Creating Calendars!!!

It seems weird for it to be Wednesday already but that is what happens when you have a holiday on a Monday! Helen here to talk to you about how I make my calendars. I made them last year as Christmas gifts for family members and I am in the process of doing the same thing again this year.



Liz had some Simple Calendar Templates come out last Friday and I love that they are simple! Simple in design & simple to work with. Here are some previews that will link you over to the product(s) in her store at Scrap Orchard. And just a reminder, today is the last day you can buy the set(s) at 20% off the regular price!!!









I start by opening my calendar topper from the Simple Calendar Temps (top preview). Next, I open the bottom grid from the 2011 Calendar Temp & Grids set (bottom preview). And finally, I choose the style of date grid I want to use and open it as well. You can see in the screenshot below I have 3 items/templates open in my pallette bin.




I am weird and like to work from top to bottom so I start by gathering photos & papers from whatever kit(s) I want to work with. In the case of this calendar page I am using a kit due to release tomorrow by Amy Stoffel & Designs by Kat @ Scrap Orchard. It is perfect for a September calendar page! I proceed to clip my photos/papers to the template masks until I am happy with my results. Next, I will add my elements & alphas as desired.

Here is my finished September calendar topper...

Now, I move on to the bottom grid portion of the calendard. Here is a photo of the bottom as it appears when you first open it.

And here is a photo of the date grid I chose to use for my calendar pages.....

I do not use the added shape elements Liz provided so I will generally start by deleting those layers from my bottom grid. Then I will drag my date grid down on to the bottom calendar grid and position it until I like where my numbers are sitting. I found that with September I did not need the added "yellow" rectangles/triangles that are provided for the last couple of days of the month. So, I proceeded to delete those layers as well.

Since I want all my bottom calendar squares the same color I will next merge all the green squares in to ONE layer (making sure NOT to grab my date grid when I do this). Of course, you feel free to do whatever you like with your squares....make them different colors.....add photos on certain dates....this is just how I do mine.

Once I merged all my green squares together I then chose the paper I wanted, which is generally a solid, semi-light colored paper and clipped that paper to my single layer of green squares.

Here is the complete bottom portion of my calendar. I like my tops & bottoms to coordinate so you can see while I chose not to use many elements on the bottom part I did carry over the dried grassy element as well as brought in the sun element (changing the opacity to make it very faint yet noticable & then clipping it to my squares as well).

Once I have both the top & bottom portions of my calendar created I will begin by opening a new, blank canvas in PSE. I choose the following size for my canvas: Width: 11" Height: 17" (this is the top/bottom portions added together) and 300 dpi.



I now make the top portion of the calendar active and I will merge all visible layers. Next, I drag the merged layout down to the new blank 11x17 canvas. I position it at the top. I go back to the top portion and UNDO my merge because I like to save all my project with the separate layers all visible in case I want to make changes later.



Now, go to the bottom portion of the calendar and I do the same thing as I did in the above paragraph...merging, dragging, positioning & unmerging.



My final touch to the 11x17 document is to add some kind of straight or semi-straight ribbon across the center where your 2 pages butt together. Often times it will be very obvious where the seam is so I like to cover it up.



Here is my COMPLETED September calendar page ready to be sent off for printing. I use Persnickety Prints and what I do is upload my individual calendar pages for printing and send them a note that I want the pages spiral bound at the top. I think they have other ways of ordering your calendars now but I apologize I do not know other methods at the time of this post.



And there you have it....Helen's way of creating calendar pages. Liz just did a fantastic job in creating these templates, leaving wide borders to allow for bleeding & binding when it comes to printing & assembling.

I hope you enjoyed (and understood) my instructions for todays tutorial :) Have a great day and as always, Happy Scrapping!

~Helen~