Making a custom photo calendar: who besides me does this?

[BF Hammer]

It is Thanksgiving and I am running a little behind in my annual calendar creation. My Christmas gifts every year for family and coworkers is my own photo calendar.

I did a quick search and I see @hark mentions having made custom calendars. I have used 4 different printers since 2010 for doing this. Lately I have been using Vistaprint. This is chiefly because they have a large-format wall calendar design that is similar to store-bought wall calendars in size. I think 13.5in x 13.5in paper stock. And I can buy the small format desktop calendars that I give to coworkers.

With that, am I missing out on a better option for a calendar printer? My runs are fairly small. It will be 9 large-size calendars and 7 or 8 desk calendars this year. Death has been making those numbers smaller over they past few years.

In the past I have self-printed (did this once, it was rather amateurish-looking), used the print shop at Staples, used the self-publishing at lulu.com, and off-on use of Vistaprint. Vistaprint is expensive in smaller runs unless you get a very good discount code.

 

[hark]

It is Thanksgiving and I am running a little behind in my annual calendar creation. My Christmas gifts every year for family and coworkers is my own photo calendar.

I did a quick search and I see @hark mentions having made custom calendars. I have used 4 different printers since 2010 for doing this. Lately I have been using Vistaprint. This is chiefly because they have a large-format wall calendar design that is similar to store-bought wall calendars in size. I think 13.5in x 13.5in paper stock. And I can buy the small format desktop calendars that I give to coworkers.

With that, am I missing out on a better option for a calendar printer? My runs are fairly small. It will be 9 large-size calendars and 7 or 8 desk calendars this year. Death has been making those numbers smaller over they past few years.

In the past I have self-printed (did this once, it was rather amateurish-looking), used the print shop at Staples, used the self-publishing at lulu.com, and off-on use of Vistaprint. Vistaprint is expensive in smaller runs unless you get a very good discount code.

Mine were printed by a printer another photographer suggested. I didn't use templates. Everything was set up in Photoshop. I chose the size I wanted and added .25" to the height as well as the width to allow for the bleed.

I imported PDF calendars into Photoshop which allowed me to extract the calendar chart (rather than to make that from scratch). All the photos for one month were added as were the custom holidays and all other text.

The other photographer explained how to set up the final file so it was print-ready. For example, the photo for March was on the top half of a page while the chart for November was on the bottom. Then when the calendars were saddled-stitched (stapled), everything was already in the correct order. Sometimes that meant having to flip an image or a chart upside down in the file.

Since the calendars were done as a fund raiser for church, they were done as tax exempt. Pricing tends to be determined by the number of calendars printed. Every printer will have their own pricing. I tried to obtain pricing from a couple other printers but never received a call back. So no clue as to who to suggest.

Mine were printed at 11x17 - so the size of two sheets of letter paper. I was able to choose the weight of the paper, too, and used a slightly heavier paper for the cover. I didn't want anything too thin. When thin paper is used, the corners tend to curl.

 

[Marilynne]

I have used Shutterfly to make my calendars for the last 7 years. Everything is done on their site. You choose the templates you want to use. They have heavy stock paper. Two sizes available - 8x11 or 12x12. They also have desk calendars.

They do offer prices for bundles. I think 10 calendars is the minimum.

 

[Roy1961]

i threaten to do this every year, even go as far to put a file on my desktop for it, sadly i never fulfill it.

 

[BF Hammer]

i threaten to do this every year, even go as far to put a file on my desktop for it, sadly i never fulfill it.

Go take a look at lulu.com. It is a self-publishing print-on-demand service. I have attempted publishing my calendar there on a few years. Mainly it was online friends who purchased any. All you have to really have available is the high-res photos to upload into their pre-made templates. They can be customized and you can create custom holidays (ie: birthdays, anniversaries).

But the real value is that you can sell calendars to yourself for cost and give as gifts. Creating an account is free, you can choose to add a profit margin in or not on sales. income can be distributed to a Paypal account, and I would guess other online wallet systems by now also.

 

[Peter7100]

I use a company called Pixum, who are very good.

 

[BF Hammer]

I did Vistaprint again this year. But I also published on Lulu and made it available for general sales. Somebody smack me if my link is violating something.

2023 Calendar on Lulu.

 

[Bikerbrent]

Nice 2023 Wisconsin photo calendar [COLOR=rgb(0, 0, 0)]BF Hammer[/COLOR].

 

[Peter7100]

I used to do this and then gave them all away as xmas presents but it was getting too expensive to give everybody one.

Hope you get lots of sales but I just stick to selling images on Getty as I don't need to get involved promoting them

 

[BF Hammer]

I have a rather smallish family around me so the calendars get me a 1-stop shopping experience and Christmas only costs $300 or less. I also print desk calendars for gifts to coworkers and my surrounding neighbors each get a miniature wall calendar. I have been expanding those circles as the size of my family continues to contract as years go by. The small calendars are as low as half price as the big format Vistaprint has.

A practical reason for me publishing on Lulu is that I can buy and direct ship to a couple of family members out of state that do not travel home at Christmas. Costs less again and I don't have to handle their gifts at all.

 

[CherylBrewer]

It is Thanksgiving and I am running a little behind in my annual calendar creation. My Christmas gifts every year for family and coworkers is my own photo calendar.

I did a quick search and I see @hark mentions having made custom calendars. I have used 4 different printers since 2010 for doing this. Lately I have been using Vistaprint. This is chiefly because they have a large-format wall calendar design that is similar to store-bought wall calendars in size. I think 13.5in x 13.5in paper stock. And I can buy the small format desktop calendars that I give to coworkers.

With that, am I missing out on a better option for a calendar printer? My runs are fairly small. It will be 9 large-size calendars and 7 or 8 desk calendars this year. Death has been making those numbers smaller over they past few years.

In the past I have self-printed (did this once, it was rather amateurish-looking), used the print shop at Staples, used the self-publishing at lulu.com, and off-on use of Vistaprint. Vistaprint is expensive in smaller runs unless you get a very good discount ChatGPT Nova App APK. this chatbot model by the publisher Scaleup, and is recognized by the AI solution provider

It sounds like you have tried several options for printing your custom calendars in the past and have settled on using Vistaprint for their large-format wall calendar design and smaller format desktop calendars. However, you are curious if there are better options available, especially since Vistaprint can be expensive in smaller runs.

One alternative to Vistaprint is to check out other online printing services, such as Shutterfly, Mixbook, or Snapfish. These companies offer custom calendar printing and may have better pricing options for smaller runs.

Another option to consider is printing your calendars at a local print shop or office supply store, such as Staples or Office Depot. They may have better pricing options for smaller runs and can provide guidance on paper stock and design.

It's also worth mentioning that some photo printing services, such as Walgreens or CVS, offer calendar printing services in-store. While the options may be more limited than online printing services, it could be a convenient option for smaller runs.

 

[Marilynne]

It sounds like you have tried several options for printing your custom calendars in the past and have settled on using Vistaprint for their large-format wall calendar design and smaller format desktop calendars. However, you are curious if there are better options available, especially since Vistaprint can be expensive in smaller runs.

One alternative to Vistaprint is to check out other online printing services, such as Shutterfly, Mixbook, or Snapfish. These companies offer custom calendar printing and may have better pricing options for smaller runs.

Another option to consider is printing your calendars at a local print shop or office supply store, such as Staples or Office Depot. They may have better pricing options for smaller runs and can provide guidance on paper stock and design.

It's also worth mentioning that some photo printing services, such as Walgreens or CVS, offer calendar printing services in-store. While the options may be more limited than online printing services, it could be a convenient option for smaller runs.

Welcome!

Please feel free to introduce yourself here - https://nikonites.com/forum/forums/new-member-introductions.35/post-thread

 

[Bikerbrent]

Welcome aboard Chery Brewer, enjoy the ride. We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You might also want to consider introducing yourself on New Member Introductions.

 

[DeniseHoward]

It sounds like you have tried several options for printing your custom calendars in the past and have settled on using Vistaprint for their large-format wall calendar design and smaller format desktop calendars. However, you are curious if there are better options available, especially since Vistaprint can be expensive in smaller runs.

One alternative to Vistaprint is to check out other online printing services, such as Shutterfly, Mixbook, or Snapfish. These companies offer custom calendar printing and may have better pricing options for smaller runs.

Another option to consider is printing your calendars at a local print shop or office supply store, such as Staples or Office Depot. They may have better pricing options for smaller runs and can provide guidance on paper stock and design.

It's also worth mentioning that some photo printing services, such as Walgreens or CVS, offer calendar printing services in-store. While the options may be more limited than online printing services, it could be a convenient option for smaller runs. 7m.

Oke Bro.

 

[Clovishound]

I gave some thought to trying this. It looks like Staples will do one off calendars for $15 ea for the higher quality, or $10 for the lower quality. I might try my hand at having a couple printed and give to family/friends just to see how it goes. The other option is to print them myself, but I would need to invest in a comb binding machine. Those aren't that expensive, but I would want to make sure I was going to print enough to make the investment worthwhile. Depending on what kind of paper I were to use, I could get the cost down considerably by printing my own. FYI, I have a tank printer so ink wouldn't be a killer. I have accidentally printed a few images in standard quality mode and couldn't see much difference in the quality. That would cut down on ink used and printing time. It would be ideal to print the calendar itself on the back of the next month's photo, but I'm not sure that is practical with most photo paper. All the paper I have now has a logo printed on the back, I know some doesn't, but not sure how well the print would do on the back of the paper.

 

[Bikerbrent]

Welcome aboard Denise, enjoy the ride. We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You might also want to consider introducing yourself on New Member Introductions.

 

[BF Hammer]

I gave some thought to trying this. It looks like Staples will do one off calendars for $15 ea for the higher quality, or $10 for the lower quality. I might try my hand at having a couple printed and give to family/friends just to see how it goes. The other option is to print them myself, but I would need to invest in a comb binding machine. Those aren't that expensive, but I would want to make sure I was going to print enough to make the investment worthwhile. Depending on what kind of paper I were to use, I could get the cost down considerably by printing my own. FYI, I have a tank printer so ink wouldn't be a killer. I have accidentally printed a few images in standard quality mode and couldn't see much difference in the quality. That would cut down on ink used and printing time. It would be ideal to print the calendar itself on the back of the next month's photo, but I'm not sure that is practical with most photo paper. All the paper I have now has a logo printed on the back, I know some doesn't, but not sure how well the print would do on the back of the paper.

Look into lulu.com. It's a print on demand self publishing service. 8.5x11 photo calendars can be done for yourself at cost, which is around $10-$11 each. You can also add a buck or 2 for your markup and point others who admire your work to buy there.

 

[RebeccaMitchell]

Mine were printed by a printer another photographer suggested. I didn't use templates. Everything was set up in Photoshop. I chose the size I wanted and added .25" to the height as well as the width to allow for the bleed.

I imported PDF calendars into Photoshop which allowed me to extract the calendar chart (rather than to make that from scratch). All the photos for one month were added as were the custom holidays and all other text.

The other photographer explained how to set up the final file so it was print-ready. For example, the photo for March was on the top half of a page while the chart for November was on the bottom. Then when the calendars were saddled-stitched (stapled), everything was already in the correct order. Sometimes that meant having to flip an image or a chart upside down in the file.

Since the calendars were done as a fund raiser for church, they were done as tax exempt. Pricing tends to be determined by the number of calendars printed. Every printer will have their own pricing. I tried to obtain pricing from a couple other printers but never received a call back. So no clue as to who to suggest.

Mine were printed at 11x17 - so the size of two sheets of letter paper. I was able to choose the weight of the paper, too, and used a slightly heavier paper for the cover. I didn't want anything too thin. When thin paper is used, the corners tend to curl.

Can you guide me how to do it?

Mine were printed by a printer another photographer suggested. I didn't use templates. Everything was set up in Photoshop. I chose the size I wanted and added .25" to the height as well as the width to allow for the bleed.

I imported PDF calendars into Photoshop which allowed me to extract the calendar chart (rather than to make that from scratch). All the photos for one month were added as were the custom holidays and all other text.

The other photographer explained how to set up the final file so it was print-ready. For example, the photo for March was on the top half of a page while the chart for November was on the bottom. Then when the calendars were saddled-stitched (stapled), everything was already in the correct order. Sometimes that meant having to flip an image or a chart upside down in the file.

Since the calendars were done as a fund raiser for church, they were done as tax exempt. Pricing tends to be determined by the number of calendars printed. Every printer will have their own pricing. I tried to obtain pricing from a couple other printers but never received a call back. So no clue as to who to suggest.

Mine were printed at 11x17 - so the size of two sheets of letter paper. I was able to choose the weight of the paper, too, and used a slightly heavier paper for the cover. I didn't want anything too thin. When thin paper is used, the corners tend to curl. See more casinotructuyen.

Can you guide me how to do it?

 

[hark]

Can you guide me how to do it?

Can you guide me how to do it?

I will try to work on this when I have a chance.

 

[Bikerbrent]

Welcome aboard Rebecca Mitchell enjoy the ride. We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You might also want to consider introducing yourself on New Member Introductions.