So, you want a free calendar? Good, because I need to do some marketing research and I thought this would be a good way to con bribe you into helping me. I’ve been rolling around in my head the idea of making a calendar. The biggest problem with this is making sure there’s a market for it. Getting a few printed is expensive and more than most if not all of us are willing to pay. Getting quantities produced is the way to go, but then finding retail places for them is the key.
They are, shall we say, a dated product and have an expiration date unlike many other printed products.
So here’s what I’m giving away:
1 – 11×17 (when opened up) calendar
featuring art by yours truly. It is professionally printed on thick cardstock, guaranteed not to curl.
I don’t like their month layout AT ALL, but they gave me no choice on these. Any bulk productions will be better than this, I promise.
And since the winner will get one free, you’re not allowed to complain. I may, however, protest loudly. har har
Some more images that are included:
I did some editing on these that make them looks less like photographs and more like art. Here is a closeup of one of them:
and the full page:
So, this is what you need to do to enter this giveway:
Tell me what you typically spend or are willing to spend on a calendar
(and if you are cheap like me, don’t be embarrased to admit you wait for free ones from the bank or get $2 ones from Big Lots that later end up curling so bad you promise you will always pay for better quality next time).
This contest will end on Sunday night, September 26, at midnight your time. A random drawing will choose the winner, which will be announced first thing Monday morning. If the winner can get me his/her address right away, I will get it out in the mail by Tuesday. So leave your entry and then check back on Monday morning.
You do not need to be a xanga member. My comments are set to allow “Anonymous” to leave comments as well. However, PLEASE leave at least your first name in the anonymous entry form or in your comment. Any comments left completely anonymous with no name will be subject to disqualification. (I love using big words.)
Thanks and have at it!
How much I spend totally depends on how inspiring and pretty the calendar is. If I really really like it, I am willing to pay for it. If I dont find one that makes my heart sing, I wait till the weird hunting junk comes and they hang where most people cannot see them at first glance in my office. If you promise to use that foggy tree picture ^^ I would pay! for this calendar. How much this purse, comprende?? (You have to know Odessey…)
$10.00 or more if I really like it. Calendars are a weakness of mine.
Last year I got full-size calendars printed at my local printshop, and they cost something like $6.75 a piece. Sometimes the small guys can beat the big ones. Just sayin’.
Yay! Love giveaways, especially when they are from someone I know! How much do i pay for a calender? Well, i normally let my parents buy them for around the house but I’m sure i’ve bought some before too. 1-5 $$$ would probably be an average price range for what i would pay. But i’ve never before seen such pretty stuff in one calendar so my previous experiences aren’t even comparable.:)
I haven’t bought any calendars the last few years. I’ve gotten several family ones, and then there’s the free ones from the bank and Good’s Store. But…..if it was one with all your beautiful images I would probably pay around $10.00 or so.
Fun-ness! I buy calendars so seldom that I forget what I pay….. up to $5 bucks perhaps. But this takes calendars to another whole level so I’d pay more for yours. I love all the pictures. Hey, here’s an idea. Maybe once we get the store up and running we can buy from you to give to our faithful customers at the beginning of the year. I happen to be merely an employee and not an employer so don’t hold me to this
.
I am cheap-o when it comes to calendars, unless, it is art that I love. I have one that I have bought for a few years and paid, I think, 12.99 for it? Otherwise I am quite willing to wait till the middle of January when they are all 75% off. 🙂 This one I would be willing to pay 12.99 for! 🙂
I have a heard time spending a lot of money on something I’m just going to throw away at the end of the year. However, this calendar, I would probably frame the art and hang it in my home! It’s B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!
PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME!!!
I used to wait until the mall kiosk had them for 50% off so usually around $8. But that was in the days pre-Liam allergy take all my money to keep us fed. Now I buy no calenders and even though our church calender from last year is so awful there are non-photographers hiding them in their drawer, I hung mine. B/c it’s the only one I’ve got. I roll my eyes and say at least it was free.
By the way, your pictures are truly art. You take photography WAY to the next level.
I’m willing to pay a bit if it’s a really nice calendar, especially one like this. I would buy one of yours for more then $10!
Great job!! We would pay $10 to $12 for one.
I really enjoy your pictures and would be willing to pay 20.00 dollars for one of your calenders. You do beautiful work.
wow i would love to have one of your calendars…i often look for the least expensive and pretty ones and yet just as long as i have a calendar….but i would be totally delighted to have one of yours.
I only buy calendars if I am in awe of the art. I would spend between $10-13 on one I REALLY liked
(I really like yours!!)
I usually wait until the calendars are 50% off. I suppose that makes me a cheap-o, too. I prefer to call it thrifty. I probably would pay as much as $10.00 for yours … they are beautiful, and I promise not to throw it away at the end of the year. They will either be framed or used in scrapbooking. They would make nice gifts.
There is a particular kind that I buy every year from Current. It is a planning calendar with 7-8 lines on each day. I keep that one in the office to keep track of payments due and family birthdays. I think I pay around $10 for it. If yours would include lines, I’d pay up to $15 for it.
