Upcycled Gift Wrap

 

OK I will admit it. I am one of those persons salvaging potential gift wrap items, old Christmas cards etc.  when people are just about to throw them out. "Can I have it if you are throwing it out anyway?"

But if the item could get a second purpose - why not as it will also save ressources. Wonder if they think I am a horder, with a department just filled up with old stuff? Well there is a big box in my basement storage room with items to be re-used.

In this case it was the red bag, that used to hold a bottle of red wine - used only once without a scratch.

Fröbel stars - love them - almost like a signature - friends know that these folded stars are amongst my favorites.

  

The bottle was a present at a housewarming I went to today - For odd reason I did not think about adding miniature foldet stars to the red bottle bag, but focused on adding the stars to the bottle - should have done that. Yes it is a see-through wine bag, but should have added stars on the outside too. But maybe next time, as have one more salvaged red paper wine bag.

Christmas Cards 2015

Merry Christmas everybody :o)

Time to show and tell about the Christmas cards that I created this year and sent to family and friends. I did blog partly about the process in January, when I made some initial preparations but let it untouched until November when the cards started to take form.

The Christmas tree is from a Christmas card that I decided to recycle (one of the vast numbers of Christmas cards that was sent to the company where I work and would just have ended up in the paper recycling bin) - cut out with the TREE, CHRISTMAS #2 Sizzix die that I got for my birthday last year. The red back background is made with a Sizzix embossing folder (can not remember the name) as I had several feelings when I found the folder: Sun sparks? Snow storm? Movement? The impression leaves a feeling of a nature's background.

Cutting out the trees carefully, the patters from the original card could be used a tree decorations - it took a few cuts until I realized the effect and after that every tree was cut out with most possible details in mind.

Soon I will collecting Christmas cards again for recycling, and I have some other dies that I can use to cut out Christmas themes - but if I will use them in the 2016 edition of my Christmas cards remains uncertain until next fall.

One thing I do know is, that I have to have all my cards finished earlier than previous year. From beginning of January our local postal services have decided to double the price of stamps on priority letters (to about 5 USD overseas!!) so sending future Christmas cards as economy letters.

I Am Recycling Last Years Christmas

No I am not exchanging January with a repeat of December in my calendar, but I had to act fast for phase one, if I am was going to succeed.

At my job we get a lot of Christmas cards from connections, service companies, suppliers, organizations... you name it... and everywhere Christmas cards are standing on display during December. I decided to "rescue" some of them from my floor only when they were just about to be thrown out after the calendar page had turned to January and people slowly returning to their work space. Colleagues were confused as some Christmassy motifs were disqualified as I was more on the lookout for suitable patterns - however they did understand that it was for crafting purposes.

This evening I took the plunge and did some initial work on 2015's Christmas project - tearing, cutting, punching etc. resulting in a total of 188 objects (more than I had hoped for). Now my final project is not quite decided, so I will just leave the objects for a couple of months while an idea is brewing in my head.

A friend teased me a bit: "If you had just left that pile of Christmas cards on your crafting desk, people would think, that you were a hoarder of things - the piles of the objects tells a different story - your crafty mind is working overtime again!" :o)

I feel good about it - not only have I save a bundle on supplies, but have also reused something one more time instead of going directly into the paper recycling container (the unusable leftovers after today's cutting etc. have already gone to the recycling bin).

The Christmas cards I receive at home?! Untouched as they are stored in a box with those from Christmas past for keepsake an a trip down memory lane.

Today's batch of cards = 44 new objects

May 2014 Tea Swap - Part 2

So here is my contribution in the May Tea Swap - took a while to reach Jayne, but good to know that it has finally arrived.

There is a lot of "me" in this bookmark - favorite color is blue, the text is from a Jayne Austen book (had a duplicate and the cover on one of them - paperback - was really thorn so decided to reuse the pages inside in creative projects) - and the sentiment could not be more true when reading a good book.

I enclosed the following teas in the swap: Licorice from YOGI Tea and Ginger Green from Hampstead Tea.

Organic

Just love this packaging of organic eggs - seems so creative, alternative and reminds me of childhoold drawings and advertising - homemade style. Also reminds me when we could go to the farm "next door" and buy fresh eggs by the stable door - often cheaper than the stores and natural (before we started using the word organic) - no additives and only natural food.

Now the natural thing is the most expensive, outprices by the cheap and often with additives (monitored though) or socalled fresh vegetables and fruit, that is actually not ripe when being shipped off, but ripens during the transport from other countries.

Money talks, so it has become more about the profit than producing the real stuff: organic food. Growing organic food requires more land, man hours etc.

