52 weekends: Build a keepsake as you go

Gather your year into a photobook you can hold. Download a free Canva template, add one photograph each weekend, and by the end of the year your book is ready to print.

Download a template: Square [size, e.g. 8 × 8 in] [Canva link] · Landscape [size] [Canva link] · Portrait [size] [Canva link]

How to use the template

  1. Open the template and make your own copy. Click the link and choose "Use template". You'll need a Canva account; the free version works. Your copy is yours to change; the original stays as it is.

  2. Add a photograph every weekend. Each page is labelled with its week and prompt. Drag your favourite photograph from that weekend onto the placeholder and it will drop into place.

  3. Change the shape of any placeholder. Prefer a square, a circle or a full-bleed page? Delete the frame and add a different one from Elements → Frames, or resize it to suit your photograph.

  4. Change or add text. Edit the captions, add a line about where you were or what you noticed, or copy a sentence from your reflections page.

  5. At the end of the year, download it as a PDF. Choose Share → Download → PDF Print.

  6. Upload it to the printer of your choice. Any photobook printer that accepts PDFs will do. Check their page size matches your template before you order.

Some printers ask for bleed or crop marks. If yours does, tick "Crop marks and bleed" when you download the PDF. If you miss a weekend, leave the page and come back to it; nobody else needs to know.