Recycled Repurposed Wipe Container Tutorial

I know I've been promising for awhile to share some recycling ideas with you. But I have too many ideas in my head and in so many areas but never enough time! But I did snap some pictures for you for this project.

Because of my health issues I keep antibacterial wipes all around my house and also have one in each car. I even use these when working with my polymer clay as they remove the clay from all surfaces very well.

The problem is all these leftover containers that I feel guilty about each time I toss one in the recycle bin. It is a #2 PET and can be recycled into all kinds of things but I wanted to try my hand at some home recycling first, there will always be plenty to add to the bin! So I am sure you have had your share of these, next time you use one up save it for this project.

Items needed: One empty washed out moist towelette container
X-acto knife
Artwork and scrap paper for template
Tape and or glue And a ruler or measuring tape

Mine wipe containers are 40 count and I noticed that both my local grocery stores (different ones) must use the same manufacturer as once you get the label off you can see they are exactly the same.

What ever brand you use it must have this kind of towel dispenser, some of the name brands won't work.

You will now need to remove the inner flange that holds the towels in the ready to pop out position. To do this you need to use the X-acto knife and CAREFULLY!

Hold the top of the container with your non dominant hand with a good solid grip. Don't let your fingers near the bottom part as the knife could slip and give you a nasty cut! you will start cutting from the top of the flange piece keeping your knife up against the inside rim. Go slowly, take your time. When you've cut halfway down, stop and reposition your non-dominant hand so that it still remains as far away from the knife as possible.



When you are done it will look like this. You can save the part you cut away for a cool red mustache project!

Now You will want to use your X-acto blade to carefully slice down the paper label and then tear it off. There will be some glue left from where they attached it but as long as you get the paper off you don't have to be too particular with getting the glue off, it will be covered in the next step.

Now you will take some art work of your own, photographs (best color copied at a copy shop) or magazines, books, any paper ephemera you have or find some nice scrap-booking scraps you have and use them for this. I used some pictures from a Under sea book with beautiful artwork. This is a way to enjoy artwork from coffee table books all the time instead of the occasional look through once a year or so.

Now you will notice that the container has a rim on the top and on the bottom, this is where you will fit your artwork. Measure the circumference by taking a tape measure or using a piece of string and then measuring that against a ruler (don't use yarn it can stretch and give you an inaccurate measurement).

Now using your ruler you want to measure from the top of the bottom of the rim to the bottom rim. This is a recessed area where the original label went. Write both measurements down on the scrap paper indicating the height and width. The label usually doesn't cover that entire area but you should do this if your artwork will allow to make a smoother presentation.

Now measure out on your scrap paper these two dimensions and cut out your template. Now check it against the container to make sure it fits right. Once you have your template fitted you will now use this to cut out your artwork. Place your template over your artwork and hold up to the light to center it in the best position. Then trace around it with a pencil on the wrong side. Cut it out and place around the container. You can glue it on but be careful with bumps, I used clear packing tape to tape my ends together. If your artwork is shorter, it doesn't matter as you will be using these only facing one direction.

Now you have a beautiful container to put anywhere and keep just about anything in! Here are some of the ones I've made. In the right hand one it is still being used as a moist towel holder that I keep on my work table. Once the towels are used up I will just replace them with a fresh roll so my towel holder on my art table will inspire instead of detract!

The left one holds small squares of paper toweling I use when I paint my beads and other polymer clay components. They used to be all over my work space and took up too much room and clutter, now they are neat and pretty to look at and easy to find as well!



See what Ideas you can come up with to use yours for! And share with me in the comment section, I'd love to hear from you!

If you want to use them all together with art supplies you can print off labels and tape to them over you art work so you can easily grab what ever you need .


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Happy Earth DAY!

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. People around the world are celebrating in many different ways. http://www.earthday.net/earthday2010

I have been trying to make my life and my business more earth friendly for years now. I guess I've always done some kind of recycling or re-purposing in one way or another. Not wanting to throw anything out 'just in case' I can find a reuse for it or make a decorative art piece or 'new' piece of clothing out of it.

