Make Your Own Ridiculously Easy Perpetual Calendar

This year is almost gone and I’m still trying to get organized. UGH!!! Where does the time go? One fun idea I had for our messy office is this DIY perpetual calendar. It’s super easy, and it combines two of my favorite things: scrapbook paper and stamps.  Hands up, who doesn’t need a perpetual calendar in their office?

I wanted to give the calendar a farmhouse feel so I picked up some hessian and weathered wood scrapbook paper. But you can use any design that suits your décor. First, figure out how big you want your calendar to be. Ours is 20 cm  wide x 14 cm high  (7 7/8″ x 5 1/2″), so I cut strips that are 4.5 cm x 12 cm (1 6/8″ x 4 6/8″).

I chose to use the weather wood strips for the days of the week and the months of the year and the hessian for the days of the month. I divided the strips into four piles of 7 and 12 (weather wood) and 4, 10 (hessian). Stamp the days of the week on the first pile, the months on the second pile, the first digit of the day of the month (0,1,2,3) on the third pile and finally the day’s second digit (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) on the last pile of strips.

My stamping tends to be a bit wonky sometimes, so I used a ruler to make sure everything lined up nicely 😉

Warning: Dates in the Calendar are closer than they appear Click to Tweet

To make the scrapbook paper a bit more durable I applied a hard varnish to both sides of the strips. If I remember correctly I did three coats on each side. Don’t worry if the paper curls, it will flatten out. And you can always bend it slightly afterwards. The varnish protects the paper from messy crafty hands and it makes the scrapbook paper more solid.

For the stand of the perpetual calendar I just used a piece of chipboard that’s double the height of the calendar. Chipboard is just a really fancy way of saying “thick cardboard” 😉  I scored along the halfway mark and then bent the board over to form an “A-frame”. I thought it would be a nice idea to write little notes or messages on the calendar so the chipboard got a few coats of blackboard paint. Drill holes along the top of the A-frame and then add the scrapbook strips using metal rings. Just make sure the holes are big enough to allow the strips to flip over easily.

I had to trim the bottom of the strips after I added them to the A-frame. Apparently my cutting skills are as wonky as my stamping skills 😀

So that’s one little bit of organising done. Well kinda. Now to tackle the rest of the chaotic madness in our office. Oh well, tomorrow is another day 😉

I'm not a procrastinator. I'm just extremely productive at unimportant things Click to Tweet

Pinny please?

So what do you think? Are desk calendars still a thing or do you just use your phone? Until next time, happy crafting.