ink.

Then, I filled in the borders so that there wasn't any white space left around the letters.  Once the drawing was complete I cut out the top square with an inch border.   Then I glued the piece of fabric down on the scrapbook paper for September.  

Happy DIYing!