I am suuuuper excited about my first calendar. Yes this is a subjective feeling (chuckle..) but at first I thought it would be so easy. What's so difficult about selecting pictures, getting them print, put them into an acrylic box, and boom! it's ready to ship. Turned out I spent a lot of time and thoughts to put all these together. It's because I wanted the calendar to be perfect, starting from the print, the presentation, up to the packaging.
I thought to share some of the resources that I used to eliminate some hassles when it comes to researching. Hope this is helpful for you.
1. The calendar template
There are many vendors who offer beautiful collections of calendar templates. But I always love the design of
Paislee Press. Liz's designs are always simple, clean, but artistic. So I opted for her
2012 Calendar Kit template. The kit comes in two sizes, one for 4x6 and one for 5x7.
2. Selecting the pictures
Oh dear! This is not easy. During the process, I found out that this is actually a good practice to examine your style and do a self-evaluation. For example I noticed that the majority of my pictures have blue background so I make a mental note to change the background paper. LOL. Or...that apparently I shot lots of still life, inside my house. This reminds me to observe more when I am outdoor. I was finally able to select 12 pictures with a hope that each picture would be able to represent each month.
3. Getting the pictures printed
I asked several photographers which printing labs that they favor most. The answers came in a list of six different printing labs, instead of one name. LOL. So I spent hours comparing prices, different products available, different type of papers they use, among others.
WHCC immediately caught my attention because they offer free printing test with a very quick turn around time. When I received my printing test results, I am happy with the color consistency. To top it off, they also included sample of different papers so I was able to see and feel the difference of each paper and finishing touch. I decided to submit my print job and received the results two days later. How fantastic is that? I think I will stick with WHCC because I am happy with the quality, the easy use of their software, and the service.
4. The display
I had my heart on this acrylic calendar holder from
Oak Creek Print Works except that it is in horizontal position while my calendar is in vertical position. I spent some times researching for this but it seems that no vendors are offering a vertical version. I thought for all possible alternatives and almost gave up until I thought about a wooden easel. AHA! IKEA sells this but I am in the "I don't have time to go there now" mood so I do what I do best - online shopping...(chuckle). I ordered
Reeves mini wooden easels from Amazon. It's a perfect size for 4x6 calendar.
The lighter color is cheaper but I like the darker version.
5. The rubber stamp
I got this cute camera rubber stamp designed by Liz Tamaha of Paislee Press from
Purple Onion. Just be mindful that it's an unmounted stamp, which means that it's not attached to a piece of wood or acrylic like regular stamps. But I am able to use it comfortably.
6. The box
Oh dear...the quest to find the perfect box worth another blog post! LOL. Online vendors request a minimum purchase of 100 boxes. So, it's totally out of the window. To put it short, I wasn't able to find a box that I liked in a reasonable amount of quantity or quality or price (important!). So I decided to make my own packaging. It's not a box, but it's an envelope. I used a thick paper from Kate's Paperie, one of my favorite shops! Here's what I came up with.
7. The finishing touch
The tissue papers, paper punches, glue and raffia rope are available from arts and crafts or 99 cent stores. I made the flower tinsel by punching red tissue papers using a giga scalloped paper punch and glued them in a piece of paper.
This calender sure does involve a lot of work and I am way behind schedule in sending this out. But I am quite happy with the results. :)
