A gift!

I don't know if it's an age thang or a space cadet thang, but I need to have calendars throughout the house so that I know what day it is!

I've already made two calendars for my house and am sending a few out as gifts. This is one of them. Since the recipient doesn't visit here often, it will be a surprise!

I purchased several small tear-off calendars that were perfect for inclusion in a stamped piece. I also had a nice thick 6x6 piece of chipboard that was backing some patterned paper. So I upcycled it to back the calendar. It warped a tiny bit when I added glue, but such is life.

Here's the calendar!

I cut a piece of cardstock to 6x6 and stamped the mermaid from Bombshell's Mermaid Treasure set using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. A stamp positioner was used to place the treasure chest. The mermaid and the treasure chest were colored with Copic markers. I then stamped both the mermaid and the treasure chest onto Eclipse tape, fussy cut them, and placed them over their stamped colored counterparts on the piece.

Four Post-It notes were taped together then cut in a wavy pattern. This was placed over the bottom part of the scene, under the treasure chest. The Copic Airbrush system was used to airbrush the "sea" using various BG markers. When I was happy with the color, I took the other part of the Post-It note mask, positioned it over the "sea" and airbrushed the sea bottom using E40 markers. Palette chalk was used to add additional interest to the sea bottom.

The seaweed stamp, included in the Mermaid Treasure set, was stamped repeatedly along the sea bottom and along the sides of the piece.

The masks were lifted and the entire piece was airbrushed with BG11 to give it that under-the-water look. Then gold glitter was added to the coins and around the treasure chest and left to dry while I had a beverage and took an internet break.

Golden Glitz Delicata ink was used to ink Darling Dear wood-veneer numbers by Studio Calico. They looked odd floating above the calendar, so I added some very, very old gold mesh stuff to the upper right corner to anchor the letters and the calendar. It still looked a little sparse, so I added a big starfish charm (same shape as the starfish in the mermaid's hair don'tcha know) and a tiny starfish gold prongy thing (metal with prongs in the back that can stab you and draw blood, though they are really supposed to go through cardstock or fabric).

Now the piece looked unbalanced, which is not good. I'm the only unbalanced thing allowed in my craft room. So, I added another strip of the gold mesh stuff to the left side, added a shell charm, and a little gold crab punchy.

Since this is a gift, the back needed to look nice too, so I started to paint it with Tarnished Brass Distress paint and had a mishap. The paint wasn't flowing, so I squeezed the bottle very gently and paint kind of burst out of it . . . onto the chipboard, onto my hands, onto my hair, my sweatshirt, and my glasses. Yippee. Big fun. I was able to apply some of that paint to the piece, then cleaned myself off. The paint was flowing nicely now, so I finished painting the back, heat set it, added another coat, heat set that, then sponged Tempting Teal and Azure StazOn ink over a Prima Garden Gate stencil.

Here's a peek at the back!

The stamped, embellished cardstock was adhered to the chipboard and left to dry overnight. It is now residing under some heavy books in an attempt to flatten it out before mailing it.

Thanks for visiting today!

P.S. More calendars to come, so stay tuned.

I shall my calendar in the following challenges!
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges: Bling!
• Fairytale Challenge Blog: Lucky Charms and New Year's Wishes
• Crafter's Cafe Challenge #43: Happy New Year
• Tando's Creative Challenges: Let's Sparkle