RECYCLED STARBURST

I just love to use surprising materials in my cards. Especially those things that would normally be thrown in the garbage by any other normal human.

Do you recognized the "Designer Series Paper" I used in the starburst for my card?

I'm sure you guessed, but, just in case you didn't, I used cut up kleenex boxes. Yessss! The prints on these throwaway boxes are so attractive, I just cannot bring myself to throw them away. Anyone else like me out there?

Well, my stash of broken down kleenex boxes was growing, so I thought I should really do something with at least a few of them.

After digging through them, I arrived at an assortment of prints/colors that seemed like they would play well together.

After I had cut them into various widths with pointed ends, I cut a piece of scrap cardstock to 4" x 5 1/4". 

Starting with the central piece, I worked first towards the top, and once I finished that, I worked the bottom half, butting the pieces up to each other.

You can see in the photo below that, where they all met in the center, it was sort of messy and uneven looking. That was OK, because I knew I was going to cover it all up with my sentiment piece.

The next photo shows the scrap cardstock with the glued pieces in place upside down. Notice how they all hang haphazardly beyond the edges of the base cardstock. 

Using sharp scissors and being very careful, I trimmed the kleenex box pieces close to the base cardstock.

You can see in the photo below, flipped right side up, how much improved it all looks.

Now I was ready to proceed with my card.

I discovered that Coastal Cabana cardstock and ink coordinate well with the colors in the boxes.

Unfortunately, the stamps I used for my sentiment piece will be retiring in about a week. <sob>

On a piece of white cardstock, I stamped the watercolored look blob from Textures & Frames. Atop that, in black ink, I stamped the sentiment from the Season's Blessings set.

Two of the Layering Circles dies came in handy, one to die cut the sentiment itself. Then another to die cut a little larger cute scalloped circle from Coastal Cabana cardstock.

To finish off this piece, I added a trio of Matte Black Dots.

With Stampin' Dimensionals, I added the circle over the messy looking central area.

Attached to a white card base, I had a cute -- recycled -- card that I felt good about. 

Now, tell us, and be honest, have you ever used portions of kleenex boxes in a card? Any other crafting project? Do you ever save anything that others would consider garbage for use in a <possible> future project? What? Please share with us!

Recycled

Smiles.