Tutorial: Quick and Easy Calendar

Welcome Back

Wanting to use some of your favorite papers or new Papercraft CDs for a quick n simple project? Didn’t get a diary for Christmas and wanting something a bit more original than the run of the mill, high street options? Read on 🙂

I’ve been wanting to do this tutorial for months but Microsoft have only just published this template. Did you know that Microsoft have loads of really useful templates that you can download and print? I found some great calendars on there a couple of years ago.

BIA Calendar Tutorial

You Will Need

Tools & Materials for BIA Calendar Project

• Microsoft Word 2007 or later
• A Calendar template, I’m using 2011 Cal Blue Border 3pg
• 3 sheets of card stock
• A4 sheet of decorative paper
• A5 sheet of co-ordinating paper
• 2 pieces of  mount board 10 cm x 14.8 cm
• Glue stick
• Steel Ruler and Craft knife
• Hole punch and binder rings OR Bind It All and wire.
• Cutting Mat

Method

• Print off the calendar template onto the three sheets of card stock.
• Cut the printed sheets in half so that the two months next to each other stay joined.
• Score the card in half down the short sides. If you wish you can glue the pages together but they will stay together once bound.

BIA Calendar; Inside Pages

• Place the printed cardstock into the BIA and punch holes in the blank area next to the named month.

For the Covers

BIA Calendar; Inside of Covers

• Take your sheet of A4 decorative paper and cut it in half to A5. Cover each sheet of mat board with a piece of decoartive paper and glue in place using the glue stick. Give a wider fold in of card on one edge, where you will be punching the holes to join the book together.
• Once the glue has thoroughly dried, punch the short side of the mat board using the BIA.
• Cut the A5 cardstock into two pieces measuring; 12 cm x 8 cm. (End Papers)
• Glue one piece of co-ordinating cardstock to the uncovered side of the mount board. Align to the un-punched end, leaving a 1cm gap on three sides. This will leave a 1 cm gap before the punched holes.

Assembly

BIA Users

• Hold the two covers in your hands as if they were already on the book. Now turn the front cover around to the back (as if you were folding it back to read).
• Place the covers onto the O wires
• Stack you calendar pages in the order you wish to view them and place them on top of the covers, on the O wires.
• Set your BIA machine to match the guage of O wire used, and then place your calendar o wire down into the BIA.
• Place the open ‘feet’ of the o wire toward the bottom of the machine, and press the BIA handle to close the wires.

**New users check out this video tutorials on You Tube ;)**

New to the Bind It All? Have I confused you with the written instructions. Check out this video by mrspaturzo

• Perfect O wires

Crop A Dilers

• Your best tool for punching holes in mat board and chip board is definately the Crop A Dile.
• Set the depth of bite to 1/4″. The size of hole you cut will depend on the thickness of your binder rings.
• For a three hole book, mark the centre of the short side and punch your first hole there.
• Mark the centre of the short side between the last hole and the edge of the board and punch at the top.
• Repeat this for the lower hole.

Optional Extras

For a Ribbon Closure

BIA Calendar Tutorial

Tie a length of ribbon around all the pages and the front cover. Glue the centre point of the ribbon underneath the co-ordinating lining paper. Once the glue has dried close your book and use the ribbon to hold the book closed.

Belly Band

Not a pretty name but it can be a pretty result.

• Cut a piece of card stock to the desired with and long enough to wrap around your book and overlap itself.
• Use decorative scissors or punches for pretty edges.
• Wrap the band gently around the short edges of the book. Lightly pressing the edges, remove the band from the book and use a bone folder to reinforce the scored edges.
• Allow a half to 1″ over lap and trim off access length of card. Place the band back on the book loosely and glue the ends of the band together. This can be slid off the calendar to open the it or put back on with the calendar set to the current month, to hold the calendar open to the right place.

Embellish the covers with images and text to suit your project. I’ve left mine plain, as I especially liked the paper and it was going to get a lot of use and I didn’t want it to get bulky. I hope you have enjoyed this project and will give it a go. It would be lovely to see your results.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

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