Cardboard Tubing Recycled Wall Art

This can be made in as short a time as a weekend. You can easily put your own spin on it and be thrilled with the results!

Here is how you do it!

Start with some cardboard tubes from rolls of paper towels, toilet paper, and wrapping paper. We should mention that it took way more tubes than we thought it would (about 5 paper towel rolls, 6 toilet paper rolls, and 2 wrapping paper rolls). It is a good idea to have many more on hand than you think you will need.

Next, flatten them out, measure, mark and cut them into equal sections.


Once your pieces are cut out, play around with them! Move them around, step back, then move them around some more until you are happy with the shape and pattern. Glue your pieces together and put paperclips on to hold them in place while the glue dries.


Next, send your husband outside in the ice and snow to spray paint your creation!

Once your paint dries, you are ready to hang your masterpiece on the wall! When Maggie and Jeff (in the picture above) hung theirs up, they decided that they didn't like it as much as they thought they would. So they took parts of it down and rearranged the pieces.
They also spray painted an old mirror the same paprika color that they used on the cardboard. And now they love it (although they plan on adding on to it as soon as they have more cardboard tubes)!

The great part of this project is that there is no wrong way to do it, and there is no real way to mess it up. So give it a try and have fun with it!

SOURCES: 
Maggie and Jeff's Post @ Homemade Mamas
Check out this post from Growing Up Creative.

Old Silver Plate

A couple of years ago, I bought a tray full of old silver-plated flatware at a yard sale for $2. I found all kinds of ideas around the web, and these were the ones I liked the best. 

My husband bought me a small pair of bolt cutters, which I've got to admit, I don't know how I got along all these years without them! They've come in really handy, especially for the main reason he got them . . . . for me to cut handles off of spoons and forks and knives. It makes a nice, smooth,clean cut, so that you only have to sand a little bit. 

 

SPOON PENDANT:

I start by cutting the bowl of the spoon off, leaving enough to curl backwards for the chain or ribbon to go through. I can usually get it to curl back with

some needle nose pliers, using a soft cloth between the teeth to prevent tool marks on the silver. Then I'll go through some post cards or greeting cards to find small pictures and words I like to put in the bowl. I have a nice container of old jewelry and glitter and buttons (my Bits&Pieces!) that I'll also add to the little scene I'm creating. Easy on the glitter, I found that out the hard way, a small pinch is all you need, trust me!

SPOON HANDLE BRACELET:

Now, what to do with the handle? Easy . . . make a bracelet! I used a 1/16" bit to drill a hole in each end of the spoon handle. Then I used some very cheap, very coarse, emery boards to sand down the cut edge. I wrapped two pair of slip joint pliers in a dishtowel to keep the tool marks off the spoon handle, and grabbing one end of the handle in each pair of pliers, I bent it into a nice curved shape, perfect for my wrist. The silver-plate is pretty soft to drill through, and to bend into a bracelet. I mentioned the nice container of Bits&Pieces I have . . . . I found a small length of silver-plated chain, and some jump rings and bead pins and eye pins, and a pretty assortment of beads and charms.

WIND CHIME: If you still have an odd assortment of silver plated eating utensils, try making a wind chime. I had a small silver plated trinket tray, too, so I used it to hang the spoons from. 

Find a block of wood to lay out the spoons if you want to pound them flat. 

I used a ball peen hammer for this step. 

Using the 1/16" drill bit, I drilled some holes in the top edge of my trinket tray to hang it from, and some along the bottom to hang the spoons from. Since I had some beading wire left, I used it to string my spoons and beads on, and crimping beads to hold them on. I think it's going to hold up better than fishing line, but we'll see. It makes a soothing,beautiful sound when the breezes move it. I'll take another photo later, since I just this second realized that the photo I do have of the wind chime is "in progress".

You might also like:

More Silver Plate

Spoon Jewelry Close-Up Photos

Silver Spoon Bracelets and Apologies For Being A Bad Blogger

Read more: http://kudzukween.blogspot.com/2008/09/old-silver-plate.html#ixzz14FRMQFHm

Gallery Style Book Shelves Using Gutters! Really!

A wonderful idea and article I found @ TJED Mothers  by Shiloah Baker.

Children learn through their senses: smell, touch, taste, see, and hear. When it comes to books, children love the bright colors, smelling them, looking them over and over again, many times tasting them depending on the age, and listening to them read to them over and over again.

A recent problem we discovered in our home was how we were storing the books for our little children. We have many bookshelves full of books in our home and one large one for all the little kid books. Fortunately our children love to read. Unfortunately, they pull the books out of the shelves all day long. This isn’t because they are choosing to be little stinkers- it’s because they want to read and it’s not fun when you’re a kid picking out a book from the spine! Little kids want to see the front- or like my little tot- the back to see what books in the collection we still need to buy.

