Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Jute Calendar

A calendar made of jute?  That's right!
After seeing this Erasable Dinner Menu Frame made by Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming, I was inspired to make this...



The most important tools to complete this project are time and patience.
Other than that, you'll need jute, a frame with mat {mine is matted to 11"x14"}, tape, a pencil, scissors, a glue gun, and a dry erase marker.

Here's the how to...


Trace.
Take apart the frame and trace the inside of your mat onto the cardboard inside the frame.




Do the math.
Mark out 7 equal vertical columns (for the days) and 5 equal horizontal rows (for the weeks).
{mine worked out to 1 7/8" sections across and 2 1/8" down}




Snip the string.
Cut the jute into pieces about an inch larger than the inside dimensions of your mat.
A good way to cut large amounts of string is to cut one piece to size.  Then use that as a guide, folding the string back and forth along that guide.  Once you have several measured out, cut the loops at the ends.




Stick to it.
With a piece of tape face up, stick on the ends of the jute.  The type of tape doesn't really matter since it will just temporarily hold the pieces in place.




Line 'em up.
Line the string up with the tracing of the mat and stick down.  Determine how many strings it will take to cover each section that you measured out.  {Mine required 15 strings per vertical column and 16 strings per horizontal row} 




All bundled up.
Count out the number of strings for each section and wrap a piece of tape around the end of each bundle.  This is just to keep the sections separate and will be removed later.




Start in the corner.
Once you have string taped along 1 long side and 1 short side (like an 'L'), you're ready to start weaving.




Starting in the corner, line up your pieces of jute from one section and glue each one down to the cardboard.



Continue on... and on... and on.
Overlap the next section, securing each strand with glue.  Continue on, weaving the sections over and under each other.  {once I got in my groove, I was gluing 3 or 4 strands at a time}  Remove the tape as needed.




Put it all together.
Reassemble the frame, putting in the glass, mat, then cardboard with the weaved jute.  I painted the old frame for a fresh new look.



I think it looks quite nice just plain.  Writing on the glass with a dry erase marker turns it into a calendar, a message board, or anything your imagination can come up with.




Now, we're all ready for the month of May!




If you have any questions, let me know in the comments or feel free to email me at andrea.brand.art@gmail.com


Thanks for stopping by.

34 comments:

  1. Brilliant! Love the texture of the jute in the frame!

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  2. Great Idea, Love it!

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  3. Well, that puts my sad burlap calendar to shame! It's so classy looking - I love it!!!

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  4. Hi Andrea~

    Such a creative idea!! Found your blog via Delightfully Inspiring, happy to be a new follower. I invite you to share more of your creativity on Sunday at my blog bash K.I.S.S.

    Drop By The Tattered Tag

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  5. Andrea! cool, cool project! This was very creative!
    Susan

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  6. That is super cool Andrea! I love each and everyone of your projects!

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  7. Love this! You're so creative! I love how you can personalize each month with the dry erase markers, but that the basic "calendar" is such a fantastic looking textural neutral. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. The texture is just lovely. Thanks for the very clear tutorial!

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  9. OMG I just love your stuff. So glad you linked up!!

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  10. This is so gorgeous too! I love jute and organizing... and I'm your newest follower now too!

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  11. So cute! Thanks for linking this up to our Wicked awesome wednesday link party.

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  12. wow! I love it when I get inspired:) Thanks for sharing- you´ve now got a brand new fan in Norway- greetings from the cold norht- r

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  13. WoW! That is so pretty. I love the rustic look to it, but it also looks elegant in its simplicity. Thanks so much for sharing this in such an easy to understand fashion. I'm definitely going to be incorporating this into a project soon.

    You're more than welcome to link up at the Sunburnt Cow link party.

    Cheers,
    Tracy All Thumbs Crafts

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  14. WOW! I love this!! So so sooooo cool. Thanks for sharing :)

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  15. Your jute calendar was featured on Craft and Tell Tuesdays. Stop by to pick up your button! : )

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  16. Such a great idea! I'm featuring you tonight...

    Thanks for linking to Creative Juice Thursday! Hope to see you back again this week.

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  17. Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that I featured this on my Delightfully Inspiring Thursday Party today! Stop by and grab a button for your blog, if you'd like. Thanks for sharing!
    http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/2011/05/delightfully-inspiring-thursday-party.html
    DaNita

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  18. I love this! Im trying to figure out if I have the patience t make it b/c I absolutely love it!

    danielle

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  19. wow wow wow. this turned out beautifully. the texture is perfect, and I llove that it pulls double (triple?) duty as a piece of art AND calendar. Awesome job. I'll definitely be pinning this one!

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  20. told you already, but I still do love this! turned out beautiful :)

    Thanks for linking up to Your Whims Wednesday!

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  21. I love this idea!! I wanted to let you know that I featured this on my "What I Bookmarked This Week" post - please stop by and check it out.

    Thank you so much for the inspiration!
    danielle

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  22. Wow, you must have tons of patience! Looks beautiful. New follower!

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  23. I have never seen one of these, but it is cool! I love your chalkboard wall, too! I gave you the Sunshine Award. If you'd like to accept, please click here: http://www.meldreamsoften.com/2011/06/sunshine-award.html

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  24. Your calendar is just so clever & lovely.

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  25. Love the jute! I featured this too with your starfish art! http://www.sewrockin.com/2011/12/16/you-sew-rock-me-fridays-9.

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  26. This is really neat looking! I love the calendar idea but I immediately thought about a tray, just add a handle on each side. Gonna' try this, thanks!

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  27. Love your blog and this project with jute - I'm absolutely amazed by the weaving! Just wanted to let you know I featured you in my roundup of jute craft projects here. Feel free to check it out if you want and hope you like it! : )

    -Mel the Crafty Scientist

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  28. Jute is our golden crops. It has a lots of opportunities.

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  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  30. Awesome Blog .By Reading your post about jute I have learned a lot of things about Jute .The Good News is that---In Bangladesh We are making Carcoal from Jute Stick .Carcoal is very essential for many work.You can visit my website for knowing all the detail process about charcoal from Jute Stick.Here is my website

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  31. Awesome Blog .By Reading your post about jute I have learned a lot of things about Jute .

    The Good News is that---In Bangladesh We are making Carcoal from Jute Stick .Carcoal is very essential for many work.You can visit My Website for knowing all the detail process about charcoal from Jute Stick.Here is My Website

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