I grew up with a huge vegetable garden and a lot fruit trees, so we were more or less self sufficient through the year depending on the fruits/vegetables/berries of the season, jarred items and the big freezer, and was in for quite an eye opener when moving away from home: those vegetables and fruit that I could afford did not have much taste/flavour compared to the homegrown stuff.

 

The UK has no tax on healthy food, which can encourage more to buy organic..... China has experienced quite an explosive tendency, as more and more Chinese now want to buy organic food. Is this tendency spurred by some of the food scandals that they have had? But what about the poor - they can not afford the more expensive organic stuff.... Buying organic in some countries are still regarded as alternative way of living.

 

So for me less has now become more - I may not be able to buy as much when using organic food, but the taste does all the difference and one can enjoy the food more, so I do not mind. Then again I am also the type of person that tries to recycle as much as possible to save ressources.

December Tea Swap 2011 - Part 2

When I weaved heart #35, I knew that I would use this fold on the December Tea Swap, that Fran called out in November. I guessed that the thme would be about Christmas, and the colors she announced were: red, gren, whilte, silver and gold - did not use the gold, but included the others. Have use the Bugaboo digital stamp a lot lately, but it is so versatile, as I believe the cuppas can contain the hot drink of your desire.

The box template was found on Waltzing Mouse Stamps frebie section, and the red on the box (not the heart) is a reused red paper bag - inside I put a bag of Pickwick's Winter Tea, one bag of Fredsted's Christmas Tea and added a bonus bag Fredsted's Earl Grey, as I found out that the receiver, Kim, loves Earl Grey.

Fran actually gave us the option of replacing the card with handmade tags, and figured, that these tags could cound as handmade, since the photos, have been captured by me.

Upcycled For Christmas

When I went to the craft fair a couple of weekends ago, I heard a lecture about creativity. Quite interesting that financias crisis always seem to spur peoples creativity, but also the tendency to start reusing instead of buying new things constantly. It is not "IN" to buy-and-throw-away - but it is "IN"/trendy to reuse items, and create something with your own hands. Insert a little laughter here, when I claim, that I have not been untrendy the past 5-10 years, I have merely been ahead of time.

Got this box with something inside a couple of months ago, and decide to save the box, as it had potential for being upcycled. It just so happended that I this week realised, that I was in need of a box, hence the mentioned one getting a purpose.

An old friend of mine, who also loves receiving letters in the post, celebrates her birthday next Saturday. Wanted to give her something personal, that I know she will make good use of : homemade Christmas cards.
Had thought of stamping a lot of images to use on the cards, but the purchase of the die Reindeer w/Antlers gave me an idea and a chance to use a lot of the redish/white designpaper from Panduro hobby.

Maybe these seem simple, but I like them all and actually have a hard time parting with them. Have considered, if a sentiment should have been stamped on them, but decided agains it, since the birthday girl is to send these to receivers ,who speak various languages (just like her). Included some of my gifttags to the box  and some of this years Christmas stamps in the box.

Hope she will like the box and the items inside.

Drinking Tea

....and lots of it. Remembering that we only had 1 maybe 2 different flavours in the cupboard when I was a child..... and now: Let's just say that I have a LOT of tea.

But did you know, that tea can also be the ingredients of a card? The tea bag cover that is....

A couple of months ago, I participated in a tea swap over at PaperCraftPlanet, and Josie sent me some samples of YOGI Green Tea..... forgot all about that tea until a local store had it on display. You would think that the teabag covers are the same world wide, but actually they are not - I did not know that until I participated in the tea swap.

I had not even brewed the first cup when I found potential for a card. Maybe you remember my elephant card, that has been followed by a squirrel card and a tea pot card?..... Thoughts of Buddhism - travels - irisfolding with the tea bag covers - glass pendant from a cheap necklace from Søstrene Grene - green = Bridget's colour.....

But how to get a proper silhouet for the Buddha iris folding motif? That answer came a few days later when I saw the barcode on the teabox.

Oh you want to see the card?! Well Bridget has already recieved it, so I can share it with you.

World Wide News Clippings

Whenever I am shopping at IKEA, I swipe my IKEA FAMILY member card - everytime a member does that, a donation is made from IKEA to some preselected charity. I go to the local store 1-2 times a year, as they have great prices/selections on (tea) candles, napkins, baking forms (cupcakes/muffins), wrapping paper etc. Having signed up for the memebership - which by the way is for free - you get to receive the IKEA FAMILY LIVE magazine.

This photo caught my attention - first as "Why are they having a vacation photo in the magazine?!" Then I realised, that it was made out of the FRAKTA bag (yes everything at IKEA has it's own name). The magazine was mentioning Adrian's blog, so I ventured over there to have a peak.

