Planner Options

I had every intention of putting new 2012 planner pages on the blog by now. It was going to be the final version; five years seemed like a good stopping point. I even had all the days of the months done...but that's the easiest part. It takes two (or more) weeks of solid work to create the rest of it for this self-taught digital designer-ette.

But then the computer crashed. And while I didn't lose any files, I did invest the time I expected to devote to designing to saving those files and everything else on the old computer and getting a new system up and running. Well, most of it is running anyway. Adobe tells me my four-generation-old version of Photoshop is no longer supported and hasn't been tested on Windows7. I'm likely to encounter problems, they say, although they aren't able to tell me exactly what those problems might be.

So it appears the planner has come to a rather unexpected end after four years. I have, however, collected some resources for those of you who are interested in creating a 2012 calendar/planner for your own use or to give as a gift.

Creativity Prompt is offering a new self-paced workshop to make your own planner for 2012. There are monthly and weekly planner pages, shopping and to do lists, a page for reflections and even a place for your creative ideas like sketches, complete with white space, graph paper and dots. You get both PDF files that you can print out as is and JPEG files so you can add to or subtract from before printing to add your own personalized touch. There's even a video tutorial and step-by-step instructions. The planner is printed on 4x6 paper, a great size to tuck into your purse. The cost is $12 and you can find more information and sign up here. (And while you're there, download the free Outnumbered Journaling Cards. They're perfect for December Daily projects but can easily be adapted to other scrapbooking projects or layouts too. You'll find them in three separate downloads here...just scroll down until you have them all.)

This calendar by Andrea Victoria is designed to fit in a CD case but I'll bet you could trim it to a different size and create a book with it. Pair it with some simple pages titled To Do or Shopping you create in Word for a customized planner. The soft colors and peaceful designs are sure to inspire restful thoughts as you fill it with deadlines and busy plans for the new year. I also liked the sleek, modern look of this one by the same designer which incorporates photos. It's bigger (4.5x11) but I'll bet you could also trim it wider to allow for binding and create some supplemental pages of your own. It's early yet so there will likely be more calendar products available from Designer Digitals.

Digital Designer Crystal Wilkerson made this brightly-colored planner available as a free download on her blog last year. You'll find more photos of it here but the download button and Crystal's answers to questions about it are found here. While she designed this in early 2011, it looks like you write in the dates on the calendar part so it could work for any year. If not, use the rest of her cute forms and get the calendar from another source.

One such source for calendars might be from the folks at Windows. You can download printable calendars formatted for Excel or Word then customize them for size, fonts, layouts or colors. It looks like you have lots of options for both weekly and monthly designs, and you could put birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates into the calendar before printing it out. You'll find those calendar options here.

There are free printable calendars from IncompeTech too. Enter the size you want in the custom box and it generates your monthly calendar in PDF form, all ready to print. This source can be found here.  

There are some family organizer forms at MommyTracked too, including some calendar and to-do list options. The menu planner and grocery list would make a nice addition to a planner. These do, however seem to be formatted for 8.5x11 so it might take some experimenting with the paper size and page scaling in Adobe Reader to make them print out smaller. Check them out here.

There are probably more but these seemed either the closest to what I had created or the most easily adapted that style. You can Google printable planner or printable calendar for more options; more are likely to become available as we get closer to the end of the year.

I don't have a planner for you but I do have planner options.

Comments

[Jude.x]

I'm sorry you won't be creating a planner - I've loved yours and so appreciated the time it took you to create. Thank you for taking time to search out other possibilities - I will look later when I have more time; I think maybe this year a calendar might be the better option for us, but I will miss your planner - even though it took me ages to alter so that it fit onto UK sized paper! :-D It was always worth every minute. Jude.x

[MichelleGB]

Well that's a bummer that you won't be having one this year, but I've so enjoyed the other years you've done and thank you for sharing them! I'll be checking out the links you have for my 2012 planner. Thank you!

[Monica Robinson]

Thanks for sharing! I will miss your planner for 2012. Have a great day!