Turning 12 Calendar Illustrations into a Weekly Planner

Even though a lot of my work is done digitally, I do love stationery.

Hello, pretty notebooks, planners and journals. I can never resist having a look at them, although Paul will tell you I already have far too many.

He's probably right, but that's beside the point.

Last Christmas, Andrew bought me a diary from Amazon. He wouldn't have known it was an Amazon KDP book, but I recognised it for what it was. It's quite a simple diary, nothing particularly fancy, but I've enjoyed using it this year.

It got me thinking. Why not create one of my own?

From a calendar to a planner

I've spent a lot of time creating the twelve illustrations for my Far North Queensland Adventures 2027 calendar. Each character has its own personality, and I really don't want to put them away now that the calendar is finished.

So I'm giving them another job.

I'm turning those illustrations into a dated weekly planner for 2027. The characters will still be there, but I'm not planning to copy the calendar pages straight into a book. For a start, I think the little souvenir bags might have to go.

I want the planner to feel like its own thing.

The Pretty Way meets Mary Poppins

One of the things I'm looking forward to is adding some phrases throughout the planner. I'm thinking The Pretty Way meets Mary Poppins, with little reminders that make you smile when you open a page.

I haven't settled on the wording yet, and that's part of the fun. I can play with the characters, try out different phrases and see what works.

Of course, it still needs to be a useful planner. I like having somewhere to write down what I'm doing, rather than a beautiful book with no room for anything.

My plan is to give each month a full-page illustration, then keep the weekly pages simple enough to use every day.

Making something I'd use myself

I'm creating the planner in Affinity Publisher, and the finished book will be published through Amazon KDP.

It's another product for my portfolio and, eventually, my shop. But it's also something I want for myself. I love the idea of opening a diary next year and seeing my own characters looking back at me.

When it's finished, I'll order an author copy so I can check the printed book properly before I add it to my website with a link to Amazon.

That's something I've learnt from making the calendar. A design on a screen is one thing. Holding the finished product is another.

For now, I'm at the enjoyable stage of deciding how the illustrations and phrases will work together. I'll share more as the planner takes shape.

If you'd like to meet the characters before the planner is ready, they're already starring in my Far North Queensland Adventures 2027 calendar. You can see the calendar and find the Etsy buying links here.

If Paul thinks I've got too many notebooks already, at least this time I'll have a good excuse. I made this one.