Finished January Calendar & FREE 2018 Cover!

For the past three years I have scrapped calendar page throughout the year and then had them printed at the end of the year to use during the following year.  This year I decided to go with the 12x18 top hanging calendar from Adoramapix again. I just loved it so much. I'll be sure to share pictures of the printed calendar, but I thought I would share all my finished pages along with my 2018 calendar cover...and there might be little FREEBIE at the end of this blog post for you!

Before you check out it you can check out my preview calendars and FREEBIE toppers here:

2016 top hanging calendar

2017 calendar from Persnickety Prints

2016 Calendar Cover FREEBIE

2017 cover starter FREEBIE

Now to my 2018 Calendar. Making the covers are becoming my favorite part of making these calendars.

January 2017 BYOC Products from the Lilypad

I used my 2018 Calendar Templates and BYOC products from each month of 2017 from the Lilypad to scrap my calendar pages.

And here's the 2018 Cover Template. Use it for a 12x18 or 8.5x11 or any size!

I'll keep you posted on the printed calendar!
-Liz

Quick and Easy Cruise Album by Amanda

My creative team member, Amanda, created a gorgeous album of a cruise her family took just a couple months ago. I'm always amazed at how quickly Amanda can put together beautiful albums. I really need to learn something from her process.

I'm just going to share a few quick tips from her and some pictures of her printed album.

Here are the supplies she used:
Scrapping with Liz ~ Sweet and Simple Album Templates 5
Scrapping with Liz ~ Multi Mini Templates
Scrapping with Liz ~ Big Photo Templates
Scrapping wtih Liz ~ Zine Style Double Templates 1 and Zine Style Double Templates 2
Scrapping with Liz ~ Simple Square Templates
Lilypad Designers ~ Life Is An Adventure Collab
Fonts: Skipper, Caviar Dreams

Here's a little bit of what Amanda said about creating her album:

To plan my pages I went through my pictures and made sub-folders in Picasa of the pages I wanted to make. As I came across pictures of our stateroom or pictures of walking on the deck I put them in the same folder so I could put them all on the same page. Since I didn't restrict myself page wise the total page count was sixty four. I waited for a sale at Shutterfly and was able to get 50% off and free shipping. Totally worth waiting for the deal.

I really pared down my paper and element choices. I think this gave the entire album a very cohesive look. We love it! 

There you have it. She kept it simple and kept her photos organized. I really think this is key to getting an album done quickly.

This is something her family will treasure.

I love that she kept the titles to a simple font.

And that she got a cohesive look with sticking to one digital scrapbook kit.

I'm inspired to finish up some albums I'm working on. I hope this helps you too!
-Liz

Insta Review Album Inspiration by Katya

Katya created this Album with my Insta Review Templates. I think it's such a great, easy way to make an album to review the year. It's simple, it has a lot of photos, and gives a great idea of what the year looked like. You can't go wrong. 

She used http://www.fotokniga.by/ to print her album. It's 20x20cm on photopaper.

Check out these close ups. I love the shadows. It gives is a real paper look.

And here are all of the pages.

I may need to do this!
-Liz

2017 Printed Calendar - Review

A couple weeks I posted about my 2017 Calendar and shared the pages I made. Last week I received my calendar from Persnickety Prints, and wanted to share printed photos and a short review with you.

I created 8.5x11 calendar toppers with my 2017 Calendar Template set.

I then just created a custom photo calendar at Persnickety Prints with the grids on the bottom already completed. Although they must have choices for bottom grids because I got a calendar with a lot of Canada Holidays on it and some missing American Holidays. Not a big deal, but something I will be more careful to watch for next time.

The print quality is great. Nice, vibrant colors. Although I wasn't super careful about my edges and some of my papers and elements got cut off just a bit. Not a big deal either. I usually try to make sure all important info (photos, journaling, titles) aren't close to the edge.

Here's my daughter holding the calendar just to give you an idea of the size. Persnickety Prints had different options for a 12x12 topper as well.  If you want an option for a 12x18 top hanging calendar I recommend Adoramapix since Persnickety doesn't offer this size. Read my review here.

Overall I am very happy with my calendar. And since you can start your grid with any month you can make a 12 month calendar starting with any month that you would like! It's never too late to start on your calendar.  I'll be releasing my first set of 2018 Calendar Templates next week. Keep an eye out.

