a thought on CALENDAR EMBELLISHMENT...

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!

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Here are some more thoughts from our TG's on calendars:

Twinkies by: Heather

 Heather’s thought: When I first saw this thought, I both a felt negative and positive feeling at the same time. I knew what I would use for the calendar, but I had no ideas on HOW to use it. Then I read the thought all the way through. An embellishment- ahh! That is how I was going to use the calendar. I do not often use large embellishments, and I felt apprehensive at first. I had no idea of the layout, so I started from scratch. I finally decided on three pieces of patterned paper for the background matting of the focal point. I off-centered the photo and then got to work embellishing my page with the calendar and smaller embellishments. I did not really have a place to add journaling, so I put a journaling spot in the upper right corner of the page to house my story of the picture. In all, I was satisfied with how my layout turned out... especially when I am inexperienced in using large embellies such as calendars!

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In a Flash by: Beth

Beth’s thought: As I was sifting through my photos it struck me how fast the time has gone. My once chubby babies are now nearly adults! That is when the idea for a layout spanning time came about and what better represents the passage of time than a calendar. A grid pattern seemed a logical choice as it is very calendar like in itself. My little used 2"x2" square punch finally got a workout! I used it to punch photos of my family and pages from a pocket calendar. The calendar squares are left unadorned so they stand out on the page. Creating this layout really got me thinking about different ways to incorporate calendars into my scrapbooking!

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Skye Graduates by: Sally

Sally’s thought: When I found out this week's challenge I remembered having several calendars to choose from in my stash.  After pulling them out and looking at photos, I decided that if I was going to put a focus on the actual date by using a calendar, then I wanted it to be a special day I wanted to remember always.  With that in mind, it made looking through my photos much easier and I finally decided on this photo of our family on the day our daughter graduated from High School.  I used this fun scalloped calendar page as my base and since the rest of the month did not really matter. I mounted my photo on the left side, along with some patterned paper to add some visual and textural interest. Along with using color and to help ground my photo.  I chose to use stitching to circle the date of her graduation, highlighting the importance of the date.  I loved finding a fun way of journaling. This was a special day in our daughter's life and I will definitely consider using a calendar as an embellishment for future special days and events. 

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December Chiller by: Steffanie

Steffanie’s thought: As much as I looked forward to being a part of this "thought", I actually struggled with it quite a bit.  I have a great "whole" calendar stamp that I have used before (see above sample layout).  But for this thought, I wanted to try using some of the cute little embellishments that you see where you just circle stuff---the date, year, season, day of the week.  You get the idea.  I started by printing from my computer the larger polka-dot circle (download from Silhouette).  I then borrowed a stamp set from a friend that had different years and the seasons.  I got the basic layout together. Alright, with the basic layout done, the embellishing is where I got hung up.  I had a hard time finding balance, creating a visual triangle and tying the calendar elements in with the rest of my layout.  I wanted it to look like it belonged there, not as if it was just something that I was forced to use.  Eventually the sticker embellishments and word strips helped to achieve unity on my layout.  Although it was difficult, I am glad that I stuck with it.  I liked being able to circle the month, season and year to document time and also having it serve as a point of interest.

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I Love You More Today Than Yesterday by: Amanda

Amanda’s thought: Calendars are always around us in life; and really, I should learn to pay more attention to them since I’m always forgetting what day it is!  LOL!  Despite calendars being around us nearly everywhere we turn, I rarely think to incorporate them into my pages.  For this project, I did not interpret calendars to reflect a specific date.  I wanted the calendar to represent the passage of time.  I used all the elements of a 6x6 Simple Stories Year-ography page to represent a full year.  My title “I Love You More Today Than Yesterday” also represents the change of time, not so much a specific date.  So go ahead, use a calendar to represent the passage of time, how things are different now than before, or even just as a cool grid element!

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Christmas Joy by: Joni

Joni’s thought: I found a package of calendar die cuts dated 2010, so I dug out photos from that year too.  I also used a die cut paper with calendar print as my background to tie in the date theme.  When I first placed the calendar on the right side, I had my right photo low enough so the entire calendar was visible.  I kept trying to figure out what was wrong with my layout when it dawned on me I didn’t like the look of that much calendar and I really didn’t “need” to “point out” December 25^th…that was really obvious with my theme.  I moved the photo up, overlapping the calendar and still have the same impact with better visual appeal.  It was fun to do a Christmas layout without using Christmas paper or embellishments. 

 

 

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I am excited to have each of you here and blessed that you chose to take time to play along.  plese feel free to come over to our facebook page and offer any suggestions or comments --post any and all of your thoughts.. that is why we are here.. sharing all of us together!

So please don't just share here-- your work of he{art}  should be posted everywhere!

Comments

[Andrea Niemeier]

Wow, everyone's LOs are just awesome! There is so much talent here. I hope to get back soon. Miss you all.

[Beth Hallgren]

Awesome job ladies! Love seeing how everyone interpreted this assignment :)

[Angela A]

Thanks for the fun thought Erika! I had forgotten all about calendars and I do really love the look of them on a layout!

[csewy]

Great job on the calendar embellishment "thought" and super layouts!!

[auntie em (emily)]

The challenge and the resulting LOs are all so amazing. And what great ways to remember dates or times on a LO. We think we won't forget but we always do...thank goodness for time stamps on digital files! :D
Beautiful work everyone! :)