Recycled Paper Flowers

I have a thing for paper.  Well, for all stationary products in general.  Paper only tickles my fancy when I can fold it into things - books, flowers, stars, etc.  I found this tutorial a couple years ago and started making flowers from used post-its at work.  Then I fell out of the habit.  This week, however, I have been revisiting my paper flower balls.

My new post-it ball isn't finished yet.

But here's an old one I did.

And my scrap letterhead one!  Well, half of it.  I have yet to make a complete ball.  All I have to do is glue two of these together and I'm golden.  Or I could leave it the way it is and leave it pinned to my wall. 

I'm thinking of finding some green paper or yarn and adding stems to my paper flowers to decorate the side of my cubicle.  What do you think?

Weird things we do at restaurants

I get a little fidgety when I get bored or nervous.  Or when my meal is over and we're still sitting around talking.  I don't know what it is, but we've managed to leave some interesting things for those who had the pleasure, or pain, of serving my friends and I.

The kiddo and I went out to eat with a friend (not romantic) on Valentine's Day.  We brought cards and talked and ate and had a pretty good time.  When we were getting ready to go, my son requested a ninja star.  My friend has recently learned how to make ninja stars and has made a ton of them. 

I, of course, suddenly remembered the second placemat hadn't been used at all.  I couldn't have that!  So I made a Swedish heart by tearing paper.  I'm pretty pleased with it given that I had no scissors and only used my hands.   The kiddo colored the paper so you can't see how it's woven that well.

 Halfway through, my friend was said, "You could just quill a heart instead."

 Not to be outdone, I decided to put my tip money in my woven heart.

More tips for the waitress.

Junk and more Junk

I played with junk this weekend.  While I wish I had been on a boat in the West Indies, it was the other definition that I was surrounded with. 

First, I went through my stash, looking for material to make up some basic garb for my sister.  Then, I want to a junk journal workshop hosted by my local arts group, Ames C.art, and a friend of mine, Kaotic Krafter.

It’s workshops like that one that remind me of why I keep some of the random stuff around.  It’s amazing what a little glue and creativity can do to magazine pages, leftover pieces of wallpaper, and old lined paper.  From out of a box of thing that most people would have picked up and trashed as junk, I created an inspiration journal for writing. 

It was a reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  What I think of as junk is the height of beauty or use to someone else.  Everyone has different priorities and  ways of looking at things.  I cannot dismiss something for someone else the way I would for myself.

I hope I remember that.

Getting Scheduled

I have been puttering around with getting my schedule ready for the 2012 year.  I have been looking for the right form, the right calendar, and the right way to put it all together.  I finally found a form that laid out a week on two pages without a lot of extra stuff I don't need.  The form I found has two spots for each day, so I could list appointments and my to do list. 

I added to that monthly calendars, a wonderful plain budget form, and a grocery list.  I didn't leave much space for notes, but that's what I have a notebook for. 

I printed out all the pages in a booklet form of about four pages for each signature.  Each page is an 8.5 x 11 inch regular printer paper.  Folded in half, it becomes a 5.5 x 8.5 booklet.  I bound the signatures together using cotton thread and wrapping them around cords for extra support.  The cords went through a hole in the cover, were unraveled, and were glued to the inside cover.

I haven't added extra support between the cords yet, and I haven't covered the book to make it look all nice and pretty.

But right now it works and it keeps all my pages in one place. 

Create: Glue those pages!

Is one of your resolutions this year to stay organized?  Or to reduce waste?  Or upcycle?  Even if you didn't make any resolutions, check out this post for a quick and easy way to reuse your scrap paper.

One of my favorite new crafts is making books.  If you have been following this blog long, you may know that by now!  :)  You may also know that I am a terrible hoarder when it comes to paper.  Some day I will make it to the hardware store and get screen so I can make my own.  Then it will all be worth saving when I make it into new paper, mwahaha... ahem.

One of the easiest ways to reuse paper, or envelopes, that have only been printed on one side is to cut them up and staple them together.  Tadaa, you have a notepad.  But one of the downsides is that you have to work around the staple.  I make my notepads at work kind of thick so I don't have so many laying around.  The staple always annoys me.  I have to bend the pages around it, hold it open, and then it won't lay flat when I'm done with it.

I decided to take my elmer's glue to work and make my own, easy notepads.

It could be the (second) easiest way to make a notepad, but it does take some time.  You have to line up the pages, clip them together, brush on the glue, wait for it to dry, add more glue, wait, more glue, wait, etc, up until you get the nice binding that you want.  I only used a few layers on these notebooks but made it pretty thick each time.

I use binder clips to hold them together and add a piece of cardboard (the thicker the better) along the edge to be glued.  Keep the cardboard back from the edge just a bit or it will become glued to the pad and you may loose a few pages when you take it off.

