Inspiration for crafting

Never being very good at inventing crafts, I am always on a quest for new ideas or inspiration. Pinterest has been great for this as well as allowing me the ability to collect and catalog ideas for future reference.

Another way to find inspiration is to tear things out of catalogs and keep them in an inspiration journal. 

How many craft magazines do you have stored for a project you want to do some day? I used to, and there may have been one or two ideas in the whole magazine that I really wanted to do. So I started pulling those things out and using the magazine or catalog for other things or offering them on freecycle. No more clutter!

My inspiration journal is now going to be digital. If you do go digital, be sure to have a backup system. I find ideas in magazines, online, in gift shops, at garden shops, and department stores. Most people have a cell phone and it is so easy to snap a picture for future use. I love going to Lowe’s to take pictures of the flowers to use in my paintings as a reference tool.

You do not have to be creative to create, just copy, or use an idea to kick-start your creative side.  

Repurposing Gift Bags

Gift bags are beautiful and they come in so many themes, colors, and sizes. If you are like me, you have ended up with a nice collection. So what do you do with them? I decided to recycle mine into storage containers for my office.  

To get started, first find a box to use. For this project, I used an empty K-cup box but any box will work. Ideas: you may try diaper boxes, boxes from a discount store when buying bulk, and Amazon.com sends out a perfect-fit box for this project. You get the idea, reuse and recycle what is on hand. Choose the size that will fit inside your gift bag. If the box does not fit inside the bag, you will not have enough paper to cover the box. So this is important.

If the top flaps are still on the box, cut them off so that your box has only a bottom and 4 sides. Neatness is not key here, this part will be covered. 

Next, choose a bag such as the one shown below in photo #1: 

Photo #1

Again, be sure the box you are covering will fit inside the bag!

Next, you want to cut the bag open down the side seam from top to bottom, cutting through the lip at the top. 

Photo #2

Photo #3

You should now have a bag with the bottom cut off (at the bottom crease) and a slit down one side and ready to use. 

In photo #1, you will see that the handle is a rope. This will become your box handle. Pull the lip (portion of the bag that is folded over at the top) up and find the point where the ribbon is attached to the bag, this is usually attached by a simple knot. With a pencil or something that will puncture a hole in your box, first mark and then poke a hole where the knot of the rope/ribbon will be pushed through. Hint: I usually un-knot the handle to poke it through the smallest hole necessary, so the handle will not slip though after you have retied the knot and the box is done. 

Line up the handle on the other side and push it through the box in the same way you did the first handle. (You may have to cut a slit into the other side seam of the bag so that the paper fits snugly around the box (if the box is smaller than the inside of the bag and is not close fit; I usually try to find a box that is close to the size of the bag so this step is not necessary).

Now fold the lip back over the top of the box, covering the top edge of the box (which is the cut edge), and glue down. Any glue will work: craft glue, Elmer’ glue, or whatever you have on hand for paper use. 

Fitting the bag snugly around the outside of the box, (remembering that it may require an extra seam cut to get a finished look) glue both seams down to the box, gluing one end of bag to the box first, then glue the remaining end down. 

Finish the bottom as if finishing the ends of a wrapped present. You can fasten with tape or glue, whichever you prefer, and you are finished!

Here is one that I have completed:

With the many bags and discarded boxes you find you can now start organizing any room at no extra cost and faithfully creating. 

Ideas for crafting and decorating with shells and sand

As a crafter and artist, I am always looking for a new project. My DH says it is not the craft I am looking for but the collection of “stuff.” I love to collect craft supplies: fabric, paints, ribbons, yarn… you get the picture. Then after it is all collected, I am onto a new search of organizing ideas, so that it looks pretty (a whole new obsession).

I love to take old things and give them a new life. If I can craft for pennies, why buy new. I do not like plastics, although I am typing on plastic LOL, but really like to repurpose old fabrics and wood. www.Pinterest.com has been a great place to get inspiration, but better than that, it is great for virtually marking great sites to go back and utilize at another time. 

I also frequent thrift stores weekly, looking for old picture frames, furniture, and anything that can be remade into something fabulous. With the recent economy, I am not the only one doing this, making my treasures harder to find. Another place to find freebies is www.freecycle.com. I have found and given away many things on this website. These things are all free! 

I have always been fortunate enough to live close to the ocean. Sea glass and seashells are a great freebie. Always on a search of what to do with the items, I visit websites, blogs and gift shops to inspire me.  Below are some real quick ideas, the bottle is filled with sand, sea glass and shells from a vacation in Hawaii, the tray is full of shells from my beach visits, but served well as a vanity decoration for my master bath.

Next time you go on a walk and find a pinecone, seashells or the next time you go to a thrift store and find a picture frame, broken dish or an old lamp, imagine and then create. I hope to share what I find and intimately what I create on this blog. The ideas are usually not my own ideas but those I have copied or have seen in a magazine, you do not have to have a great imagination, just a will to create your own things. The best gifts that I have gotten are those that are handmade!