If I don't start now, it will never happen. With the holidays fast approaching, and always more to do than was originally planned, the only way I'll finish my 2009 calendar is to begin now, and not stop till it's finished! I have a photo carousel that was given to me as a Christmas gift a year or two ago. It arrived with one broken pane of glass, and I've never used it. The carousel holds 12, 4"X6" vertical photos, and it occurred to me to remove all the glass, and use the carousel for 12 pieces of collage. This is something I've been going to begin for over a year, but it wasn't until this morning that I realized how perfect it would be as a revolving calendar!
So thanks to Wednesday Stamper's open theme, I've taken the opportunity to complete January 2009. The calendar itself is printed from an Excel template, cut out and distressed. Bugs are images from Dover, cut and glued to the background. The bottom portion was embossed with a combination of black, and malachite embossing tinsel from PSX. The strip was cut from an old book and distressed. The background was washed with watercolor, then stamped with Anna Griffin's very large rose and hydrangea stamp, using a Adirondack's willow dye ink and Color Box stucco pigment inks. The colors are almost a match to the background color, so the effect is a very faint watermark, which doesn't show up at all in the scan, but looks lovely in real life. The border was stamped with one of Kelly Panacci's border stamps with a much heavier application of Color Box stucco, as were the dots, which were stamped using the bottom end of a Ranger Cut and Dry nib. The numbers are clear stamps that you can set like movable type from a Martha Stewart set. I wish the scan could show the shimmer in the embossing and the watermark background, but you get the idea.
If when I get all 12 months done, I'll photograph them in the carousel.
Have a great day, Everyone!
Wow, what a great idea! Your arwork is absolutely beautiful too.
Posted by: shelly | October 29, 2008 at 08:40 PM
Fabulous work. Great job in getting January done!
(I have November done for next year and that is it:)
Posted by: Louise | October 29, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Oh wow this is gorgeous.
Wonderful calendar.
Posted by: Sandy | October 29, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Gorgeous, can't wait to see the rest.
Posted by: Hermine | October 30, 2008 at 12:12 AM
Wow, wonderful ! Great idea to start right now !! :-D
Posted by: Liesbeth | October 30, 2008 at 01:52 AM
Just beautiful...
Posted by: Virginia | October 30, 2008 at 03:48 AM
What a great idea to make such a calendar! And this one is so beautiful! Amazing colour combinations - wonderful!
Posted by: Manuela | October 30, 2008 at 05:33 AM
Wow, what an undertaking! Your calendar page is just gorgeous and has such a tremendous amount of detail work in it. I can't wait to see February and the months following. So beautiful.
Posted by: faye | October 30, 2008 at 06:02 AM
Fabulous piece, Barbara!
Posted by: Willy | October 30, 2008 at 06:16 AM
I came here and what did I see?
found some art that shows a bee...
if you don't mind,
I would like the world to see,
a link, a picture, in a post from me!
Smile you have "bee"n spotted! I do a weekly bee spotting post and would like to show you off in my next post, usually every Tuesday. If you wish not to bee featured, let me know ASAP!!
Karen
Posted by: Karen Mowrey | October 30, 2008 at 06:46 PM
Wonderful way to start the year! Beautiful page!
Posted by: Jean Zoss | October 30, 2008 at 07:22 PM
Barbara, I love January - wonderful!
Posted by: Jeri Aaron | November 01, 2008 at 03:50 PM
Beautiful !!
Bee ~ symbolize of Hardworking, it's really meaningful January.
Posted by: Lay Hoon | November 01, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Gorgeous work!!
Posted by: viola | November 02, 2008 at 01:56 PM
What a delightful way to enjoy January! I love this....=)
Posted by: Maggie Ann | November 03, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Beautiful calendar!
Posted by: rein. | November 04, 2008 at 10:20 PM