Tagged: up-cycled
Sassy Girl Bookmarks
This post is about some more bookmarks I have made recently. These feature women cut from old pattern sleeves and colorful scrapbook papers. I’ll show you how I made them.
Cover bookmarks with pieces of vintage text and pattern tissue. Don’t think about it too much. Just place the papers down and glue them on.
Select some nice brightly colored scrapbook papers.
Cut papers into circles of varying sizes. I used some circle dies I have but you could always draw around round objects of different sizes and cut them out.
Glue the paper circles, pattern lady and quote on each bookmark.
I cut the quote into strips so they would fit on the bookmark. They look like they are just floating on the paper so I take and extra step to make them feel more incorporated onto the bookmark.
I used black watercolor pencil to loosely trace around each word strip. Now the words blend in better with the background.
Pop the bookmarks into plastic sleeves if you have them. I used the same colorful wool for the tassel that I used on the mixed media bookmarks from my last post.
Don’t forget to cover the backs to give them a proper finish. Now it’s your turn to use some vintage papers and pictures to create your own fun bookmarks!
I hope you like these fun bookmarks. They will also be for sale at the Spring Vintage Home Market.
Burlap Heart Embellishments
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I decided to make heart embellishments out of burlap. The process was really easy, but I think they came out really well. Here’s the simple process.
Cut some ordinary burlap into smallish pieces. The bigger ones in the picture above measure about 6″ square.
I painted the burlap for interest as well as to keep it from fraying when I cut it into smaller shapes.
I cut the fabric into heart shapes. Some were cut with a die and others I free-handed.
Here’s the fun part! I took out a lot of my Valentine’s Day stickers, bling and graphics. I also took out some sequins and plastic flowers.
Here’s the finished heart embellishments.
I will use these little embellishments on cards, tags or gift bag toppers. I hope this has inspired you to get out some of that plain old burlap you have lying around and make some fun embellishments!
December Daily 2017
I just finished setting up the basic structure of my December Daily junk journal for this year and I thought I would share it with you. Please ignore the fact that one of my “O” rings is missing, I need to order more of that size.
So here are just some basic things I have done so far.
I used covers from a hard back book and glued a piece from a vintage ornament box to the front.
I used a variety of papers for the pages. I always like to do my December Daily journals for the entire month and usually put in about 40 sheets of papers in varying sizes.
A calendar for the month was added right inside the front cover.
I also added a December Daily prompt list I got off Pinterest in case I need some inspiration on those less than interesting days.
A little hand painted paper bag was glued to the inside of the back cover to put elements in that I don’t necessarily want to glue, tape or staple.
I added glitter glue to the candle flames and gold glittered letters that read, “Christmas 2017” on the front cover. I’m still debating if I will add any other graphics to the front. You can see how skinny the book is now, but I will keep you updated every once in a while during December to show you my progress.
If you are interested in purchasing a December Daily from me please leave me a message. I still have several to choose from and have time to mail them out before December 1st.
Happy Mail From Betsy Doodle!
I was blessed this week to receive a package of wonderful handmade items from Dee Webster, otherwise known as Betsy Doodle on YouTube. Dee generously gave away a few extra prizes after her “hand of friendship and card for Mr. Doodle” challenge. I am so thrilled I won because she is such a talented lady. Here are the items I received all the way from Lincolnshire, England.
Look at this pile of art supply goodness!
Here are some wonderful napkins to decoupage with. Being that I am originally from England myself, I’m partial to the Union Jack napkin!
Dee’s hand-made painty papers are to die for. I will share the projects I use these in if I decide to take them out of the hoard vault!!!
A large and small pocket folder, ATC, tickets and some marbled papers. I’m swooning.
I just love this prize and promise to use the items after I’ve enjoyed just looking at them long enough. If you’ve never watched Dee’s YouTube channel, do yourself a favor and check it out. I guarantee that after watching a video or two you’ll be hooked like I was.
The link to her channel is:
https://www.youtube.com/user/BettsyDoodle/videos
Thank you again Dee for such a lovely surprise and thank you all for letting me gush about it!
