What’s the Date, Again?

Operation: Personalize the House is in full swing around here. We love adding bits of “us” here and there, without plastering our faces everywhere you look. One way we did this was by creating a Thomas Family Calendar, that hangs in our kitchen. The calendar is just one of a few things we are doing to try and up the cozy factor in this space (to see some of our other tricks, click here).

Although most of our schedule is online and we probably don’t need a hard copy, a calendar is nice to have around as a reference point. I figure, if we’re going to have one at all, we may as well have one that reflects us in some way.

I promise not to go off on a Shutterfly rant again, but if you’re looking for a company that makes this, these are the folks that I used. They always have deals and discounts (we actually had a coupon to get the calendar for free), so I would not recommend purchasing from them until you have at least some kind of mark-down or percentage off. Again, these are always available!

I had a lot of fun making this and it was a pretty easy process. Because we are still in the early stages of this thing called “life together” (We’ve only been married for six months, but at the same time: WOW! We’ve been married for six months!?), I had to rely on using some older photos. Here are some of the techniques that came in handy when creating the calendar:

Birds of a feather flock together. I tried to group and assign pictures to each month, depending on what time of year they occurred. For example, two years ago, we went to Disney World (my first time!!) with Mitch’s family in May. I used pictures from that trip for the month of May in our calendar.

Take a trip down memory lane. Mitch’s birthday is in April, so I added a picture of our first time celebrating (way back in Year One of dating!)… Can you tell which one’s the oldie?

Enjoy a single-shot layout. For the month of June, I decided to limit myself to just one photo. This was taken from our Engagement pictures (thanks, Beau!) and reminds us of all of the wonderful summers we have spent at the Chesapeake Bay. To see a few more of the Engagement shots, click here.

Highlight important occasions. November is a special month for us. Almost six years ago, on Nov. 6th, we started dating. Five years later, on Nov. 9th, we got engaged. The picture on the left was taken after one year of dating, and the one on the right speaks for itself. It’s fun to look at the differences (or maybe similarities!) in the pictures between now and then!

Play off holiday themes. Just for kicks, I worked with the “Valentine” theme in the month of February… a fun way to incorporate some holiday spirit!

What it really comes down to is this: make it your own and fill it with photos that capture who you are and those that you love. It’s a great reminder to enjoy moments while they are here, because sooner or later, they will pass and may end up on the calendar next year!

Now, you will notice that our calendar is, in fact, adhered to our fridge with… scotch tape.

It came to my attention that we have no cute magnets with which to hang stuff on the fridge! Actually, scratch that. Forget cute- we have no magnets at all!

So…. I set off to remedy that problem and am stoked to bring you…

Check back in tomorrow for the full “how-to”! Gotta love a good (and CHEAP!) DIY project!

I know, I know… with all of this talk, you’re just dying to try your hand at a calendar on Shutterfly. To get started, click here!

Already made one and have tips to share? Leave a comment or email me a picture! I’d love to feature you! Let’s share the love 🙂

Have a great day!

-Leslie