Tag Archives | calendars

At the end of the year do you just throw out your desk calendar? (You can’t see me, but I’m cringing thinking about the waste). Allow me to show you how you can change a seemingly mundane old desktop calendar into a thing of beauty.

First, you’ll need to gather your arts and crafts stuff. The objective is to come up with innovative backgrounds to frame something you want to display. I’ve chosen photographs, but it could just as easily be your favorite poems or sayings.

Simple and Sweet

What you need

• Old desk calendar
• Colored Papers
• Scissors
• Anti-cutter
• Glue
• A pair of plastic eyes (optional)
• A photo

Method

For the simplest frame, you can just cut and paste colored paper on the first calendar page. Then center and stick your photo or poem on it. I didn’t want any of the calendar background to show, so I cut tiny slits on either side of the rings binding the calendar and covered the entire page.

If you like you can just paste your paper a bit lower to avoid cutting out slits.

Add another smaller frame in a different color around your photo for a cooler look. I added eyes at the corner, well, just because I wanted to. You can build on this really basic design, for example use many different colored frames of different width or stick stickers around the frame etc.

Or you could just leave it as it is. Why mess with perfection?

Buttons and Jeans

What you need

• Old desktop calendar
• An old pair of jeans you don’t wear (duh!) or any unused piece of cloth
• Lace or any printed cloth
• Buttons (make sure they are flat)
• Sequins (make sure they are flat)
• Fabric Glue
• Scissors
• A photo

Method

I thought it would be tough to work with cloth but turns out it wasn’t. I used jeans because I love the color and the texture but you can use any cloth you have laying around.

Cut out a piece of cloth from the leg of your jeans the size of the calendar page. Now glue this onto the page. Trim the sides if any cloth is sticking out (in fact it’s probably a good idea to cut your cloth a bit larger than required).

Cut a length of lace and stick it one side (say left). I had some printed material leftover from another project so I just used that. To further decorate your frame glue buttons and sequins on the other side (in this case right).

They need to be flat because you are using glue to stick them on. I guess, you could stitch stuff onto your piece of cloth before sticking it on the calendar page but why would you want to? This is so much easier and faster (thank you inventors of fabric glue).

Stick your photo in the blank space.

And that’s it, you’re done.

Puzzle Pieces

Don’t you just hate it when a few pieces of a puzzle go missing? It drives me absolutely crazy. So I found an awesome way to use the remaining pieces.

What you need

• Old desk calendar
• Puzzle Pieces
• Colored Paper
• Scissors
• White Glue
• Poster Paints
• Paint Brush
• A Photo

Method

Paint the underside of puzzle pieces with different colors. You can dab the side of your brush on the wet paint to create a nice cracked effect. Leave them to dry. (This should have been my first step but unfortunately wasn’t. Aren’t you lucky you can learn from my mistakes?)

Cut and paste a colored paper of your choice to fit a page of the desktop calendar. Now center and stick your photo on it. Once the puzzle pieces are dry, glue them around the photo to form a frame. There, all done. Isn’t it pretty? I thought so.

See, these weren’t so hard were they?

You can create frames and backgrounds for all 12 pages of the desk calendar on both sides. If you think it is becoming too bulky just stick to one side. Aren’t you thrilled you’re going to end up with a wonderful way to display your most fond memories or your most cherished thoughts?

So, what do you think? Did you like these new creative ideas with old desktop calendars?