Desk Calendars and Die Cuts!

Posted on 9th January 2025 by Papermill Direct
Filed under Calendar

Hello 2025!
With a New Year comes New Projects and we've got a good one to start the year with!

Our gorgeous desk calendars are a great easy project to get your creativity flowing and we've super simplified this one too.

We used need:
x4 different sized Rectangle Dies
Embossing/ Die cutting Machine
Photos
Lots of Card! - We recommend our Mini Picks Pick & Mix Boxes that gives you x10 options of card or paper in your small box - Shop Here!

Extras:
Pens, Embellishments, items linking to the photos

I started by cutting a large selection of cards with the dies and cutting machine. I found doing a large batch at once to be the most effective way of cutting the rectangles, if you have a lot of scraps this is a good project to try and use some of those up, just check they fit your dies.

Once we had all the card cut then I used the dies to cut down the photographs I would be using. I tried to find photographs where the subject would fit into the centre of the die.

I use the FreePrints app to print my photos as you get so many free prints per month and then only pay for postage. If you're happy to wait for the photos to be delivered, it's a really great way to acquire high-quality prints without splashing out on a printer.

After everything was cut I started pairing the card with photographs that went well together and applied these to the months the photographs were taken in.

I knew I would use the die-cut rectangles as the background with the photographs sitting on top, so I started trying out different ways of laying the card onto the blank space in the desk calendar.

Once I was happy with the layouts, I tested my photos on top of the card layouts.

I then used Double-Sided tape to adhere them all to the Desk Calendar.
I find double-sided tape works best when adding cards to the calendars, as it is less likely to run like glue. Any foam adhesive squares will add too much depth to the calendar, making it more difficult to turn the pages.

For variety, I added some extra die-cut pieces I had from previous projects and wrote a few sentiments on different pages to create interest.

What I would do differently:

I think embossing some of the cards would add more interest behind the photos and would only involve buying an additional embossing folder (if you don't already have one) which can be used with a die-cutting machine.

I would have liked to add more drawings or sentiments to the calendar but as I knew I was photographing and writing a blog about the Desk Calendars I was worried my drawing/writing wouldn't be neat enough, so I bottled it in the end!

You could use stencils and inks to create patterns on the card or on the calendar page to create more interest and make the page feel fuller. I wanted to focus on using cards and dies for this project with minimal input from other techniques to make this project as accessible as possible to anyone starting out their paper craft journey.


Leave us a comment on what you'd like to try or tag us on FaceBook or Instagram if you've made your own Desk Calendar! 😁

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