Girl Calendar Pages

My sister has to make two girl calendar scrapbooks and I am giving her a few to help get her started. Two of the don't have titles on them but can be added. The first page is white on white with silver inked edges, "Her first breath took mine away". The next page is "Cute as a button", change the pink to blue and you have a baby boy page. The next page I tore the edges, inked them, sewed it with black floss and added a bow. I used a black Sharpie for the swirl and hot glued the flowers on. The next page I hot glued black lace to the back of the pink ring, hot glued the fabric yoyo's on and added rhinestone butterflies. I think I have worn out my brown ink pad.

Kolache / Bread Recipe

I have been making kolaches with this recipe for about 20 years. With the cold weather I have been making it into loaves of bread and when it comes out of the oven you just slap some butter on it and it just melts in your mouth. I made this for a housewarming gift and her sons ate it before she could even taste it.

Dough Recipe

1 package of rapid rise yeast

4 tablespoons of sugar

3/4 cup of very warm water

4 tablespoons of oil

1 egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon of salt

2 1/2 - 3 cups of flour

Mix the yeast, sugar and water and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the oil, yolk and salt.Stir in enough flour so that its easy to work with. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes on a floured surface (my counter top). Place it back in the bowl, cover it loosely with cling wrap and let it rise until doubled in size. During the cold months I place the bowl on a heating pad set on low to help it rise. Place the dough back on the floured surface and knead again. Shape the dough at this time. On the pan above is two loves of bread, I covered them loosely with cling wrap and placed the pan back on the heating pad until doubled. Bake at 300 degrees for 15-25 minutes. For kolaches divide the dough into 16 balls and wrap it around a sausage or fold a piece of ham around a 1/4 of a slice of cheese. Pinch the dough to seal it so the cheese doesn't ooze out. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. It is best not to let them touch each other or they might not cook all the way through.

June Calendar Page Add-On

I added some clouds to Wyatt's
June page. One of the ladies at Church was telling me when her mother passed away her niece saved one of her night gowns and used it to make a baby blanket for one of her cousins. WOW, what a fantastic way to remember someone and that got me started thinking. My dad passed away about a year and a half ago but was there any of his shirts left? My sister had saved one and she let me have it. It is a soft blue jean looking shirt and it makes perfect clouds. Perfect for a Fathers Day page, don't you agree?

December Baby Page

This is Wyatt's December calendar page and of course it's all about Christmas. I bought a new program for my Cricut, Sure Cuts A Lot, It takes any Vector file and cuts it. I found all of the files at My Treasure Box and I love, love, love their art work. I cut everything on the Cricut, inked all the edges and taped them on the page....love. The title "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" is Island of Misfit Toys font. Baby's first Christmas, awww. The trees at My Treasure Box are fantastic so I tried my nephew Ryan's pastels and charcoal pencils to make mine look like theirs but they didn't, so I just inked the edges with black and added brown shadows. I bought a white opaque pen to outline the boots and belt, I forgot his buckle so before I give her the scrapbook I will have to cut one and glue it on. My bad!

June Calendar Page

This is Wyatt's June page for Fathers Day. I cut this airplane with my Cricut using the New Arrival cartridge. I have been cutting everything by hand for so many years and my Cricut makes it so easy. I used four different sheets of paper and I cut two from each sheet of paper. I cut pieces off of some of the planes, inked and taped them together. I tried to sew the edges to make it look more like his crib quilt but my sewing machine started skipping stitches, I think I needed a bigger needle. It messed one up so I decided not to try it again. The title "There's no place I'd rather be than holding my little boy next to me".

August Calendar Page

This is Wyatt's August page. The
title "What are little boy's made of" was printed out, torn and inked. I traced the jar from a pattern I have, I used Sharpie markers to outline the jar, I cut it then inked the edges and inside the jar. The worm I cut out then inked the stripes and edges. The puppy and bandaids are outlined and inked, I cut a rectangle and then rounded the corners with a punch, it is hard to get nice looking rounded corners when cutting. The frog has google eyes, I used a Sharpie for the mouth and nose and I inked the edges. When I make simple items like bandaids I tend to make a lot of them and I store them until I need them.

Birth Month Calendar Page

Since Wyatt is due to arrive at the end of March this will be his March page. If he decides not to show up until April this will be his April page and I will have to make another March page. I printed the title "His first breath took mine away" on gray paper, tore it and inked the edges. I tore the blue paper, distressed and inked the edges. I took a stencil I had and inked the design onto the blue page, I use a makeup sponge to apply the ink through the stencil and on the edges of all my pages. I used tape to adhere the papers onto the black page and then I placed tiny brads at the bottom for that extra touch. When I use stencils I mask off around the design I like so I don't accidentally ink through the other design, you think to
yourself I won't do it but then you do. TRUST ME!!!!

