Monday, October 06, 2008

Calendar Update

UPDATE ON THE CALENDAR PROJECT:

Fernymoss and I spent a good deal of time Saturday night putting together rough drafts of each month of 2009 ... we have most of the photos chosen at this point, though there will still be a few that we'll have to take between now and November, when we hope to have this finished. Fernymoss has been combing various resources for fun factoids to include, as well as the Moon Phases and Planting Signs, so there should be plenty of tidbits still to include. So far, we're liking how it's looking, though we may eventually have to modify our original format for the final product depending on how we choose to have these reproduced.

We're currently considering two basic options: 1) either we just print them out on nice paper with our HP photo printer or 2) we do the basic mockup and have it printed commercially. Of course, the unit price is a concern, so we want to investigate our options to see which will allow us to produce these at the most reasonable price. I've researched online options for printing these commercially with several companies, and honestly, for the 50 or so copies we want to do, the price is a bit daunting (around $12 per unit seems to be the going rate). But before we make a final decision, we are planning on getting some bids locally for what we want, and then compare that to what it would cost to just make them all ourselves (thus, a truly home made product ... which also has its charms!).

So ... as we sort all that out over the next couple months, I'll just give you a teaser of what one month currently looks like in what we got accomplished over the weekend. As always, please feel free to add your comments or suggestions on how we could improve the basic layout. I can say that there will be more photos than just the 12 months, as we plan to include a few other pages about our garden and some other information (references to good books, references and the like). The nice thing is that with all the footwork we're doing now, we should be able to produce a yearly edition with minimal effort once we get all the kinks worked out. SmartDraw is turning out to be really worth the money it cost to get going ... because we were able to spend a few hours and bang out most of the calendar by plugging in the inital data we want to include. There will be more as this progresses, but here's an example to give you an initial view.

And again, I'm completely open to suggestions for favorite photos or subjects readers would like to see included, and don't worry, Gail, Kopper King will make an appearance somewhere, and right now I'm thinking it might be on the front cover.... Oh, and yes, the dogs will appear somewhere as well ... perhaps on an inner page or even one of the months ... we're not sure yet about the final choices so that's still subject to change. Anyway, enjoy this small preview and let me know about other possible subjects!

IVG

6 comments:

Gail said...

IVG,

I am so glad Kopper King will be in the calendar because he was accidentally beheaded by his court jester! That would be me! I was attempting to move another plant and he was offed! Any suggestions on what mail order nursery will replace him?

Enough about me! The calendar is really coming along...I am so excited about it!

Gail

Shady Gardener said...

The calendar is sounding great. Your photo is absolutely stunning! :-) Any of your photos are good subjects.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Gail,
What exactly do you mean by beheaded?? If you just accidentally broke off this year's growth, but the base plant is still ok, I wouldn't worry about it. After all, it only blooms on new wood each year, and you'd need to cut it back after the freeze anyway. I wouldn't give up hope just yet unless you really massacred it somehow...

I'd use the Fleming Flower Fields (the people who developed it originally) though we often see it for sale at the better, smaller nurseries here locally.

Here's the link to Fleming's:

http://www.flemingsflowerfields.com/landscapes.htm

Glad you like the progress of the calendar ... we've still got lots to do, but we have the bare bones done at this point.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady,
Thanks! The real problem has been that we have so many great photos, it's been really hard to narrow them down.... So far, we're having fun brainstorming for other stuff to include, even more photos too.

Gail said...

As Bones was want to scream at Captain Kirk, "He's dead Jim, he's dead!" I will be ordering more!

Gil

olivia said...

I thought I had left a comment here, but maybe not. In my sickness I must have hallucinated it ... :-)

I was going to suggest that the Pups get some pic time --- would be fun to see them here and there throughout. :D