Hybrid Calendar - Putting your art to work for you!

This article was previously published on the Berry Sweet Scraps blog - written by me! 

 

Hi! poki here with the first article in a new series here on the Berry Sweet Scraps blog called “Monday Mojo” – we hope to provide interesting tips, tricks, trends and tutorials to help inspire and get your “mojo” going!

It will soon be gift giving time. I have always love to make and give hand-made gifts … and my family and friends have grown to expect them! And since I really want to have my photos and art “work for me” I’ve been brainstorming ways to use what I’ve already done … just “put it to work” for me!

What better way to make your layouts and photos work for you than to use them to create handmade calendars! Your family and friends will cherish them, I’m sure. I started making calendars about 10 years ago when I was stumped for a gift for my neighbor, Geroge. You know that kind of guy … if he needed it, or wanted it, he already HAD it! It was getting close to Christmas, and I needed to do something quick, so I selected my 12 favorite photos from my archive, printed them, mounted them on 4 x 12″ cardstock that I had pre-printed with the next year’s calendar (sheets were 8 1/2 x 12″ cut down from 12 x 12″ scrapbooking cardstock, and printed with two months on each page) I mounted the photos, decorated the pages, and framed them in a 4 x 12″ stand up frame. He loved it, and took it to his Dental Office! About October of the following year, he started hinting that he would need a refill, because his staff and patients depended on my calendar sitting there on the check out desk. And thus began my calendar making “business!” I’ve made them for family, and friends, and I’ve even made a few to sell at craft shows. I had to change the presentation when my supply of 4 x 12″ stand up frames disappeared. I’ve done 5 x 7 plastic frames, and I found some CD cases that would stand up, and they made a great presentation too!

The other day while driving to my aerobics class on the west side of the county, I had one of those “duh” moments. Why not design the pages in a 4 x 6″ canvas, so I could get them printed quickly and easily at my favorite printer. That is so much easier than home printing! My printer does a great job but the process is time consuming! Printing, drying, cutting … much easier to just upload from the comfort of my office, and go pick them up an hour later! Done! If definitely took longer in the design process than the printing!

I am a nature/landscape photographer – my archive is full of flowers, butterflies, and landscapes. So for the purposes of this article I made a wildflower calendar from the wildflower season this past Spring (it was a good one!) The calendar portion was also made by me and will be given as a freebie at the end of this article.

Here’s what all of my Wildflower pages look like, reduced to 50% of their size (2 x 3″) and inserted on a 12 x 12″ scrapbook canvas!

 

 

I designed the stand for this project as a TECH class project for my customers. I was in direct sales for a rubber stamp company for 4+ years, until the company went out of business last August. My customers still want a class every month so I have continued to provide them with a class project each month for a small supply fee. We did an A2 size calendar in January 2012, with pre-printed calendars, and then stamped images on it. That project provided the inspiration for the stand for my hybrid calendar. Directions are posted farther down this post!  Another option, if you don’t have the tools to make the stand, would be to buy a 4 x 6″ plastic frame (portrait style, meaning 6″ tall, 4 ” wide) and slide all of your photos into it! And then just trade them out each month!

Here’s a photo of my completed calendar!

and now - your freebie:

 

MediaFire Link

 

Directions for completing the stand -

I designed the stand for this projects as a TECH Class project for my customers in January 2012. We did an A2 size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2" - that's one quarter of a standard 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper) calendar, preprinted with months by poki, and then stamped seasonal images, and bound it to the stand. And they already told me we have to do it again in January 2013!

Because I still have so much paper from 12+ years of paper scrapbooking (and from working in 2 different scrapbook stores after I retired from teaching in 2003) I decided not to print digital paper for the stand, although it could be done. Sizes will be given in the directions:

SUPPLIES:
- two pieces of chipboard (light weight cardboard), cut to 4 x 6 1/2" (if you don't have a stash of chipboard, the cardboard from a cereal box or similar box would be perfect)
- one sheet of 12 x 12" patterned paper, cut 2 pieces 6 x 8 1/2" (or print your own to size)
- two sheets of cardstock, two pieces cut to 3 3/4 x 6 1/4" and one piece cut to 4 x 5"
TOOLS:
- Zutter bind-it-all (That's a machine that cuts the binding holes and attaches the binding ring)
- binding ring (1/2" size, with 6 prongs)
- adhesive of choice ( I use glue sticks for their convenience, just make sure to press to get a good bond)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Adhere chipboard piece in the center of the back of the patterned paper. Cut corners diagonally, leaving approximately 1/8" to cover the point (these cuts take out a lot of the bulk, and allows the paper to fold smoothly around the chipboard).

 

2. Fold and adhere paper around the edges of the chipboard.  Repeat steps 1 & 2 for second piece of chipboard.

 

 

3. Score the 4 x 5" piece of cardstock at 1", 2 1/2" and 4" and fold into a "W" shape. (I use a scoring tool called a Scor-Pal, but this can be done with a ruler and a bone folder as well) This piece is adhered to the bottom edges of the two covered chipboard pieces that you made in steps 1 & 2. When step 3 is complete you should have one long piece with the cardstock folded up in the center.

 

4. Since the uncovered parts of the chipboard will be permanently bound into a place where they won't be seen in the finished project, you don't need to cover them, but I like my projects to look "finished" so I cover the inside of with the remaining cardstock pieces.

 

 

5. Adhere photo backs together (January to December, February to November, etc) Double check to make sure all tops are on the same side! When your photos are bound together, you will be setting up the last half of the year as you flip the first half of the year. At the end of June all you will need to do is turn your stand around and July will be ready!

6. I used my Zutter bind it all to bind my projects together with a 1/2" binding ring. There are several kinds of binders available on the scrapbook market now. If you don't own a binder, check with your paper scrapping friends. These machines are great tools to have - I use mine all the time. And it is well worth the investment that I made in it! I used the Zutter to cut binding holes in both sides of the chipboard frame at the same time. I also cut binding holes in the photographs, four months at at a time.

7. Stick all the calendar pages together in order (double check order), insert the binding ring through the calendar pages and into the stand, and close the ring with the Zutter machine! Almost like magic - a flip calendar that stands on its own!