A Calendar for January

I know it's been too long since I was here last, so let me wish you a very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Instead of crafting and blogging I've spent a lot of time getting the chaos creative clutter in my craft room under control.  Since creating digitally only requires the space my computer takes up, I was still able to finish my January calendar.

Chilly!

You might guess that it was verrrry cold when I made this calendar.  In fact, in the twelve years I've lived in my area I've never experienced such low temperatures!  I feel lucky though, as we've not had any snow yet.

I made the template for this calendar back in December using Make The Cut.  I used the basic shapes that are included in the software to create the chevrons and the hexagon grid.  After exporting everything to png, I imported the shapes into Photoshop and clipped some papers from the Keepin' Cozy collection from Echo Park to them.  I created the numbers for the days the same way I created them for my December calendar.  I find it to be way more efficient than doing it in Photoshop.  Making templates ahead of time in Make The Cut also makes the process faster.

I'd love to find an even quicker way to design and create my calendars!  I did come across a site called timeanddate.com, which will create some cool calendars you can use to create a planner or even hang on a wall.  Of course you can't incorporate your own papers and such, but they do offer a lot of options to customize them, and it's free.  I like free.  I'll definitely be using them to create a planner for this year.

Do you like to make your own calendars or are you content to buy them at the store?  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your ideas!

Here's what I used:
Make The Cut! Software
Photoshop
Keepin' Cozy Collection from Echo Park
LD Handwritten Greetings Font (Days, events)
LD Hot Betty Font (Month, numbers)

 Keep warm and Have A Crafty Day!