Designer Showcase: Calendars

Welcome to Wednesday!  Some people celebrate Wednesday as the "middle of the week" - it's half way through the work week. Which means we're on our way to another weekend!!  Here at Ideas For Scrapbookers, we celebrate with a little Designer Showcase.  And to keep track of all those days, we thought we would focus on calendars.  (Did you like that segue??)

Calendars are a great way to display and share your memories. You can make calendars in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  Pam created this calendar to reflect a particular date.  She included a precious photo and quote from her son.  This could stand alone as a monthly calendar.  I can just see it as a CD sized calendar on a desk, or in a flip book style calendar.  It could even be used as a date element on a scrapbook page. Lots of versatility here.

Digital scrapbook supplies can be used to create a calendar as well.  I used to make my calendars using paper and traditional supplies.  When I started getting more into digital scrapping, I found it fun to create the calendars using my digi stash.  I still print them out and bound them using my Bind-it-All.  I design the top and bottom each as an 11"x8.5" image. That way I can print them on letter sized paper.  It can be a little tricky figuring out your printer and how to print two-sided so that you get the right top facing the correct bottom, but once you do, it's pretty easy to create your own calendars.  You can include photos and elements on special dates like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.

By the way - before I had the Bind-it-All, I would simply stack the months as they should be bound, then punch 2 holes where the top meets the bottom. I would tie a small loop of ribbon through those holes to "bind" my calendars.

Another way that you can scrapbook a calendar is to create it digitally, then upload those pages to a photo service that creates calendars, like Shutterfly. You'll receive a beautifully printed and bound calendar ready for gift giving or hanging up! Or you can use a photo service to create the calendar from start to finish.  They have many designs to choose from and allow you to include one or many photos per page.

You can also create desktop wallpapers that include a calendar.  I like to change my desktop monthly.  Sometimes I create my own, but there are a lot of free desktops available for you to download and use. This makes it easy to change up your wallpaper often. One that I really like is The Shabby Princess.  Each month they share a beautifully designed desktop in .png format with openings for your photos . Just download it, open in your photo editing software, and add your photo(s) underneath the design layer. Easy-peasy!

I found another great resource to help with making a calendar. This one doesn't include photos, but it could be used for making a calendar to include in your scrapbooking or craft projects.  It is called the Harmonized House Project. It includes lots of printables that you can use to create a calendar to keep you organized, and keep track of a busy family life.

Hope this inspires you to create some calendars. Use them to organize your family or work life. Or make them a part of your Project Life scrapbooking.  They also make great gifts!!  Have fun creating!

Update: Digital kit credits:

October calendar (Wizard): Kit: Wizarding Magic by ScrapMatters Design Team (2010 no longer available); Calendar Topper Templates and Calendar Bottom Dotted Lines by Graham Like the Cracker (retired)

April Calendar: Kit: 2013 Calendar by Chelle's Creations.

January 2013 Desktop: by Shabby Princess.