How to Make Coloring Card Gift Sets

The struggle is real. What in the world do you do with all those coloring books? I love them, the art is beautiful, and they are fun to color, but if I start coloring now, and color till I die, I will never get them done.

When people find out you're crafty, they give you coloring books. I've got soooo many coloring books, I buy them, people give them to me, and I even had a craft company send me an entire box of the SAME coloring book by mistake.

How to Create Mixed Media Mail Art

It hurts my heart to throw away a large mailing envelope. Why buy new envelopes, when you can just reuse an old one and save a tree, right?

I wanted to create some mail art to send to my granddaughter. Her seventh birthday was coming up, and I wanted to send her some goodies.

This Abbot Kinney Welding Shop is a Piece of Authentic Venice

We've been spending a lot of time in Los Angeles, lately. For a couple of years, we need to travel between Venice and Seattle for my husband's job. We have fallen in love with Venice.

Venice is amazing. Venice is crazy. Venice has heart. Venice has crime. Venice has very high end homes, and Venice has homeless encampments. Lots of movies and TV shows are filmed in Venice. In fact, I can see The Today Show filming down by the graffiti wall as I type. When we first came here, I made my husband spend an afternoon with Linda Blair and me, watching Roller Boogie. The two star film was shot in Venice, and it's fun to locate the old Venice landmarks and to see how things have changed. You can see the exterior of our apartment in some of the scenes. You can still find roller skaters on the Venice Boardwalk, though roller skating has been eclipsed by skate boarding, with the addition of a new skate park.

Make Your Own Mixed Media Business Cards

I was shopping in a local Seattle thrift shop a few weeks ago and found a package of printable business cards. In my mind, the line between art supplies and office supplies is blurred, so I grabbed the business cards and brought them home.

I shared in this post on how to create your own mixed media master board, that I sometimes use master board to make business cards. I decided to treat the business card sheets as if they were master board substrates, and use them to create... wait for it... business cards!

Create Marker Storage From Recycling!

I was looking for an inexpensive way to store pens and markers the other day, but wasn't ready to invest in an expensive storage system.

I wanted something that could sit in a shelf on its side, since that's better for the markers, but that could sit upright at my work table.

How to Make a Permanent Gelatin Plate

This is one of those projects that I procrastinated trying for several years. Then, I did it and realized how easy it was and felt silly for putting it off all this time.

Do you have projects like that? I love all the cool things folks are doing with gelatin plates, and I've had a small Gelli Arts plate for some time, but I wasn't exploring the gelatin printing process as much as a wanted, mostly because we go back and forth between three different homes, for my husband's job, and the place where we spent the most time was very small and I didn't have space to spread out big projects.

Make a Journal From Your Junk Mail

Here is a fun project for creating a journal using junk mail, items that would normally be thrown away, and leftovers from other projects.

I had this pile of junk mail and return envelopes and paper scraps that I thought I could make into a nice little junk journal, so I put it in a drawer and forgot about it for several months.

Pretty Gift Tags From Packaging!

I have a confession to make. I don't buy a lot of card stock. The occasional scrapbooking paper pack, bought with a 40% off coupon or picked up at Tuesday Morning, does find it's way into my home, but for the most part, I find my card stock at thrift stores and Creative Reuse stores.

When all I need is a substrate, and I'm not worried about archival qualities, I try to find my material in the recycle bin.

Create One of a Kind Card Stock {Masterboard} From Scraps

What do you do with all your creative paper scraps? Those bits left over after punching or die cutting or trimming your paper? Those intricate die cuts that didn't quite work out? Embossed papers that cracked or tore? Stuff that really isn't useful, but it's still really pretty?

Every so often, I will gather up a collection of bits and pieces that I've been hoarding, and use it to create a masterboard. A masterboard is simply a decorated sheet that can be cut apart and used in other projects. To create a masterboard, you need a substrate. Your choice of substrate will depend on the finished purpose of your masterboard.

For instance, if you are creating a masterboard for scrapbooking, you may want to keep your materials archival. If you are making cards or crafts, archival qualities might not be important. My favorite substrates include cereal box sides, ugly scrapbook paper, packaging, mailing cardboard, and junk mail.

I've even used those heavy card stock weight handwriting strips that teachers use.

How you decorate your sheets will also depend on how you want to use the piece. You can layer materials, paint, stamp, or doodle. I usually do a little of all those things.

This is also a great way to use up small amounts of leftover paint. My favorite way to add paint is by spreading it with an old gift card or a stiff piece of cardboard.

Since I like to layer scraps on my masterboard, I use all-purpose white glue. It's inexpensive and can be purchased by the gallon. I have a smaller glue bottle that I refill from my gallon jug. The glue can be spread with an old gift card. Your choice of adhesive may depend on your finished application.

Glue all your layers down really well, then use a brayer, if you have one, to flatten it out and get good adhesion. To protect my brayer and to get good contact, I sometimes use an old sheet of fun foam over my masterboard while using the brayer.

I keep layering collaged items, paint, and ink until I'm happy with the finished piece. I do not seal the top of the piece.

