Step Thirty Five: More recycled envelope adventures!

Dearest Sylwi,


Today's project was inspired by a couple of things; the journal I made using security envelopes for Step Three (probably my favourite step, so far!) and this paper party hat that I made last year, for my dog's 3rd birthday! *<:-)

The hat has been sitting on my desk for almost a year and I can't bring myself to throw it out. I think it's way too cute for the bin ...(man!) heh heh! 

...on a side note - I did, however, finally throw out the top hat I made for last year's Secret Santa draw!

I've been clinging onto it, desperately trying to think of another use for it. There was none. Other than as a dust collector. So, it went in the bin yesterday :-( Here's hoping I don't suddenly need a top hat for any reason in the next few months (ha ha! as if?!), or it will be back to the drawing (painting, cutting and gluing) board again! ;-) 

Curious to try some more envelope projects, I've been hoarding a stack of those wonderful, security envelopes in my recycled paper pile again!

I know pennant banners are "sooooo last year" :-) but I never actually got around to making any and decided that those little security patterns would be perfect for flags. I also tried one set of bunting with old newspaper.

They look a lot larger in this picture below than they actually are. They're very dinky. I think these would be really cute wound round and round a wrapped gift...

Whilst I was gluing these pennant banners, I thought the idea would transfer well onto a gift tag. So, I went on to try that idea out.

It was a bit fiddly and took way more time than I thought :-) but I eventually worked out an easier way of sewing the individual pennants on - by temporarily securing them in place with masking tape...

Once sewn on, I then glued each little flag shut and ...ta-dah - a bunting gift tag!

I really liked how it turned out, but once it was finished, I started wondering if I'd seen this somewhere before?! Often when I'm free-stylin' with ideas, I start to panic that I'm just recreating something I've already seen on someone's blog... but, I'm not sure! I did a search for bunting gift tags made from old security envelopes, but couldn't find any online... 

Hopefully, I haven't subconsciously pinched someone elses' idea! :-/

I went one step further and added the little left over hearts to the tag...

... and now don't know if I over did it?! :-) Ah well! It was fun to play with! 

I'm on holiday for 2 weeks now, but I'm looking forward to getting back already (how sad?!) :-) to see what you've been up to in the blog house whilst I'm away! 

Have a fantastic weekend with the Flickr girls. Talk lots, hug lots, laugh lots and photo/video it ALL, of course! :-) I'll be thinking of you! 

Lots and lots of love

Fi

xx

Step Three: Lost and Found

Good morning, dearest Sylwi!

Tuesday already! Can you believe it?! :-)

This week is all about recycled paper! I receive so many envelopes in the post that have beautiful colours and patterns on the inside. It seems such a shame to just recycle them - this week I wanted to do something to honour them! :-)

I thought that creating a hardback journal would be a challenging, but fun way to use them up. Plus, I love journals and could spend a fortune on them, so I was interested to see how hard it is to create one and how much money I can save myself! :-)

I found great tutorials for making journals on YouTube, put together by a lovely lady called Baronessnz. There are 5 videos which guide you through the process, from start to end. You can find the first one and links to the others here! (you will find videos 1-4 and one that I almost missed, called video 2b!)

I used 32 envelopes that I've been saving especially for the pages and then, I had a good rummage through my box of scrap paper, looking for a suitable cover.

I decided on some lovely wallpaper samples that I've had kicking around for a few years. These are samples from Louise Body's wallpaper collection. I came across her by chance on the internet about 3 years ago and fell in love with her hand printed and painted cushions with vintage fabric on the back.

For the cover, I really wanted to use the naked lady swinging from the chandelier, but I made a mistake with the paper sizes, so I ended up using the charcoal lace print instead. Not quite as quirky, but just as lovely! :-)))

Last week, when I was painting, I found that I was generally frustrated and my desk was a complete mess, from start to finish. This week, I really enjoyed having a tidy desk throughout the project and when things went wrong, it didn't seem to matter to me at all! In fact, the imperfections, like slightly ripped edges and little crumples, added to the end result. Here's how the envelopes looked as pages all together (I also used some brown parcel paper, saved over from Christmas)...

When I began this adventure with you, one of the things I was hoping for was that I might find my 'signature' style... or at very least, a certain crafting direction that I was interested in focussing on. I know it's still very early days, but today, I realised that I have a real love of paper. Maybe this is the direction I should head in? :-) There's something extremely satisfying about folding, cutting, gluing and shaping paper. More than that, though, I really love old paper. Paper that has had a previous life and is now looking for a new purpose. The different textures and thicknesses. The myriad patterns and colours. It is so satisfying to create something pretty (or useful) out of a pile of paper that was destined for the bin!

I am really happy with how it turned out! At just under 12cm x 17cm, it is the perfect size for a handbag... or for sticking in polaroid pics, with room to write under and beside them (the coloured pages make gorgeous frames for the photos!)

The best bit of all, is that it is totally guilt free! All of the paper and card that I used was recycled and I didn't spend a penny! ;-)

Fi

xx