You could cut a piece to size and glue it to the notepad as a backing, if you wanted to.

I'm off to enjoy my new, no staple, notepad.  Have a great weekend!

Create: From the Archive: A Cozy Jar

I am still using this cozy for my water jar and I am very happy with it.  I've gotten a lot of comments on it.  I might need to make one in a different color, but this cozy is definitely a keeper!

I tend to hoard things, especially recyclables.  I just have a problem throwing away things that can be reused.  Given that I try to buy things in glass jars rather than plastic, that means I have a collection of glass.  Yes, I could take them to the glass bin that sits in our Fareway parking lot, but that would require me to remember.  And what if I need a jar after I get rid of them all?

One use for jars that I don't use often enough is drinking glasses.  If I feel safe enough eating food that came from a jar, I should feel safe washing it out and drinking from it.

I recently broke my jelly jar water glass at work.  It was thick, had a handle, and I had used it at work for almost two years.  I dropped it just right to shatter it.  Now I do have a match to that glass, but I use it often at home.  So instead, I dug through my stash of jars and found a new one.

My tea mug has had a cozy for quite some time, so I decided my new jar should get one too.  I chose to use a pattern I had made for xmas and changed it to go around rather than flat, making it look more interesting than single crochet.

Unfortunately, it looks a little bulky, so I might have to make a single crochet cozy or find some thinner yarn.  What do you think?

Create: From the Archive: Cloth Tissues

This was originally posted in April, and I'm still using my cloth tissues!  I've started making larger handkerchiefs as well using the same technique.  One of the new things I've learned since this post is that you can make a small snip in the cotton or linen and rip a straight line.  Much easier than measuring out each piece.

It seems I'm always sick this year.  When I'm not sick, I'm still dealing with a runny nose.  I get so tired of my nose getting all red and sore, not to mention how many tissues I throw away!  So, I did some research.  Supposedly, it is the wood pulp in tissues that irritates your nose, not just how many times you rub it.  Yet another reason to make cloth tissues.

I always thought it was pretty gross to blow your nose in a cloth and then tuck it back into your pocket.  However, that's kind of what I do with my regular, disposable tissues.  When I'm on the road or not near a trash can, it gets tucked back in my pocket.  Now that I have a washing machine at home, I don't have to worry about having snot rags piling up before I go to the laundry mat.  Now all I need is to make a bag to throw them in.

I used an old bed sheet to make my new tissues.  It had been hanging around in my fabric stash for years.  I had used a bit of it for another project.  It was nice to be able to use it again.  The sheet was very thin and soft so it makes great tissues/handkerchiefs.  To make the pattern, I unfolded a Kleenex and traced around it on a scrap file folder.  Instead of using a pattern to cut them out, measure your length, make a small snip, and rip the sheet.  This works well on cotton and linen.

I used pretty much the same technique for these as I did my cloth napkins.  These ones are just smaller and I did the corners differently.  I folded over an edge, ironed, then folded it over again.

Instead of mitering the corners, I folded one edge, then folded the other on top of that.  It made the corners a little bulky, and my sewing machine a bit sulky, but I thought it worked pretty well. 

Now I just have to make sure I don't throw them away when I use them!

Create: Fabric Covered Box

My embroidery supplies for on the go have been nestled in a Staples container lately.  It fits nicely in my bag and has enough room for most projects and my thread thrown willy nilly in the box.  But I sigh every time I pull it out.  Here I am, a crafter, making a wonderful thing, and using an orange box that proclaims that someone somewhere used address labels.  Obviously, it was time to fix this.

I began by sanding down my box (because the internet tells you that paint adheres better to a slightly rough surface, right?  I figured I would try it.) and wiping it off.

Then we went outside and spray painted it silver and black.  I was going for a slightly astronomical approach using only my two colors.  It came out fairly well.  But after letting it dry, I did not like the feel or look of the box for my crafting needs.

So, I decided I'd throw some glue down and cover it with fabric.  I used pretty much the same technique I used on the books I recently did.  Modpodge the surface, apply fabric, and smooth. 

It looks much, much better than the spray paint.

Create: A Box of My Own

With the ArtVend machine now on hand and getting ready to make it's big debut, I need to get working on my crafting.  A little less important than the crafts is the container they are going to be displayed in. 

I have a surplus of FedEx envelopes and cardboard and work and home.  I just can't seem to throw them away.  They are useful.  Now, they are making themselves even more useful by volunteering to hold my items for the ArtVend.  For this project, all you really need is thin cardboard (FedEx enveopes, cereal boxes, kleenex boxes) and glue or tape. 

