January 9, 2013 by Born To Organize

Garden Calendar Lives Another Day

Have you hung up your 2013 wall calendar? Do you love a new calendar as much as I do?

My sister gave me The Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardening Calendar this year. It’s always been one of my favorites. The pages are beautifully illustrated with helpful notations and interesting quotes. Here’s one:

Benjamin Franklin introduced kohlrabi to colonial America.The vegetable’s German name originated from the Italian words cavolo rapa, meaning “cabbage turnip.”

You learn something new every day! 😉

It’s fun turning over a new page to a new month and a fresh beginning. Conversely, I removed my 2012 gardening calendar with great anticipation. In the past few years I’ve been re-purposing the beautifully designed pages into envelopes and stickers, tags and the odd bookmark.

This year I’ve challenged myself to use all of last year’s garden calendar in new and different ways. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Gift Card Holder

This design simply evolved based on the pattern of the flower. The gift card holder folds into thirds and is held in place by a sleeve. When the sleeve is in place, the butterfly keeps the top flap from opening.

Gift Card Holder (cutaway with sleeve)

Gift Card Holder (closed)

Desk Top Organizer

I’ve always loved little boxes, and this one is no exception. It arrived with some unexpected treasures from a dear friend. Rather than pack it away with the Christmas gear, I covered the box with four different calendar pages. I used the stiffer cardstock from the front of the calendar to make a pair of dividers. Now I can easily get my hands on what I need.

Christmas gift box from a dear friend

Desk Top Organizer

Dividers

Box Lining

Napkin Rings

Once folded in half and glued together, the pages are quite sturdy. I cut them into strips, formed a ring, and stitched them together with a scrap of raffia. Now I’m all set for Thanksgiving.

Napkin Rings (8 for next fall)

Envelopes, gift tags and stickers

Assorted gift tags and stickers

Envelope

Wine Tag

Postcards from the Edge

I used the only bit of white from the calendar to create a writing space. The reverse side of the postcard has a quote.

Two-sided postcard (back side has quotation)

Bunting

For the Fairy Garden…of course. 🙂

Drawer Liners and a Poster

Drawer Liners (My husband swears we need all these remotes)

Poster (back of guest bath door)

Check this out:

Katherine at Pillows a-la-Mode likes to re-fashion or re-purpose clothing in a similar fashion. She held a contest a few months back. The lucky winner mailed her a beautiful embroidered jacket (that not longer fit), and Katherine turned it into a tote bag, a tissue holder, a pillow and more. You can check out the contest winner and lots of other fun ideas at Pillows a-la-Mode.

January 6, 2013 by Born To Organize

Mercury News Garden Calendar: An Annual Tradition

Our local paper publishes a garden calendar every January. The 2013 version arrived with Saturday’s paper. The calendar is a single page, always beautifully illustrated, with general gardening guidelines arranged by month.

I hang the calendar on the back of the garage door and refer to it throughout the year. It doesn’t hold any special advice or information that I couldn’t easily find online, but I hang it up anyway and check in to be sure I’m on track.

I used to be a haphazard gardener. My intentions were good, but also easily derailed when my boys were young. Months would pass before I checked in with the calendar again, but I hung it up just the same.

In this era of declining print, I wonder how long ‘the papers’ will stay in business? Though I enjoy the immediacy of the internet and the incredible access to information, I still enjoy the feel of a newspaper. It’s fun looking forward to the yearly calendar. We check the local section for “spare the air” days and my boys check the weather. Yesterday’s news is great for catching debris when you re-pot a plant. You can even add it to your compost pile.

Of course newsprint comes from lumbar, so less paper means more trees. I can certainly get behind that. Change is both good and inevitable, but as annual rituals go, I’ll be sorry if and when this one is gone.

For a closer look at the San Jose Mercury news Garden Calendar (available, of course, online) follow this link. Illustrations by Dave Johnson.

November 10, 2012 by Born To Organize

Garden Calendars: Pretty and Practical

We have a calendar-giving tradition in our immediate family. Each Christmas I choose a wall calendar for the boys, based on current interests and trends. I usually buy my husband a sailing-themed calendar or to mix things up a bit, lighthouses. It will come as no shock to you that yours truly likes gardening calendars. Since the men in the house aren’t big shoppers, I’m free to choose my own.

I suppose in some ways, wall calendars are quaint. I’m a big technology fan, and rely on Outlook and an iPhone to keep track of personal, professional and family appointments. There is something reassuring, however, about a calendar hanging on the wall. I like to glance over at the date, or flip through the months looking for a holiday or the next full moon. The photographs or illustrations are always beautiful, a miniature piece of art that changes monthly.

Calender to Envelope

In the past few years, I’ve re-purposed the prior years calendar. I like making envelopes, stickers and bookmarks, as well as gift tags to drop over a bottle of wine. It’s fun coming up with different ways to use the art.

Here are a few of my favorites for 2013:

The Secret Garden Wall Calendar

“Hidden away from well-traveled paths, the secret garden possesses magical powers of restoration and rejuvenation. With a year of lush and luxurious retreats, The Secret Garden Calendar offers serenity with every glance.”

Who can resist a secret garden? Not me! What a great place to rest my eyes when I’m taking a break from the computer. These calendar pages will make great envelopes too when the year is over. It’s good to plan ahead.

Old Farmer’s Almanac Calendar

“For everyone who is going or growing “green”! Original full-color illustrations dominate each monthly spread and are complemented by useful and entertaining gardening lore, timely advice, and fun facts. Plus, a region-specific chart identifies the best days and Moon phases for planting vegetables.”

I’ve purchased this calendar in the past and love it. It’s filled with useful tips and wonderful illustrations. For me, it harkens back to a seemingly simple time. Love it!

A Cat in the Garden

“Gardens and felines have a natural rapport. The cat’s stature brings it face-to-face with long-stemmed blooms, within easy pouncing distance of breeze-blown ornamental grasses, and a short hop from sun-warmed deck chairs. Weaving delicately through the potted plants or waiting in ambush for an unsuspecting bug, the household cat lives in regal symbiosis with backyard flora. Photographer Del Greger presents twelve new portraits of cats and flora in this calendar, each one paired with a cat-centric quotation.