one for you + one for me

One of the fun things to be on the lookout every year are calendars. They come in all shapes and sizes and for all tastes and needs. I'm always amazed at what everyone come up with. Sadly, this year I didn't have time to come up with a new design. So here I am dragging my feet with my semi-new idea.



I started wondering what a customizable calendar would look like–a hand made calendar that still has some style to it. I used the layout of my first calendar but deleted the letters of each month, added the abbreviations for the name of each month and left the top half of each sheet empty. My intent is for each person to decorate their calendar in their own way. I've informally dubbed this calendar the 'you decide' calendar.

As you can see, I recruited my little C for one of our pages. I love her whimsy style. I could never pull that off. I need to remember to take her lead and just go—just do. Sometimes I probably mess things up because I think too much.



The cutout flower type shapes are inspired by the gift tags I made for Craft Stylish. And the rectangles are actually cutouts with scraps of different paper glued to the back of the sheet. This new PDF set includes the template for the trio of rectangles and three other shapes (circle, oval and rectangle). The templates can be used as guides to cut out different shapes on the sheet of each month. Each frame will be an easy way to display photos and fabric or paper scraps.



I'm going to pass out three pages to each of the kids and my husband so that they can decorate them however they want. I may rework my three pages and in the end we'll have a very unique and very 'us' calendar. If you'd like one of your own you can find it in my shop here.

For those of you that don't know, I finally got to post a new interview on my Crafty Synergy blog. Finally!! Just as quietly as I got blocked from my blog I was able to post again. No warnings, emails or heads-up. Lovely. For a visit to Crafty Synergy click here.

8 comments:

  1. very nice! i love them all. isn't it funny how kids are so free with art. sometimes i think design degrees box people in and we learn too many "rules" that mess things up. we just need to let it be!

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  2. I love graphic simplicity of the cutout rectangles. I would love to sit around putting one of these together with a friend over cookies and tea. Come to think of it, I should make that happen.

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  3. Great idea- and it makes a nice keepsake, too.

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  4. beautiful! i love how you varied the style and medium from month to month.

    xo
    Kelly

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  5. I think all graphic designers think too much - I know I used too! And still do!

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  6. Ever see the Thumb Calendar? Would be cool to incorporate Adam's calendar into a one-page artsy interactive (thumbs required) calendar. Just a thought. Love your work!

    http://adam.sporka.eu/wiki/doku.php?id=web:thumb_calendar

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  7. ..and who said that we can only display kid's art in their room?

    Love the idea!

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