We all get junk mail, it's just a normal part of life. I always recycle the junk mail I get, but sometimes I go one step further and reuse it instead. Such is the case with the mail I get from Veer.com, a creative design company. A few months ago, they sent me a giant poster with a dark pattern on one side, and a catalog on the other. I didn't find much use for the catalog side, but the pattern side made great wallpaper. Their most recent mailing, however, found life in a much more useful function.

Their most recent catalog came in a more traditional book form, but was printed on heavy paper. As a college student who is taking mostly online classes, I needed to find a way to keep track of the date. After failing to find a simple calendar I liked, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own. What I came up with was a series of 2inx2in squares, made out of the Veer catalog, propped up on simple mounts made out of some old cardboard. The first mount holds a square with the day of the week, followed by a mount to hold the date, and finally a mount to hold the month.

As you can see in the images above, I chose to make my calendar in French, as I'm currently teaching myself the language with hopes of being able to live abroad in a French speaking country someday. Each day, I change the squares to their appropriate values. Not only does this help me keep track of the date, but it also helps me improve my French. The unused squares are stored in an Altoids tin in my desk drawer, which holds them perfectly and provides easy access. Experimenting with your creativity and artistic abilities can be a great way to make use of items that would have otherwise been tossed out or recycled. I saved money, and I created a functional work of art.