Hi Belles:
I buy preprinted calendar books from Walmart. They run between $3-$5 the ones I get and they are about 6 inches x 8.5 inches. They are sometimes called DATED PLANNERS and have spaces on some of the pages for writing daily messages and there are pages of a full month on one page. Most of these also have an address section in the back.
First, I cover the outside of the books with a scrapbook paper. I try to match the paper with the interests of the person I am making the book for.
Second, I have a computer program for photo 'play' and I print pictures of family out at a setting for CONTACT SHEET size. They print out very small. I trim these photos and glue them on to the dates of their birthdays, etc. and add a written reminder: "Today is Matt's 28th birthday!" I also mark other dates for the gift recipient to remember. The first year I made one for my dad, was the year DD graduated from high school. On the date for graduation, I placed a picture of her first day in kindergarten.
Also, I make sure to leave space on the day block for the gift recipient to write things of their own, because my dad is diabetic and writes his glucose levels each day.
I also include a nice pen with this calendar book so they always have their book and pen handy.
