Finished Product: Birthday Calendar

Following through with a promise from a previous post, here are some photos of the birthday calendar I made, as well as the products and process listed below. Enjoy!

Photos

Products

- 1 wooden board, 1" x 6" x 20" (leftover from previous project) and sandpaper
- Acrylic Paint (blue, white, black), palette paper pad, masking tape, and brushes
- Alphabet stickers (leftover from wedding crafts, ha)
- Burlap "ribbon" (I can't find the product exactly online, but it was the same brand and packaged the same way as THIS product. It was in the party decorations section, and it was a thicker ribbon, for sturdiness) (~ $2.50)
- Small clothespins ($3.99 for 30) and thin marker or hefty pen
-Hot glue gun and glue

Process

1. Sand the board until desired smoothness (edges and faces)

2. Stencil the "birthdays" text. I would give you a specific process for this but I have a talent for being able to look at a font and replicate it fairly accurately, so that's what I did. Font I used was a classic Typewriter font. You could place stickers here if you'd like, but in that case I'd do it after step 3.

3a. For the stripe background, place long strips of masking tape roughly 3/4" apart. Paint one color and let it dry (I had to use several coats). Be sure to paint around the outlined text!
3b. Take off the masking tape and place it on the edge of the previously painted stripe, to give a barrier. Paint the blank stripes with your second color (again, may need to use several coats).

4. After the background dries, paint the sides (or leave, or paint the same as the stripes; there are a lot of options) and then paint the text outlines (Or use stickers. Options!). Let dry.

5. Measure out the spaces for the month labels. I placed mine 1.5 inches from the edge, and spaced them 1.25 inches apart. Place your stickers (the initial for each month).

6. Cut ribbon into 8 inch pieces (Or longer, or shorter if you have a small family. Options people!!). The burlap I used frayed when I cut it, so I sewed each edge with a zigzag stitch. Warm up the hot glue gun and place a pea sized dot on the backside of one end of the ribbon. Place that end of the ribbon underneath the month initial sticker, making sure it is perpendicular to the board's edge, so that it hangs straight. Press down on the ribbon so that the hot glue dries flat.

7. Cut another piece of ribbon to desired hanging length. Hot glue the ribbon to the back of the board. I placed the ends in the middle of the board and hot glued the ribbon from the middle to the top of the board (not done in the picture, which is why it hangs forward instead of flat).

8. The hard part! Write down the names of family members on one side of the clothes pin, and on the edge which clips, write the number of the person's birthday date. Clip the clothespin onto the appropriate month, and voila! A reminder of when people's birthdays are so that you don't forget them. The hubs is already using it to remind me of birthdays coming up!