I took a look at the sizes for the vending machine slots and guesstimated how large my items were going to be.  The first time I went through this, I thought my box would be 5"x5"x1".  But that was a little large.  The second one ended up being 4"x4"x1".  That's a little bit better size.

To start with, I mocked up what I would be cutting out so I knew how long I needed my piece of cardboard to be. 

Once that was done, I drew out my template and got to cutting out the box.  I used my pen to score along the fold lines to keep it nice and neat. 

I decided to add a window to the front flap to show off what was inside.  This is what I really like about this project.  Rather than leave it open, I decided to put a plastic facing on it.  Guess where the plastic came from?  The plastic pockets on the FedEx envelope!  Cut it just a little larger than your window and glue it into place before you fold up and glue/tape the box. 

How do you show your crafts?

Create: Weaving and Netting, Oh My!

At some point I will put a limit to the amount of skills I try to learn.  But for now, I’m currently trying my hand at weaving and netting.  Netting requires some form of needle or shuttle and a spacer bar.  You could use a popsicle stick or a ruler, but I decided to cut up some old cards.  While I was cutting out a spacer bar, why not cut a needle and a weaving shuttle too?

With the closing of Borders, I found myself to have yet another membership card that I would no longer need.  I also found a stash of old cards in my box of old jewelry.  What better supply to use than easy to cut plastic that stays pretty stiff?  I used a Hastings card for this set.

The instructions are pretty easy.  Hopefully not in the it’s-too-simple-I’m-confused way. 

Materials:

Old plastic cards (membership, credit cards, gift cards)

Scissors

Marker

Ruler (optional)

Weaving Shuttle / Netting Needle

1 – Decide how wide you want your piece to be.  I would suggest having a wider weaving shuttle.  For netting, you want your needle to be able to pass through your loops, so make sure it’s smaller than your spacer bar.  I made that mistake already, no need for you to repeat it!

2 – Mark out your line and cut with scissors.

3 – Mark out and cut out a scoop from both ends.  This will hold your yarn/thread.  Keep the edges wide enough and shallow enough so that they don’t break and spill out your yarn. 

4 – Wind with yarn/thread and away you go!

Spacer bar:

1 – Decide how wide you want  your piece to be.  I believe an inch or inch and a half is normal.

2 – Mark out your line and cut with scissors.

Go get your weaving on!  For instructions on how to make a box loom, check out my friend Kristin’s tutorial on Craft Leftovers.

Create: Clipboard Notes

My life is hectic, or at least it seems that way when things aren't organized.  I have a full time job that pays, two part time 'jobs' that don't pay, and other assorted groups and responsibilities.  All of them have due dates and things that need to get done.  I can make list after list, but something will probably get lost in the shuffle.

I decided that rather than making one list that could easily get lost or could forget a group/due date, I'd make a list for each.  But where would I put them?  A single piece of paper in my house becomes a needle in a haystack.  Four?  No way would I ever find that.  Instead, I made a clipboard with a bunch of paper dedicated to each realm in my life.

During a previous project, I glued two sheets of cardboard together.  I still had some of that left so it became my base.  If you are gluing cardboard, I've found it best to set them so that the support line thingies running inside of it are perpendicular to each other.  You know how cardboard boxes are easy to fold one way and harder the other?  How they have little support slat things in them?  That's what I'm talking about.  Once you glue your sheets together, put them under something heavy and wait for them to dry.

Since I have a fascination for half sheets of paper, I used that size for my notebooks.  Measure your paper and add however much ease you want on each side.  My paper 5.5" so I cut my cardboard to 6" wide.  Luckily the piece of cardboard I was working with was a great height with a two inch or so ease at the bottom so I didn't have to measure it.  Do the same thing you did with the width and add a couple extra inches to the bottom of your measurement.  This gives you space to write what the clipboard is for.

Once your boards are cut out, (I used an exacto knife and didn't cut myself, yay!) pile up your paper and secure it with a binder clip.  Now where to put them?

Mine are hung under my white board with thumbtacks.  I used medium size binder clips because the top loops are perfect to go over the tacks. 

Now I when I am thinking of one particular responsibility, I can jot down my deadlines and compare them with the rest.  Yay, organization!

Create: A Cozy Jar

I tend to hoard things, especially recyclables.  I just have a problem throwing away things that can be reused.  Given that I try to buy things in glass jars rather than plastic, that means I have a collection of glass.  Yes, I could take them to the glass bin that sits in our Fareway parking lot, but that would require me to remember.  And what if I need a jar after I get rid of them all?

One use for jars that I don't use often enough is drinking glasses.  If I feel safe enough eating food that came from a jar, I should feel safe washing it out and drinking from it.

