Monday, January 28, 2013

Beauty and the Beast of Dry Erase Calendars

I decided to name this post "Beauty and the Beast" of dry erase calendars because I could not stand my last one and I love my new one!

With the new year here, I was ready to make a new calendar for the wall outside the kitchen.  I wanted it to be better than the one I had which was a store purchased dry erase.  I also wanted it to be a picture frame calendar so I could have an excuse to get some new chalkboard markers.  I also knew I wanted it to be blue and green to match the blue walls in parts of my home.  So with the stage set, I began! As a side note, how many pictures are too many for a tutorial?  I guess we will find out!

 Picture #1...


first glue down paper
I am just taping some paper down to use as the background for the stencil
stencil with laura ashley stencil
I am using a Laura Ashley Home stencil I picked up for little to nothing
laura ashley stencil
I have not used it on the walls before
yellow fail
This is the first fail- I stenciled yellow and red and it was not great-did not look good on blue walls

blue and green paint
Then I did blue and green and was in love( 2 fave colors)
blue and green looking good
Half done
letting stencil dry
A little nap for the stencil to dry off before the next step

first half done
close up

glow in the dark paint
here comes the BOOM- glow in the dark paint!
both halves done
Before the glow in the dark

all glowed up
All glowed up-I wish I could show you her "purty-ness" at night with the glow in the dark paint added!
add silhouette
Then I added some Silhouette birds and things to add character

frame before
Frame in gold before I spray painted it a really cool hammered bronze color
glue strings down
I used the last calendar as a guide to hot glue down the dividing lines on the glass of the new frame
coming along


on wall almost done
I then added yellow stickers as templates for the days of the week
finished
Then I wrote all over it with chalkboard markers-they wipe off very well!


pic thru mirror
The I took a picture of the finished project reflected in mirror to look artsy
the beast
The Beast! See ya on the 5th of NEVUARY! (never + February)



 Now that I have finished I will say that I love the fact that the glass is the only thing that gets wiped off and the stickers and detail are all underneath.  This is good because I can use dry erase and chalkboard markers and not worry about cleaning too much since it is just glass.  It cleans easily and just looks better.

I think that the hardest part was getting the lines measured and glued down and the yellow stickers.  I sometimes have no method to my madness and it took a while to get the stickers exact since I was not measuring as much at that point.

I enjoyed the process because I basically just kept grabbing stuff from around the house and using it like the yarn for the divider on the days and the yellow stickers.  I also was very excited that my Silhouette worked this time.  I realized that it probably needed a larger setting for the needle so I turned it to 3 and it cut properly....which means I am going to finally perfect that wall stencil I started!

Well, that's it- is there a wall calendar that you just can't stand any longer and need to bury?

8 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm so impressed with your thriftiness in using so many things you already had to create this "Beauty." And you made me chuckle along the way with your very entertaining tutorial. "5th of Nevuary"? I love it! And the blue and green colors look very fab - - and my husband would be a huge fan of that glow in the dark paint. So much fun!

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    1. thanks- it was fun grabbing things and hoping the end result would be useable and not overdone! I am enjoying it- glad you chuckled! HOPEFULLY like a 4 year old school girl!

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  2. I love this! Its a great idea to use a picture frame for the outside so that you can clean off easily. Thanks for linking up with us!!

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  3. thanks a bunch! it does wipe away easily for dry erase and chalk marker very well! Glad to link up! I enjoy y'all stuff!

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  4. Look at you getting all crafty! Love this idea and how it turned out! :-)

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    1. thanks I appreciate that!, yeah I originally thought it would be all crafts then realized I liked talking about faith and kids more but then I realized I had withdrawal from not enough crafting- so....

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  5. This is very original and pretty! I would probably not attempt such a complicated project because I am terrible at painting but.i like the idea of a framed calendar with the chalkboard markers!!!
    TY for visiting my blog today too! :)

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    1. thank you - its actually only complicated looking because I like to add odds and ends but essentially any pretty paper under glass can be used and it will be fun to write on everyday! thank you!!!

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