Craft: Old Calendar Sticker Collage

I know calendars seem like a good corporate gift. But then everybody jumps on the bandwagon and the result is madness! Every year, we get a least half a dozen calendars from various businesses (our pharmacy, a few realtors, not-for-profits), as well as friends and family (who are trying to off-load some of their own bounty). And, ironically, I have become that mother that intentionally purchases(!) an additional calendar --the kind that's so big it consumes the entire upper section of your fridge door and that comes with the little stickers for every conceivable event (change furnace filters? really?).


I can't bring myself to coldly toss the excess into the recycling. Such nice pictures! And any that feature animals will only be rescued from the bin by my fauna-loving boys anyways, so I don't bother.

But what to do with all these calendars? It only took me a couple of years of pondering to reach a moment of enlightenment. Involved crafts simply do not happen in our house ... or at least they don't happen well. (In fact, our son's JK report card suggested that we "encourage him to use scissors and glue." Just four-and-a-half and already behind in Glue and Scissor Skills 101!)


But, my three older boys love to make pictures with stickers. So we created story collages using stickers and calendar pages.


Yes, it's as straightforward as it sounds: we stuck stickers on the calendar pictures. And then we made up stories to go with the pictures.

The finished products were added to our "gallery wall" in the dining room.


This one (at left) involved dogs searching for bones hidden in the trees. I don't remember how the cats came into it...


The story for the picture below was that a mummy dog swam to the island while carrying her (many) puppies, one-by-one, in her mouth. Then they all searched for food and played.










Successful crafting session: one point!