stenciled calendar DIY

This project has been in the works for quite sometime. I was tempted to start over or re-do some of it when it smudged or otherwise turned out differently than I expected, but I ended up just leaving it as is. Which I kind of like now. I like that not all the squares are the same size and that there are ink lines on some of the stamped portions. It definitely looks homemade and it is definitely different than what I started out trying to accomplish, but I really like the outcome!

I originally envisioned the calendar just on the wall itself somehow, perhaps with twin or something but then I remembered I have this fab XL clipboard that my ex-roomie Ali from Ballpoint + Pen (from before we were all old married ladies!!) left behind when she moved out years ago! I have always wanted to do something with it so I figured why not make a calendar out of it?

I basically started out cutting and stenciling all the things I would need - days of the week, months, 1-31 number squares. I used Martha Stewart Typewriter Alphabet stencils. These are my favorite stencils to use because they are slightly adhesive so they stick to the paper and you don't get hardly any of that annoying bleeding paint.

I love stenciling so I didn't think it was too bad and I have TERRIBLE handwriting! Haha so I have no choice but to stencil. But I am sure there are ladies out there with amazing cursive or print that could do a way better job free handing it!

I ended up using tiny paper clips to hold all the interchangeable part on. It was the most practical thing I could think of and thought it might add cute element to it as well.

I glued the days of the week directly onto the clipboard, but with hot glue so I can always remove them later if I choose and use the clipboard for something else entirely!!

 Next I hot glued tiny clothespins to the board in (semi) even spacing so that I can swap out the days an months as the year goes on.

Then came my favorite part!! Making washi tape "event" tags to go on the special events that happen during the year!!

Finally I put it all together. I'll be honest I don't LOVE it...but I really like the idea of a hand stamped calendar and am going to tweak it to fit my style until I do LOVE it! : )

Lastly I created a red ring that signifies what day it is! I will most likely be doing that over...as you can tell the "red" paper I had is suspiciously hot pink! Haha I would like more of a deeper red!