Family Calendar 2012

For the past five or so years I've been creating an annual calendar as a Christmas gift for my family. I send one to every household in my family, from parents to siblings to in-laws to cousins. As my cousin's kids have gotten older, I send one to them too. The rule of thumb is, if you live on your own, you get a calendar. All told, I make about 25 of these a year. Guess it's a good thing nuclear families are small now! :)

I use my own photography that I take throughout the year, of Chicago and places I visit and flowers and everything, and I include everyone's birthday's and anniversaries on it. I use iPhoto and Apple to create the calendar, so it's excellent quality, good heavy cardstock and easy shipping. But I won't lie, it's tough to create; I am a perennial Christmas-gift procrastinator, so even though I intend every year to start compiling the photos and layout in the fall, I usually don't start until December. One year I called them New Year's gifts, LOL.

At the beginning of this year, when we were all in Tucson for my aunt's funeral, my mom suggested that I use my cousin Beth's paintings as the artwork in next year's calendar. I loved the idea, my cousin loved the idea, and we all knew my aunt would have loved it. She had my calendar hanging in her home office every time I visited her. So Beth sent me photos of her paintings all year long. It was a rough year for all of us, but I would get this photos sporadically, when she was having bursts of creativity, and the bold colors and sunshine coming from every corner of the art would cheer me up.

This is what is hanging on all of our walls this year.

Cover art



January



February



March



April



May



June



July



August



September



October



November (3 on the page together)





December (3 on the page together)








Thanks, Mom, for the idea.
Thanks, Beth, for the amazing artwork.
Thanks, Aunt Pat, for being the inspiration. We miss you and love you.