Made 2 Craft: Perpetual Calendar

How to make your own perpetual calendar from your favourite card stock

I found whilst in Covid-19 lockdown as I was not doing my normal routine, I soon forgot what day and date it was. I then started forgetting to do things, like putting the bins out! One Saturday my husband queried why I was cooking a roast which we normally do on a Sunday - ooops! I wondered if I could make a perpetual calendar from card - so after a week of playing around with various size boxes, I came up with this perpetual calendar:

I was rather pleased with it. I've made mine using red and green patterned card so it fits in my living room decor. Now every morning when I open the curtains, I just move the boxes around to the new date and hey presto - I can now remember what day it is! That's the plan anyway!

It's a bit fiddly to score and cut out the boxes but just take it slowly - double check your measurements before cutting and you will get there. If you have any problems with my instructions just send me a comment on the contact me page and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Follow the below link to find out how the calendar was made

You will need

White A4 card
Patterned card (I used 3 different patterns from a 12 x 12 scrapbooking card pack)
Guillotine with cutting and scoring blade or score board
Craft knife and metal ruler
Double sided tape or glue
Numbers and letters in stamps, peel off's or use your computer (I used my computer to create the numbers and letters and then printed onto white card and cut out - you can access it here)

We are going to make a number box first. Cut a piece of A4 white card down to 20 cm by 25 cm

Score 1 cm then 7 cm in down both of the long edges

From one of the short edges score lines at 1 cm, 7 cm, 13cm and 19cm

Draw a light pencil line across the page at 12 cm from the short end that has the 1 cm score line and make another pencil line at 20 cm. These create tab lines

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create a number box. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue the box together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show outside your box.

Repeat steps 1 to 5 to make a second number box.

Now we will make the weekly boxes following a similar procedure to the number boxes but this time there will be two boxes on one page. This time cut a piece of white A4 card so the short width measures 20 cm

Score 1 cm and 4 cm in from both long edges.

From one of the short edges score at 1 cm, 4 cm, 7 cm, 10 cm and 13 cm

From the same short end draw a light pencil line across the page at 6 cm and 11 cm

Score from the other short end at 3 cm, 6 cm, 9 cm, 12 cm and 13 cm

From the same short end draw a light pencil line across the page at 2 cm and 7 cm

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create the weekly boxes. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue the box together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show outside your box.

The last set of boxes to cut out are for the months. 3 boxes fit on one piece of white A4 card. Cut a piece of white A4 card so the short width measures 18 cm

Score 1 cm and 3 cm from each of the long edges

From one of the short edges score at 2 cm, 4 cm, 6 cm, 8 cm, 9 cm, 11 cm, 13 cm, 15 cm, 17 cm, 18 cm, 20 cm, 22 cm, 24 cm, 26 cm and 27 cm

From the same short end draw a light pencil line across the page at 1 cm, 5 cm, 10 cm, 14 cm, 19 cm and 23 cm

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create the monthly boxes. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue the box together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show outside your box.

Cut twelve 5 . 5 cm squares from patterned paper for the number boxes. I used red tartan and kept all the squares the same but you could make them all different patterns if you wished. Glue them to the centre of each square on the numbers box as per the below photo:

Print out my numbers and letters here or cut twelve 5 cm squares from white card, and put your own numbers onto them and glue them centrally onto each of the patterned paper squares as per the below photo (ensure you put the numbers as I have so you are able to make up every date of the month ie 01, 07, 21, 31 etc - by the way the number 6 is also the number 9)

Cut eight 11 . 5 cm by 2 . 5 cm rectangles and four 2 . 5 cm squares from patterned card and glue to the weekly boxes as shown below

Cut eight 11 cm by 2 cm rectangles from white card and add the days of the week to them before sticking ontop of the patterned card as shown in the below photo

Cut twelve 11 . 5 cm by 1 . 5 cm rectangles and six 1 . 5 cm squares from patterned card and glue to the monthly boxes as shown below
Cut twelve 11 cm by 1 cm rectangles from white card, put the months onto them and glue them centrally onto each of the patterned rectangles as per the below photo

Put glue or double sided tape onto the tabs on each box and form into boxes

Now we need to create the holder for these date boxes. You will need one piece of white A4 card to make the base front. Cut it to 26 cm by 14 . 5 cm.

Score 1 cm in from each of the long edges

From one short edge score at 2 cm and 9 cm

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create the base front. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show on the outside.

Take another piece of white A4 card to make the base back. Cut the piece of white A4 card so the short width measures 12 . 5cm.

Score from one of the short edges at 1 cm, 18 cm, 25 cm and 26 cm.

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create the base back. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show on the outside.

Use the remainder of the A4 sheet that you cut the base back from and cut it 8 cm wide to make the base sides

Score from the short edge at 11 cm, 12 cm, 23 cm and 24 cm

Score 1 cm in from one long edge

Follow the below photo to show you which bits need to be cut out and what bits need to be folded to create the base sides. The green lines will be your scored lines and the red lines show you where to cut. Notice that where there is a 1 cm depth shape - this will be a tab that will be used to glue together. Just make the end edges of these tabs diagonal as shown in the below photo as this will make sure your tabs don't show on the outside.

Crease along the score lines of the base parts, they should look like below

Put glue or double sided tape on the tabs of the side pieces. Stick the short edges of the sides to the base back base as per follows

Then stick the long tabs of the sides to the back of the base back as per:

Using glue or double sided tape glue the base front to the base back at the top

Put double sided tape or glue on the base front as shown in the photo above where the two parallel long red lines are. Fold the front down so it glues to the base back

Now tuck the last few tabs in and stick down. This finishes the front of the base

Cut Some patterned card to decorate the base. You will need 2 outside side bits 6 . 5 cm by 10 . 5 cm. One inside base back piece 16 . 5 cm by 12 cm. One base front piece 12 cm by 1 . 5 cm. Glue them into place