For my business I rarely buy packaging, instead I reuse packaging that has been sent to me, unless it's too torn or dirty. I buy a few manila envelopes to ship in but the inside container most likely uses recycled components. But I've also been making my own shipping envelopes from old magazines. Some even contain recycled bubble wrap for extra protection. I want to cut down on the resources of the earth that I use as well as to make sure my products arrive in perfect shape for my customer. At times I've used recycled clear Cassette tape boxes to hold and protect my beads. I tape a business card on the inside lid, wrap my beads up individually in fresh tissue and close the lid. Then I have a strong, solid container to pop into one of my handmade envelopes to ship.

My local post office has two ladies who when my husband shows up with my shipping have to stop and look over each one. They are fascinated with my packaging and ingenuity. They have never given a problem with it as I've heard some Postal workers do. I even have recycled little labels my husband brought home from the office where they used only a portion of a sheet of printer labels and were throwing the rest away. These make handy stickers I can write anything I want on. I usually use them for labels such as: 'Handle with Care', 'Fragile', 'Please', or use them for directions for the postal worker to know where I want the postage put and where I'd like the customs slip placed. One time I did not include these and the poor woman didn't know what to do. She didn't want to ruin my beautiful art envelope and lamented to my husband, 'She didn't put the stickers where to put the postage and customs tag!". :) I make sure to do that from now on. :)

I hope you enjoy your Earth Day, in the following weeks I will be introducing you to some great new Earth friendly products I've been discovering. So stay tuned and go out and enjoy the Earth today! 611

One World One Heart Update

Hello, It is still Passover for me so I scheduled this post for you. I thought you might enjoy an update on my OWOH goings on. If you remember I got in on this event the last week (actually 9 days before it ended), so visiting all those blogs was like a Internet marathon and I still have not gotten to all of them, but I will! I decided, (because I always over-do), to have nine winners. I could have just given any of my completed pieces of art work but in the spirit of the event, that of coming together, sharing, learning about and meeting other artists I wanted my offerings to be special.

So I had a mystery giveaway, which turned into a custom giveaway. I decided that I wanted to make a special something for each winner. I had visited their blogs, and some had shops so I visited them, read profiles and website and then wrote to each one and told them that I wanted to make something special for each of them and would they share a bit more about themselves with me that I may not be able to find on their blogs or elsewhere. And they all were very happy to share in the spirit of this event. I was overwhelmed learning about all these fabulous women from around the globe. There were many things we had in common but I was also enthralled by our differences. The drawing gave me winners from here in the US to Canada, Finland, Scotland, Israel and all the way to New Zealand . I was thrilled to be able to connect with these talented ladies that I most probably would never have met otherwise.


But I knew it was going to take some time to make something special for each winner and I didn't want them to think I'd forgotten them so I decided to make a little something for each of them to remember the event by. What I came up with I especially liked because it allowed me to be eco-friendly at the same time. Since the event was called One World One Heart I thought what better way to commemorate this event than to make hearts with the world? Well not really the world but a vintage world map I had. So that is what I did. I cut out the map and then cut it into sections that would fit on some card stock backing. I choose blue, like in the oceans and also gray and white card stock. I used gel medium to join them together and then put under a stack of books overnight to dry and to keep from curling.

The next day I took about 7 of my own heart stencils and went about tracing hearts on the map pieces, making sure to capture the countries my winners were from in at least one of them. I had a bit of trouble with New Zealand since I had two winners from there so one winner had to have a heart of the adjacent country of Australia. The US was a bit tricky too as my Canadian winner was located not far from the border of one of my US winners but at least they got the right country's!

To these country hearts I added others from around the world and many were ocean hearts too, even some of the south pole, Antarctica. Then it was time to take all these and to make a heart string for each one. I laid out the countries first and then had to balance the rest of the string by color and shape and size of the remaining hearts. That took some doing but they finally all fit. Now I needed a way to join them together and make it easy to hang. Good old fashioned cafe curtain rings were my answer and I just happened to have enough. I sewed most of them with heavy cotton thread and then tied the top to the curtain ring. On the bottom I had taped a little paper strip with the country name on it so I could keep them all straight. When I saw them all hanging there like that I knew that I needed a 'flapper' but not one made just of paper. So I thought about it for awhile and decided on making them from metal, aluminum which is lightweight and could catch a breeze easily.

So I set about making these. I got hubby to cut them out for me but I drilled them using my new dremel and bench vise. Then I stamped each one with the country of origin ( from me so the US) and then the country of the recipient winner. Then I textured each one all around with my ball peen hammer and sanded the edges to make them safe. Just making these tags took me two hours, the time was adding up.

