Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Busy Organizing and Recycling



Whoa! There’s so much to put away and organize. I found homes for most of my holiday craft supplies, but I really need to label bins and boxes better so that I don’t have to open several before I find the right one. Before I get going with Valentine’s projects, I wanted to show you just two of the bookmarks I made with leftover ribbon scraps from Christmas. I mentioned a few blogs ago that I was making a bunch of them to use as tags since I was planning to give books next year. The one with the candy ends are were made by tying knots on the ribbon ends and gluing them to fake peppermint candies. A message can be written on the candy or a removable paper tag could be attached to the ribbon. (Click on photos to enlarge.) The snowflake bookmark was made from a scrap of Martha Stewart wide satin ribbon and a punch out tag from My Mind’s Eye. The copper snowflake was punched out from a candy box….yes, it pays to save anything which might be usable. If you don’t use something you saved to recycle, you can always throw it away. I find that I usually do use the scraps because I leave them in an open box in plain sight so my mind can figure something out. It’s sort of a challenge, like a puzzle.
I’m anxiously looking forward to the Valentine and spring Martha Stewart items, which should be in the store soon. In the meantime I’ll try to finish my holiday scrapbook pages and get to work on two birthday gifts and cards. Oh, the other photos are of a jewelry set I recently made. I think the pieces turned out well and because I used chains and wire linked small gemstones, the whole set was rather inexpensive despite the large pendant. (Click on photos to enlarge.) The pendant was not terribly expensive because, although it was a real green garnet, it had lots of inclusions. I think that gemstones with flaws are more interesting than perfect ones, which look like glass to me. I hope that you are finding the time to craft for yourself and others.

Lynn

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