She has also made a dress from a bag - what a fun idea :o) Suddenly my mind is wandering to episodes of Project Runway, where they have to make clothes of non-fabric items.

I own several of the FRAKTA bags as it was great at the time, before I bought my own washing machine hence having to go to the buildings laundry room to do all the washing of my clothes. 18 year ago I had the first encounter of this type of recycled bag, and luckily it has spread out, as I have getting a plastic bag at a store.

This makes me remember a blog that I follow, which mentioned receiving a tote bag made out of pet/bird food bags. It is made of the same material as the FRAKTA bag, but this lady mentioned that the creator, had saved the food bags, cleaned them thouroughly and made some nice tote bags. How many people would actually think of saving a food bag and make it into something that is usable and nice? Definately a person with a creative mind.

 

Going Bananas

Well not me, I am allergic and can not eat them. And whatever happened to "Do not play with your food!" ?? Same local newspaper as mentioned yesterday showed some of Keisuke Yamada's works.

Can you believe it? Made of a banana and a toothpick - and he eats it after having photographed it. That is art recycling for you  *LOL* :o)

Nature Needs Us

Maybe in more ways than we realise.

Mother Nature is a powerful lady constantly reminding us, that we can not control her. She sets the agenda, when it comes to extreme weather like hurricanes/typhoons, monsoon rain, tornadoes etc. but also from the ground: vulcanos and earth quakes. In those occations we watch it like a dumb struck audience often contemplating: What could we have done to foresee this?

There is however something, that we could do for Mother Nature: We could take good care of her. More and more countries realise, that recycling/reuse is very important - we need only to step back in time to WWII, where a lot of countries were recycling aluminium (cans etc) as this mateiral was in extremely high demand..... Our buy-and-throw-away mentality has luckily been somewhat slowed down during the financial crisis - hopefully this will continue.

World Wildlife Fund was established this date (today) 50 years ago, to created awareness about the wildlife and endangered species. They have an important pledge to all of us - to help safe nature's resources. For instance, the event EarthHour last month is one of their initiatives. I am a partner of the local chapter - a partner is one that donates a small amount of money (about 17 $) every month to one of their projects, so this is a cause very close to my heart.

I am not asking you to sign up with WWF - however if you do, that would be awesome - but to consider if you have sorted your garbage, as a lot of things could be reused/recycled... and often more items that you realise.

The Fair Pages

A sustainable alternative to the yellow pages - not a printed book with contact details - But an online directory of companies offering sustainable products that is friendly to the environment - Doesn't it sound great?

I just hope that the entries in this directory will increase rapily and that most of the products will be affordable thus creating an even larger attention to suistainable things.

The address - well you are just a click away.

Do I Spot....

....inspiration for a great new project?........

Who would have thought that a boring little thing like this could be transformed into something really stunning? Yes a boring hanger - the kind that your clothes are hung on when picking it up from the drycleaners:

What make me see this as something that could be transformed into something nice? I follow the OneFlewOver blog as she is a person whose creativity I admire and this picture she posted made me want to see more:

I rushed over to the blog she referred to..... WHAM!! wow can you get more inspired than this:

Inspiration flowing through me. Now I know how I might "gift wrap" a piece of cloth (blouse, dress etc.) to someone - decorating a hanger themed to fit the recipient or the cloth given, cover it with see-through plastic likethe drycleaners do, and instead of the bill on the hook, a nice birthday card :o) Just saying.....

What have I learned from this? Be carefull about what I deem to be a booring item :o)

Year of the Forests

Are you thinkings: Is she going to live in a forest for a year? My answer is "No", but for 12 years I lived right next door to one.

UN has named 2011 as International Year of the Forests to create awareness about how to use forests in a suistanable an conservating manner. A way you can support this is to look out for the recycled logo when buying paper etc. Recycle the paper (and cardboard) whenever possible. Also look out for the FSC certificate when buing wood furniture - IKEA is using more and more FSC certified wood in their furniture and more companies are joing them in this effort to created suistanable forrests.

Did you know, that paper can be reused 6 times, if recycled?

When I create my cards, I use a lot of paper. Some of it are reuse of papers from magazines, books etc. Every scap not used (yes even the paperwaste from punching holes in to paper before putting it into binders), are collected in used envelops an tossed into the container for recycling paper.

Recycling - What To Do With a Empty Soda Can?

After writing yesterday's blogpost, a friend of mine posted me a link to a creative idea.. the link offered a second link, that lead to another one, and then.....

I found a project I could do with a empty Coca Cola can.. well there goes my 20c deposit :o)

So what did I do?

