In My Studio: Family Calendar Tutorial

Coming from a large family I decided to make a calendar wall hanging to keep track of everyone's birthdays. I had great fun making this and am really pleased with the results. The instructions for making your own are below, feel free to customize to your own specifications. Have fun!

Materials and Tools Required

Wooden Board

Letters F A M I L Y

Small disks  (approx. 50 will be needed depending on how many birthdays you wish to add)

Paint

Small sticky letters J F M A M J J A S O N  AND D

Scrapbooking papers x 6

Jump rings 0.35in/9mm x 85

Small eyelet screws x 12

Spray adhesive

Jewelry pliers

Electric drill

PVA Glue

Paint

Scalpel

Extra fine permanent sharpies

Sandpaper

Ribbon or cord for hanging

Materials

1) Sand down the large wooden board

2) Drill two holes in the top of the large wooden board to enable it to be hung on the wall (as shown left)

3) Drill small holes in the top and bottom of each of the small wooden disks (as shown left)

4) Paint the edges of all the wooden FAMILY  letters in black, remember the inside of the A

5) Paint the large wooden board the desired background color, do a couple of coats.

6) Select the scrapbooking papers you want to use. Spray adhesive on the back side of the paper. Firmly press the right side of the wooden letter onto the paper. Leave to dry. Once dry use a very sharp scalpel to cut the paper around the letter

7) Paint the small wooden disks in 3 or 4 different colors to coordinate with your scrapbooking papers. Paint both sides

8) Use a sharp tool to make 12 holes along the bottom edge of the wooden board equally spaced out. Screw the eyelets into these small holes

9) Glue the FAMILY letters onto the painted wooden board, use a ruler to line them up and space them out equally. Leave to dry

10) Add the sticky letters onto 12 different disks representing the different months of the year: J F M A M J J A S O N and D (as shown left)

11) Write on the other small painted disks the family names and birthdays, use extra fine permanent sharpies in different colors  (as shown left)

12) Using the jewelry pliers open the jump rings and thread the disks onto the rings in lines of each month, order by the date with the month disk at the top.

13) Thread these lines onto the eyelet screws

14) Thread cord or ribbon through the holes at the top of the large wooden board to hang on the wall

"The way I see it, you should live life everyday like its your birthday"  Paris Hilton

Good Luck and Good Making

Sarah Omura

So Handmade