calendars!

I've been working on these for a while now and I figured it's probably time to let them out into the world and stop fiddling with them a hundred times a day already!

Also I can't for the life of me choose a favourite. I couldn't even decide which individual months I liked most to make a random sampling calendar.

That being said, it doesn't prevent YOU from choosing from the calendars to make your own unique blend. If you've got a favourite, grab it. If they're all your favourite, grab them all! Each is standard U.S. letter size, perfect for printing off at home.

This year, I decided to ditch the watermark (because I really hate them). Instead, I put a license on the photos through Flickr. So remember these are for non-commercial, personal use only.

Thank you ever so much for reading and supporting le blog this past year. Your comments and loving presence really mean so much to me.

(if you find any... mistakes... let me know and I'll fix it up prompt-like. the more you stare at numbers, the more you second-guess yourself)

Outdoorsy pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

Crafty pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

Foodie pics from 2011 Calendar

find them here

{note} These will only be available through Flickr for a limited time.

bridge mixture and the giveaway winners!

Have you ever had bridge mixture? I had a hankering for some licorice allsorts the other day and in an effort to find some, I came across Bridge Mixture instead.

The two have nothing in common at all. My craving flip-flopped.

So Bridge Mixture! I totally forgot about you! It's so great cuz it's a mixed bag of anything that tastes great when covered in chocolate.

You can get raisins, peanuts, gummies (my favourite), mints, other weird stuff I don't remember (and every box is different). Whatever you get, it's gonna be covered in chocolate so that means it's automatically delicious.

Anyway, it's such a weirdly named candy for kids to want, isn't it? It immediately makes me think of a bunch of grannies sitting around playing bridge while eating Bridge Mixture. But if we saw it at the store, we'd always get it, so I had to have it this time for nostalgia.

Now, on to the friendship bracelet winners! As if you need telling! Here's a fun story, though. Idle Husband thought it would still be completely sensical (and particularly hilarious) if he drew names, increasing Lindsey's chance of winning nine whole bracelets exponentially. So I had to sit him down and gently explain to him that I did not think that would be hilarious at all.

{winner winner}

{LaelShine} Favourite colours..Hmmm, blue, purple and copper.

{Lindsey @ Hot Polka Dot} My three favourite colours are yellow, turquoise and grey and I love that chevron pattern!

 I'm already working on them!

a giveaway!

So the other day, I just happened to notice I've now got 30 followers!

I can't tell you how excited and over-the-moon I am that anyone even cares to read or look at this blog. I really just started it as something fun to do and as a way to keep track of life in general, so I never thought I'd get even one follower. And when I got one follower I was just as excited as I am here today with 30.

And because I turned 30 this year and there are 30 of you, I wanted to do a little giveaway to say thanks for reading, looking, commenting, and just being a little icon on my sidebar. You're all really awesome and I love it when you visit!

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's this humongoid trend in friendship bracelets right now. They're everywhere. I don't think I've opened a single blog page in the last few weeks and not seen one or read a tutorial on how to make one. So because I consider you all friends, I thought I'd make three friendship bracelets for three of you.

That's right THREE for THREE!

I've been making them since high school. I even have a book and an actual embroidery thread organizer with a rainbow of colours. Which means what you see above is not necessarily the pattern you'll get (and at least one bracelet will be a little more intricate. Most likely a double. Definitely something different than normal).

{how to enter}

{1} Leave a comment on this post telling me your top three favourite colours. I'll make the bracelets according to the colours mentioned by the winners (the shade, mix, and pattern of colours will be at my discretion. But if you also said you really love the arrowhead pattern, I'd probably work it in there for you. Just saying).

{for bonus entries}

{2} Become a follower (either through Blogger or Google friend connect) and leave another comment telling me so (this also applies to those of you that already are followers); and/or

{3} Like Idle Wife on facebook, then come back here and leave another comment telling me you've done so (this also applies to those of you that have already liked me on facebook).

Only three entries per person will be permitted as I've stated above.

I'd really like to make a bracelet for all of you so I needed an unbiased decision maker. Idle Husband will draw the winners out of a hat with the soullessness of a random number generator (because he's very strict when it comes to fairness -- and he also really wanted to be included somehow).

Please be sure to leave a valid email address or some way I can get in touch with you for your mailing information (all emails and addresses will be kept confidential).

