Environmentally-Friendly Card Crafting
You can do your part to help save our planet and be crafty at the same time. There are many everyday objects that might otherwise be thrown out that can be put to good use and brighten someone’s day at the same time.
Old Buttons – I love using old buttons. They are just cute! You can use them in many creative ways – like the center of a flower, threaded with colorful threads and arranged on your project.
Cup Cake Toppers – grocery stores and bakeries use decorative cup cake toppers. If they are flat enough, you can use them in your card and scrapbooking designs. Check out this Thanksgiving card, the large leaves are actually cup cake toppers.
Dried Flowers – take suitable flowers and dry them in a phone book. I like pansies and violas. Handle the dried flowers carefully and glue them to your cards.
Natural Materials - Leaves, ferns and twigs make great impressions. You can use leaves and greenery to make images by covering them with paint and pressing them to paper for a natural impression.
Costume Jewelry – if you have old jewelry that you are tired of, some of the stones or embellishments can be used on cards. Be careful if you are trying to dismantle old jewelry – some good tools will come in handy.
Old Greeting cards and note cards – use cut out images from old cards to decorate new ones. I had a pack of old note cards that I was not going to use so I just covered them with my own designs.
Buy recycled paper – many vendors sell recycled paper in a variety of styles and colors.
Wrapping paper scraps – I have used scrap pieces of wrapping paper to make a matching card for a present.
