sticky situation.

So...I've been on a bit of a cleaning spree. You see, I'm a bit of an organization nerd. I like pretty containers (even if I have nothing to store inside them). I also have the tendency to organize when I'm bored. Like, I'll organize drawers in the Sunday School room before kids come. Or I'll organize shelves in the family room. Little things like that that keep me busy. Anyway, being in my cleaner room has inspired me to do something a little different with my old bulletin board. In the past, I've covered it with various photos, trinkets, and jewelry. But this time, I wanted to something different. Something cleaner, simpler, and easy on the eye. So then I got to thinking about calendars. And then I remembered the Martha Stewart DIY calendar that I spotted on Pinterest that uses sticky notes. You can read their tutorial here.

Except, being the cheap-o that I am, I didn't want to just use a whole thing of sticky notes every month. That could make for a pretty expensive DIY project. So I looked through my desk drawer and noticed some cute little 3M Post-it tabs kind of like these but in different colors. I think they were a gift (I love any and all office supplies) but I haven't put them into good use yet. Then I spotted some sticky notes and printer paper. And that's when I got to thinking...

And decided to come up with my own version of Martha Stewart's sticky note calendar.

Here's what I used:
A bulletin board
Markers
Sticky notes (I used about 1.5 pads with some leftover)
3M Post-it tabs
Scissors or paper cutter
Printer paper or cardstock (I used about four sheets)
A gluestick
Pushpins
Avery multipurpose labels (2 sheets is plenty)


Here's how I made it:
First, I determined how big I wanted the white printer paper squares to be that I would be using for the calendar month letters. I decided to mount white paper on top of the sticky note for more contrast and glam (or visual interest, take your pick). I also knew that I wanted the white paper to rest on the sticky note like a Polaroid photo looks (with empty space at the bottom). So I eye-balled the size and was content with a 62x65cm square. I then cut out more of these squares using a stencil I made out of the first one (I colored the edges of the stencil to differentiate between the papers).

After cutting out 31 squares, I started free-handing the letters (if you want to know exactly which letters, feel free to email me) using a gray marker.

Then, I used a gluestick to mount the letters onto the sticky notes.

After that, I decided to use sticky notes and Avery multipurpose labels (you know, those circle-shaped stickers you see at garage sales?) for the days of the month. I also wrote those in marker and used the glue to make sure they didn't come off later (seeing that they're removable and all).

Then, for the days of the week, I used the Post-it tabs and mounted some of those onto the extra printer paper I had and wrote the days of the week (abbreviated) using marker.

And ta-da! My calendar is complete. It took me awhile to eye-ball the distance between days/weeks so I would highly recommend planning ahead and measuring the space you have.

So here's my before and after (sorry for the weird angle in the before shot):

And then I placed the marker, extra sticky notes/tabs, and spare stickers into bags in case I lose/rip something in the future. I also placed the extra letters in a bag for safekeeping.

I'm thinking I may want to switch the position of my bulletin board to portrait instead of landscape...but I'm content for now.

And before I forget, you should definitely consider using Photojojo's tips for their perpetual photo calendar. I'm thinking of securing--probably with tape--some sticky notes together (vertically) such that I won't have to individually rotate the days each month. That will definitely make it easier. And more likely that I'll change the month each month...

Oops! By now, you can probably tell that I originally wrote and DIY-ed this project back in July. Somehow it ended up as a draft and never got published...