Tag Archive for 'recycled'

Our Annual Christmas Ornament

Published
by
robayre
on December 20, 2011
in General Update, Projects and life
. 2 Comments


Yesterday Matt and I made our annual Christmas ornament. I like the idea of using recycled or repurposed papers to make such a beautiful thing. So far we’ve recycled paper 3 years, and purchased origami paper one year. This year I was fortunate enough to pick up some waste paper from a song book we were printing at work and it made for a beautiful ornament. This is the tutorial pattern I follow every year. This was also the first year we used hot glue and it is by far the sturdiest ornament yet. I highly recommend using hot glue. If you don’t have a glue gun you can find them at your typical marts and craft stores for under $10. Also, don’t make the same mistake we made, use small paper! Our first ornament ended up being the size of a soccer ball and will never make it to the tree. Now we use 3″ square and it works perfectly.

12.19 2011 ornament

I like this picture above with all the ornaments we’ve made so far. It’s our first year in our first home and this picture captures so much. It’s like an eye spy. There are four ornaments on our dining room table but can you see the a handmade table cloth that Matt’s great grandmother made? How about a nosey kitty, and a christmas tree, and don’t forget a tired Matt lounging on the couch?

12.20 christmas tree
And since we are on holiday decorations, here is a picture of our first full sized tree. Previously we had a little 3 foot tree that was more of a pain than anything. The cat was constantly trying to eat it and it was always falling over. This new tree was gifted to us by Matt’s parents. Please disregard the lack of a tree skirt. I’m working on it. The tree is covered in white lights (my preference), my handmade gold and silver garland, and a collection of both of our ornaments from since we were babies.

Recycled Kusadama Paper Ornament

Published
by
robayre
on December 2, 2009
in General Update and Projects
. 7 Comments

Recycled Kusadama Ornament, originally uploaded by robayre.

Tonight Matt and I sat down to make our annual Christmas ornament. And eeep, if last year’s ornament was too big to hang on a tree well, check out this year’s (the larger of the two). My original vision last year was to make a whole bunch of these and cover a tree with them and white Christmas lights.

I followed this 2 stage pattern. Make sure you have lots of time, it takes about 3 hours with two people working at it. AND we use translucent double faced tape. I can’t imagine how long it would take if you used glue like the instruction say. This year I followed the directions for size and the instructions call for 60 7 inch square pieces of paper. It wasn’t until afterward I reread my post from last year and saw that I stated I used 4 inch square papers. Basically this year’s ornament is equal to a good sized globe in diameter.

Once again I cut apart an old art magazine with a good weight, luster and variety of colors. Next year I hope I return to this post and read it before creating the third ornament. Robyn, cut the paper down to 3 inch squares please. Not that it will make the process any faster, but perhaps one year we might actually make an ornament that can fit on the tree.

matchbook tutorial

Published
by
robayre
on November 13, 2009
in Artomat, General Update and Projects
. 2 Comments

Today I assembled these little matchbook styled scrap-pads to add to my purchase packs that go out with every order. I used to have these quarter sized recycled scratch pads, but when I ran out I got the idea to revamp the plan and make matchbook styled scrap pads. And you know me, whenever there is an option, always go miniature!

While I was making them I thought it would be pretty easy to take a few snapshots and put together a little tutorial on making these easy-peasy pads. They are still made from recycled, hence the “scrap-pads”.

The materials are basic things everyone has in their home. Scrap paper, scissors or paper cutter, and stapler. If you’re feeling like getting tricked out, grab a ruler, glue stick and bone folder.

The paper size is 1/16th of an 8.5×11, meaning I halved, halved, halved and halved again, if you can keep that straight. Otherwise it’s 1.0625″ x 1.375″. That’s not based on real matchbooks, but just in the ease in halving over and over again. For the cover I just grabbed some 12×12 scrapbook paper, but you could also use any pretty paper you have lying around. I think I’ll use paper from old books for my next batch, then they will be truly recycled (aside from the new staple). I cut the scrapaper down to strips roughly the same width as the halved paper (1.0625″).

1. I used the halved paper in stacks of 10 since that seemed to be how much my stapler could handle. Placed my stack of paper face up with the decorative paper face down and stapled them together like shown in picture 1.

2. Slightly above the staple, I fold the paper back down. You should be able to see the decorative side of the paper now, like in picture 2. This way you can hide the staple.

3. Continue wrapping the paper around the back, creasing the folds, like in picture 3.

4. Now fold over the top, from behind to front, like in picture 4.

5. Carefully trim the decorative paper so that once trimmed the edge fits under the flap from the bottom as seen in picture 5.

6. Voila! You have a handy-dandy snazzy easy-peasy pretty scrap pad.

Use the bone folder to crease and fold and the glue stick to glue the back page to the back cover, if you like.

Throw a couple in your purse so that when your frantically riffling through your purse looking for a piece of paper to write down a phone number on, or to throw away the gum you’ve been chewing on for eternity, you are golden. I took mine a tiny step further and put my personal stamp on the inside cover, as seen in the first image. You could go to whatever lengths you want to gussy them up. They are fun to make, quick, cute AND functional.

Making these I was reminded that the Artomat machine at KCH has a “matchbook” slot, where a book would have dropped with every pack of cigarettes. I wonder if books like these would work in that machine. It would be a cool project for the students there to make their own “art matchbooks” that would drop with each Artomat sale.