Crafternoons friends and maybe by the title of this post, to some really crafty crazy people like myself! :)

LOOK what I have been doing - do you like to recycle?  Well if you have followed me long enough, you may have noticed, I like to - " re-purpose " things as they say!  So, bit of the explaination here is that I drink coffee many times over at a few places.  Not to be pluggin' here for good ol' Tim Horton's but one day, I was staring down another cup of joe, when - I simply thought - "this would make fun paper for something!"

And here it is.....my projects!

Stampin' Up!'s SIMPLY ADORNED Jewellery - largest Bevelled CHARM and 24 Inch Necklace

Charm 'opens' and you can create a decorative insert!  Make as many as you like - change them for 

your occasion!   Add ribbon and a BAUBLE like I have done using the BLACK GLASS BAUBLE. 

Necklace Chain has a pretty TOGGLE and an exclusive SU! charm

You can actually use the toggle in the front! 

Comes as a BRACELET too! 

Detail - layers of folded scallop circle shapes

So I love em!   And hopefully I will think of more ways to recyle!

Ahhh, my storage issues continue.  

I wish I could go into my craft room and it would magically 

extend it's walls each and every time I need more storage, but alas, that is not going to happen.

So I dream up my own solutions. I think I have a natural compulsion to cover up things - so the two things go hand in hand, my recycling jars, tins, boxes, etc. and more craft supplies finding their way into my craft room! 

I also am not a fan of 'too' matchy-match components, which is why I decorate my craft room trying to balance purchasing items from collections, and found objects like the tin above. 

Anyways, I made a rough effort by sanding the edges of the paper I glued to the tins, there are 2 of them, and adding plain twine as an accent - my 'bow'.  I also just cut out the scallop trim from a packaging -it was pretty packaging - so why not! 

I recommend using STICKY TAPE for most of this project. 

TIP - use an old nail file to sand the tin (just a smidge) so the glue can BITE into the surface. The fat wide foam cosmetic nail files work great - the coarse side. Save your nice Sanding Blocks for cardstock. 

CLICK ON PICS FOR LARGE VIEW

SUPPLIES = STAMPIN' UP!  Patterned Paper: So Saffron and Bermuda Bay(lid) and Basic Gray (body)

Sticky Tape, Sanding Block

Good Monday Morning - hope everyone is well and ready for a new week!!!

To start my blogging off, I am showing the results of a FAT PAGE SWAP I organized with a couple of fantastic people!   Today I am showing 2 of the 4 projects involved.

If anyone is wondering what a FAT PAGE is - commonly it is a 4x4 inch page decorated by creative means with a small area to the left for punching holes to allow several Fat Pages to be turned into a Mini Album.

So here are the two pages exchanged between myself and crafter Vernette through Love is in the Details forum around Feb. although Vernette did a variation on the theme and created this wonderful squash booklet, but keeping to the 4 inch guideline....

Vernette's Fat Page 

Front - very nice!

Tied Closed - see those squash pages.....

Open....open....

Voila!  Look at all those pages!  Great Idea!

Beverly's Fat Page for Vernette

Front

                                                            

       And here is mine.......I am using several Stampin' Up! supplies including the Heart stamp from the Love You Much set, and the background stamp, Tres Chic both currently in the Idea Catalogue.

Hidden Pocket Tag

Back

Back with Tag (backside of tag)

Here is a few more pictures to show how I made my Fat Page from a plain brown lunch bag....

Choose how you wish to cut the bag - I chose to use the bottom because

I liked the little flap, which I decided would be interesting to decorate. 

You will have 2 raw edges which you can create a small pocket as the bag is 2 layers thick right?

"SEWING" PAPER TIPS

I sewed the bag with my machine, leaving gaps for a pocket, and where the flap is connected to the bag (see arrows).   When sewing paper - I use a stitch length from 1 - 2 inches, depending on the thickness and I may  adjust the tension (usually at 4-5). Try on a sample piece to make sure that your stitch is catching 

properly "underneath" - you can also use a ZIG-ZAG stitch.   

HAVE FUN -  be less concerned about the straightness of your stitching - its all part of the look!  

Anyways - on a project like this, one side of your stitching may look good on the FRONT, but you can HIDE a lot, by layering the back with cardstock.  Or, you use cardstock for your design reasons. I did both. 

BUT  add the brads, eyelets or anything where parts need to be hidden to your paper BEFORE you attach the layer.  

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Tomorrow I will add Part 2!

Now that we snipped and glued our way through Christmas - its time to think about scrapbooking some of those pictures!  DO IT NOW - at least 2 pages!!!!   If we put them in a box - ya' know what happens, they will sit there ad infinitum!

But - if you are like me, you purchased papers and accumulated a ton of scraps. I throw the scraps into a bin on the floor to save time. and so looking at it the other day and finding some old 'purchased' (gasp!) cards, I put two + two together and decided to do this......

and close up.....

And...I like it!  Its bright and cheery - just what I wanted.  I have to make some choices as to how I will use it, but that will come a little later. The feeling of satisfaction I achieved was that I recycled, and I managed to use up more of the pricier papers....and if you have read my earlier posts, you know its important to me to use up what I have because, after all, we pay for it with our hard-earned money!  

Now, I had one lady at a party recently comment - why would I create a page, isn't that why I purchase pre-designed paper for?  And yes, it is. But. If you have a quiet time, want to create something so unique that NO-ONE else is going to have in their albums - then I say, have fun and try this!  

TIP - I used white glue to assemble this, plain white glue and a glue stick and a slick surface ( two separate sheets of those annoying large,glossy, real estate advertising  that shows up every other week!) - and so, after you are done, position the paper between something flat and heavy to weigh down the paper to create flatness. I say that because the paper does buckle a bit from the water in the glue. This method is too much to use up expensive tape adhesive! Just sayin'! 

MORE OPTIONS Another cool thing you can do - is SCAN this and make a pdf. file!  Your own "digital design"....that is probably what I will do next. Then you can download and print your design and create other things such as tags, book covers or even wrappers for crackers, wall decor projects....lots of ways to use this. 

OK I will be back soon with some more scrapbook ideas for your holiday pics!

Bye for now!

xx

Considering it was Earth Day - I felt a pang of duty to come up with a nod towards recycling in tonights Scrapbook gathering. Funnily enough, the other day I spied a store display box being tossed and I loved: a) the colours, very fresh orange and green - nice! ...and b) the nice design of soft leaf patterns and muted shades of nature speckled throughout. So I nicked it, lol! I knew then I'd do something with it - - and today presented just the right thing. I took that box home and cut it into tiny squares and long thin ribbons......and....a card emerged! From the trash to this....

Against a black backdrop for drama, a green leafy branch {die cut, Big Shot} adorns a 2 inch orange square which in turn is surrounded by a grid of 1 inch squares. To make it interesting, the patterns are different - and the final touch is the long, slim "grasses" just waiting for a butterfly to land on them!

Here is the group of our cards together - it's an easy project - and now you know what to do when you get beautiful packaging! Go for it!

Oh - and here is a haiku I found from a site in Japan and I am going to put into my card later:

"grasses kissed

the flowers blush

for days"

I just thought that went nicely with this particular design......oxox

[all supplies Stampin' Up!]