You know how sometimes you just get a mad urge to make something?

Every time I go near a craft store (or even a dollar store, for that matter), the sheer variety of bits and bobs, papers and stamps and scrapbooking stamps, papers, stickers and other embellishments — it’s almost overwhelming!

My fingers just itch to play with them, to make something new and useful.

Not to mention all the craft supplies I’ve got stashed away, like those papier mache beads from the 1970s, those Mexican milagros, scraps of leather and felt and lace, vintage buttons…

Here’s one project I’ve had my eye on, but didn’t quite get to in time to start off the new year — a new way to upcycle an old metal cookie sheet that’s otherwise just headed for the garbage:

You know that slightly tired looking cookie sheet (baking tin) you’ve got in your kitchen? Well look out! It’s about to start a brand new life as a calendar -– it’s got years of use ahead –- that’s right, more than one — and it’s taking a few other survivors from your household along with it: game pieces, papers, embellishments you’ve been hoarding forever -– can you believe it, they’re all actually useful!

Sue McGettigan of Buzz and Bloom gives the instructions to turn that old cookie sheet into what could well be the world’s funkiest kitchen calendar. January 2012 update: the Buzz and Bloom website is no longer in existence, since this article was written in 2008, but you can still visit Sue McGettigan’s blog and learn more about her calendar here.

The month names and numbers are all mounted on magnets, so you can just swap them around as the year rolls on. Hang it with the inside of the tin to the wall to safely store all the extra bits inside.

Sue suggests trying a calendar in a flowery garden motif — nice!

If that’s not your style, just think of all the possibilities! You could really personalize this calendar with a theme of your favourite places, people, hobbies,or whatever, and use a variety of photographs and small mementoes for the numerals to mark the dates. For example, I could see a whole lot of big-brown-eyes dog faces showing up on my calendar… What about you?

Choosing the right wall calendar is a huge decision. No, really, think about it –

You’re going to live with that calendar most intimately for the next 12 months, staring at its images as you go through the days.

Those adorable kittens that were so cute in the early months, the amusing cubicle-clown cartoons, the bland landscapes — will those calendar pictures still hold their charm by the middle of the year?

One wall calendar sure to inspire you throughout 2008 is Nikki McClure‘s Things To Make and Do Calendar. Arguably the Queen of the X-acto Knife, McClure creates her strong paper-cut images from a single piece of paper.

In this calendar, her evocative images of every day life are matched with one powerful verb per month, a call to positive action.

(My favourite is August… ambush!)

Printed on acid-free paper using soy ink, the calendar measures 12 inches square. It’s listed with other Nikki McClure paper goods at BuyOlympia.com, and also new at Elsewares, $16 at either source.

Technorati Tags: calendar, papercut, 2008