Desk Calendars

I have been making these desk calendars since 2012. The very first calendar I made was at my monthly craft class and it was a 2013 calendar with a Hello Kitty snake. I thought these were a perfect coworker gift and decided to make them for my office. You may be asking why a snake, 2013 was the year of the snake according to the Chinese zodiac. Every year since then I have been making these desk calendars with the Chinese zodiac for that year. However, I did miss a few years because life got in the way.

2019 is the year of the Boar/Pig, so I made a pig using my Cricut Maker. I use to use hand punches and scissors to make these paper animals because that is how I was taught. But using the Maker is a game changer when you are mass producing paper crafts. I prefer using The Maker because it allows me to get the exact size I want without buying a bunch of hand punches.

Before I start detailing how I made this Desk Calendar, let me list all the supplies and tools I used to create this project. I prefer working with Bazzil texture cardstock on these types of paper crafts, but you can use any cardstock that fits your budget. I buy my cardstock after I created the Pig because I will know how many pieces of cardstock I will need. Also, one 12×12 card stock will make two calendar base. So think about how many calendars you will need to make before buying your cardstock.

    I used two shapes and a tail of a pig I got for free from Cricut Access. The two shapes that were used was the Heart and Circle and the pig I used for the tail was from the cartridge County Fair.

Let’s start with the ears of the Pig. Select the Heart shape and size it to 0.7” width x 0.7” height and change the color to a dark pink, this will let you and Design Space know what color paper to use. Select the Heart shape again and size this one to 0.4” width x 0.4” height and change the color to a light pink. Then duplicate both hearts, you will have two dark pink hearts and two light pink hearts.

For the face, I used three different circle shapes. For the head, I used the Circle shape and sized it to 1.9” width x 1.7” height and sync the color with the dark pink heart. Syncing the colors lets design space know what shape to cut on what color paper.

Select the Circle shape again and size it to 0.2” width x 0.2” height and change the color to black. Duplicate the black circle three times, you will have a total of four black circles. These black circles will be the eyes and the nostrils of the snout. I did use a 3/16” hole punch for the eyes because I was afraid I would lose and eye and have to cut out more. You could use either method.

The snout will be using the circle shape and size it to 1” width x 0.8” height.  Sync the color to the light pink heart. The shape of the snout will be an oval.

The Body of the pig is a Circle shape, sized to 2” width by 2” and sync the color to the dark pink you are using.

For the legs, select the Circle shape and size it to 0.6” width x 0.9” height and then duplicate the shape. With the first oval shape synch the color to the dark pink and then duplicate three more times. You will have a total of four oval shapes.

With the fifth non-pink oval you will make little hooves out if it. Select the Square shape and place it on the oval, covering most of the oval and leaving a tiny amount not covered. Then select both shapes and slice the two shapes. This will leave a tiny half circle. Duplicate this shape three more times. You will have a total of four tiny half circles.

Select Image and search for County Fair cartridge. Insert the pig from that cartridge to your canvas. Ungroup the image and then use the slice function to cut the tail out. Delete the rest of the pig images. Size the tail to 0.6” width x 0.5” height.

Before cutting out these shapes, put them all together in Design Space to make sure these measurements work. If it looks good, then you are ready to cut. If it’s not the right size then group all the images together and size it to the size you want. Select Make it and input the quantity of pigs you need to make. Since each shape is colored, Design Space will sort all the shapes by color. This will let you know how much cardstock you will need to make all the pigs.

It’s all about the layering. I started with gluing the hooves to the legs and then gluing the legs to the body. Placement of the legs should look like the Pig is sitting. Then glue on the tail and the body of the pig is done.

Next, I glued the nostrils to the snout. Then I glued the hearts together to make the ears. Don’t worry that the small heart doesn’t fit perfectly on the bigger heart. Just focus on making sure you have a nice boarder at the bottom of the heart. Now its time to add the snout and ears to the head. Since the head is an oval make sure the oval is horizontal. I placed the snout on the lower part of the head to make room for the eye. Then I glued the ears to the head and then the eyes. Gluing the nostrils and eyes is a little hard because they are tiny pieces. I use a needle to help with gluing. Once you get the eyes on the head of the pig is done.

Take one 12×12 cardstock and cut off two inches using a paper cutter. You will now have two pieces, a 12×10 piece and a 12×2 piece. Place the 12×10 piece horizontally on the paper cutter and cut in half at 6 inches. Then place the 12×2 piece horizontally on the paper cutter and cut in half at 6 inches. You will have four pieces, two 6×10 pieces and two 2×6 pieces.

Get your Scoreboard out because it’s time to add Score lines. I placed all cardstock textured side up on the Scoreboard. Let’s start with placing one 2×6 piece vertically on the Scoreboard. Score it at the 1 inch mark and then repeat with the other 2×6 piece. Place one 6×10 piece horizontally on the Scoreboard and Score at the 1 inch, 5 inch, and 9 inch mark and repeat with the other 6×10 piece. If you have a Scoreboard smaller than 9 inches, then Scor the 6×10 piece at the 1 inch and 5 inch mark, then rotate the piece and Score the other end at the 1 inch mark.

Fold one of the 6×10 piece at the Score lines, it should be a triangle once you fold it. Then fold the 2×6 piece to make a peak. Take the folded 2×6 piece and add glue to half of the bottom of the piece. Place the glued side to the inside of the bottom of the base piece and the glue the other half to the other side. This will connect the base and also reinforces the bottom of the base

I made a border for the Mini tear-off desk calendars because I wanted to add a little color to them. The calendar measures 2.25”x3”, so I cut a piece of cardstock at 2.5”x3.25”. Then I glued the calendar to the border piece. You don’t need to add a border to the calendar, it will look amazing with or without one.

First glue the calendar, offset it to the left leaving a 0.25” border and center it horizontally. Then glue the body of the pig to the right of the calendar. I glued the mini wobble on the back of the Pig in the center. Then glued the mini wobble onto the calendar base. The mini wobbles have adhesive on it but I like to add glue to it to better secure it to the cardstock. And now your calendar is done.

I love making these calendars and giving them away as gifts. It use to take me a long time to make them because I use to hand punch out all the pieces and then glue all the pieces together. Now, I have the Cricut Maker do all the cutting for me. I will use a few hole punches for the tiny circles because I don’t want to lose any of them and I can punch out what I need when I craft.

This was a long blog because there are so many parts to it. I hope you find this helpful and inspirational. Follow my crafting adventures on Instagram and Facebook.