Almost Time

With a new calendar year approaching, my fancy turns to calendars. I love to buy them, I love to make them. After hot summer months I begin thinking about them in the fall, wondering what kind to make. This year, I am way behind.

Here’s the last month of my recycled art calendar (profiled here (http://mymindisinablog.blogspot.com/2008/05/hand-made-calendar.html). Its pages of hot press watercolor held up pretty good. Yes, that’s a rubber band holding the previous months together--the nail hole did get overwhelmed by all the collage and the thickness of 8 folded pages and, of course, 12 months on the job!

In addition to the one mentioned above, I also created my first 2008 CD calendars. You flip a thicker CD holder and it becomes the calendar holder. I matched 12 of my photos with moon-phase months. It’s a neat design idea but a crazy size. For printing, I could only fit 2 months on regular size paper.

The easiest ones I’ve made are printed out on white card stock. It’s thick enough to be sturdy and not too thick to fold and hang on a wall.

This year ought to be easier since I now have Microsoft Publisher where before I used a really, really old program called Print Shop. I had to figure out how to lay it out for printing on both sides. And, I just can’t use ordinary pre-made calendar software programs provide, either. Oh, no, I have to fiddle around and change elements and put my own art or photos in it and alter or abandon their color scheme. But, it all seems worth it when you can look at it 365 days and really enjoy your little handmade work.

How about you? What are your ideas? Have you ever made your own calendar?