Craft Wars

I was recently approached by Pippa Armbrester of Pippa Patchwork to take part in a new series on Buzzfeed called Craft Wars. It pits two or more crafters against each other in themed contests, how great is that!? For my contest, we had to repurpose an old book or magazine (the original request I received was for a home decor item made from an old book or magazine). Above you will see the project I came up with: a book clock. A very fabulous book clock at that!

Having recently moved, the hus and I found ourselves in need of a new living room clock, so I decided to use this opportunity to whip one up! You can go here to check out the step by step tutorial and vote for your favorite project (even if you don't vote for my clock)!

Also, get ready for some more recycled book and magazine projects coming to the blog very soon, as I actually had several projects in the works because I couldn't decide what I liked best. Included is a new paper flower tutorial on Gerbera Daisies that I am especially excited about, and will be posting next week!

DIY: Paint Chip Art Journal

I started a series on Art Journaling awhile ago. Then we moved into a new apartment and I kind of let that fade away without getting to some of the finer points. Consider this my attempt at trying to rectify that somewhat. Here you will see how you can turn a stack of just about anything (in this case, sample paint chips) into a bright shiny new art journal.

To make this style of journal you will need:

A stack of old paint chips, or any kind of old paper/cardstock (playing cards would work very well)
a hole punch
binder rings

That's it! Start by deciding where you want your holes punched, and use one card to make a template. You can use this for punching all of your holes in your cards in the same place, simply line up your template on top of your unpunched cards (I only do a few at a time) and punch your holes in the same spot as the original. Then, secure your book together with the binder rings. The thing I love about this style of journal is you can start small with smaller rings, and then if you decide to add more pages later, just graduate to a larger sized ring and add more pages as needed. It also makes it easy to remove a page without tearing anything out. Binder rings...another office supply I like way too much. :)

One great thing about paint chips, is if you are having some trouble thinking of something to draw/write/etc. in your journal, each color has some fancy name that you can use as a jumping off point. Maybe you will draw a tropical lagoon on the card aptly labeled "tropical lagoon", maybe you will decide to make a collage of items in a certain colorway on another page to match (or contrast!). Also, while you can find paint chips in many sizes, most are very manageable as far as fitting a finished book into your pocket or bag to carry around with you everywhere you go. :)


I save everything, so I had a large number of paint chips on hand. If you don't but would like to make this project, ask at a local hardware supply store if you can take some paint chip samples without buying paint. Other options you could use are: playing cards, the fronts of old greeting cards/thank you notes, scrap cardstock pieces from old projects, cut up cereal boxes, etc.

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!

Scrap Lampshade

Hey everyone, in keeping with my scrap fabric projects this week (inspired by my Giveaway Day giveaway), here is a great project I saw at The Pleated Poppy. Wouldn't this be great in a craft room? I see myself trying it out once I get a lamp with appropriate shade, thrifting this weekend perhaps?

I will have another tutorial with one of my own projects this afternoon, but hopefully this tides you over :) If you haven't already, go enter for a chance to win a bunch of fabric scraps from yours truly on my Giveaway Day post right now! Then you can make all of this week's fabulous projects yourself!