Then I wanted to make a special envelope for them, so I made each one a recycled magazine envelope that I cut out and sewed together from six carefully selected pages. Then to make sure that they wouldn't be crushed in their travels I cut out squares of cardboard from cereal boxes and carefully taped each string around the square with the flapper charm on the left. These were then put inside small ziplock bags to protect from any moisture on their travels and then inserted into the envelopes. Each was then hand addressed with little notes to the mail lady (she loves my envelopes and sometimes makes my husband late for work because she has to look at each one and ogle over it!) on where to attach the postage and where on the envelope to attache the customs slip.

All in all when I finally finished them I realized it had taken me 4 days to complete with about 15 hours total to make them all. But I was pleased with the result and thought it would be a meaningful remembrance. Oh, part of that time was in writing to each one individually a fairly long note explaining what it was and that I was working on their special 'something' which would follow as soon as I had it ready. Now these were sent out on March 11th and I've heard back from about half of them that they received them, I hope the others got theirs as well. I have also begun to send out the special gifts and will update you in future posts about what they are as some who entered my drawing were interested in what the mystery may be! so look for those posts in the future. If you've missed any about the OWOH I always try to label them with that tag or you could just look up in the search bar at the top OWOH and you will see all the posts regarding it!

I sure did love this event and am kinda glad it is stretching out a bit, if there's one thing that can be extended and shared in this whole wide world it's love, don't you agree? :)

All nine envelopes Custom Addressed, and ready to mail out. Notice I found a use for all these CD stickers I had laying around, they make cool address labels!

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What are YOU 'rapping' with? - Recycled Packaging

I've been trying to come up with a suitable blog post this week and haven't been too successful. It has been a dreary week for me and today is the two month anniversary of Jazmines death, I can't believe it's been two months already! So as you can imagine I am down a bit. I've been working on revamping my shops and getting them ready for the 'busy' season, and had my one shop opened to work in it and actually made a sale this week. So as I was wrapping this up I decided to do a post on packaging and took some pics to show you.

I've wanted to do so for awhile but never got to it, so now is as good a time as any and maybe you can use some of these tips for this coming mailing season.

You all know I am an organic artist but that also means that I am green too! Many of my pieces are shipped out in hand made recycled gift boxes I make from the few prepared foods I can find that are gluten free. So this means I have a lot and I mean a LOT of Amy's GF Rice Mac and Cheese and Rice Pizza boxes, not to mention my favorite Gluten free and organic Cereal by Environkids. The pile was just getting unmanageable and since I used up a bunch of my boxes sending out my commissions lately, I decided to take this down time and make some more. A couple nights ago I got 10 done along with two new templates.

I've used various tutes on the internet and also experimented with my own. I will leave you some links to try for yourself down at the bottom, but first some pictures.

This is the package I sent this week. Up top and here on the right. The top pic is the front and this is the back side. This envelope I made myself, recycling an old Ready Made magazine which is rather ironic since this magazine is about recycling and repurposing and green earth type things. But I saved the pages I wanted for future reference and tore out the rest. You pick the nicest ones for your front and backs and then you layer the so-so ones underneath, about 3-4 pages, top with the nice page and sew a straight stitch all around. But before stitching you make your back side about an inch and a half shorter than the front side. This will give you the fold over area you need. Then do the same for the front side keeping the page the full size which should be 1 1/2" longer than the back side. Again straight stitch these all around the four sides. I used black thread because I wanted it to show. You can use variegated threads, or use one color that matches your pages for the straight stitch and choose another for when you join them together, as so. Line up the front and back with the right sides out and the bottoms even. Start stitching at the top of the front page which should be facing down and your back side, the shorter side, facing you. Hold pages together and feed through machine, stopping and pivoting on the corners, finishing off where you started and your envelope should be complete.

I used a simple zigzag stitch over top the straight joining stitches which helps to give it another design element and to hold it together better. I also used a quilting foot which made it easier to push all these slippery layers through. Now the envelope is ready for sending.

