Dumpster Dive--at the Office

{reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim, repurpose, respect}

At work, the floor on which I'm located soon will be undergoing a renovation. In preparation for that event, we are cleaning house--actually cubicle--now.

We are a department of creatives--writers, graphic and Web designers, multi-media producers, photographers--so it should be no surprise that when the trash and recycle bins started to fill up on our first day of clean-up, those of us who are into reusing and repurposing went diving!

From the trash bin I pulled four of those old wooden file organizers. They're well-used and certainly not in perfect shape. Loose dividers, nicks and chips, years of sticky label build-up, but nothing a bit of glue,  a coat of paint and some cool images from The Graphics Fairy won't fix.

After a face lift, these old organizers will help corral all the ephemera and miscellaneous paper goods I've collected for making my ephemera journals/notebooks. Those shown below are filled with reclaimed paper goods from my attic, thrift stores and garage sales, estate sales and donations from friends and family.

And, speaking of paper goods, the recycle bins offered a plethora of cast-offs: outdated stationery, both plain and fancy, envelopes and folders with obsolete information or addresses. No problem here. I'll cut around all that.

Someone had tossed an entire box of odd-sized vellum envelopes. Oh, goody! A premium item, indeed.

I rescued a sturdy set of black metal bookends that were superficially scraped up. Those will get a fresh coat of paint and a lovely, decorative facade--maybe something done with frames. Or maybe shadow boxes. Or game boards. I've always wanted to do something with the vintage boards I've saved up.

Today, our office is cleaner, a lot of poundage is headed to the recycling center and some of us came home with some items that we'll breathe new life into. Have you ever dumpster dived at your office?

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop
Love 2 Upcycle
The Scoop
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
What's It Wednesday

Make Your Own Envelopes for That Extra Special Touch

A few weeks ago, I came across a great blog post featuring handmade envelopes and confetti from Kristi at Digital Cake Crafting. She makes truly lovely sheet music envelopes using the Martha Steward Scoring Board. I have Martha's board, too, and have used it often. I also have started making my own envelope templates. The envelopes above are made from my templates.

Making envelopes is like therapy to me. They're easy and fun and, when I'm done, I know I have something completely unique. I've made envelopes in about every size imaginable. But, I have a soft spot for mini envelopes, which I incorporate into the ephemera journals I make.

When I come across an envelope shape or size I like, I make a template of it.

Follow these simple instructions and you'll soon be on your way to creating your own special versions.

Steam your found envelope open by covering it with a dish towel or other soft cloth. Set your iron to one of the lower heat settings--one that will allow you to use steam. Steam open by applying the hot iron to the cover cloth, checking the envelope every several seconds to gauge your progress and to ensure the paper doesn't overheat.

After it's steamed open, let the envelope cool and the melted glue set for a couple of minutes before moving on to the next step.

Now, trace your envelope onto a piece of thick cardboard.

Cut out your template and you're ready to create your own envelopes. TIP:  I file the original envelope with the cardboard template for folding reference in the future.

You can create your envelopes out of any type of paper that suits your fancy or your needs. Because I'm big on recycling or upcycling, I most often use pages from discarded books, maps that are otherwise past their prime, old sheet music, paper bags and vintage magazine or catalog pages. Don't worry if the paper isn't perfect. You can often work around any stains, small tears or creases. Of course, wrapping paper and scrapbooking paper are also nice materials for envelopes.

For the larger envelopes below, I used vintage magazine covers and pages. For the smaller envelopes, I used pages of National Geographic.

Trace your template on the paper of your choice. TIP: If you're using paper that has words or an image with a right side up and an upside down, be careful how you place your template. If you plan to use the envelope in a traditional way, so that the front of the envelope is where you normally would put a name or address, place the template so the words or image are right side up on that portion of the envelope. If, like I do, you plan to use the back of the envelope as the front, place accordingly so the image is right side up on that side. This may take a bit of practice until you get the hang of it.

Using your original envelope for reference, fold and score accordingly. I use a bone scorer, but the edge of an expired gift card works just as well.

Next, glue the pouch of the envelope using a glue stick.

I made my envelope to use in an ephemera journal. I like to include handmade envelopes in my journals and attach the traditional front to a piece of card stock so the flap remains free to open and insert special goodies.

That makes the traditional back of the envelope the front in my journals. You can see how the words are positioned when I use the envelopes in this way.

