Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone! It is an absolutely gorgeous day here in Portland, I hope you are having great weather as well wherever you may be. In honor of the Earth Day holiday, I thought I'd share links to some of my past projects that re-use magazine pages, as well as some of my favorite crafty tips for being more "green" and getting the most out of your crafty stash.

First, here are some projects that you can do with old magazines (or any paper you have lying around, phone books, junk mail, old notes and lists would all work as well!).

Office style gift card envelopes

Paper Twine - Great for tying up gifts!

Recycled Paper Beads Just use paper and mod podge to make tons of unique beads for jewelry and more!

DIY magazine envelopes Perfect for all of your correspondence, can be made to any size :)

Besides these ideas, you could also use scrap paper for making paper mache projects, collages, art journal pages and more!

Not really an abundance of paper in your life? Well, fear not, I still have some great earth friendly ideas for other crafty items!

If you do a lot of sewing, you likely have a lot of fabric scraps. If they are large enough, you may want to look at this craft project roundup of things to do with those scraps! If you find you have lots of small scraps, don't worry, there are still things you can do with them without throwing them away! I like to save up a bag with my tiniest fabric scraps and then mix them in with batting when I stuff fabric toys; it can save you money on extra batting, give your toys a nice texture and is soft and washable. Small scraps can also be used in mixed media art pieces.

If you are looking for an earth friendly craft activity to do with friends, think about hosting a craft supply swap. Have everyone get together some of their old supplies (I know I have tons of extra beads, paints, yarns etc. sitting around that I used for only one project) give them new life by trading with your friends for something new to your stash that they weren't using anymore! If you have leftovers, try to find a local school or after school program that needs craft supplies to take the rest :)

Do you have any other earth friendly ways to use up craft supplies? Post a comment with your ideas or "green" projects I'd love to see them!

DIY Gift Card Envelopes

Hey everyone! I have been taking a bit of a mental health break this week (off at both jobs!) but I decided to share a quick and easy craft with you today because I just can't stay away! These are cute little office style envelopes for gift cards. There is a template available at the bottom of the post, feel free to grab it and manipulate it to any size you want in your favorite image program. While I make these to wrap up gift cards, they would also be great to make a little larger and gift recipe cards to your friends any time of year. If you have a lot of gift cards you send out at the holidays, now is a perfect time to get started on a little stash to have on hand as well. When making your template, I recommend printing it out on card stock as it is easier to trace around and will last longer than printing on regular paper. Also, the gift card envelopes I made are 2.25 inches x 3.5 inches final size. One of these days I will learn how to upload pdf files so you get things the right size to start, I swear! However, these envelopes are great for not only gift cards, but regular cards, thank you's and, as previously mentioned, wrapping up tasty recipe cards as well, so you will likely want to adapt it to any size you want.

To make your own gift card envelopes you will need:

Scrap book paper in your favorite patterns (one 12"x12" sheet will yield you 4 envelopes)
Embroidery Floss in your favorite colors
Needle
Scissors
Xacto Knife
Pack of small buttons, various colors
Glue (any glue will work for this, so use what you have on hand or just buy a cheap all purpose glue. I generally spread mine thin with a paint brush, so a cheap one of those helps too but is not necessary)
Ruler

If you don't want to buy paper, I would recommend using magazines or store catalogs. These often have at least some pages that are thicker, but if you like the images on the very thin magazine paper, I suggest using a piece of tape on the backside or your envelope where you will be sewing your button into place to help avoid tearing your paper (you could also glue multiple sheets together but that makes this project much more complicated than it needs to be). The magazine paper is an extra cute idea if you make your envelope go with your gift card: card to Pottery Barn? Make it out of one of their ads or a page from their catalog, etc.

Once you have your paper cut out in the size you want, I generally use my Xacto knife to score my folds (very gently, I really don't even push, just drag the blade gently across the paper). I score the "pretty side" of my paper, not the back. A ruler helps to keep your lines straight, if you don't trust yourself scoring the paper, you can also line up your ruler and fold against it to keep your folds crisp.

Then, I select my buttons (I generally use matching buttons on each envelope, but it is not necessary) and my embroidery floss. Sew your button into place as marked on the pattern. If you have small grommets, you can use card stock circles and grommet them into place, but again, not necessary. I try to buy special equipment as rarely as possible. When sewing your button onto the top flap you will want to sew it securely, tie it off and then rather than clip your remaining thread, sew back through to the outside of your envelope and tie a knot around the base of your button, then leave the remaining string so you can fasten your envelope shut.

Once you have your buttons attached, you will need to glue your two side flaps together. To do this, I use a small paint brush to apply a very thin layer of glue onto the back side of the shorter flap (the one with the button sewn onto it). I then fold the envelope closed, long flap down, shorter flap on top to secure them. Be sure not to use too much glue as you don't want it seeping out and sticking your envelope closed to the point it is unusable. Then, with a small amount of glue, close the bottom flap over the two side flaps. You will use the buttons and string to close your final envelope (yes, it is reusable!).

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and have fun making these little envelopes yourselves! If you have any questions, let me know, as this all makes sense to me I would love any feedback on steps I could make clearer or if more images are needed to illustrate the process. :D

Happy Crafting!

Many Projects: In Progress

It's been a few days since I made a new post, and the truth is it is because I hate posting if I don't have a finished project to share. Unfortunately for me, I have been working a little bit each day on several different projects, so today you get a little sneak peak at three of them. At least two will likely be done by the end of the month (one will likely be done tomorrow). Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Oh hello, Mario! So nice to see you again. This is an in progress shot of a Super Mario Bros. themed TV cover for the husband and I. We don't really watch a whole lot of TV, so I've been meaning to make a cover for the one in the living room for awhile. I think once it is done we may stare at the TV a whole lot more, because it will be awesome. One of his antagonists will also be appearing on the TV cover. Which one will it be? (I am hoping to finish this by the end of the month--sewing all these little squares together is driving me a little nutty).

I am going to see my adorable little nieces (Alexandria Virginia and Savannah Georgia--yes, those are their names--I love them!) in April. Far be it from me to not be showering them with gifts, many of which I made myself. Little felt Orchids just like this one are going to be sewn together to create some barrettes for them, or maybe a cute pair of slippers will be made and these will be embellishment. Maybe both. I'm hoping to have a mess of these made by tomorrow night, so you will all get to see sooner rather than later. I found a tutorial on how to make them at Cut Out and Keep.

Finally, this is a quilt for my husband. I have been working on it forever, so I'm not too hopeful of finishing it this month, but I thought I'd show it off anyway. Maybe it will be the catalyst I need to actually get working on the quilting (which I plan on doing entirely by hand). It is made out of a bunch of his old T-shirts that he just couldn't throw away once he decided they weren't really in wearing condition anymore. It's more of a lap quilt so it won't take as long as something much bigger, I just think I am making it into a bigger project than it is at the moment.


Also, don't forget to go here to enter into the Derby Pillow contest. All submissions must be entered by Midnight Pacific Time on Friday!!

Lightbulb Terrarium

This super cute terrarium is made out of an old refrigerator light bulb that burned out a couple weeks ago. I got some moss, sand and a cute little hippo figurine to stick inside, though now I think the little guy could use a tiny air plant or something to cheer him up, I'm sure moss tastes terrible too.

Also, don't forget to vote on the blog poll at the right of the page for the kinds of crafts you would like to see more of! February is coming to an end soon, and with it the project a day, and I would like to know what you want to see more of in the months to come!