DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Hello...... to all you beautiful people !!!

Here's wishing you a very happy 2017! 

Hope you are having a creative start to the new year. I am Suman, here today with my first post on the Itsy Bitsy blog - A Mixed Media, Do-it-Yourself Desk Calender-cum-Photo Frame. 

I am thrilled to be representing India's biggest and fastest growing Hobby, Arts and Crafts store with an impressive online and onsite presence with 18 Brick & Mortar stores and a very user-friendly e-commerce site as well. Thank you Rashmi Harish for this opportunity. 

Here are the pictures of my project, this has a desk calendar on one side and a photo frame on the other side......

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

The Photo Frame..............

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Some Close -ups.........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Now lets see the step-by-step process of creating the DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame.......

Basic construction for the Calendar: 

Base measures 8-3/4"x7-1/2",I have taken two pieces of Black Chipboard/heavy card stock for the base. cut two pieces of black card stock measuring 8-3/4"x 6-3/4" ( later I replaced this with another Golden Brown colored card stock of 8-1/2"x 6-3/4" with a punched border) 

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

For the top Hinge : cut a piece of black card stock of 1-1/2"x 8-3/4", score at 3/4", Join both chipboards with this hinge on top. I have used Silicon Glue from Itsy Bitsy for this. 

For the Lower Hinge: cut a piece of black card stock of 6"x 8-3/4", score at 3/4", 1-1/2", 2-1/4",3", 3-3/4", 4-1/2",5-1/2" , Score and crease and fold with alternate mountain and valley folds(accordion fold). Attach to the lower portion of the chipboard with Silicon Glue. use binder clips to hold till the glue is dry.

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Cut two pieces of size 8-1/2"x 6" from thick water colour paper for the Calendar and photo frame. Here are some of my awesome supplies from Itsy Bitsy.........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

I have used Itsy Bitsy stencils and Mont Marte Modelling paste to add some texture with the Irregular Dots and Script stencils, some random swipes of white Gesso in some places.......and then the Colour Splash Inks........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Spray some inks and mist with water, you can soak up extra color with a dry tissue, keep adding layers of colors till you like it.........remember to dry the layers in-between. 

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

I added Colour Splash inks in Charcoal and Mocha to get a vintage effect. Have used Itsy Bitsy Pearlized Metallic paints in Gold and Copper to highlight textures..... my backgrounds looked like this at this stage......you can see the depth of colors as the layers of colors build up to create beautiful shades, shadows and complexity to the base. Never be afraid to experiment.....you will have much more fun if you let go and lose yourself in the process :) 

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Now to embellish using the wonderful range of  chipboards, flowers and other cute stuff from the store......

DIY Vintage Desk  Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

I created the photo frame using a die and card  stock and an acetate sheet.......

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

The dimensional numbers are painted with gold,copper and Pearl metallic paints from Itsy Bitsy, chipboards painted with metallic paints and Colour Splash Inks..........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

The Calendar is a free download, printed, cut , stacked and glued on top. It is matted on layers of black card and burlap........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

The gold micro beads are added with the help of Silicon Glue from the store.......

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Punched two holes on both sides of the calendar leaving equal distance, fixed gold eyelets and added rings.........matted the calendar on a matching piece of golden brown card with a punched border, you can use any die or border punch from the store.......

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

embellished photo frame with flowers, chipboards, gold pollens , cute Jute birds embellishments from the store.........

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

some micro beads and metal charms added from my stash.............I have cut a whimsy frames chipboard in half and used on top and bottom of the photo frame.

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

DIY Vintage Desk Calendar-cum-Photo Frame

Do leave some love and give it a try if you are inspired, Keep visiting the blog for more inspiration from my teamies. We would like to see all your fabulous creations. And do not forget to take part in this month's challenge at Itsybitsy blog ( to be announced very soon - stay tuned ),you can win some amazing goodies too.

Thank you so much for your visit today, I appreciate and look forward to your comments and feedback.If you like my work please do visit my blog  and FB page.

Supplies used from the store:

Monte Marte white gesso
monte Marte - modeling paste
silicon-liquid-glue
stencil-Irregular Dots
Stencil- Script 
chipboard Retro Flowers
Chipboard whimsy frames
color splash sprays -           Hot pink, Gold, Mocha, lemon zing, charcoal

Burlap bird embellishments                  

Gold Pollens       

Chunky Plain numbers

Flowers Vintage         

Pearlized Metallic Paint-Gold, Copper 

     Thanks for stopping by,Love....Suman