I've used heavier masterboards to cut up and use for business cards. If you cut them out after the glue is mostly dry, but the paper is still cool to the touch, you can run the pieces through your embossing machine for beautiful results that are very sturdy. Or run them through the machine between your shimmed plates to flatten them out perfectly. Embossed pieces can be lightly inked on the raised areas for very pretty effects.

Lighter weight masterboard is perfect for cards or tags. The possibilities are limitless. I know of an artist who creates his own masterboard from found ephemera, presses it perfectly flat, then screen prints over it! His pieces are beautiful.

You might enjoy this post about weaving stars from vintage book pages.

You might also like this post on how to use up and upcycle old notecards.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to House Revivals in the sidebar, so you won't miss the fun projects we have planned. Find us on Facebook, too, so you can catch all the "in between" stuff, and see what I'm working on throughout week on Instagram. Feel free to link today's project to your favorite social media sites.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Amanda

My Dear Friend's Junk Journal

Last week, I shared a tutorial on how to make a junk journal, using an O-ring binding machine. This week, I am sharing a flip through of the journal my friend made during that same creative session.

We were both using the same supplies, and the same binding system, but our books turned out very different.

How to Make a Junk Journal From a Vintage Book

Several months ago, my dear friend from Colorado joined me at the beach house for a week of creative fun and beach combing. One of our creative projects was to create junk journals using covers from some old Reader's Digests.

I introduced my friend to the Zutter Bind-It-All, and we watched some YouTube videos for binding inspiration. Then we raided the 'studi-attic' for supplies.

My Favorite Junk Journal Binding Tools

When I was in college, we created altered books in one of my art classes. As the instructor described the project, I felt as if a chorus of heavenly angels was singing in my brain. The project was a mix of repurposed vintage stuff, and art, and good old handcrafts. Can anything be more perfect than that?

That particular project was created similarly to this  Dollar Tree project, that I shared earlier. 

Valentine Pocket Hangers and Garlands {Upcycled Mixed-Media}

A couple of years ago, I found a great deal on old LP's in a local Goodwill. They were ten cents a piece, so I grabbed a stack of albums that met one of two criteria: good album, or good cover graphics.

We keep an old stereo at the beach house, so LP's get plenty of use, but since not all the vinyl was in good shape, I was looking for album covers that could easily be re-purposed. I found a melted LP, with beach themed graphics and decided to make some Valentine pockets with it.

Inking Wooden Bingo Balls {or: When You've Lost All Your Marbles}

I recently realized I'd lost all my marbles -- actually, that's not entirely correct. You see my husband's mother passed away a couple of years ago and we inherited her lost marbles. So, really, my mother-in-law lost her marbles, and I never had them to begin with.

My husband grew up with a marble solitaire game that his parents picked up on a trip to Thailand in the late sixties or early seventies. When his mother passed away, he got the wooden game board, but the marbles were long gone.

Easy Washi Tape Cards or Tags

Here is an easy last minute card or gift tag idea that helps bust your stash of decorative tapes and paper scraps, and diverts old book pages from the landfill.

The use of classic holiday ornament shapes, allows you to successfully use non-holiday papers and tapes to create lovely Christmas cards.

Paper Mache Father Christmas Tutorial

Don't you just love old fashioned Father Christmas decor?  Father Christmas ornaments always seemed a bit intimidating to me, so I never tried making them myself, until I discovered how easy this papier mache method is.

I was watching some of my favorite YouTube bloggers last year, and found that Emi, at Hectanooga1, has several papier mache tutorials.

Make These {Easy} Snowman Hat Ornaments!

These adorable little snowman hat ornaments are easy and fun to make, using recycled cardboard tubes and boxes.

Last year, on a trip to Arizona to visit family, I wanted to bring my sister-in-law a set of handmade ornaments with her kids' names on them. Of course, they weren't finished when it was time to travel, so I brought supplies and finished them when I got there.

Upcycled Altoids Tin Travel Spicy Farkel

A good friend was recently visiting from Colorado, and she gifted me with a Spicy Farkel game. This was the same friend who gifted me with a regular Farkel game a few months ago. I loved that game, and decided to alter a little round mint tin to make a travel Farkel game.

When my friend gifted me with the Spicy version of the game, I knew it needed it's own travel tin, as well.

Upcycle Leftover Sets of Notecards, to Create Useful, All-Occasion Cards

We've all got them. Maybe they're stuffed in a drawer somewhere, maybe they're in a closet, or maybe they're in the "donate" box in the mud room.  Every thrift store has them, too. They are the (often unopened) event specific thank-you cards. "Thank you for the wedding gift", "thank you for the shower gift", "thank you for the baby gift", etc.

The other day, I was looking at a package of these notecards at the Goodwill, and it occurred to me that these cards can be upcycled as card bases for all-occasion cards!

How to Make a Travel Farkel Game

My dear friend sent me a game of pocket Farkel recently. I had visited her on summer vacation this summer, and she attempted to teach me to play.

I loved the compactness of the pocket game, but was concerned that the plastic zipper bag would not hold up to the chaos of my handbag -- you seriously never know what I might be carrying around... scissors... craft knives... who knows?