Content to let the days go by.

This week's craft world is centered around calendars. You can do a daily or weekly, but I'm focusing on monthly calendars. Here is another flickr and craftzine roundup with some ideas and commentary. They're mostly digital, but alot of the ideas can be translated to collage or illustration for the non-tech-savvy. I've setup an InDesign file for 2010 calendars and have them available in .pdf. Email me if you want a copy.


monthly cutouts
print the day information on white cardstock, cutout a large (preferably in a sans serif font) letter to indicate the month, paste cloth or decorative paper on the backside to show through. I did one with papers found in the scrapbook aisle, to theme the month (pumpkins for october, jellybeans in april, hydrangeas in may, etc)

quarterly calendar
these can be done with block print or on the computer (illustrator) for mass, or you can just paint them or do paper shape cutouts for an individual calendar. I like the simplicity of how they are hung.

monochromatic and uber graphic
unless you're particularly adept at leaving the white of the paper, I would recommend this one remain in the digital realm. Helloooo illustrator. ps, I love the brown and white touch instead of the expected black and white.

sketchy
this one appears completely hand-done, or you could do a digital bottom with an ink illustration top.

stamp
another lovely combination of digital and illustration. this combines a scripty font, with simple numbering, and a stamp-like graphic. The orange is nice, but I think the one above it (june?) is a little better for legibility.
homemade simple
if you're thinking a calendar is an easy way to knock off half of your christmas list, you can invest the time to make a stamp or silkscreen for each month, giving each the hand-made look instead of the computer-printout look. Stamps are easily made from a piece of rubber or even go old-school (elementary-school) with a potato carving.

cd case calendar
i love this. the digital graphics are lovely, but I'm really in love with the idea of using a cd case as the stand. I did one a few years ago that was a weekly calendar, but split into four cd cases (by season). But one case should hold a year's worth of monthlies as long as you don't go overboard on the paper stock.
keep it simple.
I'm not crazy about this one, but it demonstrates another option for binding/hanging. This one is especially practical for anyone with access to a binder like this - the plastic pieces themselves are inexpensive, come in a variety of sizes and colors, and are very functional for something like this.
pictures from Friday's craft night coming soon! Happy crafting ~