November 16, 2011

✥{Glassless} Framed Calendar {Gift Idea} ✥

You know how when you were little, and it was Christmas or Father's day, or something like that, and you'd make your parents a present because- well because you were a kid. And they were all "thanks for the ridiculous, hideous, falling apart pot holder made out of strings that were Elmers glued together?!?" Then you'd skip away, bursting with happiness, cause you made'em something and they said they liked it.


Well, I made my "bonus-Mom" {aka awesome stepmother} a birthday present.
This is me skipping away all Pippy-Long-Stalking-style.
I made her a personalized photo calendar.
There's a ton to choose from online. You can find them for free {my favorite price} or you can pay {if it's a gift, like this one.}

I figure most people use their computer calendars or phones. So I picked a setup that emphasized the photo aspect of the calendar.

Then I put the pictures in a frame rather than having it bound together. I figure that's a lot better to look at than the regular spiral bound type hung with a thumb tack, plus, it's not hardly as customized.
To make it user friendly, I took the glass out of the frame.
This way you can write on it and the notes section is still accessible.
You can see the message area beneath the dates where my "Bonus Mom" can write all her important appointments etc. as things come up. My hope was that it could look good and be functional. Nifty, 'eh?

 I made sure the family pics were personalized for Bonus Mom's special dates. For example, pics with her and the Pops for their March Anniversary and pics of her with her mother for Mom's Day. I also included the dates of family birthdays on the calendar when I had it printed up, so no excuses if you forget my birthday Bonus Mom!
If this had been for me I probably would've printed a free version offline and popped it in a frame. 
Since it was a gift, I had it professionally printed so the pictures would be the best quality possible.
A few of the pictures weren't printed properly the first time, so I was given a couple of rough draft copies. The only set back with DIY is that it often takes several attempts to get a project done good and "right".
{See that gray area on the top right corner- yeah, that's not supposed to be there. I digitally edited them out of the other pics.}
It all worked out though, since that's what I stuck in frames for this impromptu photo shoot.

I like it hanging on the huge cork board best. When I saw it here, I was sold. Think I'll be making another one for us. Until the next project, Au revoir.








I'm also linked up here.