CHALLENGE #2 - This Week's Challenge: The Theme is Go Green!

What is in your recycle bin? Pull it out, wash it off, and use it. Make something you can use around the house. It seems as though lately there is so much waste. You would think that snail mail junk mail would be a thing of the past. But it keeps on showing up.

Let’s see if we can re-use some of it.

I drove my DH crazy this last week having him save ANY piece of mail that had a blank space big enough to write on. Here's what we collected in a week:

And here's what I am using this collection for: phone notes, grocery lists, scratch paper for homework, generally anything that would normally require a notepad. This little, growing collection will live by the phone in a folder that I rescued from the trash at work.

Another re-cycled project is.....using product packaging (cookie box and cardboard casing from a couple of DVD's and the cardboard insert from a toy my 9 year old DD just bought) and an old notebook cover (14 year old DD likes to purge on a daily basis. I don't know who her real mother is) ...

...and making postcards. I haven't sent any yet. But plan on getting some out after this challenge posts. You never know when you will have to re-do a photo shoot....

...and bookmarks. My family loves to read and everyone of us is constantly losing and thus looking for bookmarks.

And to keep these little beauties contained and out of the way, I took a discarded composition notebook and binder dividers. (my 14 year old had them in the trash pile Tuesday night. Again, don't know where she came from. Certainly not from this packrat.)

I took the pocket divider, tied ribbon into the binder holes and stamped the words "READ" on one side for the bookmarks and "WRITE" on the other side for the postcards. I'll keep it on the shelf next to the scratch paper folder.

I covered the composition notebook with the binder dividers. Inside and outside covers. (This is the one 14 yr old DD had in the trash pile.) She had doodled on pretty much every surface and had already torn out some of the pages. So it wasn't a tight fit to get the notebook to close with the extra paper thickness on the inside. I haven't decorated it yet. I'm waiting to see what I end up using it for. You'll more than likely see it in the future...

For my birthday last year Rosemary made me this card. It is so pretty. I just couldn't throw it away. So instead I am re-cycling it. I simply very carefully peeled the pink top layer off and ...

....here it is on a pink card. Still as stunning as the one Rosemary made. hehehehe

(Jana, I'm so impressed by this item in particular!!!)


And of course I made an ATC out of packaging and magazine images.

You can tell from the summery images that this is an old magazine.

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And now for Rosemary's projects this week:

Hi everyone! Rosemary here and it is tough following Jana - she's got a lot of innovative projects that really lived up to the idea of reduce, reuse, recycle. I'm going to try and see if my projects fit the bill as well.

Do you have some old sweaters that you can't part with? Too many fond memories but you can't or don't want to wear it again? Then cut it up and make something new with it.

This is tricky with a non-wool sweater but it can be done. I free handed a heart pattern in felt and pinned it to the front of my old sweater. After cutting it out, I blanket-stitched the edges but you could zigzag it on a sewing machine. Otherwise, you will end up in Fray City (population - you) and that's no fun (and terribly frustrating).

If you do use an old wool sweater then wash it in hot water and dry on high. Your wool sweater will have shrunk and be fray-proof! Then you can play.

So, here's what I made with my sweaters

A little accent pillow

A little doorknob decor!

(Lovin the hearts, Rosemary.)

and here's a little flower brooch (kind of Mary-Engelbreit-ish)

(This is just darling. Love it Rosemary.)

My next project I used as my submission for the challenge at Awfully Big Art Adventures - the theme was "Birdhouses" and so I made a birdhouse tag. So, I am already re-using!

But it gets better, the items comprising the tag are all from scraps I save from my paper crafts. But WAIT, there is more. I used a thin chipboard/cardboard base for the tag - how is that interesting? Well, I have been saving old bathroom tissue (that would be toilet paper in our home but I'm trying to be classy here) rolls and paper towel rolls.

Why not use it? It's simply thin carboard and it's just a bit tricky to get it flat (lots and lots of books). Or have patience when you are adhering all the layers and it will eventually lie flat from the weight. I even shredded some of it and the remaining paper scraps to make the "nest" in the house. This challenge got me really getting innovative - in fact, you could say I was "on a roll." (do I hear crickets?)

(Very clever combination of challenges. Adorable little birdie too.)

I hope that we've inspired you to give a second thought to something you'd normally throw away. There might be a little treasure in there just waiting to be found.

So, please share with us your creativity, we love seeing what you create!