This candle holder, that fits a tea light. Not hard to do. Found the idea in a folder for children on how to recycle trash, published by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, which was why I figured that I could do it too. When folding origami I often end up with paper cuts, but amazingly enough working with thes sharp edges of the cut of can did not cause any cuts on my hands :o)

When throwing a party (epecially in the evenings during summer), you might end up with not enough candle holders, and buying new ones could be expensive, unless you find a good bargain in a dollar store. Doing something like this, could even help you with a color scheme or even match the favorite beverage of the one, you are honoring with the party.

Reusing Material to Something Usefull or Perhaps Art

It always amazes me to see, when people are reusing some kind of material into something completely different.

One often used thing, is Coca Cola cans - the iconic logo makes it very easy to recognize to most poeple in the world, as you can buy it almost everywhere. I saw this elephant last year in British Museum's giftstore:

You might have encountered the bags from Ecoist, made by candy/gum paper etc. - Maybe even seen Dawn Griffith's how-to regarding making pop can pins out of .... yes cans using a die cut - or even been lucky enough to see an exhibition by Individuals.

 

Toy car like this (I bought it a while ago) is made in places, where both resources and money are scarce, so the people simply use the material at hand, that they can get for free: cans, wrapping paper etc and using their imagination to create items like this. I talked to a lot of eldery family members this week, and they all remember having toys (somewhere in the 1930s to 1950s) like this, as they were affordable, and it made them smile when they saw my little decorative toy... Guess they were going down memory lane.

TAD 2011 - Day 4: Pillowboxes

Remember, when you were a kid, at the most fascinating thing about some presents was actutally the wrapping/boxes they came in? It even warms my heart to this day, when I see family or friend's kids react the same way. As an adult, I have actually realised, that I can still be exited about the wrapping.... "Oh I need to save this - it could be very good in some creative project some day" - sounds familiar? Well was about to throw out a catalogue, when I realised that there were some cool full page pictures inside that wouldl be perfect for that pillowbox stensil, that I bought last year, but hadn't used.... until now that is :o) P.S. Found out, that I didn't submit this yesterday, I must incidently have hit the draft button instead... Mr. Sandman did the entertaining last night after a very looong day at work.

Recycled Envelopes

No no. It has nothing to do with reusing an actual envelope. It is about making envelopes from a scrap op paper thorn out out of a magazine, book, newspaper or catalogue... something you might have just trown into the recycle paper bin.

There is actually a lot of printed publications, that have pages with a full-page photo just screaming to be reused as an envelope. Well at least it is screaming in my little world. The middle envelope is a page from a Martha Steward magazine, and the others are from a supplier catalogue (from work - about to be thrown out) and a clothing catalogue.

100+ years ago, paper was sometimes scarce and very expensive, and at some point, people simply reused an envelope up to 3 times. A few more of my friends have rediscovered the joy of a handwritten note/letter, so I am in constant need of envelopes - and they really enjoy these colorful envelopes.

Werkhaus Shop

Is it too early to do some Christmas shopping?

One a recent trip, I came across Werkhaus Shop - and within a few minutes I had purchased 5 Christmas presents..... yeah... something less to "worry" about at the upcoming season :o) Usually I am not that early with the gift shopping, but when you stumple across something, that just shouts out the names of friends and family members - there really no time to waste... and luckily there was enough space in the travel bags.

I love the combination of photos, retro style design and eco-friendly material - and by the way: if you do not have space for extra chairs, their stools are a great find - when dismantled they hardly take any space at all. They have more than 150 photos to choose from, so you can "personalise" your gift to the receiver.

Hence - my answer to the question is: No, never too early - especially when you come across something that is not available in the shops at home.

Creative Recycling

I love to read other blogs for inspiration, and earlier this year Carmenesque had a blogpost about packaging and recyling.

It reminded me of my own envelopes, that I have made since I was a full time student. Being a full time student, money were sometimes scarce at the end of the month, and it could mean that you would rather save money than spend it on new envelopes ... You simply took what you had at hand to make new envelopes, and you could often find cool papers in magazines, brochures etc. Later on I bought a plastic template at the local hobby store so I did not have to used the miserable envelope that had served the last of its life as a template.

I still make my own envelopes - and I still write letters. I use email everyday at my job and find it relaxing to writing to friends and family the old fashioned way - email is only used if I want a quick answer.

A while ago I read somewhere, that envelopes was a scarce commodity a few hundred years ago, so an "envelope" was often reused 2-3 times, even more in some cases. I do not reuse envelopes, I recycle them instead in the papercontainer situated in my building (but only the letters that aren't "keepsakes").

All you need is cool pictures etc from magazines, glue or double adhesive tape and scissors... and if you do not have a template, I am sure that you have an old evelope, that you can use as a template.