January completed and February ready to go in my never ending calendar

It's time once again to join Kate at The Kathryn Wheel to show my monthly calendar.  Seems like we just ushered in the new year, and here it is February already.

January started with snow and bitter cold, and ended with more bitter cold, accompanied by ice.  It also saw my wonderful red Deco Arts pen

die a horrible death when I tried to add both the words "Chinese New Year" to January and the word "Feb" to this page.  May it rest in peace (or piece as the case may be).

Once again, I used some of my handmade shimmer mists to make the background on both these pages. Too bad the pen had to die, since I don't have another red one to fill in the page that is all about hearts.  I used a stamp, but I don't have a stamp positioner, so none of the days lined up.  As with January, I cut out calendar squares that had memorable dates or something written on them.  It also helped me not have to measure where to place each of the squares I used for this month. 

I really MUST come up with a better way to use this new drawing pad I already hate.  If I add gesso to make it stronger, I won't be able to write on it because I don't seem to own a pen that is gesso friendly.  And if I only use the pad as is (which wasn't cheap, I might add), it buckles and ink bleeds onto the previous page.  Obviously, precision is not an option for the next two years, which is how long this horrible sketch pad will last.

However, I'm sure Kate and the other calendar gals who link up will have some lovely offerings which will more than make up for my shortcomings.