Great Junk Journal Fodder Haul
I have already started making junk journals and such for the upcoming Christmas season. Although I really don’t need a lot of ephemera to make new journals, I did want to beef up my stash a little bit. So I picked up some really cool stuff in the last couple of weeks and wanted to share it with you. So without any further ado, here’s the stuff I hauled.
Cool old books and magazines. The pictures in these books are fantastic!
More vintage books with great graphics.
This book is not that old but…
the inside is chock full of vintage street signs. These will also be great to use in my mixed media projects or as embellishments in my journals!
Two more vintage cookbooks, but check out the insides of these…
great pages for journaling. The top one gets extra points because it’s a binder!
Vintage wrapping papers and tissue papers, because the one huge box I already have is apparently not enough! Again, these can be used in junk journals or in mixed media.
Vintage kitchen labels, a note pad and vintage sewing supplies. These are great additions to junk journals.
A box crammed full of vintage matchbooks. The matches have already been taken out so these will make great tags and embellishments for my journals. This photo doesn’t show the quantity too well but there are at least 250-300 old matchbooks here!
And lastly, a yummy box of old ephemera. There are all kinds of receipts in this lot. Also included were some cards of vintage rickrack and some old pens, some of which are fountain pens.
So all in all, I feel well stocked for a while and am ready to get on with making the journals. If I remember, I’ll show you some of the finished ones.
It gives me a great feeling to know I can reuse these old treasures to make journals and mixed media projects people will enjoy. Recycling is always a win-win situation!
After The Party Up-Cycle Tags
The Christmas holiday season is over and all the goodies are gone, including the 3 batches of Chex mix I made. So it’s time to say goodbye to the empty cereal boxes.
Some went the way of the recycling bin and others… well, they went the way of my craft room.
I cut a box into tag shaped pieces.
Then I covered one side with printed paper and the other side with plain white card stock.
I layered on pieces of different papers and sandwiched trims, pieces of paper doilies and snippets of tulle between the layers.
Here are the finished tags.
I didn’t buy anything for this project. I only used supplies from my stash. I think they turned out pretty well considering they started as waste.
I hope this inspires you to look in your recycling bin, pull something out, and use items in your stash to create something pretty and new!
I’m Not Buying It!
I’m writing this post so that I will feel accountable for my next sentence. I am NOT going to BUY any new craft supplies in 2017 unless they fit the two specific criteria I have laid out here. First, I am ALLOWED to buy the NECESSITIES if I run out. By necessities, I mean things like paint, glue, artist pens and pencils, gesso, etc… Second, I CAN BUY art supplies if I find them ridiculously CHEAP at thrift shops, yard sales or flea markets. That’s it! I am not going to go to Tuesday Morning, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or any other store just to browse and see what they have. Browsing usually ends up costing me a lot of money!
So why am I making this bold statement? When I was crafting for Christmas, I found I had so many Christmas items in my stash that I didn’t need to go out any buy anything. I made lots of December Dailies, cards, tags and embellishments without purchasing a thing. The amazing thing is, I still don’t need to buy anything for next year either. I have so many supplies I’m drowning in them. Ditto for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Summer, Fall and you get the idea.
Now here’s where it hurts. I’m going to expose my shame and show you all the stuff I have to craft and make mixed media with. Ready?
Shelf full of card stock, stencils, journals, and books and files of ephemera.
Storage cubby filled with everything imaginable under the sun!
Rolling cart filled with punches, oil pastels and TWO drawers of stickers.
The surface of my desk. There is so much stuff on it I only have about two square feet to work on!
Under my desk are paper collections, paper pads and suitcases full of embellishments.
A Raskog cart from Ikea filled with paints, markers and more embellishments.
A metal shelf from Ikea filled with stamps, scrap paper, beads, lace and other “stuff”.
A vintage cabinet stuffed to the gills with items for making Junk Journals and Christmas projects.
More books for ephemera.
Another Raskog cart filled with Junk Journal fodder and a plastic drawer unit filled with jewelry making supplies.
Sadly, this is not all. There are some drawers in my studio and other places all over the house that have craft supplies in them. Now you can see why I don’t need to go shopping anytime soon. Everything I have I liked enough to purchase or save, so now it’s time to use it all up. I’m excited about the thought of actually having room to breathe in my studio.
