When a new year comes, calendars are always the popular gifts, and on the other note, it never gets old. It’s simply practical, functional for the whole year round, all the more, if you have it custom-made. That’s why, before the christmas break, a client ordered these for a family giveaway.
Contact me at designsofartisan@gmail.com if you’re interested. Printable Template is also available.
I have to say, gift wrapping is really not my thing, despite I love packages. Anyway, since this season, I’m experiencing a little financial crisis, I’ve thought of something handmade, less costly and yet still crafty for my gifts and gift wraps.
Manila paper has been one of my favorite materials in gift wrapping, even last year. It’s cheap, and yet you can do so much with it. So here’s how I did my wrapping for this season. I just used basic colors like white and brown but I added blue to brighten it up.
Materials for Gift:
• Printable Calendar from The Tiny Fig or from my Christmas Handmade Crafts Calendar: My Owl Barn
• Chip Board and Spring binder {optional}, otherwise used a paper clip or clam
Materials for Gift Wrap:
• Manila Paper
• Patterned paper or from Gift-wrap it
• Yarn
• Used plain paper
• Scissors, adhesive tape and stickers
• Polymer clays for embellishments or Metal Charms or Beads
How to:
• Download and print the calendars on a cardstock.
• If you have a spring-binder, make a stand using a chipboard and bind them together, but this is optional. You can also use a clip to bind them all.
{1} Wrapped like a belt a recycled plain white {or colored} paper and sealed it with a custom or a nice sticker.
{2} Use Manila paper to wrapped the whole calendar.
{3} Use patterned paper to make another belt on to the craft paper.
{4} Wrapped the yarn 3-4 times to emphasize the color on to your gift.
{5} I recycled the polymer clay samples from Le Blanchette as an embellishment. You can also use metal charms. 
And viola! My gifts for this holiday season. I also used plain white paper for the belt and combined brown and blue yarn on one gift.
Less is definitely more. I wonder how you did your gift wrapping this year? I do wish I gave you an idea with my simple style. Do let me know if you did yours differently.
One great gift that never gets old is the calendar. I thought somehow it’s over-rated, however, it’s the most practical gift that lasts whole year round, that’s why it’s very popular. But adding a little twist can make a familiar gift more interesting, right?
Here’s a great gift suggestion that gives the calendar a little sprucing from the traditional kind. Clipboard Calendar from Inkspot Workshop.
Image from Inkspot Workshop
If you love DIY‘s and owls, then I’m sure you’ll definitely love this too… You can print your own 2012 Calendar from My Owl Barn. The best part is you can choose an owl artwork from their various artists for each of your months, now that’s what I call super fantastic for a DIY.
After I printed them on a 8x11in. cardstock, I used a wire hanger to display my new 2012 calendar. An Ounce of Creativity has a tutorial and printable for this.
Enjoy making your first DIY hanging calendar. Tomorrow, I have another craft for you…