Whether you’re making a calendar for your own home or putting together a thoughtful holiday gift for someone special, a personalized photo calendar is always a hit. And thanks to the Project Life App, you can create a beautiful calendar in minutes without needing any design experience!

How to Make a Photo Calendar Using the Project Life App

1.  Pick your favorite 2027 free calendar template set and download it onto your phone (or your computer and airdrop to your phone). There are Sunday and Monday start options, with two different fonts.

• Script Sunday Start 
• Script Monday Start
• Block Sunday Start
• Block Monday Start

2.  Open the Project Life App → Tap Create → Select 4×6 Prints (that’s the collage section).

3.  Add your photo + calendar template to each month’s layout.
Pro tip: Before you start, flag 12 favorite photos in your camera roll. When you’re designing, you can open the “Favorites” album inside the app to get to the photos faster.

4. Export the finished collages to your camera roll and order from any company you prefer.

5.  Gift them! Consider including this magnetic frame for displaying the calendar on the fridge or get them bound at your local print shop.

If you’ve never created a photo calendar, this is a great place to start! It’s a quick, easy project that turns your favorite photos into something you can enjoy all year long. It’s so fun to flip to a new month and be reminded of a happy memory.

I look forward to sharing these templates every year, and I especially love seeing what you create with them! Whether you’re making a thoughtful gift for grandparents, a little something for a teacher, or a calendar to brighten your own desk, I hope you have fun putting together your 2027 photo calendar!

The post make a 2027 photo calendar! appeared first on Miss Freddy.

My recommendation: save a copy to an external hard drive. You don’t need to sort through everything or add thousands of photos to your own library right now. Having the files saved takes the pressure off by giving you the option to review them, share them, or incorporate them into your library later.

The best way to save the photos depends on whether they used cloud storage and what you can access.

If they used iCloud Photos and you know their password:

You can download their photos through iCloud.com on either a Mac or a PC.

1. Connect an external hard drive to your computer.
2. Visit iCloud.com/photos and sign in with their Apple Account.
3. Select photos and videos in batches of up to 1,000.
4. Choose Download.
5. Unzip any downloaded ZIP files, and move the extracted folders to the external hard drive.

Repeat until you’ve downloaded the entire library. Keep track of your batches so you don’t accidentally duplicate photos.

Note: Apple will likely require a verification code sent to the device when signing into iCloud.com.

If they used Google Photos and you know their password:

Use Google Takeout to export their photo library. This works whether they used Google Photos on an iPhone or Android.

1. Visit Google Takeout and sign in to their Google Account.
2. Deselect all, then select Google Photos. Leave all photo albums included.
3. Choose Next step, then a one-time export with a download link sent by email. I recommend increasing the zip file size to 10GB if you have normal internet strength.
4. When the export is ready, download every part.
5. Purchase Metadata Fixer and input the zip files. This will recover the dates of all the files. (This step is optional, but highly recommended because google strips the dates of the photos during download which makes things VERY hard to organize- this program fixes it!)

Note: Google will likely require additional account verification before allowing the export.

If they didn’t use cloud photo storage:

You can copy the photos directly from the unlocked phone.

For an iPhone: Connect it to a Mac or PC with a USB cable. Unlock the phone, approve the Trust prompt if it appears, and import the photos. On a Mac, the Image Capture program in your Applications lets you choose a folder on the external hard drive as the destination. On a PC, import with Microsoft Photos, then copy the imported files to the drive.

For an Android: On a Windows computer, connect the unlocked phone with a USB cable and choose File Transfer on the phone. Open the phone’s storage in File Explorer and copy the photo folders (typically DCIM and Pictures) to the external hard drive. Android-to-Mac transfers depend on the phone but try the Image Capture program mentioned above.

Note: A manual transfer copies files stored on the phone. It won’t retrieve photos stored in the cloud. Remember, just because you can SEE the photos on their phone doesn’t mean they’re stored locally on the device. If they use a cloud service, manual transfer is not recommend- make sure to use the other transfer options shared in this post.

If you don’t know their iCloud password, but can unlock their iPhone:

Recently, I helped a friend save her mother-in-law’s camera roll. We didn’t know her iCloud password, but we could unlock her phone so I was able to use Airdrop to transfer the photos off the phone. It was a bit time consuming, but successful.

