Introduction
For many of us, calendars are a part of our everyday lives. They keep us organized, help us remember significant events, dates and memories, whether they be in the past or still to come. In scrapbooking, we are usually documenting past events, even if it was just a few hours ago! I always try to include the date on every page that I create and since my layouts always have photos, it is generally the date the photo was taken. Sometimes the specific date, sometimes the month and year are sufficient, sometimes just the season and the year. In any case, it is a documented time in our lives. Sure, handwriting or typing the date is fine but with so many calendar embellishments options, it is fun to change it up! Calendar embellishments come in a wide range of colors, fonts, sizes and styles and are just begging to be incorporated on your next work of he{art}
Here are a few ideas for using calendars:
•Calendars as a main focus. One of the ways that you will see calendars used on a layout is to document a whole month. Either when there are many activities going on or several significant events utilizing a full month calendar embellishment is very effective. One may use an entire calendar page and rather than tossing it at the end of the year, use it on a layout. Then your calendar would become the focal point of your layout with perhaps smaller photos to provide detail and support. An example might be documenting a baby’s many firsts. Another could be all the events and festivities you participate in leading up to Christmas.
•Smaller calendar images as embellishments. Many small calendar pieces are available on the market, not only document the date but also make lovely embellishments. There are die-cuts and stamps, where you can just circle the month, date and year. In addition, the size of the calendar can carry some visual weight---perhaps equal in size (or close) to one of the photographs. It is still a very integral part of your layout, maybe not the focal point but more than just an embellishment, as showcased in the layout below
image: Steffanie Seiler
Calendars are visually appealing because of their clean graphic linear style and grid patterns are very trendy. So put on your thinking caps and let’s see some wonderful thoughts and inspiration using calendars...a useful and trendy numerical grid!