Last Minute Gift! Scrapbook Calendar!

Hello again friends! I am safe to post this project because neither my mom or my mother in law uses a computer LOL! Then again it is not much of a surprise because I make them one every year and it is my mother’s favorite gift (which she hints at every year starting in October!) The one year I didn’t make her one for Christmas (BTW it was the year my twins were born, they were only 3 months old by Christmas) she made feel so guilty that I made her one for her birthday in February, better late than never eh? I’ve simplified the process of these calendars a lot since I made my first one 11 years ago. I’ll share my tips and process with you so you can knock one or two of these out in an evening! You’ve got nothing better to do tonight right?

Recap!

1. Print your calendar pages (for free!!!) here on white or light-colored cardstock.
2. Print photos! I used 1/2 a sheet of 8.5″x11″ photo paper (Cannon Pixma glossy) per page.
3. Choose a stack of paper so you won’t dig through your entire stash to match stuff up and trim paper to 6″x11″ (you get 2 pages from each 12″x12″ sheet!
4. collect the cardstock calendar pages plus 1 for a cover and make sure they are in order (no, really, check) and bind them with a binding machine or see my tutorial here for binding with a Crop-a-dile hole punch)
5. Glue on paper.
6. Glue on photos.
7. Write the “who, what, where” on the pages.
8. Decorate the cover!
9. Have a glass of wine and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

I raise my own glass to you my friend as you just nailed Christmas gift giving! I have to mention that the steal of a deal binding machine I bought for $20 2 years ago is now $75 but a YouTube viewer was able to snag another binding machine on clearance for $20 so keep an eye out if you want to buy one. Alternatively you can have them bound at any copy shop, like Staples, for a couple bucks.

I still have a couple more Christmas tutorials to share but if you are anxious to see them you can on my YouTube channel. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!