Doodlecharm Calendar

THIS IS MY SIXTH AND FINAL POST OF THE DAY. Be sure to scroll down to see EVERYTHING ELSE!

I know this is a long post but stay tuned; I have a great hint about applying die cut letters to your projects!!!

At Chirper Challenge, on the weeks between challenges, we are highlighting specific cartridges. This week we are doing the Doodlebug Cartridge.

My project took on many convulsions before I finally came up with this. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this first!!!

This calendar is part of a message center that I have in my kitchen. I think I’m going to move it to my craft room though. I think it will be a great place to put some inspiration.

The top is a piece of SEI cardstock with a piece of metal behind it; the middle is a white board with metal behind it and, of course, the bottom is a calendar. It is a blank calendar made of acetate. I also have the same SEI cardstock behind the calendar (with metal behind it).

I’ve had this for about a year and really hadn’t used it very much. When I decided to do this project, it had a hand scrawled “April” on it with “Happy Spring” written on the white board. I’m pretty sure that I' will now keep it updated since it’s so pretty! One of my Modern Sugar Boulevard sneaky peeks is the September header for this calendar. I’m sure there will be some Halloween and Fall challenges out there so I can make the October and November header.

Anyway, about my project. I cut the popsicle out with beige cardstock (like a popsicle stick) using the “ppscl” cut at 5-1/2”. I only have a baby Cricut so that’s as big as I could make it. Then I cut the “ppscl2” cut in pink cardstock. I didn’t think it looked much like a popsicle to me so I applied Versa Mark ink on the whole thing and embossed it with iridescent powder and stuck it onto the base. That’s when this whole thing started coming together.

I looked through the Doodlecharms booklet and chose several other images to cut for magnets: a sun, 3 flowers, a sucker (from the Christmas candy), a heart, a lady bug, a slice of watermelon and an ice cream cone. I thought that would probably be enough to mark special days for now. Everything was sprayed with Glimmer Mist or Glitz Spritz (two different brands of basically the same thing) to make it shine. I highlighted the sucker with a white gel pen and added Stickles to the heart. I also put a little heart pearl in the center of the heart after this photo was taken. That’s enough magnets for now but I’ll definitely be needing some more.

You know how just about everybody and their dog gives you magnets? I keep them all and hang them inside of my vintage 50s white metal pantry. Both doors are covered with magnets. Most of them from the many phonebooks that land on my doorstep.

I cut one of the magnets into pieces and used the red really sticky tape (I don’t know the manufacturer) to apply pieces of the magnets to the die cuts. I cut “Summertime” and “August” out using the Lyrical Letters cart.

Now, I have a little trick that I came up with all by myself. Somehow I didn’t get a picture of the first step but you can see what I mean by the photo from the second step.

I place a piece of purple low tack painters tape (I got at Wal-Mart) on my workspace. I tape each end down with another little piece of tape. Then I line all the letters up on the piece of tape, backward and upside down from what I want them to appear on the finished project. I then apply adhesive on to each letter using a glue pen. When the glue dries it remains tacky and becomes temporary. Then I can pick up the tape with the letters attached and make sure that they are where I want them to be.

After I have everything the way I want it, I apply glue a couple of letters at a time and apply them to the project. If you do too many letters at a time, the glue will dry before you get them on the project.

Does that make any since at all? It sounds very time consuming but it really isn’t. It really helps to take the time to make sure your project looks more professional.

With the “August,” I applied it while the glue was temporary. That way, if I choose, I can use it for another summer month!

Here’s a close up of the finished project. Like I said, I’ve had this board for a long time and it feels good now that its all decorated and pretty!

Well, I guess that’s enough! Quite a long winded post, huh.

By the way, it is still very HOT in my neck of the woods. It was 104 today and its supposed to “cool down” to the upper 90s. Uhgggg! I need to go to the store but I’m waiting until later so it might be cooler. Last time I did that it was still 98. At least by the time the sun is going down and it feels cooler!

Oh, I almost forgot. Here’s my Chloe while I was messing with my camera while loading these pictures.

I cut all her hair off a couple of weeks ago. Ya, I did it all by myself. You can tell because it’s so uneven!!! I don’t have the heart to pull those scissors out in front of her again! She doesn’t like it but she’s a good girl and puts up with me.

Blessings,

Christine