Sunday, May 29, 2011

Making a real recycled card...The Green Thing - Do you save and reuse rubberstamping/scrapbooking items?

Recycled Card - What do you think I recycled to make this card??!!


After reading this, The Green Thing, it made me think about what rubber stamping and/or scrapbooking items and scraps I save and reuse...I have to admit I hate to even throw away a piece of pretty paper that is big enough to punch a little circle out of -
Are there those of you who feel the same way?

At the end of this post, there is a recycling technique you can use in your cardmaking and scrapbooking - using those dryer sheets you know there be other uses for so don't throw them away just yet!
I have a little bucket I put mine into....

The Green Thing...
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she was right.
They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn't have
the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right, they didn't have
the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

Back to my card.  Here are some closeups of my aluminum foil card:


Pieces of leftover lace, a pin, a tin foil can snowflake and border, clear tinsel, and plastic ribbon that covers the ribbon on a roll of ribbon
(that you take off before you use it)


Also I used leftover pearls and a black Sharpie to color in some of the dots to match the black lace.  I found out that aluminum foil is really hard to scan or take pictures of!

Sometimes I actually considering making a list of the saved bits of paper, ribbon, etc. that I have so I can see what I have and use it....because I forget what I have saved....lol

Here is the Dryer Sheet technique for you - uses some of that
glitter you always have around too!

Glittered Dryer Sheets








1. Save those used dryer sheets.


2. Stamp images on your card stock.


3. Apply glue from aglue stick over the stamped image.


4. Place a used dryer sheet over the glue and smooth out.


5. Cut off the excess or wrap around the cardstock and glue on back.


6. Sprinkle glitter over the dryer sheet. It will stick to the glue.


You can also stamp directly onto the dryer sheet (similar to mulberry paper). OR - brayer it to color it or dye the dryer sheet with a few drops of reinker in a plastic bag.


Now you know what the green thing is!


















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