Inside this one is the item, wrapped in bubble wrap (recycled) with a few peanuts (recycled) to fill in the gaps ( 4 or 5 peanuts), then it is tied with a ribbon (sometimes I have recycled ones for this too) and placed in the envelope. I print out my copy, the customers copy of the invoice and the mailing label all on one sheet of recycled printing paper. I cut apart my copy and file it, then their copy and add that to the envelope, and then tape the mailing label on the front. Try to choose an area that doesn't take away from your design on the pages. I also use these printer stickers which are recycled from my husbands office. They don't print a whole sheet and they can't put it back in the printer so they throw it away. He retrieves it and brings it to me. I use it to put whatever 'signs and labels' I want on there such as: FRAGILE, Do Not Bend, Please!!, Handle wt Care, Hand Cancel. These I place strategically on front and back of package. If sending first class I put two blank labels in the corner for them to have a place to hand cancel. This one was sent out Priority and then just wrapped the label around the top corner and onto the back, so no problem there unless you have cranky postal people. :)

Inside is one of those boxes, and here's a peek inside, I used a left over strip from one end of the package to reinforce the structure. once inside if you have small pieces you can use this to section them off plus when you close the box and push on the top you will see how the strip keeps it from collapsing. Just make sure your strip is the same width as the depth of your box.

This box measures approximately 2 3/4" x 4" and will fit nicely into the magazine envelopes. The envelopes can be used alone as well if you wrap your piece in bubble wrap well and slip into a match box shell. A match box shell is the outer part of a large box of matches, recycled, or use this as a template to make your own from cut up cereal boxes or other cardboard. Just wrap your piece in bubble wrap, tie a ribbon around it and slip it in the match box shell and pop into your envelope!

You can also sent flatter and small things in these single envelopes. Just pick out your pages from the magazine. You will only need one outer piece, this will be your star. Add two more fillers. Now stitch around all four sides joining the three layers together. Now with the right side down you will fold up your envelope to 1 1/4 -1 1/2" from the top. Make a sharp crease along the bottom. Now stitch up with straight stitch or decorative stitch up each side. Then fold over the flap and you have a study mailing envelope! I like to use a rotary cutter with a deckle edged blade in it to trim the edges. Label as with the other envelopes.


I hope these have given you some ideas of how to reduce your footprint and put a little less in our landfills and also to make a unique little extra to go with your special handmade items. Many of these items are again also reusable for your customer so it can keep on going green! Everyone I've sent these too always comments. It is a interesting and unexpected surprise in the mail and good for the environment too!

Here's some links to help you get started.

I've tried this one and it gives you a good sized sturdy box. Remember you can always downsize the dimensions to fit your item you want to box.

From EcoEtsy here is the tute for making the magazine envelopes!

How to fold a simple origami box You can fold these from calendar pages or study magazine front or back pages. I also use up my calendars for these as well as old scrapbooking paper. You just need to square it off first and to make a closed box cut one square 1/4" shorter on two sides first , this will be your bottom.

I'll look some more for the tute on how to make the box I made using the Mac and Cheese by Amy's for some reason can't find it now but will post it as soon as I do!

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Need Inspiration? - Rain, Rain Go away!

I think we are in our third week of constant rain. Just yesterday under 24 hours we had an inch, that on top of over two weeks of rain, severe thundershowers, and downpours and more rain, and I don't even live in Seattle! And yesterday despite all that rain we lost our water for half the day! What's the old saying, water water everywhere and not a drop to drink? We did get it turned back on right in time for making dinner though, I'm sure glad I drink bottled water and have lots of waterless hand cleaner and wipes around!

I hate to think what this is doing to the crops at the farm. I know that the strawberries are getting watery, this past week we didn't even get any of the spring greens, their tender leaves beaten by the downpours. And only a handful of peas, seems like last year repeating itself with a vengeance. At least I grabbed a few for molds but that may be all I see.




It is hard to be stuck inside because of the weather, especially with the weekend coming up, I know the South is getting super high temps, so although sunny, too sweltering to go out. So if you are going to be holed up in your house this weekend because it just is too horrible to go outside maybe this is the time to spend at something creative? I thought I would offer you a few avenues to view and perhaps pursue, if something strikes your fancy.

Ready?

Paper Crafts, Scrapbooking and Photo tips

For those who love Scrap booking, and using your pc to get the greatest pages, I found a site that has loads of tutorials on all aspects! Check it out at Cottage Arts. These aren't just for scrap-bookers though, anyone with an online store is sure to be able to use some of the tutorials to make their photos look oh so much better!