If you have a Mac, Airdrop can help!

1. Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on the iPhone and Mac, and make sure the Mac has Airdrop enabled.
2. Open Photos on the iPhone and select a batch of photos and videos.
3. Tap Share → choose AirDrop and select the Mac.
4. Move the received files to the external hard drive.

If the phone storage is low, you’ll have to do this in small batches. I did 100 at a time. Most often Optimize iPhone Storage is enabled, so the originals need to download from iCloud before transferring- so the Airdrop can take some time. Disable auto-lock so it can run uninterrupted.

If you don’t know their Google password, but can unlock their Android:

Check whether Google Photos still opens and displays their cloud photos. If it does, you can open a photo or video and choose More → Download to save it locally, then copy it to the external drive. This can help with individual photos, but it’s a slow approach for an entire collection.

No computer? Save photos directly to a flash drive:

Transferring via computer will be faster in all cases, but if you don’t have a computer then a compatible flash drive can plug into the phone so you can save a copy of the photos.

On an iPhone

1. Connect the flash drive and unlock the iPhone.
2. Open Photos and select a small test batch.
3. Tap Share → Save to Files.
4. Under Browse → Locations, select the flash drive and tap Save.

Open the Files app and check the saved photos on the drive before continuing. Work in batches and keep track of what you’ve copied. If the iPhone had iCloud set to Optimize Storage, this will be very tedious and will have to be done in very small batches with frequent device restarts between transfers.

On an Android

Open the phone’s file manager, such as Files or My Files. Find the locally stored photos (usually in DCIM → Camera and Pictures) select them, and use Copy to save them to the USB drive. The exact labels vary by phone.

Choose Copy, rather than Move, to leave the existing files on the phone.

Plugging in a flash drive doesn’t automatically download the cloud library.

In Google Photos, cloud-only items need to be downloaded before copying them through the file manager. For a large Google Photos collection, this will be very difficult.

Before resetting the phone or closing an account:

Make a second copy on another drive or in your own backup system. One external hard drive shouldn’t be the only place these photos exist. Label the collection clearly, such as “Mom’s Phone Photos,” and keep it separate until you’re ready to decide what to do with it.

Saving the collection is enough for now. You can review it and add meaningful photos to your own library whenever you’re ready.

Want to make this easier for your own loved ones someday?

If you use an iPhone, set up a Legacy Contact under Settings → your name → Sign-In & Security → Legacy Contact. This allows someone you choose to request access to your iCloud photos and other eligible data after you pass away. Make sure they receive the access key and know where to find it—they’ll need it along with your death certificate to request access. It’s a simple step you can take now to help your family preserve your photos later.

Extra credit if you leave them an organized photo library on an external hard drive! Backup Bootcamp walks you through gathering, organizing, and backing up your photos (including your camera roll!) so your loved ones won’t have to figure out how to get them off your phone someday.

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The post how to save someone’s phone photos after they pass away appeared first on Miss Freddy.

currently…

feeling refreshed after seeing my friend Erin at the Rogue Retreat in Austin!

loving this peanut massager that someone shared with me at the retreat. It’s really helping me with some lower back pain.

listening to Wooten Hill’s new album. They did a special listening party at Rogue Retreat and it was amazing.

reading Mad Mabel. So far I really like it!

watching Love Is Blind Boston. I cannot tell you why we keep watching this series… it’s so bad.

wearing this super soft and cute long sleeve shirt. Love the color!

passing the six month mark of consistent strength training 3x a week. I’m doing the CGX Fuel series since completing Iron. I’m liking it.

having some fun on Instagram again with my new Fixing My Camera Roll series.

cleaning up my youtube channel because this week I realized I have 1300 subscribers there but hadn’t uploaded a video in 9 years.

prepping for my annual holiday sale in November!

The post life right now [october] appeared first on Miss Freddy.

Welp. Guess it’s finally time to delete 10,000 photos.

But hold up. Your photos might not be the problem.

Recently, a follower told me she had about 30,000 photos and was using 1.9 TB of iCloud storage. Meanwhile, I have about 35,000 photos and use only around 300 GB.

But before you start deleting memories, check what ELSE you’re storing. Here’s where I’d start.

What’s actually using your iCloud storage?