This contest is open to anyone anywhere.

The giveaway closes on Wednesday the 22nd at 4 p.m. (MST), so you'll have until then to comment. I'll do the draw and announce the winner on that Friday.

{please note} this giveaway is entirely funded by me out of the kindness of my heart. Since these will be one-of-a-kind friendship bracelets specific to your colour preferences, please give me time to make them and be patient. I swear I won't forget about you (I do not forget these types of things -- or faces). Also be aware that Canada Post is currently striking with a randomness I don't understand, so sending this via post may take longer than normally expected, but I'll be sure to tell you when I've dropped it in the mail so you'll have a rough idea of time.

botanical 2011 calendar

Every year, for four years now, I make my own calendar. I think it all started when I just couldn't find a calendar I wanted to look at all year. And I know what you're thinking, there are tons of calendars out there to choose from. How on earth could you not find a single one?! Well, I think I found some nice ones, but they were too nice. Like, too nice to write all over during the year. Whenever I see a fancy calendar, I usually envision it with my scribbles all over it and it makes me feel like I'm doodling on fine art.

The other problem I have with a lot of ready-made calendars is the amount of space given for writing. I need a little more space. I don't mind crowding into another day, but some of the calendars out there barely give enough room to write a birthday down. And I really like to write everything on my calendar. I mean everything. What we did, where we went, what happened to us. I use my calendar like I used my agenda in high school and college. Except I don't record amusing quotes people say anymore. I kinda miss doing that.

I also need to be able to see the calendar part. You know those fancy calendars that are all picture and the actual dates are down in the bottom corner, in very thin fine print? Yeah, those are gorgeous to look at but not very functional.

Oh, and there have been a few years where people have bought me a calendar for Christmas and I've felt obligated to use it. Cuz it's there, I guess, and probably because I thought there might be a chance they'd come over in the next 12 months and wonder where the hell their calendar was. One time in high school (high school!) I received a calendar of babies. Dressed as animals. Babies dressed as animals for 12 whole months. I thought, does this person even know who I AM?! I'm still wondering about it.

That's when I decided to start making them myself, so I'd have nothing at all to complain about since I'd be the one in charge of it. And making your own calendar is definitely not hard. If you can use a ruler (or are good at eyeballing things), you can totally make your own. I started off doing them by hand, measuring them out with pencil and going back over with ink, and over the years, I've started to get a little more artsy with my designs. A little more creative with the papers or coming up with a theme or even (gasp!) putting the dates in unconventional patterns.

Last year, I was trying to print some artwork from this website for a card and it accidentally printed the entire page. I was pretty pissed at such a waste of ink and cardstock, so I decided to use it as part of my calendar. I liked how that looked so much, I decided to print a few more for the year. This year, I only used artwork (for my own personal calendar) from that website and from a few other websites I had gathered  pictures from over the year (I change my desktop weekly and the preloaded desktop pictures just don't do it for me). This was also the first time I've made the whole thing completely on the computer (mostly because I couldn't find pens, pencils, or rulers). It was... different. A little more fiddly and a little harder to get the calendar portion right, but in the end, I was really pleased with how it came out. So pleased, I decided to make another! Just for you!

It's a little rough, I'll admit. I kept my slacker ways by only adjusting the days of the week instead of the numbers which I've been doing for a few years now just so I don't have to rearrange the numbers each time (I have to figure out a better system). It also took me forever to get the dates right. I'm such a worried double-checker that when I noticed I was accidentally looking at the 2010 calendar for a couple of them, I still didn't think I got them right -- even after going back and checking and double-checking and fixing. I did have the holidays printed on, but I felt like most of them were a little too Albertan/Canadian/North American specific, so I decided to leave them off. People celebrate and don't celebrate so many different things, I didn't want to alienate or lump everyone together. So, sure, it's not perfect, but that's the point. You can write all over it. Scribble things at the top, bottom, and sides. I didn't want to make it too pretty, because I feel like your own personal writings and doings are as much a part of a calendar as the calendar itself (personally, I love how it looks when I write over images).

I had picked out quite a few different and random favourite photos from last year to use, but I decided to go with a botanical theme to keep it cohesive. For a limited time, you can click on each photo to enlarge it, then right click to save and print it yourself! Happy new year!