When I discovered galley shelves made of inexpensive vinyl gutters, I was thrilled! It was the perfect solution for the problem! The children could have shelves that look nice in the house (not ghetto) and best of all; they can see their books from the front or back depending on how they put them on the shelves. They are always accessible and the shelves encourage reading with the books flashing their bright colors and pretty pictures.

To make these shelves in your home here are the directions:

Vinyl Gutters (Price ranges about $6 a gutter)
Circular saw or hacksaw.
2 hangers per shelf- 3 if you plan to make them long
Long wall screws
Left and right end caps
Glue
Sandpaper
Washcloth
Tape measure


Directions:

Decide how many shelves you want and how long each one should be. Mark it on the vinyl gutter and cut with either a hand saw or circular saw. Sand the edges if you wish. With a wet washcloth wipe down the debris left from cutting.

Decide where you want the shelves. Some good ideas are in family areas of the home and next to beds with enough space to safely roll under them.

Slide on the gutter hooks; use two for smaller shelves and three for long shelves. Slide each hook/hanger to the end of each side. Screw the hooks into the wall. Add end caps, gluing into place if you want them more permanent.

Allow the kids to line up the books on the shelves and you will find more reading going on than ever before.

About the Author:
Shiloah Baker is a mom of seven, pregnant with #8, married to the man she's madly in love with. Exercise is her vice. She runs a The Homemaking Cottage and homeschools. In her spare time she sews, crafts, writes and reads. Join us at The Homemaking Cottage Deluxe Edition for 1057 ways to improve your home and family! http://www.homemaking-cottage.com/

Book Wreath - Shabby Nest Version

from The Shabby Nest:

When I saw this page in the Pottery Barn catalog, my heart skipped a beat. Yes, the bedding is lovely, and the windows are pretty, but it was those wreaths that I fell in love with. Amazing!! So, of course, I decided I had to make me one of those "bookish" wreaths.



They were so easy to make too...
I started by getting me a piece of heavy cardstock (in retrospect, I would actually recommend using heavy CARDBOARD for this project) and drew my wreath base using a plate and a glass for the pattern.


Then I simply cut it out.

I pulled out my trusty glue gun "Old Blue" and went to work.



After dismantling a book that I never read (and never intended to read) I rolled the pages into tight cones, and secured each one with a dot of hot glue, then I started gluing them to the base in a starburst pattern.

From there I kept gluing until the wreath was nice and full. I loved the shape, but the pages were too new looking. So I watered down some Raw Umber acrylic paint (when I say watered it down...I mean it was mostly water with a little paint in there) and brushed it over all the pages to create an aged look.


Then I added some pretty ribbon and hung it in my dining room window. I thought it looked beautiful...


...until I saw the sun shine through it. Oh. my goodness. It's stunning! And free! (Well, except for the ribbon, but I was buying that for Christmas gifts anyway, and it was 50% off at Michael's so that's almost as good as free, right? RIGHT?)

Want to see another PB knock-off book wreath? Brenda at Dragonflys and Stars shared her version during the last Frugal Friday Linky Party here at the Shabby Nest!

Book Wreath - Shabby Nest FOLDED Version

from The Shabby Nest:

While the kiddos made Valentine's I took the opportunity to finally get to a project that has been on my to-do list ever since I saw it here.




So while the kiddos painted and glued, I shoved book pages onto a wreath form I created from a wire hanger. I have seen many of these sorts of wreaths made from burlap around blogland. And although I do love burlap...I'm a paper girl at heart. I couldn't resist making one with with book pages.

And it was so easy too!!! I grabbed an old book out of one of our unpacked boxes (yes, we still have many of those) in the basement and started ripping out pages. Then I just took a page at a time and folded it loosely into either thirds or fourths - I tried to mix it up to create movement and texture - and shoved it onto the hanger wreath form. It took about 100 sheets, but it went quickly. When I was done I just twisted the ends together and snipped off the excess with wire cutters. I did leave enough wire to create a hanger at the top. Easy-peasy!!

I don't know which I like more? My "well-read wreath" or this "words and wire" one. Wouldn't they both be great in a home office or library? I'm still up in the air where to put this one.

Book Wreath - Dragonflys and Stars Version

I just got my PB catalog yesterday and as I was paging through it I saw these wreaths that I liked.



from Dragonflys and Stars:

I went through the masses of books my husband and I have and found one that I really didn't value and would never look at again. (Sorry, romance novels don't hold a lot of interest for me.) So I started ripping out pages and rolling cones. I cut out a cardboard circle and used my hot glue gun to make a wreath.



I think it will hang in one of my kitchen windows. I hung it against a wall so you could see it better. I am thinking about using spray adhesive and glitter to add a little bling, but haven't decided yet. What do you think, glitter or no glitter?



Ssshhhh, don't tell anyone. It almost makes me want snow...