Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Calendar!

I finished my mom's calendar! Originally I was hoping to get it done in time for her birthday (Dec 21st). I did start on it at the beginning of November, but it just took longer than I was expecting. I think I'm just slow.

When the new year rolled around and I still wasn't finished, I emailed the January pages to my mom so she could print them out and put them up on the wall. Since it's no longer a surprise, I thought I'd go ahead and share the rest of the pages here. I'm just thrilled with how everything turned out.



























Scroll down for partial credits.

I got a picture of each of the four grand kids (sometimes more than one) for each page topper, and then pictures for all birthdays and anniversaries. Peter and Karen are expecting their second child in June, so then there'll be five grand kids! (and a June birthday! But we still won't have anything in August. It looks oddly bare).

I'm getting it printed at Zazzle. There are a lot of places that print calendars, but Zazzle was the only place where I could find the larger size. There are a few things about their interface that are kind of annoying to work with, and I haven't seen the printed product yet, so I can't speak to that. They do have a lot of options.

The whole experience has been interesting. I've been designing digital scrapbook products for a few years now, and of course I've done a few layouts and small projects, but the actual volume of my scrapping productivity has been pretty limited. It was kind of cool to focus on this for a while, and figure out what I like to use and how, and what I was lacking in my stash. I did some more digi shopping (instant gratification!) and got most of my stuff tagged in Windows Live Photo Gallery, which makes finding things a lot easier. I love it. Now I've got lots of ideas for things I'd like to scrap and more things I'd like to design.

Some of the main products used:

(My stuff) Paper Bag Frames, The Paper Drawer, Pinks, Shoelace, Red Ribbons, Paint Splatters, Brush Strokes.

(Other people's stuff) Something Blue Studios Worn Alpha Overlays, Worn Photo Overlays - Set Two, Worn Overlays Set 3 - Shapes; Anne deJong (AnneMade) Paper Leaves 2; Michelle Coleman Merry Little Christmas, Glow, Nostalgia, Wild Sorbet (this one's free!); Megan Farrow (Flergs) Colour Theory: Cream, Flairy Floss; Megan Farrow and Kaye Winiecki A Perfect Day; Galiscrap Brown Addict.

16 comments:

Kathey said...

This is utterly fantastic. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm wondering if you could do this type of thing for other people. Some would be glad to pay you well for it I would think. You are a very talented lady.

Love, Mom

Twisted Chicken said...

That calendar is stunning! It's just beautiful.

Stefanie Eskander said...

Magnificent in every way! I love your distressed alpha, and the fun 3D embellishments. But most of all, your photos are treasures. Beautiful!

**MIGNONNE** said...

Oh it's amazing! Great job. Makes me want to start mine. LOL!

scrapper al said...

You are so talented! The calendar looks great! And your mom is right, you could be selling these to other people. I really like your idea of putting people's photos on their birthday/anniversary.

Kristen said...

I agree with your mother. I WOULD TOTALLY PAY YOU TO MAKE ONE. You could start your own business. Let me know what you think!!
What do you end up printing them on?

Barbie Mills said...

Gorgeous. I want one too!!

I like Kate and Andy in the same picture on their birthday. This is seriously beautiful.

Susan said...

I love that calendar. I've thought about getting shirts at Zazzle, but it was too expensive for not-exactly-what-I-wanted. Great job!

Donna Rafferty said...

I had to pop in and comment on your calendar - it looks FANTASTIC!

I'll bet it looks even better in print. I absolutely adore your beautiful photos and how you put it all together - perfect!

Becky said...

I'm speechless. It is the most gorgeous thing I have seen in forever. What a talent you are Helena! I can't imagine how you did it. Wow!

Anonymous said...

Very creative job and beautifully subtle colors. I have several questions about some of the elements, but it is very beautiful. You would have to speed up quite a bit to really make any money on, though. You could be practically rolling in the dough with a little speed.

Just lovely.
Rebecca

Wingnut said...

Sensational! What product (?) did you use for the actual calendar?

Helena said...

You mean the grid? I made that in Photoshop.

Our Creative Day said...

Beautiful work Helena!!! Simply beautiful! :)

MamaBug said...

Wow. Those are stunning! It certainly puts my annual calendars to shame. Really beautiful!

Wingnut said...

Yep, the grid :) I should have known you would have made it up yourself :)