Merry Christmas Eve

Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday!

I'll be back after Christmas with some ways to upcycle leftover wrapping paper. So if you have some paper that you love- don't throw it away, save it so you can craft along too!

Also for the Record.

1. Bucket Felting is sounding like a good alternative right now... Click this link, then this link for the full story on that one.

2. I have two of the three pairs of slippers knit but...

3. I need one pair felted and finished for tomorrow and for various reasons including a work conference call that went late, finishing the seaming on the slippers later than expected and wrong directions from a laundromat employee- I missed the last wash at every laundromat anywhere near me.

4. Too little too late... arg!

To quote my favorite holiday move: It's Christmas and we're all in misery.

Re-wrap: Reuse and Recycle Wrapping Ideas

Did you know that the average wrapping paper can't be recycled? Most communities require you to just throw it away.

According to bright hub.com it's estimated that in the US 50,000 cubic yards of wrapping paper is thrown away every year after the holidays. For those of you who are like my and have no idea how much that is but think it sounds like a lot I've put it into context. I googled what the average dump truck holds and got 5 cubic yards. So it would take 10,000 dump trucks to hall away all that wrapping paper!

I've done a few re-wrap workshops before and every time people were surprised by how great the finished gifts looked. I think people generally have this idea that it won't look as good as conventional wrapping paper but I think it actually looks better.

Now I'm not going to lie- it does take some extra time. And I'd love to say that I don't use any store bought wrapping paper- but that's just not true either. But I figure if at the very least I've cut down on what we would normally use- that's something. I also buy paper that can be recycled whenever I can.

You can use some really common things like brown paper grocery bags to wrap gifts. That's what I've used here. I glued some paper punched snowflakes on this after I wrapped it and tied it with a scrap of red ribbon. Would you ever guess this was a grocery bag!

You could also use the scraps of paper you have left after using the paper punch as a stencil. I painted some flakes onto another grocery bag- which was certainly faster than gluing the individual punched flakes onto the bag.

This one is very quick and easy. I covered the outside and lid of a mason jar with leftover pieces of scrapbook paper. They are great for holding things like tee shirts, scarves, mittens, hats, cookies and candies. And they can be reused from year to year.

Reused mailing tubes also make great containers for more than just posters. Clothes or candy- even knitting needles fit great into these tubes. I used a sharpie to color red lines- but you could also use paint, ribbon or cover the entire tube with a pretty scrapbook paper.

Making your own gift tags is also a great way to reuse materials and they can be recycled once the holiday is over. Check out Joanne at Ready, Set, Craft! who made some cute tags from old holiday cards. She also has a great idea for origami gift boxes using scrapbook paper.

And check out this post from How about orange to learn how to make your own gift bows using magazine pages- or really any paper.