CREATE YOUR OWN CALENDAR

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Mother's Day - the one special day out of the year to really go above and beyond honoring mothers all over, showering them with love and sweet gifts of gratitude. As a mom of two myself, some of my favorite gifts I've ever received were the handmade presents from my littles. The painted handprints, the pictures, the sweet poems, the personalized effort that goes into all of those gifts truly gives them a special place in my heart (even if it was all teacher completed).

This year my sister-in-laws and I wanted to do something really special for the moms in our lives - and ultimately have a few fun keepsakes for ourselves too. After pages of group texting, two weeks of shooting, a little chaos, lots of goldfish and a few bomb pops later a calendar was created. But not just any calendar, a themed calendar with monthly photos of the cousins complete with outfit changes, prop changes, and of course backdrop changes. We took our photos straight to Shutterfly, where the customization options were endless.

Shutterfly has two calendar sizes to chose from in size (12X12 inch or 8X11 inch) which come printed on high-quality cardstock. One of the best options that they offer was being able to start the calendar on any month you wanted. For us this was perfect since we were giving it to our moms for Mother's Day, we started our calendars with the month of May, and then continued for 12 months into 2017. We chose matching patterned backgrounds for each month that complimented our pictures. Shutterfly even allows you to personalize special dates of each month using a photo and test - perfect for all of those birthdays and wedding anniversaries!

The best part about this project? It's perfect for any holiday! 

This calendar could be given for Christmas, for a birthday, Father's Day - really any holiday. After our "been there done that" experience, I came up with a few tips for making your calendar perfect!

TIP #1

Take each photo as the months go by. While we crammed everything into two weeks due to our Mother's Day deadline, it would even be helpful to do it as you go. That way you don't have to take all of the boxes down from the attic with all of your decor from Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. 

TIP #2

Organize every month. Since it was the three of us bringing four babies together, we mapped out each month's theme, and came up with a color scheme for outfits as well - that way all of the clothing was cohesive in the pictures.

TIP #3 

Bring on the bribes. After about shooting four months, the kids knew what was up, and they weren't having it anymore. A few m&ms or crackers never hurt anybody, am I right? 

Now I'm sure you want to see the rest of the monthly photos with all of the cousins corralled together - check them out below! 

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

This calendar is definitely going to be a hard gift to top. Every emotion was evoked watching our moms turn each months page which made it all worthwhile. I think the candid photos and everything going on in each picture from babies sleeping to babies crying makes it so special. It's the perfect keepsake for all members of the family - good thing I ordered one for myself! 

I don't know if I could just chose one, but which month was your favorite?

Shutterfly personalized calendars // Shutterfly coupons (you may use more than one)