Recycling Greeting Cards, Step by Step

MATERIALS NEEDED:

old greeting cards

double stick tape

scissors

stickers,rubber stamps or stencils

colored pencils

1. The larger piece was salvaged from the inside of a get well card. The smaller
card was a Christmas card and I'll be using that one for a base.

2. Apply double stick tape to the front of the base card and stick it too the card stock that you want to cover it with.

3. Cut off the excess around the edges.

 4. Here you see the "new" card and the scrap piece.

5. Apply double stick tape to the scrap piece.

6. Cut scrap into strips and apply over previous writing and add a few more in random lengths to make a decorative pattern.

7. I thought the design needed something to pull it together so I added some old bird transfers that a pen pal had sent me.

8. When writing on the inside of the card , the strips were at the bottom of the page and made a nice finish around the signature and things.

9. Draw a similar pattern on the envelope.

Scrap Basket Sewing Project/Recycling/Quilting/ Painted and Hand Dyed Fabrics

What excites me most about this project aside from being able to use up odds and ends is the fact that I painted a lot of these fabrics myself. Including some where I'd gathered leaves from my yard, applied paint to them and used them to stamp leaf designs on fabric.

 I've no plan for the patchwork design. I simply added whatever I could find in the order that I found it. Whatever size it becomes I'm looking forward to curling up with it in my recliner on chilly evenings.

gutter garden

This old piece of rain gutter makes an easy and inexpensive planter

 It's nice to have strawberries, lettuce, herbs and peapods right outside my front door.

Recycle and make new cards

The assortment of things I had to work with today was some white card and envelopes, bits of note cards and envelopes from this weeks incoming mail.

The card on the end was made from bits of a box that some note cards I had came in.

The pieces I used for this card came off of an old Birthday card and as you can see I drew a daisy on the envelope to match...or it would have matched if I'd had the right colors of pencils but you get the idea. 

Inspired by garbage

I decorated this card with bits of catalogs,photos and old note cards,even a bit of gold paper from inside a food wrapper and finished it with some colored pencils.

I started here with a picture of a rose shaped night light from a catalog and used that to inspire a watercolor and a pencil drawing.

Here I worked some colored pencil over the watercolor to better define the image.

Well, I couldn't put the pencils down and just kept working over both drawings. Sometimes I just don't know when to quit.

Morning at the worktable

There are a few paper scraps left from Wednesday's mail so I'm attempting to use those up before today's mail. I try to keep things moving in and out rather than letting anything pile up around here. It's always a challenge in a house the size of a garage but that's what keeps it interesting.

I'm amazed how far that last fabric catalog went, aren't you?

Well, that timed out great. I just finished this in time to start making lunch.

Free art supplies from today's junk mail and another project to use them on

There were several catalogs today, clothing, fabric and housewares. Lot's of bright colors and patterns to work with.

The fabric catalog had the most pages that I could use but anything works.

As I was clipping these I was gluing some of the bits on to a project that I'm working on. 

The pieces I didn't use right away were put into a plastic container to use later.

Here's how far I've gotten with it today.

Scrap paper, magazine clippings and photo Greeting Cards

Here are a few cards I made while cleaning off the worktable today. 2 were from some magazine clippings that arrived in todays mail and the third is a photo of one of  the art projects that I did recently.

The other fun thing about this project is that it included some bits of  card stock that was given to me by another friend and they'll be mailed out in envelopes recievd in the mail from another friend.

When I write back to these gals they love to see what I've done with the things they've sent.

All of the colored cards are lined with white paper to write on.

Recycled Catalog and Scrap Paper Greeting Card

Here's a look at the finished project:

I started with one of my old drawings but you could use a page from a kids color book or some clip art. Anything that's big enough to glue bits of catalog pages to.

I found it easiest to glue things is the right places and then cut my finished design out making any changes along the way that I needed to. I ended up changing the shape a bit in order to get the petals from the garden catalog pictures to fit.

Next, I looked for card stock and paper pieces big enough to make a card out of.

Letter and number project update

It turns out that no one was as excited about this project as I was. I enjoyed designing products with some of the images on them but there haven't been any sales and the gal I was going to give all of the originals to( so that she could use them on the banners she makes) didn't want them so as always I'll sit down with scissors and tape to see what I can make of them.

 I learn something from each project attempted and spin that into the next so things could get interesting yet.

Painted Sewing Machine Cabinet, upcycled, recycled and new again

Her's a blast from the past. As I was sorting through things in the studio corner of my dining room I "found" this picture of a sewing machine cabinet that I did for a friend back in 2000. As far as I know she's still enjoying it and using it.
Aside from sanding and painting it I replaced all the knobs with wooden spools to go better with the sewing theme.
Yes, I grabbed some scrap paper and will be adding it to a note card for my friend. Who knows, someday it might matter who designed and painted it so this photo may come in handy and I sure don't need it here.
I seldom do furniture anymore and if I did I'm sure I'd move on to other themes and styles.
I'm glad I got a chance to share it with you too.
The other thing that's interesting about this is the fact that I've been decorating furniture since I was a little girl and got in trouble for it more than once. It may have slowed me down but it never stopped me.
I just love to make things better and brighter and I never stop trying...who knows, I just may give it another try someday...

Button, button

A friend shared a jar of buttons with me this morning and I've had such fun "playing" with them on and off all day. I sewed a few on the shirt that needed them and then began to play with the idea of some Christmas designs to thank her and to share with others.

The first thing I began to do while working on projects was to sort and bag a lot of the buttons I'll be passing on to others as I pull out the ones that I really want.

 My goal with the buttons is the same as my goal with everything else. Use what I can and try lots of new ways to make the best of the things I do have and share the rest with anyone that might enjoy it.

This looks promising so I'll keep at it a while and see what happens.

Mums

Flowers can brighten your home and your life in many ways. The most exciting thing about these is that my family shared them from an Anniversary and a Birthday Party so each time I pass the mums on the way in or out of the house I'll think of them...and smile

  Yes, this is the planter we built last year that used to be up by the driveway. We like it much better up by the house and I've put the side where everything matches facing the side that I see every day.

The reason the trim on this side doesn't match is that we were recycling free scraps of siding we picked up around town from internet listings.

Yes, I will be painting that trim around the door next. I keep meaning to but there are SOOOO many other things to paint around here and it's easy to get distracted...and fun too!