Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tech Corner - Creating Your Own Calendar

Well, it's been some time since Tech Corner made its latest contribution to the technical universe, but we're excited to be back. And today we'll be talking about creating your own, customized desktop calendar. Okay, some materials you'll need to get started are a ruler, a pen and a sheet of paper - any color you like, but lighter colors are usually better.
Place the paper on a hard, flat surface (a table is ideal, but if a table is not available then some sort of hard, flat surface should work.) Take out your ruler and lay it strait on the paper. Begin by drawing a big square on your paper - Now, remember to utilize the straightness of your ruler. After you have created a square, make anywhere from 28 to 31 smaller squares inside of the big square, remembering that they should be arranged in rows of 7...( * I'll explain later).
* The rows of 7 squares represent weeks, with each individual square corresponding to a day.
Begin to number your squares in sequential order. Be sure to begin with 1, not 0. If you begin with 0 you will have messed up. I recommend, from experience, that you practice on a sheet of scratching paper before you commit with ink to your calendar grid.
By now you should have a pretty comely calendar in your hands...But that's not all. Here's where the real magic show begins. You can go absolutely crazy with decorating your calendar how ever you want. Anything from clipping and pasting magazine pictures, adding glitter or sequins, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, pasta...Just about anything you want!! And, for a splash of color, be sure to color your calendar.
In the past, calendar creation was left to the so-called "professionals", but with technology today, heck...just about any dummy can make a calendar. I did :)
Thanks for checking in, and remember - the more you understand, the smarter you are.
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5 comments:

  1. Stephen T. McCarthyFebruary 22, 2011 at 12:34 PM

    I often wondered how those things were made! Had no idea it was so easy. THANKS! I think I'm-a go make me a calendar right now.

    Hmmm... Maybe I'll start making them for friends and family members and give them out as birthday and Christmas gifts. I mean, who wouldn't want one?

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  2. barquedustFebruary 22, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    Stephen - Fantastic idea!! You could even color in a little birthday cake on their birthdays if you were giving it as a birthday gift. Man, you got some good ideas too.
    P.S. - Don't forget to use your ruler...It's the "little secret" that makes it look professional, like it came from a computer. Good luck, high-tech buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stephen T. McCarthyFebruary 23, 2011 at 12:55 AM

    >>.....You could even color in a little birthday cake on their birthdays if you were giving it as a birthday gift.

    I dunno. You sure? You don't think maybe getting THAT fancy might make it appear that I'm putting on airs or something?

    Well, OK, I'll try it . . . but I sure hope I don't lose any friends over that!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  4. nikoseyMarch 8, 2011 at 3:28 PM

    Thanks for the how-to. I did my first calendar using your methodology and it worked perfectly! It took about 3 and a half hours to do one for 2011. Here is a link to the finished product:

    http://i.imgur.com/PO1h7.jpg

    For the design i used a trick I learned in school which is a combination of a checkerboard and a tracing i made of my hand. For the shading i used two types of shading: A marker and blue-colored colored pencil.

    Two lessons i learned are 1) Double-check your spelling before you use your pen. 2) Do math to calculate the proper number of rows or else you might have extra boxes. It still works just fine but it looks sort of 'busy.'

    Thanks again for the tutorial.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stephen T. McCarthyMarch 12, 2011 at 12:07 PM

    NIKOSEY ~
    Wow! Your calendar turned out way better than mine did. I’m impressed, man! I had too many boxes (112), so yours is much closer to “just the right amount”. Plus, I didn’t even think about using my hand as part of the design. I did accidentally spill a little coffee on mine, but after the coffee drops dried, I used a pen to turn them into little daisys – like they were meant to be part of the design. But I like your hand decoration even better. Good work.

    Do you mind if I borrow your hand idea for the next calendar I make?

    ~ D-FensDogg
    ‘Loyal American Underground’

    ReplyDelete

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