More Calendar Collage

I have gotten requests to see more of my collage calendar pages so here you go. I had to include on that had something to do with Georgia (country not state). When I am there I'm constantly stopping to take photographs of doors so one had to be included. The churches have amazing frescoes. I was at Barbara's house when I made this one and realized that the Blue Angel would have been perfect. Guess I'll have to save it for next year. I liked that I put the question, "What will I remember most?" The answer is "my friends and the times we spent together."

I finished 11 months without any problems but finishing the twelfth was tough. I had gotten out of the flow. Does that happen to you?

June

I've been asked how I will determine who gets which collage. Well, my children got to pick which one they wanted. Nathaniel picked his birthday month, June, which happened to have a pick up truck in it so that worked out well. Jeremiah allowed his wife Sang to pick and she choose her birthday month, May. I have no expectation that the calendars will become prized possessions. I know this surprises some but for me, it has always been more about the process then the end product. Please don't get me wrong. I want the end product to be nice. I take pride in my work. I also know that when you give something away, it should be given freely and with love. It's released. Does it kill me when someone sells one of my quilts in a garage sale because she is redecorating. You bet! But a quilt is just a thing and not worth ruining a relationship. Of course, I would never give her another one.
 

More on Calendar and Winner of Blog Giveaway with a Twist Four

July

 First, the winner is Maureen! I know Maureen from Postmark'd Art so I am thrilled!

Secondly, thanks to Marti for calling me and letting me know how much she loves my spoons. And thanks to Bonnie Smith for her kind words in an email about my collage calendar.

What a great Monday!

I wasn't planning on sharing more of my collage calendar, but several emails with questions have convinced me otherwise.

October

I only did three  months that were easily recognized as holiday related. I love Halloween so that one was easy. Looking at it now, I think I should have added more details. I host my family's Christmas so that holiday is always near and dear to me. Generally I would not do something so Christian because I have lots of friends who are not, but none of them are getting a calendar (hope they are not disappointed but none of them are calendar users) so I decided to just go for it. I have a brother and a nephew born on the 4th of July so I wanted to honor that month too. We also get together at my house for that holiday too. Family is very important to me.

December

 Remember there are no rules! If you want to create your own calendars, my advice is to just have fun.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I live to serve. (I actually got Penny McMorris, owner of Electric Quilt, to snort her coffee through her nose when I signed an email to her with those words. Great memory.)

Collage Calendar

March

Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change. Kindness that catches us by surprise brings out the best in our natures. - Bob Kerrey

Kristen, the winner of Blog Giveaway with a Twist Three, called me on the phone to ask if she was really the winner.  Her excitement and kindness is still with me. I named my blog "connections" with the hope that these kinds of things would happen. Thank YOU Kristen!

I love to play with paper, rubberstamps and stickers. Stickers in particular make me feel like a kid again. When my friend Barbara suggested that we make simple collages and turn them into calendars to give as gifts, I was in! What a great idea! Each calendar will also include one original collage. I was a little worried about the color copies, but they came out great. I used a coupon from Office Depot and made the copies myself to save money. I purchased blanket calendars from Archiver's, a scrapbook store which is also online. They send me 30% off coupons which I used to purchase the calendars over several months. I figure the total cost of each calendar was around $20 and in terms of the fun I had (especially when I got to spend time with Barbara), priceless.  The opportunity to just play truly does spill over to my work.

January

 
If people like them, I could definitely see this becoming a yearly activity. While we made our pages 8 1/2" by 11", if I do it again, I plan to make them 8" by 10" for two reasons. First, the copier cropped the work and secondly, if someone would want to frame the original collage, it would be cheaper because they could purchase a stock frame. I love making gifts for people. Do you make gifts?