Love Calendar Journal

I was inspired by a project I saw on Design Sponge for vintage postcard calendar journals and thought I could make an intimate version as a great anniversary present for my husband.

Et voila, the coutarel love calendar journal.

The idea is to write one thing we did together every day. Not a novel, or a story, or even necessarily a sentence, but a few words, a phrase, a place. Something to spark a memory years down the road.

You need to have:
-Notecards. (I prefer recycled paper & lined, but it's really your call.)
-A box, big enough to hold the cards. (I chose one with a lid because I'm keeping photos that I'd like to last in it, too. The one I found is made out of recycled plastic, but really any box will do - shoebox, strawberry carton, recipe box...)
-A stamp with months, days and years.
-Ink.
-Pictures of you & your loved one.
-A pen.
-Scissors.
-Tape.
-A permanent marker to decorate the box. (Optional.)

You need to do:
1) Date 366 note cards with month and day at the top (I included February 29, even though it only comes around every four years). If you don't want to spend a few bucks on a stamp this could be handwritten, too, although it would take much longer to complete.

2) Stamp one year per line. (This could be handwritten, too, if needed.)
3) Choose one photo as a marker for each month. Add a stamp to designate the month easily.

I also added a month notecard behind the picture.

4) Decorate the box.

5) Assemble the cards in their correct order, using the photos to separate the months.

6) Each day mark one thing that happened. Rotate the card from the previous day to the back so that today is always the first card you see.

I left enough room in the box to leave keepsakes, too. Other photos, movie ticket stubs, drawings. Memorabilia in general.

This would also be a great idea to do for kids, especially for their first few years to mark their first steps, their first food, their first word, etc. I think I even want to make one just for myself with one beautiful thing I see/ do or one good deed or one compliment per day!

Happy loving!!!