Recycle and make art day! New tutorial

New tutorial showing you how I recycle stuff from around my home, 

things I used to throw away all the time without even thinking

about it, I am sure it´s the same for everyone and it´s my hope 

this blog inspire you to see materials as just that, materials that

can be re used and transformed into something new, for me,

it applies in the crafts and arts area because this is what I do

but I am sure it can apply to many other areas, just be creative!

Teach the kids to think this way and the 

world will be different in a few years

Does your tea bags come inside another bag?  Some of my 

favorite teas do and I´ve been saving them for a while but 

they had their turn today!  I used them in an altered book

if you are new about altered books, there is an introductory 

tutorial here about it. 

For those who are already altering books I have to share 

that I now simply use a masking tape to go around the corners 

of various pages to put them together, fast and easy just 

don´t use much watery mediums or the pages will have air

 bubbles in the center for it is not glued.

Here are the empty bags of two different teas I love, 

coincidentally the colors match and I used that same color 

palette for the  background colors and design of the page, I 

used squares for it was the same shape of the bags...

The page had some Mexican pottery or silver pieces so I used 

those shapes as a sketch and painted over them...

I painted the bags with guesso and then the same chosen

colors using the same design as the background...

I painted some paper and used a tag punch, some matching 

ribbons and used that tool for making a hole going through

all of the pieces and attached it with a tiny brad...

Now all is left is some embellishing, I used stamps and

a black pen, I wrote in each bag one wish and symbolically

represented it on the front of the bag...

Bonus project!

Why not use the same idea for other stuff like

these cute cards! Put inside a beautiful note attached

to a ribbon as well so it´s easy to pull out or

add cut shapes like this heart! Know anyone who would 

enjoy this?

I hope you are inspired to recycle and create! This will also help your creativity expand!

Much love to you!

Everyday ephimera journal book

This book has been made out of everyday ephemera,

I simply have a paper bag over my studio and throw in there

just about anything paper that could be turned into a page 

in this kind of  journals!  

This is a lot of fun to make! You should try it!

You will be making a unique book to journal in

and you will be recycling a lot of stuff that we

 usually call trash and throw away!

Simply get some papers from your everyday life 

that you usually throw away like:

Paper bags

tickets

cloth tags

old envelopes

fun catalogs

junk mail

postcards

food packages

I use a guillotine to cut the papers that can`t be folded in to the 

chosen size of my book but I let some pages be smaller or larger 

to make it even more fun!

Some papers can be really beautiful!  I choose the best

to make interesting pages, they can be guessoed anyway

but colors are always fun wouldn`t you agree?

You can also add good papers in between for a great

day like a watercolor paper or scraapbook papers

and I think this would be a great gift to someone

who likes to journal!

I make my signatures small and clip them with a cloth pin

while they wait to be sewed, then I use a regular embroidery 

white thread but it can also be of great colors to add more interest!

Now this pages are ready for some journaling, this format

makes me wanna go super loosen and not worrying 

about being a perfect page every time, I can simply

go for it and the pages are so small, they are perfect

for those days I just don`t have much time

or feel a little tired to make a large piece!

 Ephemera is fun, use it to make something with it!

Recycling feels good and it saves money!

Inspiration!