Thursday, December 31, 2015

12 months in words and very few decorations, while January, 2016 waits in the wings


This was the first year that Kate at The Kathryn Wheel didn't have a linky link-up on her blog.  Since I'm not on Facebook or Flickr, I no longer had a way to share my calendar with others, except on my blog.  That may have been a good thing, though, because I never created drop-dead gorgeous calendars like most of my friends who make them.  But this year, I pared down even further, by taking calendar pages and gluing them to the journal I purchased three years ago.  I kept my decorations simple, never decorating the page until near the end of the month, when I could look back on it and see what was important in MY life that month.


For January, I actually stamped both the snowflakes and the sun/moon stamp.  In case you can't read the bottom lines, "Temps raised and fell faster than night followed day."


February was all about the NBA All-Star weekend and my friend Kathy's Kings and Queens altered book I was feverishly working on.  It was also the first month I used the teacup stamp on each Tuesday entry.

It looks like I spent a LOT of time working on my friend Kathy's Kings and Queens altered book as March Madness took over the sports (basketball is my sport of choice) enthusiast in me.

April was about recycling, NBA basketball play-offs, and birthdays. 

May's calendar is a perfect example of why I don't decorate my page until the end of the month.  May, 2015 was all about the rain, storms, hail, and floods.

June was a busy month, filled with lots of activities.  My calendar decorations were all about the great outdoors and spring turning to summer.

July had me on the computer most of the time due to an endless number of blog hops.  From SOC (Summer of Color) to Where Bloggers Create to WOYWW to Seth Apter's 7th annual Buried Treasure, I was nearly overwhelmed with blog visits.  My card reader quit working, too.  I still haven't replaced it.  Instead, I now take all my photos directly off my camera, a task that is even more time consuming than before.

I did very little "decorating" on this page, because, like a fool, I scribbled prices of some tape all over it.  Then I created the two rubber stamps.  I'd heard you could create a stamp from left over rubber, but I'm not really a hodge-podge person, so never considered it until I cut the rubber on some Stampin' Up stamps.  The leftover rubber became abstract stamps I mounted on a single piece of wood.   Even though the "decorations" were minimal in August, I was tickled with what I accomplished because I created these "stamps" from rubber that would have originally been thrown in the trash.

I've said before that I decorate the pages at the end of the month, when I know better what was relevant.  If you read the minutia, you will see there were lots of days I spent helping my friend Sally, where we took many things to the thrift store and sent some stuff to the trash, mainly because they were water damaged from sitting in her garage for many years.

I went for a bit of humor when I found all the dancing bunny stickers.  They reminded me of how many of the same or similar items I bagged for the thrift store, like more shoes than I could possibly count, more blouses than one needs in a lifetime, and for the women's shelter, more unopened beauty products and toothbrushes than any one person should ever have purchased in the first place.

In October, I decided to give this puny calendar at least one more year, since I had enough pages left in this Strathmore drawing pad I bought in December, 2013.   I took advantage of the changing seasons and used leaf rubber stamps as my decorations.

For my completed November calendar, I tried to pay homage to Paris, but I'm not much of a stamper.  I had some card stock I had painted autumn colors, then cut it and collaged over the pieces with snow inspired tissue.    I did this because we had an exceptionally warm autumn which turned deadly the last Thursday of the month when an ice storm hit my city.

I had planned to dig out some of my rubber Christmas stamps, but they were mostly too large for the calendar.  So, since I had a few stickers left over from years ago, I used them to decorate the page.  Nothing to write home about, but there never is in my calendars.

Turning the page to 2016,

it's actually starting out a big mess.  One of my pens leaked all over the page right after I created it.  Not sure how I'll make it right, but I'll figure ways to hopefully make it a bit more arty as the month of January progresses.

Most of my friends who create these calendar pages make lovely stamped or collaged images to accompany the small individual days they cut from scrapbook papers.  I've chosen the lazy way of doing it, but at least I can look back on the past five years and see what happened on this day in, say, 2012.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.   May your 2016 be artful, creative, joyous, and filled with good health.  The very thought that you are sharing a bit of time with me makes me truly appreciate your visit as we count down to 2016. 

15 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

I love the calendars you make because you use them, and that is what they are for. I joined in for 2 years, and made some wonderful pages, which I still have, but never wrote on them! Then I decided to stop! Glad you are having fun, and ink blots and paint splatters belong to life. Have a great day, and may your 2016 be happy, healthy and safe. Hugs, Valerie

Gaby Bee said...

Dear Elizabeth,
May the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity. Wishing you a joyous new year!

Hugs,
Gaby

Viktoria Berg said...

Bleubeard, Squiggles, Elisabeth - have a very Happy New Year and may your next calendar be filled with all sorts of interesting, fun memories! I have one of those 10-year calendars/diaries, now on the fifth year. It is fun to look back every day and see what I did on that particular day two or three years ago. Things change, even when we don´t notice.

Halle said...

Another year under the your belt. You'll be so happy one day that you kept this up. Looking back at old calendars is really quite fun for me. I have pretty much given up on paper calendars and have went digital...I'm likely shorting myself in the process.

Helen said...

I am sure you'll find a way round your inky errmmm blobs! Happy New Year to you. (oh, and if you want a treat, there's a Kew post from Monday for you!)

Lisa Graham said...

Wow Elizabeth! Your calendar is so full...full calendar = full life.

I wish a very healthy and happy and creative 2016!!!!

Krisha said...

Of course you can copy things from my blog. I got the info from Neet's blog, and thought it should be shared.....unfortunately.

Happy New Year

Craftymoose Crafts said...

I was busy all week enjoying having DD home on a week's vacation from work, that I never made it to T this week. But I just had to stop by today and wish you a happy healthy New Year!

pearshapedcrafting said...

I love seeing your calendar pages all together. If I hadn't started using squares as I do, I would be sensible and do my calendar your way! I know we don't link any more but I too love to look back (indeed, wanted to find out something the other week and had to use an old calendar journal) Our grandchildren love to look back to see what we did a few years ago too! Have a great 'eve ' and I'll see you in 2016, Hugs, Chrisx

~*~Patty S said...

I salute you for starting a project and sticking with it E!
Your calendar pages serve as a bit of a diary recording your ever busy life.
(at first I typed DAIRY = MOOO!)
Wishing you and the boys a Very Happy Healthy and Creative New Year.
Sending very best wishes always.
oxo

Nan G said...

Happy New Year Elizabeth, Bleubeard and Squiggles! Wishing you a healthy and creative 2016. Hugs Nan and the Girls

My name is Erika. said...

What a great way to remember a year. You had a very rich and full 2015, and I hope 2016 will be the same. By the way, I love the little blops of ink too. Hppy New year!

Anonymous said...

I like seeing them altogether on this post. Hubs got me a new owl calendar for my wall and I am looking forward to using it. I hate working on the stupid calendar on the computer, seems so much easier to just have it visible all the time. Might doodle on mine for fun at the end of the month. Thanks for the inspiration to make it your own. xox

Cappuccinoandartjournal.blogspot.com said...

Love to see those pages -- I make a datebook for every year and save them -- kind of like a journal or diary. Happy new year!

Seth said...

Absolutely love your calendar pages. Looks like 2015 was quite busy! Here is to a happy and healthy 2016.