I bought a Perpetual Birthday Calendar and started working on it last year but what with my Spanish trips and then starting my new job I didn’t quite finish it. A couple of weeks ago, I offered a class to make the project and hilariously two of the attendees had last minute birthday related surprises that meant that they couldn’t make it. We rescheduled to a Sunday afternoon and spent a happy time playing with the kit. I had already done 9 of the months but although everyone followed my January sheet, by February they were choosing other coloured hearts (included in the kit) and by March they were off doing completely their own thing. It was really fun. Encouraged by the group, I started making a few additions to my previously “completed” months as well as finishing the missing three months which I’ve posted recently. And yes, as per our “rule” of whether it was a good stamping time, we ended up with glitter on our faces.

I was going to say that there were quite a few additions to these half dozen months, but on reflection I find that all but three of the nine that I’d already completed had something added! I posted about December recently so nothing has changed there, but for November, I added the N which I first dabbed onto the mossy meadow ink pad. I then put the sticker over the banner and used the clear Wink of Stella to give it some glimmer and shine. I felt that August was a little plain so I added the clear Wink of Stella to the blackberry bliss butterfly and then a few of the sequins that came in the kit. Yes. I used sequins!

I jazzed up July a little by adding some of the stars that I cut out of silver glimmer paper with the confetti stars punch – it was easy since they’d already been cut out for December. April is one of the months that was left unchanged. For March, after seeing what James did, sequins had to be added to my March page.

I blogged about September and October recently since they were two of the unfinished pages. June and January haven’t been altered from their original state but who knows what might happen when we get together for the others to complete their calendars!

February had the clear Wink of Stella added to the heart – this new sparkly brush pen was a huge hit at the class, I can see why it’s currently on back order. May has had significant change – it felt as if there has been something missing on this page for a long time but I couldn’t decide what to add. I tried all sorts of shapes and even ribbon but nothing worked. In fact I only realised what I wanted this morning and finished it just before taking the photos. I cased my own idea with the double layer of flower cut out using the Botanical Builder Framelits dies where the bottom is melon mambo and then using the It’s My Party enamel dots as the centre of the flower. It’s extremely fortuitous that I used melon mambo on May because the enamel dots only come in three colours – mint macaron, crushed curry and melon mambo.

So there’s my new and improved Perpetual Birthday Calendar. I hope it inspires you to order the project kit and stamp set and gather a few friends and make your own calendars. The kit and stamp set together are only $40 (and of course you only need one stamp set between you) which puts you very close to a Sale-a-bration freebie. And very close to a whole load of fun!

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Yesterday I had a card class in which we played with the Perpetual Birthday Calendar kit – it was originally scheduled for Friday evening but due to a couple of unexpected birthdays, we moved it. The irony of this was not lost on us! As usual, we had a great time, glitter appeared on faces and clothing which has become our measure of a successful crafting time. I had done most of my calendar ahead of time so that I was available to help some of my more novice crafters but I had three months to go. We started with January because it’s the first year, but in retrospect we should’ve started with March since January and February aren’t terribly useful at the moment. But we’ll finish our other months soon (apart from Nicole who finished her entire calendar yesterday afternoon). Here’s my September page.

I first stamped the September in rich razzleberry and the leaves (both from the Perpetual Birthday Calendar stamp set) in pear pizzazz and mossy meadow. I used the two greens to cut out a leaf using the botanical builder framelits dies and glued them down. For the S, I cut out a rough square around the S and then pressed it onto the rich razzleberry ink pad. Once it had dried, I added that on top of my leaves.

We learned a few things during this class. It takes a long time to do the calendar because everyone has their own ideas and takes time to think about each month. Jacquie decided my beach like colours for March were better for August and switched. She also, along with James, wanted raindrop shapes for April – and they found what they could use in the Flower Fair framelets set. There was a lot more glitter and sequins on other people’s calendars than on mine  (although some of my pages had sequins added to them yesterday). The Wink of Stella clear pen was very popular for adding a little sparkle here and there. All in all, our calendars were all different although we used the same colours as each other for each month – the colour choice is the hardest part apparently. And this has set us up for birthday card classes so that we can actually have the cards available to send!

It fits in beautifully with Shannon West’s movement, the one to actually send real cards. Her #Imbringbirthdaysback stamp is back in stock and only $12. Mine arrives in a couple of days and it will be adorning my envelopes from now on.

See you tomorrow,

Liz