Christmas Recycling

Every Christmas Emily and I practice some Christmas recycling by turning our old Christmas cards into gift tags. It is one of her favorite crafts, it saves money, and it adds a bit of whimsy to each gift we give which is a win, win in my book.
 

All it takes for you to make some beautiful recycled gift tags of your own is:

• thin cardboard (from shirt packages, cereal boxes, etc....)
• paste or sticky glue dots
• old cards
• scissors
• twine
• single hole punch
• snowflake or star craft punch and gems (optional)

We buy our gems on clearance or with store coupons, so they are fairly inexpensive. We also use paint chip samples, paper scraps, and leftover bits of cards to make our snowflakes. We then use our imaginations and cut, paste, and rearrange until our hearts are content.

Another thing we recycle is boxes. We reuse them to mail out my Christmas packages. We cover them in wrapping paper (especially those with removable lids) and use them for Christmas gift boxes. W use them for cat boxes. And, anything else we can think of. As a child, my mother would let my brother and I drag refrigerator boxes home to make forts in the back yard.

So, I thought it was quite appropriate to read and enjoy What To Do With A Box by Jane Yolan. The illustrations by Chris Sheban are adorable and quite boxy. The story is simple but enjoyable. And the combination of text and pictures will carry you back to your childhood or will remind you of your own children having fun. And if truth be told, we can all probably agree that kids don't really need expensive gifts when they have a box and an imagination!

Jane and I at the Hudson children's Book Festival 2015

 Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musing Monday Link Up where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

The Thankfulness Hasn't Ended!

 

Thanksgiving is over, the turkey is nearly gone, and the pumpkin pie as well. Black Friday is come and gone, and boy did I enjoy the great bargains I found. It is the end of a season, but it is not the end of Thanksgiving. As we move into a new season, the season of Christmas, I will continue to be thankful for each  new day, and each  moment spent with the ones I love.

One of the moments I am thankful for is the recent time Emily and I spent crafting together. Since I hate to throw away the old Christmas cards we have received from Christmases past, I thought it would be nice if we upcycled them. So, Emily and I cut up old cardboard, cut up old Christmas cards, punched out snowflakes from paint samples, and made Christmas tags/ornaments for our gifts.

 

So much joy from one little project. We got to spend quality time together. We got to reuse beautiful Christmas cards by salvaging the various parts and reworking them into something different. We got to be creative. What more could you ask for!

Speaking of creativeness, author Anver Katz was pretty creative himself with his illustrations and story titled The Little Pickpocket. I absolutely loved the way he took the story of a young kangaroo looking for a better pouch to sleep in and let us have a glimpse into the life of each of the alternate pouch holders, by describing what was in their pouches. I also loved how in the end, the young kangaroo decided that the best pouch of all actually was his mother's. It's a story of contentment, love, and yes, thankfulness.

It's an older book, but it is available as a used book on Amazon or  you can see if your local library has it in stock. Either way, it is worth the trouble to find.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Up-Cycling Is Awesome

Recently I had been making Barbie quilts and pillows to sell at our local Farmer's Market, and that made me wonder if there were some patterns online to make Barbie beds. I had wooden beds in mind, but what I found was an article on making a bed from ordinary items like rectangular baskets and garden edging. The article called it up-cycling, which is basically a fancy term for recycling, re-using, refurbishing, and so forth.

This was exciting because I  have been doing that my whole life. When I was very young, I painted an old wooden crate that had a divider in the middle and I used it for a refrigerator. I saved chocolate syrup bottles, egg cartons, orange juice containers, and whatever I could find and made myself some food to put in my fridge. Then I took a box and made a stove complete with four burners drawn on with permanent marker. I had lots of fun with my homemade kitchen even though it wasn't as fancy as the pre-made one my daughter had when she was small.

As an adult my love of re-using things never diminished. I save almost everything from cards to cardboard. When my daughter was about five, I used large sheets of cardboard to make jungle scene for her birthday. My husband also brought me home brown paper from work that I crinkled to make vines.

One of my favorite up-cycled items, however, was an old washtub which I turned into a planter complete with an attached watering can. I also have several smaller tubs, which I painted, and turned into planters as well.

So, after reading the article,  I was once again struck with the urge to creatively recycle. I set off to the thrift store in search of the aforementioned basket but all I could find were round baskets or baskets with large handles. As I roamed the remaining aisles,I spotted a small brass rack, possibly a cd rack, that I knew would make a perfect Barbie day bed for my daughter's Barbies. And even better then that, it was only a dollar forty nine. I quickly snatched it up and headed for home.

Once home I asked my husband to remove the little divider handle that held the cd's up and then I set about to make a small mattress, quilt, and pillows. Having been formerly into patchwork quilting, I had heaps of fabric and batting scraps to choose from. It turned out quite well and the only thinig I'm sorry about is that I didn't find a few more cd racks just like it.

Do you up-cycle? If so, what is your favorite new creation. And if you have never up-cycled before, what are you waiting for?

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

Sandwich Box to Sleigh: A Recycling Story

Not all of who I am revolves around literacy, but the largest fraction of who I am does revolve around creativity in all it's forms. I love to bake, I love to sew, I love photography, and I love crafting especially when it involves turning something old into something new. So today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Christmas crafts made from a recycled sandwich box.

It's a small sleigh that can be filled with assorted candies of your choice and looks lovely as a centerpiece. What you will need is a sandwich box (mine came from Wendy's), two individually wrapped candy canes, foe greenery or ivy, glue (I use glue dots), decorations (small berries, pine cones, bows, or whatever you like), and a small piece of wrapping paper.

First make a paper template by setting the front of the box flat on the inside of the wrapping paper. Trace the box and then carefully set it up on its bottom making sure to keep it lined up, after tracing the bottom, repeat by laying the box on it's back. Lastly set box back in the middle upright position so you can lay it to either side for tracing.Once this is done take the two candy canes and attach them to the bottom for runners. I found that package tape works best to keep them in place. Next, glue greenery to the back and sides of the inside of the box and decorate. Last but not least, fill with candy of your choice (I chose individually wrapped truffles that I bought at Aldis).

Signing of for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!