Cookie Sheet Calendar

My mom and I were at a place here in KC called Good Juju.  Its a fun store in the Westbottoms on the first Friday of every month.  We saw these calendars and thought they were cute, until we looked at the price tag.  We knew we could do it for cheaper.  Only costs for this one was the cookie sheets (we got cheap ones from Walmart--they're really thin (too flimsy to bake with in my opinion) but they worked perfect for this project).  I think they came in sets of three--we used the two smaller ones for calendars and the bigger ones survived for like a month in my kitchen. 

Ignore the dry erase board underneath--I left a note for my roommate.  I started by making all the numbers and letters because that was the biggest job.  You need numbers 1-31 and enough letters to spell out each month.  I took a sheet of paper and listed all the letters in the alphabet down the side.  Then I went through each month and tallied up how many of each letter I would need.  You can use anything that you can stick a magnet to.  I used a lot of scrapbooking stuff, but also used a quarter (for 25), two dice (for 15--one dice has the one dot facing up and the other five), and a ruler (for 12).  Make sure you stick a magnet on the back.  I preferred the magnets that were self-adhesive because they weren't as messy.  I believe the magnets came from Walmart and Joann's.

 

Here you can see closeups of some of my numbers.  I did the same thing with the letters.

The next step will be to figure out how you are going to hang it.  I had my dad drill two holes in the top lip of the cookie sheet and tied it with ribbon.  Next I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit and divided it into six rows.  I used a sharpie to draw my lines.  The top row is for the days of the week--I didn't use magnets on these because they don't change.  I glued the paper and the days on the cookie sheet using a spray adhesive.  I would suggest sealing it with some sort of clear coat because mine was a little sticky at first because of the spray adhesive.  That's pretty much it.  Mine hangs in my kitchen.  I like the tray-type cookie sheets (I don't know what the technical name is) because I put all the pieces I don't need for that month on the back to store them.

You can also make magnets for special events.  I have cupcakes for birthdays and a heart for Valentine's day, and the word "vacation."  I also did a cow, chicken and pig to represent a barbecue contest I volunteer for.  Pretty much the sky is the limit. 

I did another variation for a friend that was a little more matchy.  For the numbers, I used a punch and cut tags out of paint samples then used scrapbook stickers to put the numbers on them.  I also make the months match as well.  It was super cute, but not quite as eclectic as this one.