2021 calendar with gnome with Stampin' Up products & Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year and hope you had a nice holiday season!  

I have been bitten by the gnome bug and been looking online at all the gnomes projects - so I decided to make a gnome to decorate my annual calendar that I enclose with my Christmas/New Years cards...Here is what my gnome calendar looks like up close:

I used my unused Stampin' Up Paper Pumpkin kit December 2018/Day by Day, which is no longer available: 

This was a calendar and since there were 15 tags for the year calendar, I was able to make 15 gnome calendars.  I cut out a piece of designer paper that was 3 x 2" to cover the part that said the month's name and numbers and didn't stamp above it, and glued this piece on top of the month. Then I cut a matching piece of DSP that was 1-1/2 x 4" and punched holes in it to line up with the holes in the top of the calendar.  I adhered this piece at the top front of the calendar piece and cut a piece of approx. 3/8" wide ribbon 25-30" long. I ran the ribbon through like is shown in the calendar above and tied a bow at the top, but you could tie the bow in the front of the calendar if you wanted.  I had ordered some small calendars 1-3/4 x 2-3/8" from vippies and glued it over the piece of DSP that was now covering the month.  You can see how my calendar looks above, and below is a sketch of my pattern plan. 

 

If you don't have this Paper Pumpkin kit, you can cut your own monthly card base, which is measured above at 5" x 3-3/4" and cut it at the bottom to a point 1/2" from the bottom edge.  It would be a good idea to use the thick cardstock if you have it, or you could use regular cardstock and just glue 2 pieces together, so there is some body to the tag and it isn't flimsy.

Once you have the calendar base done and calendar attached, you can put whatever punched out design you want on it, and so I made a gnome with Stampin' Up punches.  I got the idea for my gnome from Audra Monk's Youtube video Paper Gnome Tutorial Nov. 26, 2019 (https://youtu.be/sRnAePewGVA) - she used Stampin' Up punches for her gnome, and I used some of the same punches, but also some different punches:

Pine tree punch - for the beard, 1-1/2" circle punch for the head, Perennial flower punch for the feet, Owl punch for the nose, Tree punch for the hat, and Small flower punch for the pompom on the hat.  You can see these shapes on my gnome picture above and if you don't have them, I'm sure you can find another similar shaped punch or even cut the shape out on your own.  

I folded the top of the hat down and glued it down with the pompom and put a rhinestone on it.  The feet were 2 of the flower petals (like Audra did in her video) and cut/shaped the bottom of the hat and beard like Audra did.  I also marked a little half-smile on the gnome's beard like Audra's. Since I used the pine tree upside down for the beard, it wasn't as full as hers so my gnome is a little taller than her gnomes.  

I used an off-white colored cardstock for the head and nose.  I used DSP with silver on it so it would give it some fancy shine, and cute plaids, etc. for the hats. I also used metallic ribbon to match the DSP.  I think my gnome turned out so cute!  Here are some more of my gnome calendars that I put into a plastic envelope and then into my cards:

I hope my recipients like their gnome calendars and think of my every month when they take off the old month to see the new month all year!  

Before I forget, please check out my online store to see what promotions Stampin' Up has - the new mini-catalog and saleabrations flyer will be coming out soon, so there are some good sales going on!

https://marynoble.stampinup.net/