Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover

Tag Archives: recycling


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It’s Not Just Rubber Stamping

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We LOVE getting together to play with our toys. Some call it making messes, but we call it fun. And you can’t create and make rubber stamped cards without the creative process, and that means messes are made. Also mistakes, but we use mistakes as opportunities to be even more creative with our oops.

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It’s not just rubber stamping.

It’s crafting

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chatting

applying (or ignoring) theories of art composition

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using our imaginations

sipping tea (or coffee or a special dessert drink)

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solving world problems

singing the oldies, sometimes badly and off-tune (me, always with the wrong lyrics)

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sharing life

telling stories

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listening to music

keeping cats off the table

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playing games

getting older

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sharing resources

enjoying fine literature (or just literature on a CD)

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making goals

going for walks

9A774B91-B6DC-4B24-8213-EAC0DD08F0DEbuilding from each other’s ideas

paving the way to send snail mail messages to friends and family

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making gifts to share

eating too much

0DA4FC29-EC44-49F3-A78E-BBE8624C9BC8recycling (saving rubber stamps from the landfills and reusing paper and craft items down to the tiniest scraps)

storing memories (and collectively attempting to recall long ago events)

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visiting friends

and building love.

 

Completed card totals for this trip: 76

Friends involved in this weekend: 7


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Decorated Metal Tins ~ How to Use Those Empty Altoid and Ice Chip Tins

The top cover of my decorated tin

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

I joined a group of ladies to make these pretty prayer boxes last weekend.

I recently attended the Columbia Basin Baptist Association’s Annual Women and Teenage Girls’ Retreat at Camp Touchet, just outside of Dayton, Washington. What a beautiful, if somewhat remote and out of cell coverage zone, location!

Much fun was had Friday night when our craft lady and photographer shared her idea and supplies with us. We made these fun prayer boxes!

Of course, the boxes could be used for anything, but we were at a retreat that featured prayer, so our boxes were prayer themed.

So make use of those empty Altoid or Ice Chip metal tins and create to your hearts’ content.

The top and bottom of my tin

Decorated Metal Tins

Materials:

empty metal tins

spray paint

decorated scrap paper

scissors

pencils

thin-tipped permanent markers

craft glue

washi tape

buttons, ribbon, stickers, gems, glitter glue, and assorted embellishments

1. In advance, spray paint the outside of the tin, including top, bottom, and sides. Let dry.

2. Trace the tin bottom on decorated scrap paper. Cut it out and trim to fit. You can use this as a template for the bottom, top, and inside top of the tin. Glue in place with craft glue.

3. I loved the look of the washi tape, so I edged the top and bottom with washi. It doesn’t stick very well around the corners by itself, so I need to glue down the corners.

4. Add buttons, butterflies, stickers, or any embellishments you want. Make a decorated label for the lid to tell what the tin is for. Glue to top.

5. I also decorated the inside of the lid. You can see the little poem that we included in our lids.

6. I left the bottom empty, but added small pieces of paper for notes and a short pencil (our craft person found them on Amazon – just search for mini mechanical pencils).

The inside poem, note paper, and pencil

Et voila! You are ready to take notes, write down thoughts, pen tiny masterpieces, or scribe prayers.

How are you going to use this craft idea? I think it would be great for a camp project!

 


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I Love Hand-Me-Downs

I’m not above totally enjoying digging through a bag of my sister’s hand-me-downs to pull out new-to-me favorites.

(That would be a literal hand-me-down, as I am older but much shorter than she.)

I also thrill to the seek-and-find treasures I discover at local thrift shops. In fact, the sweater (Mr. Roger’s style cardigan, come in the house-trade the coat for a sweater style) I wear all the time is my best ever purchase from Goodwill.

Seriously. I think my family may be a tad bit exhausted of seeing me wear the same old sweater. Every. Single. Day.

But it is the best sweater! I know I look more granny-like wearing it, but it is comfy, broken in, not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

I’ve had this sweater for over 5 years, conservative estimate. It appears to be well made and may last for another 15. Score! I think I paid $1.99, maybe $2.99.

My husband and I enjoy keeping clothes long past the expiration date (yes, we are THAT couple). One of our favorite games is counting back to find out who is wearing the oldest outfit.

“I’ve had this shirt since Chelsie was 3,” I said.

“Well, I bought these sweats when we were in England,” replies the hubby.

“But I had this dress for Easter when we were in Wapato,” I counter.

And on and on goes the battle.

It is our game. And our life. We are not ones for top of the line, current fashion, get rid of the old and buy new all the time. Some of you may be saying, quietly in your heads, “YES, we know! Go get some new clothes!!!” Maybe you are even yelling that, hoping we will hear.

It’s OK. We are happy with our little game. I think, at heart, we are children of the depression, though we are not really old enough. We use every little thing until it is beyond use. And then maybe we can still find a use for the scraps that remain.

I’m thinking that’s being a good steward of natural resources and God’s providence. Recyling, repurposing, reusing.

Besides, it’s fun.

I’d love to hear where you find your favorite clothes. Are you a scavenger like me? Let’s share tips.