WAXY WISHES

How do you feel about recycling/upcycling? I have a penchant for considering many things that others would throw out, possibly not even bothering to recycle it, to use "garbage" in my papercrafting.

What I'm speaking of specifically in this card, is the cool almost leathery looking background. Does it look masculine? I think it surely does!

If you order things online, often the packaging in these boxes is interesting, with the potential of being used in your creative projects, rather than being thrown away. Save a landfill!

Awhile back, I received an order and in the box was very thick waxy paper. I immediatly added it to my stash of possibilities. Coming across it again recently, I decided to use it for a background on a masculine birthday card.

I cut a usable size of the waxy paper and crumpled it into a ball in my hand. I flattened it out somewhat, then proceeded to do this a few more times, until it resembled leather after the final flattening. 

To coordinate with the look of my "leather" background and hoping to make it even more masculine-looking, I used brown cardstock for the card base, and all the other elements were die cut from a light woodgrain paper.

The final touch were two gold pearls dotting the "i's". 

Here you go, a tutorial on how to make this card, provided you are lucky enough to get a piece of this waxy paper -- or something similar -- in a box containing your order.

SUPPLIES:

Soft Suede cardstock (now retired, but you can use any brown)

Woodgrain Specialty Paper

Heavy tan waxed paper

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Birthday words dies

All That dies (page 162, Annual Catalog)

Stitched Rectangles dies 

Gold Pearls 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of brown cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Take a piece of heavy tan waxed paper that measures 3 3/4" x 4 1/2". Crush it up in your hands. Unfold it; crush again. Do this several times until, when you flatten it out, you have a very interesting leather-looking pattern. When you are pleased, set this aside.

Using rectangle dies, choose two: 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" and 3" x 4 1/4". From pale woodgrain paper, die cut first the larger rectangle. Then, place the smaller die inside the rectangle you just cut, and run it through your die cutting machine again. You will have formed a frame.

Take the flattened piece of waxed paper and adhere the frame to it. If any of the waxed paper protrudes beyond the edge of the frame, snip it off.

Adhere the completed frame to the card base.

From the same pale paper, die cut the birthday words.

Adhere the words to the waxed portion of the card so the tops of the word come about an inch down.

Die cut the decorative piece from the same paper. This is the die from the All That Dies that rersembles argyle. Add this to the bottom of the waxed part.

Add two gold gems to the "i" in both of the words.

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Recycling turns things into other things. 

Which is like MAGIC.

- Anonymous -

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Recycled

Smiles.