Need some graph paper to lay out your ideas, maybe the kids need some for a project, or hubby needs it for a presentation? Don't waste gas and make a trip to the store, you can download and print out your own of any size from this great site! And Polymer Clayers! if you print out the Engineering Graph paper in inches and in the 1/4" engineering graph paper size onto a transparency, you can cut this up into all kinds of measuring templates to use in jewelry making, such as tiles, blocks, and even for color mixing. Just choose your template (I have one that is 2" x 8" and makes a great measuring device for bracelets, pendant, anything you want perfectly square. Also since it's transparent you can see through it to line up on the clay very easily. If you take some 800-1000 grit sandpaper and gently rough it up so it's not so slick it will stick to the clay and stay while you make your cut using both hands to get a straight cut. Just be careful not to scratch it or it will imprint that texture in your clay.

Polymer Clay and Jewelry Making

Do you scrap book AND use Polymer Clay? If you do you know that there are a lot of tools and embellishments that are interchangeable between these two crafts. Check out what one scraper uses to condition her polymer clay.

Another way to use some items in a scrapbookers arsenal is in making jewelry. This website offers many ideas and lots of pictures to follow. She uses dominoes as the base, but these can also be used with certain papers ( treated with maybe a gel medium first) as well as polymer clay. Take a look at The Enchanted Gallery for all kinds of ideas.

Ever try making a flower cane? Maybe this weekend is the time, since you can't be out enjoying the real thing, making this may be the next best thing! This tutorial is from Naama Zamir, a very talented Israeli Polymer clay Artist.

Organic and Environmentally Friendly ( Recycling, Up-cycling)

Got kids? Drink a lot of Milk? then you probably have these hanging around or can save up some very quickly. Great elegant recycling craft, and would look fabulous on a back porch or deck. I think it has that Capiz shell lamp look (and those are quite pricey too). Esprit Cabane

Drink a lot of soda or other beverages in cans? You recycle, right? :) But what about those pop tops? Check out this very detailed tute (lots of pictures so you can't go wrong) that only takes the pop tops and some pull tabs (these can be bought at your local dollar store if you don't happen to have some on hand). And if you haven't gotten together with the kids to make something for Daddy yet for FATHER'S, DAY ,this could be the thing. Very cool, manly, and 'green'!


This next project could be done using recycled materials. If you go to any yard sales, thrift stores, things like that and can pick up an unused canvas, you will be saving it from the landfill. This has a neat theme to it, but right now I am thinking FATHER's DAY so I am suggesting if you need a gift for Dad, young or old, this would be a great gift. Quick to do, and very inexpensive if you have a blank canvas and some black, brown or navy paint. You can use the words they have or how about, 'We love you Dad! ' This can be hung next to his dresser and used as a night light, and he can still see it in the morning while he dresses for work and be reminded of his families love. If your Father is elderly this would be thoughtful to hang in his hallway to give a little light and love while he passes by on one of those inevitable trips to the 'library' at night :)

Really this can be used in so many ways! You can make the color hot pink with the words: 'Princess' and hang it in your daughters, or granddaughters room. They are so quick and easy, you can gift just about anyone with these with the appropriate phrase! Have fun and here are the directions from Design Sponge.

Something Tasty

Art is food and Food is Art, how lovely! I always wanted to learn how to do this!

My favorite comfort food even in the summer! and here's 10 ways to indulge! I can't eat many of these but they sure looks yummy! Why not give one or two a try?

Hope for things to come from the Good earth! I love these Love Apples! did you know there were so many kinds? If you can't wait until they ripen, try this recipe. Or just read the book or rent the movie!

Want to let the kids make breakfast for Dad on Sunday, (Father's Day) keep the mess to a minimum AND be 'green' at the same time? Try this cool recycling project that lets you choose the ingredients (good especially for those who use GF mixes or homemade batters). Don't forget the Pure maple syrup!

Treats for the Soul

I wouldn't want to farm these but they sure are a joy to behold! Aren't all those greens fabulous?!

Perhaps the most patient Artist alive?

I got Sunshine, on a cloudy day.................


And I leave you with this and hope you have a pleasant weekend! Hey and let me know how you like these blogs and website and if they've done anything to perk up and inspire you this weekend, I'd love to hear from you!

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