Good news, my dream office is the next room in the house to be plastered and decorated… and I’m counting down the days! I’m desperate to get back my blogging / crafting / arty space. I haven’t been able to get really stuck into a good creative project (minus the whole house renovation thing) for what feels like ages and I’ve forgotten how much I love it.
I was recently set a crafting challenge by Fellowes UK, the office equipment suppliers to see if I could use some of their equipment: a guillotine, a laminator and a binder to come up with a creative DIY. They’d already worked with the fab DIY Blonde who came up with an awesome ice cream pinata, which I think is brilliant!
As part of Each Peach Pear Plum, who were set the challenge too, we’d already crafted up an under the sea storm with our under water picnic ideas so I thought I’d change it up and do something practical that everyone really needs – a calendar! But not just an ordinary calendar, one that is custom-made with your own photographs and can be reused time and time again.
Here’s my how to:
I designed my calendar on photoshop using the following format (see below). I wanted it to be a square calendar with a simple, clean design. I’ve made my layout available for you so if you want to download it just click here. Note the calendar only has the days of the week, I added the dates in later so that the calendar is truly reusable for any year. The imagery I used is from the website http://www.unsplash.com, I wanted it to have an adventure / nature theme to inspire me when I look at it everyday.
I printed all my sheets off, for the purpose of this craft I did them A4 but the file is A3 size so if you’d like to print it larger you can! Then they needed cutting down to size which the guillotine made short work of.
Once they were all cut to size I laminated the pages two at a time (in A3 laminating pouches) making sure I put a piece of card underneath to help guide it through.
Now it was time to bind the pages together. First I needed to make the holes in the correct place and line them on top of the binding comb. The machine was super simple and straightforward to use! Within a few minutes I had my own bound calendar.
I hung a thread through the binding comb so the calendar could be hung and ta da! You are able to write on the calendar with any dry erase pen. As you can see on the first image I added my dates in for september and started planning in my schedule.
If you’d like to create your own calendar why not download my layout, you can either use my photos or get creative and change them for your own. What about a calendar of family shots or photos of your favourite travel destinations, the possibilities are endless!
Thank you to Fellowes for gifting the office equipment so we could get crafty. I hope you enjoy my creation and feel inspired to make your own DIY reusable calendar.
This would make a great teachers gift to give.I have a bullet journal but I do miss having a calendar hanging up on the wall.
Lovely! What a great idea. I need to get back to crafting.
jbmumofone recently posted..#notnonstick
This is perfect! What a clever idea and the photos you used are super gorgeous!
Stephie C recently posted..And Just Like That, Summer Was Over
well that’s just brilliant Lucy well done!
Becky recently posted..Iced Owl Biscuits
What an amazing idea!
Great to personalise for gifts x x
Cass Bailey recently posted..Getting married at Gretna Green – how to organise a wedding on a budget….
I love personalised calendars, I always buy them for my family every Christmas but I adore the idea of making my own! Fab calendar!!
Well done, you’ve done a fab job. You have some lovely photos there. Mich x
Michelle Twin Mum recently posted..Back to School with Hotter Shoes (Review)
what a fantastic tutorial! i have bought online calendars before where I upload my photos and then give them as gifts to family BUT this would make an even nicer present, lovely x
Ahhh it’s great!
And you used my photo in January too – extra love <3
OMG this is such a cool idea. I’m obsessed with planning and organisation, although I’m nowhere near as organised as I could or should be, but this is very cool. Totally Pinterest and Tumblr worthy ;)
Carolin recently posted..Fruity Raspberry and orange iced tea for all the family