The vintage valentine envelope shows the traditional front and back when the envelope is to be used in the normal fashion.

Recycle some paper today. Mail a special envelope tomorrow. 

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Sunday's Best
Motivate Me Monday
Make It Pretty Monday
The Creative HomeAcre Hop
Cowgirl Up!
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Creatively Tuesday
Frugalicious Friday
Your Great Idea

Jog Your Memories

Source

A while back, I saw this clever, but touching, idea on a friend's Pinterest board. I pinned it, knowing beyond a doubt that I was going to use this.

The concept was the brainchild of Holly at Nothing But Bonfires. She invited friends and family to write and submit a favorite memory of her dad, which she then packaged in these beautiful vintage air mail envelopes and gave to him for his 60th birthday.

Just so happened that my husband's birthday was approaching. Coincidentally, his 60th birthday. I was so enamored with this idea, though, that I'd have stolen it regardless of the age coincidence.

So, I called on family and friends for their favorite memories of my husband, with the assurance that anything goes: funny, sad, goofy, R-rated. Anything.

I didn't know how many people would respond. But the memories started rolling in. And, they just kept coming--right up until the day before his birthday.

A few were hand-written, but most were in email form. I printed the messages on a variety of papers, using those that had a connection with specific people or their stories, when possible. Yes, at times it truly pays to be a pack rat.

After printing all the memories, I put them in vintage air mail envelopes I found on Amazon. I stamped postmarks on each. And, similar to the inspiration project, I tied them all together with mailing string.

That sweet bundle really had impact, if I do say so myself.

I had hoped to share a photo of my husband reading his birthday messages, but silly me--I forgot to charge my camera battery before he began his trip down memory lane.

His expressions told the real story. You'll just have to use your imagination.


Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage
Rednesday at It's A Very Cherry World
What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants
Thursday's Favorite Things Hop at Katherine's Corner
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense
Potpourri Friday at 2805
Simple and Sweet Fridays at Rooted in Thyme
Cowgirl Up

What I Found in the Mail

On the way home from work one night, I stopped at an estate sale. This wasn't one run by an estate sale company. It was run by the family. A really nice family.

I picked up some nice things at the sale--for really good prices. Several lovely aprons. Some nice linens.  A sweet tulip salt and pepper shaker set. Some pretty metal trays.

But what I was most interested in was an envelope with about 50 photographs from the mid to late 1930s and early 1940s and a Ziploc bag of what I thought was just stamps and empty used envelopes with postage stamps still attached. Just the type of ephemera I use in my handmade journals.

I didn't even have to look far. Both were just inside the front door to the place. And, only dollar each for the envelope of photos and the bag of stamps.

When I picked up the envelope of photographs and the bag of stamps, I certainly didn't expect the treasure trove I found when I opened them up at home.

The collection of stamps was nice and will be quite useful for my craft projects. The corner of the envelopes containing the stamps had simply been torn off and thrown into the Ziploc bag.

At the bottom of the bag, however, were a few whole envelopes. All but one were addressed to the same woman. One was addressed to a man who I assume was woman's husband. Over the course of the 12 years the postmarks represented, 1925-1937, the couple appeared to have lived in Texas, western Nebraska and, eventually, central Nebraska.

To my delight, four of the envelopes still contained the original cards.

Such a lovely Mother's Day card, dated 1925.

And, why wouldn't someone with "moonbeams" in her blog title be bowled over by this adorable Valentine card also from the 1920s? It reminded me of how much I loved the imagery in the movie "Paper Moon."

A whimsical birthday card, dated 1935, for the mister, is just doggone cute.

And the icing on the cake is this tease of a Valentine. A true treasure. Like Russian stacking dolls, the outer envelope opens to another, and another, and another. Ten times over. The prize in the tenth and final teensy, weensy envelope--a construction paper heart. Each envelope has a fun rhyme printed in red ink on the front coaxing the reader to open it. As if I needed to be coaxed to look further!

The cards and empty envelopes are all addressed to members of one family. And, let me just say, the package of photographs--the same family--is a delight. Many have detailed, hand-written descriptions on the backs. I'm excited to share those with you in a future post.

As for the little mailbag featured today: It definitely has my stamp of approval.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Knick of Time Tuesday
Share the Love Wednesday
All-Star Block Party
Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Coloradolady