DIY Gift Idea – Photo Calendar

If you haven’t already noticed, we are kinda, maybe, just a little obsessed with DIY projects. We are always thinking about what we can do with our photos – to personalise and make gifts/ everyday things extra special.

So… we found a cool craft idea while looking for inspiration online! A tutorial for a photo calendar, and we LOVED it! Calendars usually look pretty generic, and those that look special, are especially costly too! What better way to have an awesome calendar – that is pretty to look at – than to make your own! 🙂

This didn’t take very much time at all!

For this gift idea, we used the below resources:
DIY instagram calendar
2018 monthly printable calendar

Let’s get started!

Here’s what you need:

  • Black/ coloured paper x 15 (1 for each month + 2 for cover and 1 for back reinforcement)
  • Printed monthly calendar spread
  • Photos of your choice x 12 (ours measure 6in x 6in)
  • Glue/ glue tape/ double-sided tape (whatever sticks ;p)
  • Scissors/ pen knife (anything you can cut paper with)

things you need

To get started, pick out 15 pieces of paper (thicker ones preferably, we used 120gsm, but found that it needed reinforcement) and trim them to the size you want. We wanted it to be square, so we trimmed the length of the A4 paper down to its width.

Tape or glue two pieces of paper together to make the cover. Do the same for another 2 pieces of paper to make the last page (December).

Next, choose 12 of the photos you want to have in your calendar (and won’t get sick of seeing for an entire month heh)! Our suggestions are:

  • travel photos
  • photos of you and your family/friends/lover
  • photos of your pet(s)
  • generic but pretty photos (ours were photos of flowers from unsplash)

We printed them in the size of 6in x 6in, but photos of any size would be fine, as long as it fits your calendar base.

Then, get your monthly calendar printed out (we got ours from here!) and trim them to fit the base as well!

trim and cut

After you are done with the trimming and cutting, it’s time to put everything together!

paste

We stuck the calendar pages on first, then decide which flower goes with which month.

One thing to take note is to make sure the orientation of the picture and the calendar is correct. For example, the January page will have a flower on the flipside, and the flower should be upside down. (When flipped up, the flower is the right orientation)

That’s what the January spread will look like (cover + January)…

january orientation

… and when you flip to February, it will look like this!

february orientation

After the sticking and orientation is done, we can now punch holes and connect the calendar pages for the final flipping calendar! 🙂

twine tie together

We used some twine, braided them together and then used them to tie the pages together as shown above.

Last step is to just attach a paper clip to the cover page and hang it up!

final calendar

Aaaaand, we’re done! âœ¨

final calendar 2

Maybe it’s a bit too early for 2018, but just like we found how time simply flashed by (already one-third way through August whutttt), soon enough it will be the end of the year too!

Better to be prepared than to be flustered when the time comes, ya?

This is a simple calendar, so you can definitely explore and add more elements to make it yours! Here are some ideas:

  • decorate the cover, as seen on the original tutorial
  • add border designs (washi tape or draw with paint markers)
  • add a border for the photos
  • add stickers
  • whatever else you can imagine!

We love DIY ideas because doing it yourself means you can make it your own! Infuse your own style, personality and ideas into it and you can proudly call it your baby… 🙂


 

Itching to get started? Choose some photos and print now!

Happy crafting guys! ðŸŒ¿