Recycled Craft: Turn a Ten-Year Old Calendar into Something New

Many years ago my grandmother said that a calendar that was 10 years old had the same day and week layout as the current year. I didn't see how that could be, but I looked, and she was right. I have noted that this year does not match up to the 1997 calendar I have. It might vary dependent if there was a leap year between the decades.

Here's a craft that you and your child can make together using an old recycled calendar that would make a wonderful gift for a loved one from your child. (If you don't have an old calendar, you might have to print one out, or use a current year calendar from a business.) If you don't save those special calendars, now might be a wonderful time to think about saving them!

What You Will Need:

An old calendar dated 10 years prior to the current year (or a current calendar)
Scissors
Tape or glue (I prefer mounting squares)
Scrapbook paper or paper of preferred choice to decorate pages with
Stickers and / or rubber stamps (optional)
Child's artwork or photos of artwork (optional)
Photos of the family, child or to match your chosen theme(s)

How To Make Them:

1. Decide what (if any) theme you would like to have for the calendar. Maybe you want a them based around a pet or pets. Perhaps around a favorite vacation area, or you child's favorite things to do each month. Maybe you don't want a theme at all. This is all up to you or your child.

2. Buy or find some papers to use as background decorations on the calendar pages. Do the same with stickers or rubber stamps, if you choose to use them.

3. Plan which photos will be added to which month. Perhaps every July you go camping at your favorite campground. This would be a great theme for the month of July. Or perhaps there's a pet or family member's birthday that month - this would be a great theme to honor and celebrate their special days.

4. Choose a layout you like for your pages. You can use the same or matching layouts for each month or you can vary them. Whichever is most pleasing to your or your child's eye.

5. Cut any photos that need cutting, add borders and tape your photos down to the image side of the calendar page.

6. Repeat step five for each month until the calendar is filled.

7. Add any stickers or stamps you may wish to include.

8. Hang and enjoy! (or if it's a gift give to the recipient to enjoy.)

Hint, Tips, and Ideas:

Try not to make the pages too thick as this will require a very large nail to hang the thick, heavy calendar.

Some suggested themes: Animals (or a specific animal), children (spotlighting photos of your child or children and their favorite things), Holidays (where you have photos of your child/family posed to honor the holidays of that month. You could also feature your kid's artwork for holidays in that month,) Favored Vacation Spots (this could have all one vacation spot, or one per month,) Your Child's Artwork (where you use exclusively artwork your child has made.) The possible themes are endless. We made the holiday theme and took photos of my son in various poses to celebrate the varied holidays. We also included some of his artwork that fit the themes of the holidays.

To reduce the thickness of the overall calendar, try to keep original artwork on thicker papers to a minimal. If you would (or your child would) like to include a favorite piece of artwork that is on a thick material, try taking a photo of it, or scanning a copy of it on a scanner. This way it will still be included, but it won't make the calendar too bulky to manage.

Be aware that in certain situations and excessive heat some decorative paints and glues can cause the pages to stick together. Use these sparingly and with caution.

Rather than cutting out frames and borders, or using decorative paints as borders, try using decorative scrapbook tapes. These are photo safe and come in a variety of designs. Another option is using ribbons as borders and frames. Many scrapbook sections carry self adhesive ribbons that are very easy to use.

Keep the use of rhinestones, gems and other thicker three dimensional items to a minimum. These also will affect the weight and size of your overall calendar. Some nice decorative touches that are less thick are: Ribbons, Feathers, Glitter (though it can be messy when and if it falls off the pages,) confetti/glitter glues, decorative holographic, felt and foil papers, magazine clippings, embroidered patches, and tissue paper.