I recently broke my jelly jar water glass at work.  It was thick, had a handle, and I had used it at work for almost two years.  I dropped it just right to shatter it.  Now I do have a match to that glass, but I use it often at home.  So instead, I dug through my stash of jars and found a new one. 

My tea mug has had a cozy for quite some time, so I decided my new jar should get one too.  I chose to use a pattern I had made for xmas and changed it to go around rather than flat, making it look more interesting than single crochet. 

Unfortunately, it looks a little bulky, so I might have to make a single crochet cozy or find some thinner yarn.  What do you think?

Create: Keeping up with the Plastic

Whew.  Finally got INTO Blogger.  It was down all morning.  This late post isn't, finally, not my fault. ;)

In my quest to reduce the amount of plastic and individual use items I throw away, I decided to finally make a plastic bag dryer.  I had a great one in my last apartment, made of skewers sticking out of a clay base.  But it broke somewhere or we stopped using plastic bags, I can't remember, but it didn't make the move with us.

I have been using the edges on my dish drainer to stick my bags on, the prongs where I assume you are supposed to put cups.  However, in an effort to declutter my kitchen, I took the drainer off my counter.  Hopefully it will force me to dry and put away my dishes immediately rather than letting them sit there forever.  But the change left me without a place to put my bags!

I thought I would make another clay based stand or some other intricate contraption I could share with you.  Then I started poking around on the internet and realized I was trying to complicate the thing.  Why not just grab a jar, fill it with rocks, and put in my sticks?

I guess I have to complicate it somehow, so I pulled out my glue gun and hemp to make the jar pretty. I had used the same technique on cans used in my craft fair stand last November.

I laid down a line of glue and stuck my thick hemp right on the jar.  Following the line, I glued and wrapped the cord around four or five times.

It turned out well, but I think I might go back this weekend and trade out the glass jar for a can again.  But if I do that, you can't see the pretty rocks I put in it!

It felt good to have a reason to use those.  They've only moved a couple times with me...

At last, I have a dedicated dryer for my bags.  I have no reason not to wash them now, and I can stick the thing in a corner when I'm not using it.

Have a great weekend!

Create: Picking Up The Trash

I typically have a long wait every night for my vanpool ride.  The area of town where I work is mostly business, but for some reason, there is trash everywhere.  Not so much around my building, but on Wednesday I found a ripped open bag of buns sitting in the driveway across the street where I wait.  Seriously.  Half the buns were still in the bag, the rest were scattered over the pavement.  I picked it up and took it inside one of the offices and asked if they could throw it away.

I've picked up pieces here and there when I had space in my bag or happened to have an extra bag with me.  But I don't have room for all the slimy dirty trash littering the earth.  So I made myself a bag. :)  (My friend tells me I have enough bags... I don't believe her.)

I've had these place mats hanging around my house for years now.  I thought I would use them for making napkins or something like that, but they just sat in my stash.  I didn't want to ruin them!  Now that I could actually use place mats, I cut one of them up for my bag...  Maybe I do have too many bags.

I based my pattern on a paper lunch sack type of bag and added a nifty handle idea I saw on Daisy Janie.  I cut up an old file folder rescued from the work trash can as my template so I can make more. 

1 - Cut out two pieces of for the body of the bag.  Mine are just a little smaller than a file folder.  The white in the image above was a lining in my place mat. 

2 - Fold over and iron the top edge of each bag to hem it.  Sew to keep your opening from fraying.

3 - Put the fabric right sides together and sew along three edges. 

4 - Fold a corner so that the sewn lines sit on top of each other. (Sorry, no picture) This should make a triangle at each corner.  Sew perpendicular to your previous line about an inch away from the corner.  This will give you a triangle and a flat bottom.  Repeat with the other side.

5 - Turn the bag rightside out and iron creases where the triangles end.  You are making 'pleats' for the bag to follow when it stands up and folds.  You want it to look like a small paper lunch bag. Press your bag flat, fold in thirds the long way, iron, and roll up.

6 - Cut out a 3 inch wide strip for a handle.  It can be however long you want it to be long enough to go around your rolled up bag when folded in half.  Mine ended up being thirteen inches because that was the width of my place mat.

7 - Fold strip in half the long way with rightside in and sew down the strip.  Turn rightside out, iron, and sew on each side.

8 - Anchor your strip on the inside of your bag on the center third.  Sew over the strips to anchor them in place.

9 - Cut another strip of fabric, this time half of what your longer strip was (See the Daisy Janie tutorial for better details.  I just coasted by the seat of my pants).  Repeat step 7 and 8 but anchor on the other side.

10 - Roll up the bag again with the longer handle surrounding the bag and being tucked under the shorter one.  Tadaa!  You have a bag!