A site for my handmade cards, accompanied by my photos and written meanderings which are occasionally witty, often tongue-in-cheek, and rarely profound. Beginning in June 2013, you'll also see lots of NBUS, which is an acronym I coined for Never-Before-Used-Schtuff. Note: my Privacy Policy can be found at a tab below and you can find my NBUS Challenge online. I hope you'll join in the fun there! Thanks for coming by! Have a beverage and enjoy!

December 1, 2012

Perpetual Birthday Calendars Hot Off The Presses!

Yo!  (Head's up:  photo heavy, seriously boring, unless you're interested in the subject.)

As some of you know or noticed, I have a tab at the top of this page entitled "My Calendars" with photos of some previous calendar covers I've done.  Recently, I posted that I was doing a dozen more to sell at a small shop in town and some of you asked if I would post more pictures, including pictures of the inside, and provide more information.

First, the details.

What is a perpetual birthday calendar?
Coming in many shapes, a perpetual birthday calendar is simple a hanging calendar, or a book, or (I suppose) even a desk calendar that is blank except for the months of the year. Some online companies make them and the monthly pages are decorated in various styles.*
For my calendars, I used a 'blank' calendar purchased through Stampin' Up!. My understanding is that SU! no long carries these blank perpetual birthday calendars, but you may be able to find some from SU! demonstrators' stock, or on E-Bay, etc.  This will be my last batch because I don't know of any other company that sells blank white calendars.

I did notice that SU! is now selling a digital version of the calendar ~ no doubt everyone will eventually embrace that. Right now, I still prefer embracing my pen and looking at a real calendar on my wall. I'm a visual person, not a virtual person. Not yet, anyway.

Here is a picture of the front of the blank calendar.  I apologize for the stinky photos, cloudy day here.  The calendars are not beige, or gray, the are bright Whisper White.


As it happens, when I was making last year's batch of calendars, one of them missed the Quality Control Department and was printed without the month of April.   I contacted SU! and they immediately sent me another one.  Not wanting to waste it, I am using it myself, with April handwritten on the back of March. I never got around to decorating mine, which is just as well, because now I can show you how the blank months look:

The blank SU! calendar is on the right, and you can get an idea of how long/wide it is, since it's hard to tell in a stand-alone photo.  You can also see where I have written names on the lines of peeps whose birthdays are on those days (in this case, in August).   You can see that I hang it next to a "regular" calendar, because I still need a regular calendar for appointments and such.

So that's how it works. You can add peoples easily. And when January comes around, you just turn it over and start the whole year over again.  The whole idea of a perpetual calendar is that you no longer have to rewrite all those birthdays (and anniversaries) year-after-year onto your regular calendar. I wish I'd known of such a thing 40 years ago!  I mean, I've seen those old-fashioned Victorian "birthday books," but I'd never seen an "in-your-face-hang-on-your-wall" birthday calendar, which is the only type that would get my attention!

Again, sorry for the photo crappiness.  Apparently, I don't even have a Quality Control Department!



There are a couple of enlargements or spotlights in the collage, in an attempt to show how fabtastic the paper is.  Honestly, spending all that time and effort making the fronts and backs . . . oh, I do the backs, too.  Here's a sample of one:


I suppose doing the fronts and backs is really silly, because once you hang it on the wall, you never see either of those pages again!  But, of course, making them pretty is part of what impulses the prospective buyer and since pretty is my hobby, I must say it's fillfulling to see the whole stack smiling back at me, happy in their lush colorful coats.

Here are photos of how I pep up the blank insides.  The one thing I would most appreciate, if I were a buyer, is having the month stamped again at the bottom.  It makes it lots easier when you are leafing through your calendar looking for a month to add a birthday.



 *There are prolly several online places to buy perpetual calendars.  One that is tops with Mr. Google is Galison.com.

If you would like to buy one of these from me, I'm okay with that.  I have no order to fill at the shop and so it doesn't matter to me if you buy one or someone coming into the shop buys one.  The blank SU! calendars are were $8.  The shop sells my calendars for $24, of which I get $16.  So that's my price to you, $16.  Plus, actual  postage!  I am happy to send it to you and enclose an invoice.  First come, first served, and you have to order by Monday, December 10th, since I need to get them in the shop asap.  Just send me a direct email (darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com) and let me know which one you would like and I'll let you know if it is still available.

Okay?  I hope that answers any questions you guys had.  Lemeno if not.
~~~

Enjoy your day!   No, seriously, enjoy your day.  I get to go back to making cards!  And maybe some tags.

As always, thank you for stopping by to visit.  Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!

9 comments:

Tracey McNeely said...

Darnell thank you so much for sharing, these are such a beautiful gift. A truly exceptional gift from the heart.

Paper Creations by Shirley said...

HI Darnell and Happy Sunday. I've owned a perpetual calendar for about 30 years. Mine comes from the Netherlands where they have used these forever. You see them handing in the little toilet rooms over there. So while you sit and 'meditate' you can check which birthdays you've missed or not. :) They are the greatest 'invention' and mine hangs in my craft room right over my desk. I never forget a birthday even at my advanced age with the fuzzy brain (at times, when the lights go out, but they come back on). Cheers, Shirleyx ps.. love the page with the butterflies & flourishes !!!!!!!!

Paper Creations by Shirley said...

I mean hanging not handing in the toilet rooms :)

Jessi Fogan said...

Me too - it must hang on the wall. A book? Lovely, but no good for making things happen around here ;) These are stunning, Darnell!

Loll said...

The perpetual calendar is a fabulous idea. Rewriting every year is tedious ... plus I tend to always miss one or get the date wrong :)

Love the way you've decorated the fronts and backs - totally get doing the back ... I'm the same with cards, always adding a little something to the inside. That's what we do!

Kim Heggins said...

These are fabulous and what a great idea too. You are so talented and I am sure these will sell like hot cakes! Beautiful work!

Geri said...

These are fabulous Darnell. I love the sweet patterned papers that you have chosen - especially the butterfly! This is such a great idea...my only problem would be remembering to refer to them!

Jean said...

Oh, they are fantastic! Love the bird and nest one. I am sure they will sell out in no time!

Bonnie said...

These are really nice, Darnell! Wish I'd bought some when they were available!