My 2013 Calendar

I'm obsessed with calendars and make one some every year. I have made calendars that fit into a CD case before, where I prettied up every month, which was nice as you could make it specific to any or one occasion during that month, but mega hard work! So my thoughts were to make one for next year, where I pretty up the frame and just change the month part of the calendar.
Whilst I was thinking about it, I kept my eyes  open on my www trips for inspiration and ideas. My computer skills do not lean towards to designing the months part, so that was where I kind of focused my search.
Now, one of the blogs I follow is Scrappy Sticky Inky Mess which belongs to Mary Anne. This is one talented lady with computer skills that blew my mind! She is also very arty and into grunge big time, which is not my forte, but I can and do appreciate the work that goes into it all. I also love to stay on top of techniques using various products, and boy does Mary Ann push the boundaries somewhat! You have to see what she does with big playing cards every month - wow! 
Anyhow, I digress somewhat. Mary Anne started on calendars awhile ago and boy was she on a roll - every post, for a few weeks contained more designs and ideas and I was suddenly wide awake to it all and knew exactly what I wanted. Then up popped a design that fitted my spec's exactly. A circular calendar in a CD case. This kick started my calendar although I wanted to pretty it up some more. I followed the instructions and this was my first attempt.

I did not like the square front, so tweaked the 'pattern' and came up with this version:

Much better, and pretty, but not pretty enough in my humble opinion!

I am a 'die' freak and want to and need to add die cuts to almost everything. Some folks are nuts about flowers, others bling, but me, die cuts and pretty ones at that make me happy! I also love the monochrome look and white on white, or cream on cream or better still white on cream, makes me very happy.

The end result was this:

Now I am VERY happy! Absolutely thrilled with this piece of art.

Anyhow, I emailed Mary Anne to tell her how thrilled I was and sent her photo's of the blue and cream versions and she contacted me to say how thrilled she was with the outcome and asked me to let her know when I posted it onto my blog. Well, here it is Mary Anne - a huge thank you for your inspiration and hard work. I intend to make a few more, but have since seen your new post for the match book calendar, and have a feeling I may well try this one out as well.
Do pop over to Mary Anne's blog here and snoop around - you will be inspired!