Editor’s Note: Good Morning. As we make our way toward the new year, my brain starts to shift toward getting organized. Crafting goddess Vanessa Falle is here this morning with a great perpetual calendar project that looks pretty, is simple to do and makes that transition into 2010 a bit easier. Enjoy!

This is the time of year when gift giving is an inevitable part of preparing for the holidays… but with the renewed popularity of handmade gifts, why not try something like my project for this month.

It’s practical, useful, simple and easy to customize. It doesn’t really get any better than that, does it? Everybody needs to know what day it is and this little perpetual desk calendar is just the ticket!

Let’s get down to business…

Gather up the following materials:

• Several sheets of coordinating scrapbooking paper,
• 4 sheets of chipboard,
• stamp set with months & days of the week (you can do this on the printer if you don’t have stamps),
• big numbers stamps (I used the Provocraft Cricut machine to cut out my numbers, but you can use the printer to do this step),
• Bind It All machine or simple hole punch,
• Coil for binding (or something that will allow easy turning of pages,
• adhesive,
• exacto blade,
• 6″ of wide ribbon, and
• strong wet adhesive.

Directions:

1. For starters, cut two pieces of chipboard measuring 6×8″. Cover one side of each piece with decorative paper. Punch holes along the top edge with your bind it all machine on the 8″ long edge of both pieces. Set aside.

Next, cut 9 more pieces of card stock to measure 6×8″. Punch each sheet along the 8″ side, as with the first two. Once they are all punched, cut each of the 9 sheets to measure 2×6. You should have 36 pieces of chipboard with holes punched along the 2″ side. Discard three of them – they aren’t needed.

2. Next, cut your scrapbooking paper into enough 2×6 pieces to cover the 33 pieces. Adhere. If you wish to run them thru the Bind It All machine again, you can or you may prefer to cut the holes out with an exact blade. Be sure to take a minute to look at the back sides of each chipboard piece and trim away any excess paper that may be hanging over the edges of the chipboard.

3. Once all the chipboard pieces are covered and the holes are re-punched, you can arrange them into four piles. The first pile is the “Month” pile – obviously, you’ll need 12 pieces. The second pile is the “Day of the Week” pile – seven pieces for this one. The third and fourth piles are for the numbers of each month. In the third pile, you’ll need four pieces (one will stay blank for single digit dates and the remaining three will each have a 1, 2, and 3 on them). The fourth pile will have all the numbers ranging from 0-9.

4. Go back and take the two large pieces of covered, hole-punched chipboard. Assemble them with covered sides facing and the uncovered sides on the outside. Slip the Bind It All spine in place and add each of the piles of month, day and numbers as they fit on the spine. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, close the spine so that the pages stay in place.

5. Whether you are stamping your months or printing them on the computer, you’ll want to set up the paper so that it leaves adequate space for the text. I used stamps on mine and cut all the pieces of paper to be stamped on the same size for continuity (1.3″). I stamped each month on the pieces of paper and when I finished stamping, I adhered each one on the first set of chipboard pieces.

Repeat for the days of the week. For the numbers, I chose to cut out mine using my Cricut. You can repeat the previous steps as with the months & days of the week for your numbers. But be sure to leave one of the panels in pile three blank to allow for dates that are single-digits. You can choose to embellish the panels with flat embellishments or small photos - just remember to check if your piles of panels are getting too fat to lay neatly.

6. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of your calendar, arrange it so that the uncovered sides of the main panels are facing. Grab your 6″ piece of wide ribbon and adhere with a super strong wet adhesive, so that when the calendar is standing on your desk it doesn’t slip and fall flat.

GIVEAWAY: What are some of the fun organizing projects you are hoping to take on this year? We’d love to see and hear about what you are up to (or, like me, what you’d like to be up to). Vanessa has a perpetual calendar (one that’s already made) to give away to one random commenter today!

Have a great Tuesday!