Picture calendar

I am ever so excited to have accomplished this... It turned out so much better then I expected!

This has been a week long project. Sanding, staining, sanding, staining... then I had to enlist Alex's help. And today, I finally finished it! Now, I just have to box it up and mail it!

This is our "thank you" gift to everyone who sent Christmas gifts. There are twelve page protectors, one for each month, attached to a piece of Red Oak. It was gorgeous on it's own, but I decided to stain it anyways. I found some stain that had polyurethane mixed with it, so I killed two birds with one stone so to speak.

To start, I purchased a six or seven foot board of Red Oak. I had it cut to 7 1/4" wide by 9" long by 1" deep. I used PolyShades stain, Bombay Mahogany in gloss. I applied two coats and allowed six to eight hours between each coat for drying. This photograph shows one coat.



Then I picked up some of American Crafts 6X6 page protectors. They come ten in a pack, and I wanted twelve. (So obviously, two packs were needed.) I laid the protector on the wood, where I wanted it to sit, marked where the holes were, and Alex drilled the holes in the wood. (There are two coats of stain on the wood at this point, isn't the color gorgeous!!)



I used some picture hanging wire to attach the page protectors to the wood. I found some 3" loose-leaf rings, I will see if those work for a more polished look. However, the wire does the trick, for much less to. And if you plan to tie ribbon around the wire, it wouldn't matter.

I used Illustrator to insert a picture and calendar into this quick page I snatched up from Weeds and Wildflowers.


(Remember you can click on the photo to make it bigger.)

I went with the Happy Birthday because Emmelia's birthday is January 10th. Plus, it's a cute cover page!

Enjoy! If you decide to make something similar, let me know! I'd love to see it!