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!!!

To Do List

I am a big fan of to-do lists. These days there are always four or five different scraps of paper circulating about the house with various tasks on them and I can never quite seem to get them all in one place. This project solved that problem and it looks awesome on the fridge, too!

You need to have:
-Cardstock or some kind of thick paper (I used posterboard)
-Sticky notes
-A pencil
-A permanent marker
-Scissors

 I chose these post-its because they are made in the USA,

and the local movement is extremely important to me.

(As is avoiding anything made in China like the plague.)

You need to do:

1) Trace the sticky note pad the number of times you want as to-do items. I chose nine because and know I will always be able to fill it up, but you could choose any number, really.

2) Add a bigger square around the trace of the post-it to leave room for decorative doodling.

3) Add a rectangle up top with room for a title and a spot for a sticky note designating when you want your tasks done by.

4) Go over everything with permanent maker.

5) Fill up the title rectangle with something pretty.

 

6) Write yourself some post-its and get going on your to-dos!

 

I hung mine on my fridge with magnets but you could easily put this anywhere.

Also, just a note, post-it notes ARE RECYCLABLE! So please don't throw them in the trash! 

Happy to-do-ing!

Jewelry Organizer

Really simple organization technique here. I've done this for years, but at a recent dinner party someone asked me to share with the rest of the world!

If you're anything like me, jewelry left to its own devices means necklaces in a big tangled mess or earrings without a back or missing a partner. This method takes very little time (maybe 10 minutes tops) and effort, and uses stuff you probably already have lying around the house.

You need to have:
-Ribbon (or string, or twine or whatever you want really)
-Thumbtacks (or pushpins, or nails or screws or anything else that you can push into a wall)
-Scissors

You need to do:
1) Find a wall*, preferably somewhere in the bathroom or near a mirror you use in the morning.
2) Cut the ribbon 1/4 to 1/2 an inch longer than the space you have available to account for space to clasp necklaces around and the weight of the jewelry.
3) Hang the ribbon up with thumbtacks.
4) Organize your jewelry. Clasp the necklaces around the ribbon or hang claspless ones on the thumbtacks. Pierce the ribbon with the earrings.

*This could also be done on corkboard to avoid poking holes in your walls!

Et voilà! Organizing jewelry never looked so good! (Well, unless you're referring to only earrings, in which case Katydid might have me beat!)