Quilled Arbor Perpetual Calendar

Hi all, back with another of the Custom Quilling DT projects.  This is a different perpetual calendar than the previous one that I did.  I saw several of these handy little block style calendar made from wooden blocks or paper and decided to give one a try.  The basic design of these calendars is blocks and bars that have numbers and months that can be mixed and matched for the correct date.

There are many square box templates and tutorials on the Internet and you could also use your Cricut to cut them if you have one.  Here is a good tutorial, with cute examples, that shows how to cut and assemble one of these calendars from card stock.  The month blocks are smaller and the base design is different but you can alter the design as you like.  If you alter the month blocks to be larger be sure to add to the end flaps as well so they will close properly.   

For the calendar assembly I inked and stamped the edges of the number and month blocks before I put the them together.  The numbers were cut from my Storybook Cricut Cartridge.  I printed the months out on my printer and then used punched the ends with a MS punch, cutting off excess to fit the block front. In the tutorial  the three month blocks sit on top of the calendar base and the number blocks fit perfectly on top of them.  Since I wanted to print my month names I made mine a bit bigger and only two fit on top of the base, the third is stored in the base.

The calendar base is constructed from an open rectangular box and a back piece that forms the arbor.  For the arbor back I started with a rectangular piece and used on of my circle Nestabilities that made a nice rounded shape on the top and ran it through my Cuttlebug only half way so it would leave a rounded top.  next I took the next smaller Nestie circle and laid it on the rounded top and did the same half way cut and then used my craft knife to cut the straight edge at the bottom of the half circle to finish the arbor arch.  The white lattice is a MS punch. 

For the quilling I used the pretty shades of blue and green quilling strips in the CQ Feb kit and quilled the flowers and vines adorning the arbor.  The grass on the front is made from hand fringing two strips of green card stock and layering them.  It isn't a straight fringe but one of tall spiky grass like shapes.  A blue bow and some Stickles to the centers of the quilled flowers finish off the design.  It is an easy design and can be altered in so many creative ways for a calendar that you will get many years worth of use from, or give as a gift.  Back tomorrow with another project a quilled bracelet.  Until then,

Shalom,
Sonya
Comments and project links are always read and appreciated!