Okay, so it’s confession time. I already did buy something this year. This is what I bought.
Two old reference books.
My justification is that they were cheap (only $1.00 each) and….
They are filled with pages and pages of these beautiful nature graphics! I can use these for so many projects.
So there you have it. I feel better after this photographic confession and goal for 2017. Hopefully you will be seeing a lot of posts showing the stuff I have been making.
If you feel like you’re suffocating in your supplies, or you want to save some money, craft from your stash and have fun with the supplies you already have on hand. Good Luck!
Easy Tags From Scraps
Okay, here is the last project I have for now that deals with using up your scraps of paper. This project is great for using long thin pieces of scrap paper, not tiny fragments. But the best part of this project is that you can use up some of your ugly papers!
My inspiration for this project came from this video:
First I selected my paper scraps, some ugly and some nice. The only requirement is that they be of the same thickness. You’ll want to cut your ugly papers into strips about 2 or 2 1/2 inches wide.
Here are my ugly strips.
Then you want to cut your nice strips into widths of varying widths also.
Here are my nice strips.
Now you will add any cheap glue to an ugly strip, making sure you’ve got good coverage.
Next, start laying your nice strips at a slight angle over the ugly strip.
Be sure your nice strips are covering the ugly strip and that they are lined up tightly against each other without any gaps.
Keep going until you have finish covering the entire length of your ugly strip.
This is what the back looks like.
Now trim off all the excess paper around the ugly strip. Most of these trimmed pieces will still be long enough to use again.
Cut the strips into lengths you like. I pretty much just cut each one in half, although I did to a little extra trimming off the top or bottom to achieve the look I wanted.
Cut the top corners off, punch a hole and insert cord or baker’s twine. Now you have unique tags!
They can even be topped off with the scrap embellishments you made from the directions in my last blog post.
I think these tags are such a great idea and each one will turn out differently. Again, you can make these crafts with any paper and any theme based on what scraps you want to use up.
I hope you will try these scrap projects I have posted lately. Not only are they using up scrap papers and saving you money, but they are so much fun.
When I come across other ingenious ways of using up scrap papers, I promise to share them with you!
Cute Scrap Embellishments
As mentioned in my last post, I am trying to use up my paper scraps from crafting instead of letting them go to waste. I promised two more projects that will help you bust your scrap box, basket or suitcase! The first project I’m going to share is Christmas embellishments.
The inspiration for making these scrap embellishments came from this video:
First, I cut some scraps into interesting shapes, both by hand and with dies.
Then I made some ornament shapes just using a round die and gluing a topper on each.
Next I just played and played with all my little goodies and came up with these cute embellishments.
Here are some close-ups:
Please note that you are not going to get rid of lots of scrap paper, as these embellies are so small, but you will use up the smaller pieces. The bonus is that you will have a stash of Christmas embellishments for cards, tags and other projects for 2017 already done!
This was a super fun and relaxing project. After Christmas I plan on making loads more and for once, getting ahead of the Christmas rush!
Christmas Scraps
All paper crafters face mountains of paper scraps at one time or another. And most crafters, myself included, have trouble throwing any of them away. My basket of paper scraps has grown totally out of control so I spent several hours on YouTube watching what other crafters do with their paper scraps. I’ll show you two projects I found and tried.
First, I made a load of Christmas tags using pieces of scrap paper and simple embellishments. I didn’t want to get too fancy here because I know these tags will just end up in the trash after the gifts are opened.
Then I made a pile of strips from my paper scraps. The strips are all different widths and lengths.
I glued the strips to a piece of cardstock cut to the size of a card front. I varied the layout of the strips for interest.
I trimmed the strips even with the cardstock piece and then adhered it to a plain card. I made some simple embellishments and attached them also.
I hope you like these two simple projects for using up scrap papers. These are both Christmas themed because I have been crafting with Christmas papers, however, you can use any scraps you have and make these projects all year round.
Stay tuned as I have two more scrap projects using Christmas papers coming soon!
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