How to Create a Photo Calendar

With the advancement of technology in color printers and digital photos, creating a photo calendar has become a relatively easy task. While businesses exist that will produce professional quality calendar prints and bindings, you can save money and add personal touches with your own creations. For a higher-quality product, you can substitute heavy glossy paper for regular printer paper. You can also purchase a bindings hole punch, although other types of fasteners such as staples, clips or even glue can be used.

Step 1

Open Microsoft Publisher on your computer.Under the "New Publication" menu, search for the option to select "Publications for Print." Publisher will open a database of calendar templates for you to browse through.

Step 2

Select the calendar template that best fits your project. Not all calendars will include photo sections, while others will have specific areas to place photos. Some templates will include a photo on the same page as the calendar, while other will split the page so that the photo is above the calendar grid.

Step 3

Edit the color scheme and font to customize your calendar. Select the date range that you want to use. You can use date ranges smaller than, equal to or greater than 12 months.

Step 4

Click on the designated photo area. Once it is highlighted, you will be able to input your digital photo or image by selecting the file from your computer's folders. Make sure that all digital photos are stored on your computer's hard drive to ensure they can be inserted quickly. For convenience, copy images and photos into a single folder.

Step 5

Repeat the process for each month on the calendar. Include notations for birthdays, holidays and special events. Proofread each page to check for mistakes, and then print out the calendar. To bind the pages of the calendar, use a bindings hole punch to create a sophisticated look or another means of binding for a more economical approach.

Tips

1) A small touch that can make your calendar appear professionally done is to print a cover image. Purchase a hard or leather cover with a built-in window for an image. Although the calendar's cover will rarely be seen while it is in use, it still makes a strong first impression, especially when the photo calendar is given as a gift.

2) As an alternative to Microsoft Publisher, there are many internet resources for photo calendar creations. Shutterfly.com allows you to create your own calendar for free, and only requires payment upon purchase. Additionally, you may want to explore free website applications. Websites such as calendarlabs.com, freephotocalendar.net and vertex42.com, each offer free website applications with the ability to upload your own photos into a photo calendar template at no cost.