Desk Calendar with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Graphic 45

Hello everyone.  Barbara here today with a pretty cool flip album with stand from Gypsy Soul.  This kit comes with six chipboard pages, each with a different decorative bottom edge.  I decided to turn this into a calendar, beginning with August 2016, and carrying on through July 2017.  You can google calendars and find lots of different styles to print and cut apart for this project.  I found that the Graphic 45 paper, Time to Flourish, was a perfect complement for my flip calendar.  

This is the way the album will attach to the stand.  Simple!  I removed the rings and the chipboard pages and first glued the stand together.

Next, I painted the stand with a coat of white gesso, just to give it a good base for paints to adhere.

I wasn't sure where I was going with this, so my first coat of paint was an olive green chalk paint. I knew I wanted a dark color for the base to show beneath the crackle paint I wanted to apply.

I spread a medium thick coat of white crackle paint over the stand and allowed it to dry naturally for best crackling results.

Next, I began adding ColourArte Silks in Peridot, mixing a little Sky Blue into the still wet paint.  I felt this color was not going to work well with my chosen papers, so I tried adding Emperor's Gold Silks.  

I still was not happy, so I added Chestnut Roan chalk ink from a re-inker bottle and applying the color with a piece of cut n' dry foam.  

I was beginning to like it, but it needed some red tones, so I added Transparent Red Oxide with a damp baby wipe.  In the photo above, you can see where I started adding the red on the base, and I completed adding the red in the photo below.

I decided to make the wood look aged, like it had been sitting in a barn somewhere for quite awhile.  So, I added Carbon Black antiquing cream with a damp baby wipe.  

Let the antiquing cream dry, then using a damp baby wipe, remove as little or as much of the antiquing cream as you like.  Allow the piece to dry, then apply a coat of gloss varnish over the piece to protect it.

You may be wondering why I used so many layers of colors when my final layer looks like aged wood.  Well, that is the funny thing about mixed media.  It is all about layers, and to be honest, even though I was not sure about where I was going, those layers are showing through and adding to the aged look.    

Now it is time to decorate the pages.  I added dry adhesive to each of my chipboard pages and covered them accordingly.  Below, you can see that I have laid the first piece down onto the back of the January paper, then I used a craft knife to cut around it and re-punch the holes.  (Note:  Be careful as you work.  The opposite side of my January page will be covered with the July page, February will be covered with August, and so on, so that it will be easy to flip the set of pages at the middle of the year.)

Here are the first six months of the year on the first side of the six pages.  

Here are the second six months of the year on the opposite side of each of those pages.  

Now it is time to decorate each page with images that were fussy cut from the paper collection, and then embellished with appropriate chipboard from Gypsy Soul.

January = Snowflakes Shape Set (Brilliance Galaxy Gold and Platinum Planet)

February = Border Sticks Lattice Hearts (Pink Pastel, Rose Coral, Tangerine Chalk ink pads)

March = 4 Leaf Clover Set (Olive Pastel, Lime Pastel chalk ink, Firefly glitter glue)

April = Collage Border Splash (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

May = Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape Set (Inktense Blocks)

Miniature Shapes Set - Ladies Choice (Inktense Blocks)

June = Butterflies & Dragonflies (Inktense Blocks + Star Dust Glitter)

July = Seaside Decor (Umbrella and water) (Inktense Blocks + white pen)

Beach Shape Set (chair) (Inktense Blocks + black pen)

August = Butterflies & Dragonflies (Inktense Blocks + Hologram glitter glue)

September = Vintage School Shape Set (Pen, ink bottle, book) (Inktense Blocks, black pen)

October = String Alongs Gothic (Raven) (Inktense Blocks, black, white pens)

Spiders & Webs (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

November - Fall Shape Set (Inktense Blocks, charcoal pencil, black pen)

December - Light String Border (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

Christmas Stocking Border (Stocking = Inktense Blocks, Gold Flower Soft)

(Ornament = Inktense Blocks, Diamond glitter glue)

And here it is again, all finished and ready for August!

Supplies used:

GSL Standing Flip Book  

GSL Snowflakes Shape Set

GSL Border Sticks Lattice Hearts

GSL 4 Leaf Clover Set (coming soon)

GSL Collage Border Splash

GSL Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape Set

GSL Miniature Shapes Set - Ladies Choice

GSL Butterflies & Dragonflies 

GSL Seaside Decor (coming soon)

GSL Beach Shape Set

GSL Vintage School Shape Set (coming soon)

GSL String Alongs Gothic

GSL Spiders & Webs (coming soon)

GSL Fall Shape Set

GSL Light String Border 

GSL Christmas Stocking Border

Graphic 45 Time to Flourish 8x8 paper collection 

ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glaze

  Peridot

  Sky Blue

  Emperor's Gold

Fluid Acrylics 

Chalk Ink Pads & Reinkers

I hope you enjoyed my project and have been inspired to make one of these super fun Standing Flip Books for yourself, or with Christmas coming up, this would make a fabulous gift for someone special.  And think about using it to display your favorite photos on your desk.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful and crafty day!

Barbara