-Liz

March 2017 Calendar Topper

2017 March Templates by Scrapping with Liz
Memory Pockets Monthly - Q & A (kit and add-ons) available at the LilypadStoryteller Reed Alpha by Just Jamie

I've finished my 3rd page for my 2017 Gift Calendar album. Each month during 2016 I'm scrapping a calendar page, and by the end of the year I'll have a whole calendar to print. I did this project last year, and I loved the finished project. I'm also releasing coordinating calendar templates each month too!

I was asked by a customer to make more photo spots for future calendar toppers, and I plan on doing that, especially since one of my kids asked me why I didn't have enough photo spots for her! Oops! Next month I promise to have the option of more photo spots.

-Liz

Amanda's ABC Album: Finished and Printed

Amanda made this gorgeous ABC Thankfulness album. I wanted to share it with you all because I thought it was a quick and easy way to simply be reminded of all the thing we have to be thankful for.

She used my Alphabet Journal Card Templates and InstaLife Journal Cards. The InstaLife Journal Cards are no longer available, but I think you could make do with just the Alphabet Journal Card Templates. She also used Urban Fusion by Amy Wolff, the Clock by Etc. by Danyale ~ New Year and the fonts are Josefin Slab and Debby.

She printed a 4x6 flip book from Wal-mart with full bleed printing. She did say some of her text got to close to the edge. So if you make this book make sure you account for that. It only cost her $10!

This is her cover page.

 For Wal-mart I think it looks great.

She says it's so fun and easy to flip through.

I hope this inspires you! I'm definitely adding this to my 'to do' list.
-Liz

Adoramapix 12x18 Top Hanging Calendar Review

As you all know, I finished the 2016 Calendar I was making for my mom. I ordered a 12x18 Calendar from Adoramapix and I promised you all a review.

This was the photo you may have seen on my Instagram or SwL Facebook group the day I got it (taken with my phone). I was in the middle of cooking dinner when it arrived. I forced myself to wait until dinner was done before I opened it. I wanted to take my time looking at it. It was totally worth the wait.

Before I really start the print review I wanted to share how easy the upload and purchase was from Adoramapix. All you have to do is go to the website, scroll down where it says Customized Photo Calendars, and click on Create a Calendar. For the 12x18 size, you click on top hanging. Then click on Blank - Build Your Own and then click on Make Your Calendar. From there you just upload your pages and order. The top hanging fully customizable calendar comes with 12 pages plus a cover for $29.95. Shipping was $5.95. The total cost was $35.90. I'm sure I could have waited for a coupon, but I was on a time crunch. I ordered it on December 9th and received it on December 22nd as promised.

Here's the cover. I love it. I could just print it and frame it. On the front page, there is a white border all around the edge. There is no border on the inside pages.

One of the inside pages.

Here's the digi-page so you can compare colors. It prints true to color. You'll notice at the top you do have to watch for bleed. My heart is quite close to the top of the calendar and almost got chopped off. With my Calendar Templates you do not need to worry about bleed. They were all created with print cut-off in mind, just be careful how big your elements are at the top of the page. (BTW - my 2016 calendar set is retiring, but I have a brand new set planned for 2017!)

A close-up. I love how real digi can look.

My favorite page.

Another close-up.

The hanging part. It's spiral bound and hangs just like a typical calendar.

The pages were a little flimsy, and I think that was only because it was a full 12x18 page. It's quite big! It's not something you would want your small children flipping through, but it's perfect for hanging on the wall.

13 pages with a pretty heavy black back page.

And here it is hanging on my mom's wall.

A few other notes.

*My mom has not written on it yet. I think a fine tip black sharpie will work well, I'll keep you posted.
*Include QR codes. They are so fun. I put them on a few of my pages, and we had so much fun scanning them to find out what they were.
*On one of my pages I did a black calendar grid. It's going to be hard to write on that. Maybe a silver sharpie will work. I might avoid black next time.
*Oh and you have two paper choices (Canon HD Luster or Canon HD Glossy). I chose Luster because I wanted it to be not so glossy. I think it was perfect, with a little bit of shine, but I think you'll still be able to write on it.

I hope that helps anyone who is thinking of making a 12x18 calendar. What's great about these is you don't have to start it at the beginning of the year. Make one that starts in July if you want to. Make one for a gift for someone in the middle of the year!

Let me know if you have any other questions about this particular calendar and print and I'll try to answer them.

-Liz