homemade Christmas gifts...

I love creating (and receiving) Christmas gifts that are handmade. Last year I made a majority of the gifts we gave...but I don't think they went over so well. So this year I limited my handmade gifts to calendars (and saved myself a ton of time and stress).

Every year I make a calendar for my Grandma and for my parents. (Except for one year...and I sure heard about it! LOL) I've been trying to vary the styles and sizes, just for fun. This year's calendar was pretty simple...but I think it's my favorite so far. I used a template from MS Word to create the calendar, resized it and changed the font, added the birthdays and holidays, printed it on white cardstock, added the patterened paper, photos, embellishments and a favorite quote, and had them bound! I found some fun ribbons for hanging them and they are done! I also created a fun little perpetual date calendar for my aunt...kind of a handy little book to keep on hand, I think! I found this idea on Two Peas.

My calendars went together so easily this year that I decided to create one for us too!

Here's a peek at the inside of our calendar: