April Photo a Day (and creating a collage without Picnik)

Picnik is no more so I used two new (to me) websites to make this collage. Maybe there’s an easier way. Actually, I’m sure there’s an easier way but this is how I did it.

I used iPiccy which has a collage feature, but unlike picnik you can’t access your photos directly from flickr so I had to download them from instagram first. For this I used instaport. Then back in iPiccy I was able to easily upload the photos from my computer.

The collage feature in iPiccy was easy to use, but unlike picnik you can’t choose a custom number of columns and rows, you have to choose from set templates. The maximum number of photos in a template was 25, which is, of course, 5 less than the 30 days of April. So I first made one collage with 25 photos and another with the final 5 and then another for the title text.

That left me with three images to join together in one collage. I couldn’t figure out a way to do this in iPiccy that allowed me to adjust proportions individually for each image so they fit together properly. SO it was on to Picmonkey where I followed these instructions from Something Swanky to make the final image you see here. I know the title is a bit dodgy looking. I was kind of over it by then.

Picmonkey says a collage feature will be coming soon. I hope it includes: access to photos through Flickr and customisable template sizes. Please.

Oh, and I’m continuing the photo a day thing with May.

The Beanie Story

Back in 2006 (and 2005) when we lived in Scotland I knitted (knit? I’m never sure about that one) a lot of things. Then Lil came along in 2007 and not much has been knitted since. Anyway, one of the things I made back then was this cabled beanie for Dave. He said it looked like a tea cosy but he wore it. Here it is sun baking on a beach in Scotland.

He wore it quite a bit and then he lost it. He thinks he left it behind at a sewage treatment plant one day. We like to think it’s now keeping the operator’s head nice and warm.

Every winter since he lost the beanie there has been moaning about not having his nice warm beanie any more. It’s very sad. So after this week’s cold spell and more moaning I decided enough was enough and got out the yarn and needles again. Luckily I still had some of the same yarn. And I tracked down the same pattern which is no longer on the original website but an archived version is here.

So here is the hat, take two, modeled by Lil.

I see now looking at these pictures side by side that I may not have followed the pattern exactly last time. The cables are much tighter than in the new version. But not to worry. I’m looking forward to seeing Dave’s face when we give him his ‘old’ beanie back tonight. Lil managed to keep the making of it a secret even though she did tell him multiple times last night that I was making a baby blanket, I don’t think he guessed. I just hope it fits.

DIY Printable Family Calendar

This week’s SYL12 challenge is to set your goals and priorities for 2012. I already did that back at the beginning of January so I looked at them again and decided that the main thing I need to do is get into a routine with uni work and how it will fit in to life in general. We’re already a week into February and still didn’t have a wall calendar for 2012. I’ve been using my blackboard for January but I really like being able to look at any month if I need to.

I searched and searched online for a good family calendar. I wanted one with a spot for everyone’s activities and appointments and I found some great ones, but seeing as another goal is to watch how I spend money I was reluctant to buy one. I then searched for printables and nothing really grabbed me. So I decided to make one myself. I’m no graphic designer, I just used Excel and Picnik (I’m in denial about google closing it down soon) but I think it will do the job nicely. At the moment I’ve printed February A4 size but I’ll get Dave to print the rest on A3.

I’ve included a link to the Excel document in this post so if you want your own version you can download it, change the names, add in columns if necessary, print it and voila! (It could also be edited for future years by changing the dates.) If you do download it and use it please let me know!

Printable Family Calendar

Now I have no excuses for not being organised and kicking those goals.

2011 Projects

Watercolour Calendar:

Front fence painted:

Swap cushion made:

Sunny Day cupboard makeover:

Desk Makeover:

Vintage sheet skirt:

Recycled art paper chain:

Smock apron to dress refashion:

Another way to recycle kid art:

Madeline costume for book week:

Mr Maker Milk Bottle Fish:

Salt Painting:

Door letters:

Blackboard adhesive in the pantry:

Adult skirt to child skirt refashion:

Corkboard wall and blackboard:

Alphabet wall from children’s book:

DIY Wall Map from poster:

Felt circle wreath and button tree decorations:

Button tree and crochet baubles:

Instagram photo poster:

Pom pom stuffed bauble:

Clay decorations:

Instagram Photo Poster

I’m so excited about this! A while back I was looking online for a way to print a poster of my instagram phone photos. I came across Printsgram where you can create PDF files and print them yourself. You can make posters in three different sizes, as well as stickers and photo cubes. The site was a bit buggy when I first discovered it and couldn’t access my older photos but they seem to have fixed those issues now.

I made an A1 size poster which fits 140 photos and each photo is 4.5cm by 4.5cm. The site says this size is free for a limited time so get in quick if you want to make a big one! The other sizes fit 35 (A3) and 15 (A4) photos. It’s so easy to make and then you just save the PDF and take it somewhere to get printed. (Unless you have a really big printer at home!) I took mine to Officeworks and it cost $19 to get it printed on matte paper. Gloss is $26 but I liked the matte look anyway.

I was thinking about getting a blank canvas the same size and mounting it on that but for now I’ve just stuck it up with double sided tape. It makes me smile when I walk past.

(P.S. This post was in no way sponsored, I am just happy with my poster!)