Designed and Photographed by Mel Nunn

Instructions and Materials for “Lilly’s School Diary” clear mini album

This diary was made so that my daughter and I could keep track of all the appointments and important dates involving her first year at school. I wanted to make the diary a type pf keepsake for her so I used Basic Grey’s gorgeous line of paper called Urban Prairie, which is different from the usual school themed papers. The diary’s middle page is designed to be a photo page that she can add her favourite snaps to throughout the year.

I designed my own calendar pages for 2009 for the diary, and have provided a template for you to print out and use. I have also provided instructions for you to make your own diary or planner, it need not be for school use- It is pretty enough to keep for yourself!

General Supplies:

• Album: Page Frame Designs 6x6 clear tabbed album (these albums are also available for sale here and here.)
• Adhesive: Glue Dots and Double sided tape

Inside:

• Threading Water scallop punch: Fiskars
• Basic Grey Urban Prairie Cardstock stickers
• Basic Grey Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pad
• Olio rub on book,
• yellow whirligig rub ons; Basic Grey Urban Prairie
• Bazzill Basics Cardstock- smooth white (coconut swirl) x 4 sheets
• American Crafts clear stickers
• Rhinestones: Kaiser
• Month planner templates designed by Mel Nunn: Click here to download the first template page, and click here to download the second template page. The digital downloads are free!

Front and back cover:

• Paper, Cardstock stickers, Rub ons, Letters: Basic Grey Urban Prairie
• Puffy stickers and Letter Rub ons: American Crafts
• Rhinestones and blue binder rings: Kaiser

Instructions:

All measurements are in inches.

Take off front and back covers and set aside.

This part is easiest if it is started from the back.

Choose 2 patterned papers from the paper pad and adhere to both sides of the last page. Adhere about 1/8 inch from the spine and punch the binding holes through the paper as you go. Do the same for the next 2 pages (4 sides), but for each pair of papers, trim approximately 1/16 inch off. This is so that as you see through the clear part of the diary, the patterned papers are visibly staggered. The effect is subtle and colourful. Once you have done this to 3 pages (6 sides), set aside the next page. This will be made into a photographs page later. Continue cutting paper shorter and adhering to pages until the last page’s (which is actually the first) paper measure around 5 ½ inches wide. You should have 6 pages covered with paper and holes punched (12 sides).

Next we need to print the templates.

Here Are Some Photos of the What The Calendar Templates Look Like After They Have Been Printed, Before They Have Been Added To The Calendar Album:

Cut 3 of the white Bazzill sheets in half so that they measure 6 x 12 inches. Open the template document and place the paper in your printer. Adjust the paper size in your printer’s properties. This can be done by clicking on print and then going into the “printer” box, which allows you to adjust the properties of the printer. Set the paper size to “custom” and then type in 6 x 12 inches. Make sure the page is set to portrait. Print in high quality but do not change the paper type. I found that printing with the plain paper setting had the best results. Once dry, cut out the months by trimming close to 3 sides but leaving a small white border of about 1/8 inch on the side with the month. See picture. This is because we are going to scallop the edge of the month. The Fiskars punch trims quite a bit off behind the scallops and the white will be trimmed off, leaving only black scallops. Adhere to each page in order, with the template butting up with the binding holes.

Time to embellish the diary.

Use a variety of cardstock stickers, clear stickers and rub ons at different heights and positions on the clear parts of the pages. Do this on both sides of the pages. Use the photos as a guide and be as creative as you like!

Photo Page

This page is placed between the June and July pages in the diary.

Cut 8, 2 ½ inch squares from a variety of patterned papers and place them within a ½ inch from the corners of the page as shown. Do this on both sides of the page so that you have 4 squares on a page with a strip of clear down the middle. Cut leafy cardstock sticker in half and place down the clear centre strip on the photo page. Do the same on the other side, not worrying that they don’t match up. Embellish with rhinestones and a rubon.

Photos can be placed on the squares throughout the year.

Front and Back covers:

Cut yellow and black bird paper to 3 ½ x 6 ½ and adhere to centre of both sides of the front cover. I have used the yellow butterfly paper for the cover. Adhere a blue cardstock label sticker on the centre of the yellow paper. Cut the blue/green cardstock scallop sticker exactly in half and adhere to the cover, to the left of the yellow paper starting from the bottom of the cover. Match up scallops on the other side of the cover with the remaining half. Add title with letter stickers and rub ons and embellish with white puffy sticker, bug sticker and rhinestones. Add butterfly rub on to the clear part of the cover to the right and the caterpillar rub on to the left on the other side of the binding holes. Add table of School Term dates for 2009 on the bottom half of the black bird paper on the inside of the cover. The template is included but you will need to type in your own Term Dates. Add a butterfly sticker above the Term Dates and embellish with rhinestones. Inside back cover- Apply a large floral rub on to the bottom centre of the page Back of back cover- Add a white swirl puffy sticker and rhinestone to the bottom of the page.

Bind with blue or other colour rings.

The Clear Albums Calendar Challenge!

This calendar was created for the Clear Albums Calendar Challenge. Our challenge to you is to design and create a brand new calendar related project using clear albums. We're awarding some fantastic prizes that we think you will really love! So if you are interested in making handmade calendars for gifts this year, or if you want to custom design and create your own calendar for next year, we hope you'll play along with us! Click here for more details about the calendar challenge.

There are a couple of other related projects that were made for this challenge too. You can click here to see Amy Solovay's Scalloped clear album with chipboard, or you can Click here to see Christi Wright's Gift Tag Mini Clear Album. We hope these projects will inspire you to create some cler calendar albums of your own!