WOYWW – Altered Calendar Tutorial

Happy WOYWW to you, dear friends! How often do you review your WOYWW posts and look for patterns and connections in what you’re creating? It’s not often that I do, but this year, I see a thread as January unfolds. My first WOYWW of the year, New Year, Blank Slate, was about my huge new desk calendar and all that would unfold as the year progressed. Last week, I gave you a peek at a project I was working on as I wrote about Fiskars Paper Trimmers. Today, I’d like to share my first creation of 2012. I altered and personalized my daily calendar/planner – and I thought I’d share some tips for those of you who would like to do the same!

The planner that I altered for this project was Franklin Covey’s Botanika planner – isn’t it lovely? I received this planner from my friend Melanie Moore at Only A Breath. I love its soft beautiful colors and the look of hand-stamped images on its interior pages. Here’s a peek inside:

Because the color scheme is so prevalent throughout this book – it’s on the tabs and it’s on the each page – selecting papers and embellishments that coordinated with the book were an essential part of this project. So, my first step was to take a stroll through my stash and select the perfect paper – Basic Grey’s Sultry – for the cover.

While you’re digging through your stash, pull out a few essentials: a good paper trimmer – a hole punch sized for your book – and your favorite adhesive!

To achieve a professional look for your book, you need to carefully remove the covers and any pages you want to alter. To do this, flip your book over, gently pry the wire rings apart, and remove the covers you need to work with.

Once you have removed the covers, line your covers up on the paper to see where you want to make your cuts. This also gives you one final chance to make sure you have picked the perfect colors for your project before you begin to cut your paper!

Next you are going to cut your paper to size and then adhere the paper to the covers. If you have a large Xyron, this is the perfect project to use it on – but feel free to use the adhesive of your choice!

After you have adhered your paper to the cover, the back of your project should look similar to Photo 9. Punch holes in the proper spaces.

After you have punched the holes, flip your papers over – decorate and embellish your covers to your heart’s content – then carefully slide the covers back into place and tightly close the wire, testing your book to make sure that it opens and closing properly. Here is what my planner looked like before I re-assembled the book:

I really enjoyed personalizing this planner and look forward to sharing more special projects in the upcoming year!

Challenge Yourself

• Basic Grey Challenge #60 – Something New – 1/20/12 – (New Planner/Year)
• I Pledge To Use It Up In 2012 Challenge – Used existing stash for this project!

Keep The Inspiration Coming

For more inspiring and creative ideas, please subscribe to Create With Joy by:

• E-Mail
• RSS Feed
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Visit These Places & See Cool Stuff

To share your creative ideas and connect with more creative souls, please visit:

• Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy
• WOYWW at Stamping Ground

To see what Legend, everyone’s favorite Crafty Coon is up to this week, stop by:

• Wordless Wednesday

Have a fabulous week and be sure to join me for Friendship Friday, where connections are made and friendships are grown!