Lost in Time

I've been lost in 2012.  It has been fun, but also disorienting. Sunday at R.S. Pres. meeting, I was off in my time line by a whole week! I guess that's just what you get for playing around in the future. Why? I decided it was time for a change and I just couldn't wait a whole year to do it...... change the family calendar, that is.

I've been making a family birthday calendar for my parents for years. I've also been using the same template in a portrait orientation for calendaring in whatever organization I happen to be serving in at church. I had found a calendar grid graphic that I liked and started plugging in text boxes and graphics and such.....saved it, edited it to use for another month and so on. It worked, but was pretty time consuming and was the same frame over and over, even if the fonts and graphics did change. The error rate was also bit higher with the system I was using.....too many boxes to watch as I changed July of 2009 to April of 2010. (As an example just yesterday I found a month in the R.S. 2011 calendar that has an extra day.)  I was in a calendar rut of sorts, (this is already set, why change it), but this year I finally thought...."there must be a simpler way to do this." So my quest began.

I personally need a jump start for creativity, so I looked around the internet at different calendar formats others were using.  I know, how different can you be...grid or no grid, but when you are stuck in a rut even that can be a revelation.  I looked at the tools I had in my wonderful programs, set up a new, simpler template and voila.....

This is the offering for Sept...our busiest birthday month.  The format is quite a change for us.....no grid and more room for fun graphics! My daughter and I like it, so we thought we'd try it for a couple of years to see if everyone else can adjust.  (A side note on adjusting.....it made me giggle, but the R.S. Calendar will continue to use a grid. With more to keep track of,  the lines do help. Yea, for the new template so it's no big deal.)

Am I back from the future, no longer lost in time? I don't know, maybe I'll move on to 2013 while I'm still in the mood or maybe I'll redo this year's calendar....now that it is simpler. I'll be keeping my eyes open for new graphics (oh how I love letteringdelights.com) for that's half the fun. We'll just have to see what time brings.