Young House Love

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A Free Calendar Printable

First we’ll get to the freebie download for all of you lovely people, because you know we heart you for reading our little ol’ blog. Since we’ve made a tradition of designing a homemade calendar each year (and 2012 ain’t gonna wait just cuz we’re mid-kitchen reno) we stole a moment – while the wood putty dried – to throw something together for the big one-two.

Our calendars from the last few years have all been text-based (you know, as opposed to full of photos). Like our 2010 calendar, where we assembled a dozen weird family phrases & inside jokes and laid them out in simple bright colors:

Calendar Cutting Burger

Or our 2011 calendar, where we used a numerical fact about our family to represent each month (ex: May, the fifth month, said: “Five years in Richmond” and July, the seventh month said: “Seven years spent together”).

NewCal In Place

Well, this year we ditched the text-on-white theme and went full-on photographic…

2012Calendar January Big

Each month of our 2012 calendar features a photo that we took that same month in 2011, so it’s an easy way for us to look back and say “oh yeah, so that’s what Clara looked like exactly a year ago.” Admittedly a photo calendar isn’t a groundbreaking idea, but it seemed really fun to toss together since 2011 is the first full calendar year that we’ve spent with Clara in our lives. And that girl can pose like Tyra Banks.

2012Calendar October Big

We gave each pic a “historical” feel by applying a free Photoshop action from the Pioneer Woman called “Heartland” (you can download that here) and then we brought color back into the calendar with a bright curvy border on the top and the bottom. The font that we used is a free download called Lobster (which you can get here).

2012Calendar JanFebMar

2012Calendar AprMayJun

2012Calendar JulAugSept

2012Calendar OctNovDec

And speaking of downloads, you can download our Photoshop file featuring all twelve colorful frames here. Which means you can personalize the whole thing for yourself (and then print it out and hang it proudly in your kitchen/office/mudroom) by:

  1. adding your own photos as a new layer behind each frame using Photoshop
  2. being sure to download the font if you’d like to alter the text (otherwise it could switch to a default and look wonky)
  3. applying the Heartland action to your photos if you want a similar look (or you can making ’em black & white, full color, etc)

Now all we’ve gotta do is buy a new color ink cartridge so we can print this sucker out on cardstock, cut it to size, and hang it in our finished kitchen (probably with a binder clip or two so we can easily rotate each page out as the months go by). Oh wait, guess we gotta finish the kitchen before we can “hang this in our finished kitchen”… so maybe it’ll be up by February or March. Haha. Either way, happy almost 2012 everyone! Hope you have fun making a little calendar of your own (or even whipping some up as gifts for friends and family members)!

But on to the secret… a little package arrived from my Secret Santa! Remember I mentioned that sweet Mrs. Limestone invited me to play along among a bunch of awesome fellow bloggers (and I was worried I would totally choke when it came to figuring out two perfect gifts to send someone’s way throughout the month of December)? Well, this package arrived all festively wrapped with a little “Peace On Earth” ornament on top…

Secret Santa1

… and I opened it to find this adorable silver box from Pottery Barn that reads “Good things come in small packages.” Which makes this 5’2″ gal smile.

Santa Box

And there was a little bit o’ sparkle going on – like fairy dust. Which all made sense when I cracked the lid to find three sweet ornaments with the hubster, the beanster, and my initials on them. So cute.

Ornaments

Anyone have any guesses which of these bloggers might be my secret Santa? I don’t have a clue but I love the suspense of it all!

As for my new little ornaments, off to the tree they went! Not only the three initial ornaments but the little glittering birdie too:

Ornament On Tree1

Here’s our little C in action. I love that these babies aren’t breakable – so they fit right in with our paint chips and ribbons.

C Orn Close

The red on the initials tie right into the red ribbons, and the glitter around the edges gleam like our sparkly snowflakes.

C Ornament

Oh and our tree has filled out quite a bit over the last few weeks. Care to guess why?

Tree Far

Yup, many of the ornaments on our little homemade advent calendar have been popped off the door where they were hanging…

Advent Calendar

… and onto the tree. Clara and I have had fun finding the perfect place for each one as each day goes by.

Christmas 2

Love me some holiday traditions! Maybe I was an elf in a past life. Those little seasonal activities and crafts (like our annual calendar and our ornament advent calendar) are hardly expensive or time consuming – but they’re so much fun for the family to get into the spirit. Especially little Clara. And when you’re dreading/gearing up for days and days of cabinet sanding and priming and painting… ya gotta love a little holiday spirit in the half-torn-apart house to keep ya smiling. Maybe we’ll play Christmas music while we putty and pretend the sawdust is snow…

Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15! 

Comments

  4. Anne says

    Happy Holidays, indeed! I suspect most people have found a new t.v. show, gotten obsessed with it, and then watched several seasons of episodes over the span of a few days or weeks. Well, just wanted to share that I’ve done that with YHL. I discovered it only a few weeks ago and worked my way from page 412 to 1 (to the tune of 25 pages a day). Great, inspiring stuff!

    Reply

    • Tara says

      I have been doing this too! Sometimes when work gets slow I work my way through backwards…though I’m only halfway through (I think I’m on page 220 right now?), due to the fact that work hasn’t been so slow lately :)

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You guys rock. Ya know that? Thanks for reading! It gets a little crazy in the way back (with smaller pictures and two sentence posts). So fun for us to look back on though!

      xo,
      s

    • Lauriane says

      I did that too! I discovered your blog in April or May, and as summer wasn’t too busy at work I spent a great amount of time reading my way in chronological order, and I read it all in a couple months… And now I’m still addicted and read your articles every day!! (and almost wish there were more pages that I haven’t read yet, but I’m all up to date now… so I can’t wait for the book!!)
      Have a great Christmas everyone!! :)

  5. Corie says

    Hey Sherry!

    I had to comment to tell you that I just cleared off all of the open shelving in my kitchen, in prep for hosting this weekend. I hand-washed the glassware, wiped down the shelves, re-arranged everything, added some vases full of fresh holly and it took 40 minutes – tops!

    And? With the help of Pandora… it was actually kinda fun!

    Just wanted to let you know that you’re not going to regret those open selves at all!

    Yes, I know this is unrelated to this post. :)

    Reply

  6. Kitty says

    I love the photo calendar – I have been making calendars for my home from your templates for the last couple of years :-)

    Reply

  7. Kristen says

    So, another great post from you guys! And you’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel, and the holidays and a million other things and now you guys are making a calendar with Photoshop actions and cool fonts and 12 different pictures taken from last year. Sheesh! You guys don’t sleep, right?! I mean, you must be aliens or something (the friendly kind)! That’s a compliment…oy this is getting weird! Anyway, thanks for brightening my afternoon with all your productivity! And the calender, as always, is amazing! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, we’re totally not aliens. Although, if we were… we’d probably deny it. Haha. So glad you like the calendar! We figure we can always sleep in 2012, so we just have to power through December.

      xo,
      s

  10. Alana says

    I would guess your secret Santa is Miss Mustard Seed. I have been following her for a few months which is how I found you… And I now read both of your blogs religiously. I believe I got a few very similar ornaments from her location at Luckets in VA…. But I could be mistaken.

    Reply

  13. Kristen Swift says

    Love the calendar! We just made 2012 calendars through Shutterfly as Christmas gifts from our nearly 2-year-old son to his grandparents (although I love your design a lot more). We also used 2011 pictures in the corresponding month for 2012 :)

    Reply

  16. heather says

    I would have done that secret santa thing in a split second! I love the idea of doing it with fellow bloggers, that’s adorable! Then again I would have sent you a turned-from-firewood french rolling pin (or as the guys at the office like to tease me “a tapered stick”) so it wouldn’t have been hard to figure out haha.

    Such a cute gift, and perfect for you guys! Also, that is a really adorable calendar.

    Reply

  18. Vanessa says

    So….you don’t want us all to have shirtless John hanging in our kitchens in June? Boooooo!

    Kidding. Great download – going to work on mine today – may even make a nice last minute gift for the grandfolks.

    Reply

  19. Eve says

    Ack! I love the calendar! And the filters! Off to download more filters and mod a whole bunch of pics of the kiddies… thank you! :)

    (speaking of filters… have you guys checked out Camerabag? addictive!)

    Reply

  20. Ali Miller says

    How funny, the two blogs that I read daily (more than once usually!) are Young House Love and The Pioneer Woman! Don’t tell Ree, but you guys are by far my favorite. :) Might post a pic sometime soon. Just got done painting my dining room before Christmas guests arrive. It had unpainted paneling on the bottom half, and orange and green wallpaper on the top half!

    I went with a dove gray on the top, and a slightly darker shade below the chair rail. Thanks so much for the inspiration! I love gray as a neutral, and the white chair rail really pops on it. Your stencil is beautiful but I do *NOT* have the patience!

    Reply

  21. Samantha says

    Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE this calendar! I have already downloaded it and the Photoshop action (I actually already had the Lobster font!) and I’m adding my own photos as we speak. It’s turning out amazing already!

    Thanks so much! You guys are awesome.

    Reply

  23. Heather C says

    I totally think your secret santa was Tanya at Save the Date for Cupcakes. I popped over to her blog and she said, “If anyone knows me they know I love all that glitters and shines~ that goes both with giving and receiving (hint).” Could be her! Anyways, the calandar is adorable and I definately think Clara could give Tara a run for her money!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I can’t wait to share the two packages I sent off!!! Or to hear who has me (and get my second package)! I think we’ll be sharing hints and giving the whole thing away soon- maybe after we all have received our second gift so we can make guesses and see who everyone thinks their Secret Santa is?

      xo,
      s

    • Clarissa says

      I think some earlier commenters guessed Miss Mustard Seed and I would vote that way too for you. I also think I saw your gift appear on the receiver’s blog and if I’m right…the gift you made was awesome and totally provides a little holiday pizzaz that could be used all year round (I guess like your calendar). Can’t wait till the big reveal posts!!

    • Heidi P. says

      I love ALL your calendars! I just ordered Photoshop for my sister-in-law for $55! for Christmas (a friend of mine works for Adobe). Too bad I didn’t get it for myself! Someday…

      And Clara is so stinkin’ cute.

      And I can’t wait to see what you sent, too!

  25. Katie says

    Love the calendar! So sweet. I’m a bit obsessed with calendars and picking the right one each year has always involved a lot more thought than it probably should!

    Reply

  26. Allyn says

    The elf thing would fit in perfectly with your size. Me? I’d be much more like Buddy.
    I meant to make an ornament or two this year. Maybe I’ll still try to whip one up this week!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, it’s true! I’ve already got the short thing going. I always forget that and then I look around a room and I’m usually the shortest one (some middle schoolers trump me!)

      xo,
      s

    • heather says

      I’m glad you own the short. It’s a (non)scientific fact the shorter you are the feistier you are. I’m the tallest female in my family (5’7″) amongst a whole bunch of 5″3 and unders. I am fully convinced that spunk is a direct correlation to height. The shorter you are the spunkier you are. My friends mom is 4″11 and she’s as spunky as they come. I’m only guessing the Jersey adds to it. (Is it sad that whenever I hear “Jersey” I don’t think of New Jersey – I think of the cow?).

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh my gosh- it’s so true! My mom is 4’11” and she’s been known to jump on my bed in the morning to wake me up (even with friends sleeping over – it’s mortifying and hilarious all at the same time).

      xo,
      s

  28. Carly says

    Wish I could “Like” Anne’s comment — I did that as well about a year ago! In fact, it was actually what prompted me to finally create a blog. Cheers :) YHL infatuation!
    -Carly @ Createlive

    Reply

  30. Melissa says

    Thank you! I’m such a PS noob that I can’t find any month beyond January when I open the calendar file. Please help?!

    Reply

  31. Krissy says

    The packaging makes me think for certain that it must be Janell at Isabella and Max Rooms, she has that gold classic style happening all through out her house. If the package came from Portland that would be a dead give away it was her. It’s so exciting to guess regardless!

    Reply

    • Lindsay says

      Oooh yeah, that is a good point. Can’t you tell by the postmark who it is from? Will yours not be given away by being sent from Richmond?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      People were sneaky about it (let’s just say mine didn’t have our address as the return address and the one I got was extremely vague too – no clues at all!).

      xo,
      s

    • Amanda says

      but doesn’t the postmark have a city on it (not the return address but the postmark stamp)? I’d have to go look at a package we received to tell for sure but I always thought the postmark at least showed the area a package had been mailed from.

  32. Madeline says

    Love the calendar! Soo cute!! Why did you chose the picture for September? Is Burger’s birthday in September?? Also, what size frame did you frame your Richmond typographic map in? I bought one for the boyfriend and want to frame it for him for Christmas. He grew up in the Fan, and also was in the army–and his job was reading maps,etc so I thought it was the PERFECT gift!! THANK YOU!
    -Your Stride Thru Time Friend…haha

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha- hi Madeline! Yup, September 27th is Burger’s birthday. As for the frame size, it’s an Ikea ribba frame that I used (the square one with a 12 x 12″ opening). I had to trim the white border of the map for it to fit, but it looks great with a giant piece of gray decorative paper that I got from Michael’s for a buck or two behind it. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

    • Susan says

      The Richmond type map version 2.0 (if you bought it recently) fits in a 24×18 frame. Just picked up a nice black wood one at Michael’s for about $20 and put the poster in there for my husband for Christmas so we can add it to our USGS map collection of the places we’ve lived on the staircase going down to our basement.

      PS-I think Miss Mustard Seed is your Secret Santa. Those ornaments have her shop at Luckett’s written all over them–so cute!!

    • Kari says

      My Mom uses the version from last year (same ornament, but in black font) on stocking hooks. As my brother and I are both in our late 20s, she ended up purchasing almost the entire alphabet when it went on clearance for future grandkids (no one is expecting at the moment however). Hilarious!

  38. C says

    I tried to open in gimp and it wouldn’t let me open the .psd file. For those of us without the luxury of photoshop, is there anyway you could save it as a .png so we could open in microsoft powerpoint?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So sorry, since it has so many layers we couldn’t make it a PNG and still allow folks to print each page separately (they’re all on top of each other in photoshop and you just hide each month to print them all). You also couldn’t place photos “under” the border in Powerpoint (since it would be all one layer, so you couldn’t tuck the picture behind the border). Maybe try downloading the free font and designing your own version in Powerpoint? Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  39. Annie says

    I love the calendars! I’d love to know how you keep your days organized – with all the projects and posts and appointments you must have a massive one somewhere to remind you of all the details? Mine always turn out so ugly with all the notes…

    I LOVE your blog, you always think of the greatest things…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, I am old school and actually have a day planner on my desk that I look at every morning. You can see it in this post, and it’s completely crazy and almost impossible for anyone to read but me!

      xo,
      s

  40. Lisa says

    I’ve been a faithful reader of your blog for about a year and look forward to reading it each morning to see the great new ideas you keep coming up with. My comment today though is really about your daughter. I have to say that Clara just radiates joy in the photos you post of her – a credit to you both as parents!

    Reply

  41. Brenda says

    What photoshop software do you own? I love the calendar and the monthly pics you take of Clara… Great ideas I’d love to borrow :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have Adobe Creative Suite (which is sort of the souped up version since it has illustrator, etc) but even the most basic version of Photoshop would work for 99% of the stuff we make/do on the blog (we just have CS from our days in advertising when we used other programs with it).

      xo,
      s

  42. Kai @ Hello, happy face :) says

    Love the calendar this year. I’m in the process of making a text-based one for 2012, but just might steal this idea for 2013 when we can use pics of the boys in the same manner!

    On a completely unrelated subject, I saw this article about Neti Pots in the W Post today and remember reading that you use them. I know this is very rare, but thought I should pass it along for everyone. Better safe than sorry, right?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-checkup/post/neti-pot-alert/2010/12/20/gIQAP6iUzO_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_health

    Reply

  45. Emily M. says

    Like thousands of others, I read your blog every day and love every post.
    I love the calendar. Thank you so much for sharing it. But one question if you have a moment to answer/help… When I open the .psd document that you have loaded for readers to download the only page I get is for January. Maybe I’m not the most savvy Photoshop user but is there a way to download all of the months that I maybe missed?

    Thanks again and please don’t hold my Photoshop ignorance against me.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Good question Emily! Each month is a layer in front of each other, so if you go to the layers tab and “hide” the layer that says January, February should be revealed. Then print that page and hide February and March should show up. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

    • Emily M. says

      Oh I see now. Thank you so much again for your help and this wonderful little project.

      Happy Holidays to you and the rest of the YHL family.

  47. Kala M. says

    I love your calendar. The photos with the bright colors really pop. I think I’ll have to download your files or maybe I’ll even create my own from scratch. My parents are helping me buy CS5 as my Christmas present this year. Finally I’ll have all my design programs at home and maybe I can really get this freelance graphic design business off the ground. I look forward to your posts every day. Can’t wait till we have our own house to renovate and update.

    Reply

  48. Amanda says

    Hehe, in September you’re going to be able to look at that photo and say “Aw, so that’s what Clara looked like a year ago”.

    I kid, I kid of course! I just had to — it was calling my name! Though I do love that photo of Burger all scared, and he’ll love seeing his face on the calender in his Birthday month!

    Love the calender, so cute! And December’s photo? LOVE it with the filter on it!

    Reply

  49. Emily M. says

    Also, I think your Secret Santa was Shelley at the House of Smiths. If you look at her blog post from November 26th you can see similar lettered ornaments. Hope that helps!

    Reply

  50. Wom Mom Ethne says

    Well, since I don’t have all the sanding, priming and painting to do, I’ll send muchos good wishes for you actually doing it. I can’t wait to see the finished kitchen. We do S.S. at work and it’s pretty much my fave of the whole year.

    Reply

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