November Calendar Page

November's baby page is about giving thanks for our Families. I cut the large flower out with a pattern I had and inked the edges. The brads are iron on's, I placed them where I wanted them and ironed them on following the instructions. I had a piece of cotton between the iron and flower. I printed the title onto a tag "Hold on to your Family with both hands". The flower scroll at the bottom can be found at scrapbooksetc.com under paper piecing patterns - flowers, I have used many of their paper piecings. The flower scroll takes a little more time to cut and I use smaller scissors, I inked the green inset pieces.

October Calendar Page

There are so many pages I can

make for October, bats, ghosts, pumpkins but I have to remember this page is for an infant. Infants are not scary!! Well, if its your first baby maybe they are scary. I cut some pumpkins and outlined them, the stems and leaves are outlined and inked because the edges were white. I printed the title, inked both sides and roughed up the edges. I made some pumpkins without faces but these were much cuter.

April #2 Calendar Page

This is another April calendar page. I cut the peeps with a pattern I made, added some lines with an ultra fine sharpie, added some black bows and hair ties and brown eyes and a brown mouth.

May Calendar Page

May's baby calendar will be all about mom and baby, Mother's Day. This page is for mother's who have boys. I printed the title on 2 sheets of paper and tore the blue paper to fit on the cream paper, I should have inked the blue paper. I sewed three buttons on and taped them in the back for extra strength and then I added the bottom phrase "Dirt is my favorite color".

It was driving me crazy so I pulled the blue paper off very carefully and inked the edges and I think it looks 10 times better.

September Calendar Page

September is one of those months that you can do anything you want to on that page. This is one of my favorite pages "I see the fingerprints of God all over Him". How can anyone argue with that once they see the miracle of a child. The title is printed onto vellum and since vellum is see through I sew it on, if you use tape you will see it and it isn't pretty! I pull the threads to the back and tape them down with Scotch tape so they won't unravel. I cut out the moon and use a ultra fine Sharpie marker for the outline and the eyes. I have a star punch that comes in real handy for this page. I see the moon and the moon see's me, God bless the moon and God bless me.

April Calendar Page

Here is my April Baby Calendar page, it is a bunny saying "hoppy easter". I took a piece of paper and set the page to landscape 12" wide x 6" tall, the strip on my page is 3" tall, which will give me two strips, I centered the words and placed them about 1 1/2" down. I cut the bunny from a template and took a ultra fine sharpie and drew lines around the edges and then I gave him whiskers. I cut his nose out and inked the edges with pink and using two sided tape I taped it on. I taped him to the page but I leave the top of his ear un-taped so a photo can be slipped under the edge of his ear. I like working with the markers, it takes your eye away the cut lines that might not be too straight.

February Calendar Page

February's calendar page is all about Valentine's Day. My little owls are asking "Whooo Loves You"? I cut the owls out from a pattern I have and placed them on the page, I asked my husband if he thought I need a tree and he said "owls have to sit on something", so I cut a tree on my Cricut....so easy. I agree with him they needed a tree. I printed the words on red paper and then placed a heart template over the words, traced the heart and cut them out. I inked the tree and the owl belly's and there you have it, a valentine page. I made this page in one evening.

Baby Scrapbook Calendar

I bought this calendar at WalMart, it is a Baby's First Year calendar, the pages are blank and you start the calendar when the baby is born. I buy the calendars, take the staples out and take them apart. Using my cutter I cut the pages apart and I cut off the center part that had the staples in it, now my page is about 11 7/8 tall. I bought a scrapbook to place the pages into, it only comes with 10 pages so I had to add a few more pages to complete the calender. I love these scrapbooks because you can add additional pages if you need to. The first page of the scrapbook should be the last days before the baby is born, maybe a photo of Mom and Dad just before the birth and some journaling about
preparations and anxiety's. Turn the page and this should start the baby's first month, the book I'm working on now should start in March but she is due at the end of March so it could be a April baby. If the baby is born at the very end of the month I will add another calendar page at the end of the scrapbook. The first month page is always special and reads "His first breath took mine away". So if he's born in March or April that will be his title page but if he's not born in March his page will be about St. Patrick's day, if he's born in March his April page will be about Easter. The calendar comes with stickers to place on the page, month name stickers and firsts stickers you have to fill in the rest. I will add some poems and stickers to use if it fits the occasion. My favorite poem is the "my blankie and me", I believe every child should have a favorite blankie and when you wrap it around them they should feel safe like God wrapping you in Angel wings. I also send stickers for doctor visits, I try to make it easy for his Mom, just fill it in and place it on the calendar. Plan a end of the month scrapbook time to stop and fill in the calendar. Keep a notebook handy and jot down special notes during the month, take a zipper baggie and throughout the month place items in the bag that you might want to add to the
scrapbook. all of these things will make your baby's calendar unique and special. When they've grown, how fun it will be to sit and take a look at their first year.