Flip-Pal Simple Gifts Project #3

Simple Gifts Genealogy Blog Hop Post #6
Project #3

This year's calendar
hanging in my kitchen cupboard

Every Thanksgiving weekend my husband spends time putting together our Christmas card and our annual family calendar.  He's been doing this for years, probably ever since we bought our first PC.  He doesn't use any special greeting card software or calendar generator.  You can do this project, too, with a little planning and a scanner.  He usually distributes the calendars at our annual family Three Kings Day Party in January, so he adds a January page to each calendar for the next year.

Materials:
family photographs, documents, tickets, etc. for the project
your Flip-Pal scanner
greeting card printer paper (available at your local office supply)
OR  matte photo paper for the calendar project
lots of extra printer ink!

Holiday Cards

Step 1:   First scan all the photos you plan on using for the card or calendar.

Step 2:   Using MicroSoft Power Point, or Apple's Keynote or similar software,  arrange your photos on two pages  (Cover and inside)   Add a greeting and room for everyone to sign the card

Step 3:   Print out using the greeting card paper.  The hard part is flipping the paper and then reprinting the other side so that the inside message isn't upside down.  Practice this on a few sheets of regular paper until you get it right!

Hint: You can personalize your message and make it bilingual or even trilingual!  You can't buy THAT in any store!

Our 2010 Holiday Card
with our Hawaii vacation on the front!

You can see that we have photos
on the inside of the card, too!
It's your personal card.  Personalize it!

Calendars

Step 1:  Again, start by scanning all the photos and documents you need

Step 2:  Create a file for the calendar pages.  Make a grid for the calendar pages, and then make 12 copies of this page.  Start with page 1 and label it with JANUARY and then label with holidays (use last year's calendar) and family birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, etc.   This is what makes your family calendar personal!  You can save this file and re-use it every year.

Step 3.  Make another file for the top photos.  This will be the 12 large images to display above the calendar pages.  Label them January - December.  It's nice to show photos that go along with the theme for the month (Perhaps there was a June wedding last year? a family photo taken in November for Thanksgiving? etc.)

Step 4:  Print out one file with the matte photo paper.  Use matte paper so folks can write appointments on the calendar (its impossible with glossy photo paper).  Flip the pages over and insert them back into the printer and print out the second file.  Again, you should practice this on regular paper so the calendar comes out with the correct pages on the correct months.  When you are finished you will have 13 pages for your calendar.

Step 5: Stop by at your local office store or stationers and have the calendars bound with plastic comb binding.  Ask them to also punch a hole in each calendar for hanging on the kitchen wall.   This usually costs just a few dollars for each calendar.

After the first year, this project is easier since you have already developed the grid for each month.  Don't forget to re-number your calendar pages for next year, some holiday dates are moveable and next year is a leap year!

Cost               ***      (not too bad, unless your printer eats a lot of ink)
Difficulty        ***      (not hard, unless you have to learn Power Point first!)
Wow Factor   *****  (you'll be a big hit with your family!)

Disclaimer - I was chosen by Flip-Pal to participate as a blogger in the Simple Gifts Genealogy Blog Hop event, and I received a Flip-Pal scanner to use and evaluate.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo