Desk Calendar Tutorial

Happy Tuesday!  As promised, here's a simple tutorial of yesterday's desk calendar project.  I will not go to the aesthetics, but focus more on the base.  Once you are able to make the base, you can make your own twist in making the calendar pages.  With my version, the calendar pages were stamped using Inque.  If you don't have a calendar stamp, you can always print to size.

The key to this project is the weight of your cardstock.  The heavier, the better.  You can even use cardboard or chipboard.  The more weight, the more pages you can put on your calendar.  The one I made yesterday was a monthly calendar covering only one school year, making it a total of 10 pages. 

First, you will need a 5.25 x 10 inch cardstock, then scored at these measurements starting from the left:  4, 5.5 and 8.75.  This will be our positive side.

Flip your cardstock over, and measure 2.25 inches from the left.  Draw a straight line with a pencil.  After that, mark an inch from the top and bottom edge.  This is our negative side.  I marked my lines with red so you can see better.  You can also see the scored lines from the opposite side.

Flip to the positive side again, and start folding your scored lines this way:

Flipping back to the negative side, make a half circle cut on the right side of the line that we drew earlier.  I used the Basic Grey Notch and Die Tool, but you can just draw with a coin or any circle and cut with a craft knife.

Before the next step, this is the best time to ink the edges or apply color to your base. 

Still on the negative side, we will apply adhesive on the opposite side of the 4" and 5.5" score lines.  Once it's secure, this is how it should look like:

And finally to secure the stand, you can fold down the circle tabs we made earlier.  This is how it will look like on the positive side:

The tabs will lock the 1.25" flap underneath.

To make the base sturdier, adhere a 5 x 3.75 cardstock to where the calendar pages are going to be.  Also adhere a 5 x 1 strip of cardstock on the area where the months will be.

Then at the back, attach another 5 x 3 cardstock.

From this point, you can start adding your calendar pages and other embellishments.  In my sample here, I inked the edges of my white base before assembly.  And I adhered a reinforcement black cardstock before I attached my calendar pages.  There is a reinforcement cardstock in the back as well.

I'd love to see your take on this project.  When you do give it a shot, please give credit and link back to Tinker Planet.

'Til next blog!