DIY Paint Chip Calendar

We already know I have a fairly significant relationship with paint chips (I've made Christmas ornaments, greeting cards, this wall banner and this nursery mobile lately with them). Mostly I love paint chips because they're free and almost impossible to mess up. You can cut, color on, and string those babies together with nary a negative consequence! And if you do mess up, you're zero dollars in the hole.

I just used the word nary.

Anyway, I've been on the hunt for a good calendar for a long time now. We use our current family calendar all the time, and I need a new one for next year. I also wanted something big, without pictures of kittens in baskets on it (why do they all have kittens in baskets?), and something that would bring some fun color into the room. And then I thought - forget trying to find a calendar like that. I can make one! So I looked up a few tutorials to get some ideas, and then I got started. I especially loved the tutorials from Susan of Maple and Magnolia, and David of Cheltenham Road.

Here's my version.

Supplies:
paint chips (free)
poster frame (Target, $10 with coupon)
fabric adhesive ($3)
1/2 yard burlap (Walmart, $1.50)
hot glue gun and glue (already owned)
big circle punch (already owned)

First, take the cardboard backing from the frame and stretch the burlap over the it (you can use any fabric - I just liked the look of burlap). Hot glue the edges of the burlap to the back side of the cardboard.

Second, lay out your paint chips in a 7X5 array. I opted for ombre, but it would also be cute to randomize the order or do a checkerboard pattern. I trimmed my paint chips down for a better fit.

Use the fabric adhesive to glue each paint chip onto the fabric. I started out using my glue gun, but it wasn't working very well, so I switched to the fabric glue. As you can see, I laid down strips of scotch tape in between each row to help keep everything straight and lined up.

Punch out circles from the extra paint chips and glue them on to the top of each calendar day. I did reverse ombre.

Attach the cardboard back to the frame. Hang it up and use a dry erase marker to label the days of the week and the month (if you want, you can print out and glue on the days of the week instead of writing them in with dry erase). Start scheduling to your heart's content!

There's a perfect little wall by our kitchen table where I hung it. It only took me about an hour from start to finish, and the total cost was less than $15. Oh, and it's basically impossible to mess up. That's what I call a good craft!

Let me know if you do a paint chip calendar - I'd love to see it!

Oh, and other favorite paint chip crafts? I'm addicted...