On your iPhone, open Settings → your name → iCloud → Storage. You’ll see which categories are using your space.

As you review what’s using your iCloud space, ask yourself:
Do I need access to this across my devices?
and Would I be devastated if I lost it forever?

If the answer to both is no, it’s a good candidate to remove. If the answer to either is yes, understand where you’ll keep it before removing its iCloud copy.

1. Clean up or disable iCloud Backup.

Start with Settings → your name → iCloud → Storage → Backups.

Do you see a backup for an old iPhone or iPad you no longer use? Removing it can free up space. Tap the device, then choose Turn Off and Delete from iCloud.

iCloud Backup and iCloud Photos are separate settings. iCloud Backups is not required to use iCloud Photos.

Personally, I don’t use iCloud Backup. I choose which things I want stored in iCloud; the important ones for me are Photos, Notes, and Contacts.

That doesn’t mean everyone should turn Backup off. Syncing the items I do won’t preserve everything needed to restore your phone. If that matters to you, keep iCloud Backup or set up a device backup on your computer.

2. Review or disable Messages.

Messages can be another sneaky storage hog. All those videos and attachments in your conversations can add up. Check Settings → your name → iCloud → Storage → Messages to see how much space it’s using.

I personally don’t use Messages in iCloud. But if having your message history stay updated across your Apple devices matters to you, you may want to keep it on.

Here’s the catch: turning off Messages sync isn’t a guaranteed storage fix if you still have iCloud Backup enabled. Messages that aren’t syncing through Messages in iCloud are included in your device backup instead.

If you decide to leave Messages on, you can free space by removing specific conversations or attachments you don’t need. When you save any photos or videos you want from Messages, they’ll stay in Photos even after you remove from Messages (you don’t need two copies).

3. Review app data.

Your storage list may include apps you didn’t realize were using iCloud. In Settings → your name → iCloud → See All turn off anything that doesn’t pass the ‘would I be devastated to lose this?’ test.

I personally have disabled ALL apps. Like I said before, I only want Photos, Notes and Contacts using my iCloud space. I know that if I lost my iPhone, I can always reinstall my apps (for free) from the app store on a new phone.

4. Check your family’s storage usage

If you share an iCloud+ plan, your own account may not be using most of the space. Open Settings → Family → Subscriptions → iCloud+ to review the shared plan and family usage. Sharing storage doesn’t automatically share your photos, messages, or files. Everyone uses their own Apple Account, but their storage usage counts toward the same pool.

Have each person review the three steps above to free space for everyone.

Pro Tip: if one person needs substantially more space, compare the cost of getting them their own plan vs upgrading the entire family to a more expensive shared plan.

What if photos really are the issue?

Then your library may simply need a bigger plan. I’d rather you pay for enough space than constantly delete photos you want to keep. I explain that approach in What to Do When Your Cloud Storage Is Full.

Having a lot of photos is NOT a problem. I LOVE having 35k photos stored in iCloud because of the amazing search features and tech that allow me to use and enjoy my photos… with ease!

Still confused by iCloud?

My free Understanding iCloud Guide explains how it works, common myths, and my recommended settings so you can decide what makes sense for YOUR life.

The post how to free up iCloud storage without deleting photos appeared first on Miss Freddy.

currently…

making photo placemats for my kids upcoming birthdays. They love them.

working on a gallery wall in our hallway featuring family photos from all our professional photo sessions over the years.

going to see Sara Bareilles next weekend and I seriously can’t wait. I saw her at the Minnesota Zoo back in 2011 and still remember how amazing her voice is live!

reading The Elements by John Boyne. I love his writing.

listening to The Telepathy Tapes podcast. It’s blowing my actual mind.

finishing the Iron Series in the CGX app. I can’t believe I completed all 50 sessions.

standing on a vibration plate for 10 minutes a day as my wellness habit for the month. I’ve had it for a year, kind of thought it was a gimmick, but have been surprised how much of a difference it’s making when I use it consistently.

waiting for the results of the recent print test I’m doing for Do Crew. I ordered the same two photos from 12 different places and so far the results have been really interesting!

playing with a really cool new software that helps with scanned images. I can’t wait to share more about really soon.

speaking at the More For Moms conference later this week!

The post life right now [september] appeared first on Miss Freddy.