Making Calendars

[mpizzazz]

I know there has been a lot of chat and photos of calendars you all have made over the years. But it's too hard to search for on the forum because everyone uses the word "calendar" a lot!

I'm thinking of making us a few for next year. Just something basic with a photo and squares big enough to write reminders. Ray has complained all year about this year's really cool calendar that is totally impractical. I'm sure I can find a template online somewhere. My question really is how do you suggest printing them-at home or pay to have them printed online?
What kind of paper do you use? and if you print at home do you use both sides of the paper like a real calendar does?
Any websites you recommend would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[pamcook]

snapfish.com

[jfugina]

Marianne - my calendars aren't typically practical. I usually do the printing at home, for starters. Because I'm printing 8.5x11 and trimming it about 1/4" on all sides, and even if I printed 8x10s at a photo processing place, it would be $3 per print, and I don't want to spend that much on a calendar. Typically, I do quick pages, so the calendar for the month and the topper are all on one sheet. I back it on an 8.5x11 thick cardstock and bind it with the BIA.

Alternatives that I've done to help make it more useful:
1. Print paper calendar grids, and photo toppers, to make it easier to write on.
2. Mount the 8.5x11 calendar on 12x12 stock, and put lined paper (3x11) on the side
3. Print the calendar/toppers as 4x6, and then do a bound notebook with the calendar on each left page and a lined note page on the right.

I'd love to make something that's more practical and truly useful though.

[clamscrapper]

My daughter does a calendar each year for us from Snapfish.com. She uses pictures I have taken through out the year. It has become one of our favorite gifts. She indicates everyone's bday and anniversary in the family. This time of year they always have a good coupon for $'s off.

[mpizzazz]

I tried the snapfish one today but the 60% off ends tonight. Our internet is too slow to load the photos tonight so I'll try again next time they have the calendar sale. Or maybe I will print them at home since I turned a lot of the photos black and white and make my own. I'd love to use up some paper and use the Bind it All.

[clamscrapper]

That sounds like a good idea. Using the BIA would work very well.

[mpizzazz]

I woke up too early this morning and put the time before getting up to good use working out how to do the calendar without printing tons of ink. I'll try to do a trial run today and let you all know how it goes.
Thanks for all the ideas!

[jfugina]

Just finished up the first part of making calendars, and that's getting the digi pages done. I think that rather than trying to print these at home this year, I might just take them up to Kinkos and see what the price is for a color print on decent white cardstock. I need two calendars, and to get 24 pages printed high quality on my color printer could take the rest of the day. If I can get a decent print price at Kinkos, then I'll just get them done there. I don't need glossy photos - white cardstock would be fine.

As to Marianne's original question about practical calendars, the best way to make these practical would be to mount them on 12x12 and put a lined area to write next to the print. But that's not what I'm doing with these. I'll just bind them as-is.

2013Calendar1.jpg (91.07 KiB) Viewed 858 times

2013Calendar2.jpg (101.13 KiB) Viewed 858 times

2013Calendar3.jpg (97.7 KiB) Viewed 858 times

2013Calendar4.jpg (112.07 KiB) Viewed 858 times

[jfugina]

Sorry.. details: These pages were purchased from StuffToScrap.com in the store for $2 for the whole set. All of the photo areas were rectangular, so they were very easy to deal with regards to trimming.

OK.. Off to Kinkos, and to find the last of the needed holiday gifts. I never got any great ideas for my dad, so a gift card is all I'm after, then I'm truly done.

[troublesmom]

really good calendar pages Julie.

[Paula]

those turned out nice!!

[mpizzazz]

I finished one calendar and here are a few sample pages. I did black and white matte photos and glossy color photos.
Pages are each 8.5 x 11" and I found the calendar templates at calendarlabs.com. Once I downloaded them, I could change the font, etc.

Calender1.jpg (135.83 KiB) Viewed 822 times

Hint: Christy has been to the place on the right this year.

Calender2.jpg (138.48 KiB) Viewed 822 times

Ok, now you know where all the photos come from.

[pamcook]

Gorgeous!

[bethrich]

Marianne, you did great! I'm another that doesn't try for practical. I also make mine 8 1/2 x 11 and print them myself. I looked and just could not find any place that seemed reasonably priced. Here's mine for the year.

[jfugina]

Those are great Beth!

Regarding the practicality of calendars and printing - I don't know how much it actually costs to print an 8.5x11 page on nice photo paper or even nice cardstock, but I figured the photo paper I have runs about $1 per sheet. And then there's the cost of ink. I'm bound to run out of at least one cartridge during this process - especially for two calendars. And those ink carts are around $35 I think, just for one color. So when Kinkos said the cost was $1.30 per page on their best cardstock, and it would be done in 20 minutes (less than an hour with travel time), I thought it was worth it to me. Plus, I gain a good 4-5 hours back not having to wait for the prints to finish.

Beth - did you use a template that included the actual months? If so, where did you get it? If I ever decide to do something more creative, I'm still going want to just plug in the actual calendar parts.