I don’t usually buy a calendar. John’s brother gives everyone a family calendar every year with pics of everyone on it. And then we have a church calendar. We usually hang them on the sides of the fridge, so it’s not like they’re supposed to be wall art. Oh yes, we do have a year old calendar that’s still hanging in our study that really needs to be replaced, so I think we need to buy one this year! But I probably wouldn’t pay more than $10 for one.
I basically never buy a calendar. Annually I get overloaded with free ones. But knowing the gal who put one together and the good stuff she offers… well that’s a different story. Around $10.
I don’t mind paying $15 for a beautiful calendar. It’s worth it to me. It’s hanging on the wall for 12 months, and I always have the option of framing one or more of the pictures at the end of the year.
I NEVER buy calendars! Because I’m a tight-wad (yes, I freely admit it) and I can get one free at work. With that being said, I would pay $10-15 for one with your photography, just because it’s yours and the pics are so beautiful it almost hurts. Know what I mean? They evoke emotion. Don’t know how to explain it, they just do.
well, since this is mary lou’s art work… i’d pay big bucks. yep i would. i love pretty calenders and this surpasses them all.
I don’t usually buy calendars, just hope I can get enough free ones 🙂 But I would buy one of yours cause I love the pictures. You do a wonderful job, keep it up. I would use the pictures later to frame or something so I think it would be worth 10.00 – 12.00.
I’ve paid 20 I think for a nicely done church calendar…It definately has to be something special though for me to actually pay much at all for one. I’d pay for yours. 🙂
i would spend $10-15 on a really nice calendar…but, I’m not opposed to the dollar bin ones either.;) but, I do like to have the thick, sturdy kind that do not curl, and you cannot see what you’ve written on the other side of the paper…
This is such a fun and generous giveaway…your pictures are so Beautiful!
the cheaper the better and i love freebies.:) yours is pure talent and for that i would pay- unless im a winner. -glori
Tim said his name needs to be in too. it’s that good!:)
usually the ones from the dollar store.. (:
Our children have at times sold calendars from Youth Group Promotions that are of excellent quality, heavy card stock that I can write on with pencil and then erase without it smearing (a must)….no shiny, thin pages for me! They are 12″ x 18″ with a beautiful photo and scripture on each page, plus scriptures printed on each Sunday space. They sell those for $6.00 a piece, or $5.00 if someone buys a certain quantity. So I think $5.-6. is a fair price for a good calendar (of course, yours would be!). And they aren’t going to sell them this year (I don’t like bugging all of our friends every year, even for a good calendar!)….so I hope the random computer generator lands on my number, but if not, let me know when you have them for sale!
Oh man! I wrote a comment and submitted it and I have no clue where it’s at, grr! Startin’ over: Our children have at times sold good quality calendars from Youth Group Promotions which are 12″ x 18″, heavy card stock which means I can write with pencil and then erase with no smearing (a must!) and beautiful photos and scriptures on each page, plus scriptures on each Sunday space… but your photos are better! I like the 12″ x 18″ size but could live with 11″ x 17″. It just can’t be bigger than 12″ x 18″ as my space to hang my “brain” isn’t any bigger, just so you know.
Oh, they sell those calendars for $6.00 a piece, fyi. And I think they are completely worth it. So yeah, yours would be worth more than that. And it would be a pretty neat gift for me to give my friends…a calendar of my cousin’s art, so yep, I could do up to $10. And the computer can go ahead and pick my number because my children aren’t selling those calendars this year; that way I can preview it. 
I often do wait till I see some on sale….or I have bought some nice ones at the dollar store. But, to be honest i don’t often even buy them…I do have this cool “wipe off” calendar from Kohl’s that I’m using this year. Your calendar would add some color and beauty to my walls! Thanks! =]
Wouldn’t you know, my comments both showed up now! Am I cheating by leaving three comments?
Well, we have an overabundance of calendars between family and church + church + church. I love them all, but don’t have room to hang them. 🙂 When I have bought calendars they were 75% off, and not more than $5. But please don’t count my answer in your statistics, because your calendar would be worth much, much more than that.
I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS!!!!! Ahhhhh, I completely missed it somehow, until today when I saw it was all over! I would LOVE a calendar like this!! I don’t normally spend much on calendars either, and wait until after New Year’s to buy them so they’re really cheap… But I would pay big money for this :)) Let me know if you get a bunch of these to sell, because I would buy one! LOOOOOOOOOVE the pictures on these!!
Rats! I missed it too. I didn’t have time to reply when I first read it, then completely forgot about it! Oh well. I do not buy calendars at the store. We have 2 family calendars, plus a church calendar, so I’m all set. However, I would pay quite a lot to have one of yours. It is BEAUTIFUL!
@VirginiaDawn – Oh, I comprende! Love Odyssey too! And yes, that foggy tree pic is in the one I got printed.
@lifeisadance – @ma_an_pa – So sorry! I had kind of a short time frame on this one.