New Year, New Calendars

O.K.  Confession time:  I LOVE calendars.  In my office at work, I have FOUR of them.  Overkill, yes, but it works for me!!  My co-worker who shares the space may not agree, however!!

Several years ago I found some Jewel Case calendars (if you don't know, Jewel Cases are those plastic cases that look like CD cases--but they're made just a little differently--I've tried using the CD cases--they don't work!) in a clearance rack at a local craft store, and I picked a couple up.  Another colleague always has two calendars out herself for her job--one being a month ahead of the current month, and these were PERFECT for her second calendar!!  Well, after that year passed, the cases were still good but I needed new calendars, so I started to create my own in My Digital Studio!!  MDS has some GREAT calendar templates, and initially, I started using them until I got the hang of things!!

To make the calendar, you can actually do TWO months on a single sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper, so you only need to create six pages!!  To start, I insert a square punch that I re-size to 4.692 x 5.369.  I select a designer series paper (DSP) that I insert into the punch.  Then layer a second square punch on top of that (filled with Whisper White) that I size to 3.686 x 4.363, and align it to be centered horizontally & vertically on the DSP-filled punch.

In the top portion of the square, I insert a photo box, sized to 3.686 x 2.295, lining up the top edge of the white punch with the photo box.  In the bottom section I use the cool calendar tool that you can access in the Design Center on the right side of your MDS program!!  There is an option to include the Month there, but I  like to insert a text box for that instead.  That way I can play around with cool fonts in to create the Month name!!  Oh!!  And one added little thing.  I insert a circle punch--resized to.25 & lower it's opacity that I place over the various federal holidays on the calendar!  Once I have one template created, I copy/paste it, and get it lined up on the page, then insert five more duplicate pages, which I will then go back and change out the DSP, calendar month, photo, etc. 

The first year, it took me a while to create the template and get it set up.  Now, it probably takes me less than a half hour to design the entire calendar.  Though, to be fair, a lot of that time is spent trying to decide WHICH DSPs & photos I want to use!! 

Almost forgot!!  I also take the matching DSP from each month and place that on the reverse side of the page in order to give it a more 'finished' look when I cut the calendars down to size!!  You can certainly leave the back blank--nothing wrong with that!!

So, here are the finished 'pages' for this year's calendar.  The photos were all taken/posted on the college's official Facebook page, and I just saved ones that I thought might work.  I listed the DSP & font used on each month below each image.  Enjoy!!

DSP:  Winter Frost – 3
Font:  Frostbitten Wanker

DSP:  Convention 2013 - 05 (recolored to Strawberry Slush)
Font:  DJ Candy Heart

DSP:  Grad Party - 3
Font:  Anglo-Saxon, 8th c.

DSP:  Everything Easter - 3
Font:  RMBunny

DSP:  International Bazaar – 1
Font:  LMS Family Shield

DSP:  Cottage Wall - pattern 1
Font:  CM Chipped Paint

DSP:  Leadership 2011 Digital Kit - pattern_05
Font:  Bodie MF

DSP:  Mocha Morning – 6
Font:  ChocolateBoxDecorative

DSP:  Storytime – 25
Font:  Chalkduster

DSP:  Frightful Sight – 12
Font:  KR Gravestone

DSP:  Autumn Spice - pattern 5
Font:  ZallmanCaps

DSP:  Letters to Santa - 3
Font:  Xmas

Now, remember, you can download the FREE 30-day trial of MDS right now by visiting my online store!!!  What better way to start off the new year than by being creative?!

Happy Stamping!!

Pam