Reindeer Bags

While it looks pretty funky under the tree, these are fun to make.

These are just paper lunch bags with a partial outline of hand for the antlers and parts cut of of magazines and pasted to the bag to make the reindeer and names. 

I made one for a Christmas Throwdown challenge for exchanging our Secret Santa gifts and it was "Kate Moss the Burberry Reindeer" (sorry, I don't have a picture of it).

I used a red button for her nose and glued it to her nose and then created a necklace with a paper bead in the center for necklace. For the antlers I used a partial handprint on the edge of the magazine that had a perfume sample strip and it was even scented!  I wrote "Merry Christmas" at the bottom with gold paper paint and it did look cute and got a few chuckles. 

Misc. Recycled Gift Wraps

It is based on the Risque Reindeer Gift Bag at Cut Out and Keep, except I was going for cute over being risque.

It is made entirely of recycled paper.  The face was from a Halloween craft project from a magazine for a jackolantern and the antlers handprints cut out of two similar shaded magazine pages (they turned out a little droopy - next time I try this I will use cardboard from a cereal box as backing.)

This is based on  Upcycled Gift Wrapping by Vanessa with a tutorial over at Craftzine.  On this one I used the page of a magazine,  a piece of sweatshirt for the bow and cut  out letters of the name kidnapper style from a magazine and glued them on with a glue stick.

This is basically the same concept, except I used a brown paper bag, cutout letter from a magazine and a cut off handle from a red plastic bag for the bow.

This is just an ad from a magazine with the letter for the name drawn on another solid part of page and glued on with a glue stick.

Rolled Flowers

Make pretty flowers to embellish crafts or packages from upcycled magazine pages!  This flower is a combination of a loose rolled flower with a tight rolled flower glued in the center.

I knew immediately when I saw the tutorial at Under The Table And Dreaming that I wanted to try to make some of these.  On her blog she makes them in both paper and fabric.


Link to the tutorial:  
http://ourliebertfamily.blogspot.com/2009/12/rolled-flower-gift-toppers.html?showComment=1261626546687_AIe9_BFUplHQvr_vCh6LkSdfSJ2hP73O3Mmk7CcQwvc5JFJAyx3GOkCNMrqW7qK5Cp4Vd3iZ5ps4E8WZzyLL97X6xiFZv_v6aQn8ZKF-dpIMBij1gq_5b26zxiAq-m2DlV0x-8WZWLbw7r4yIBZJB1HXUqVhKhy7tt0G8ekKJNzg9dIc94WQDNeJrwV2qVgV9WmuZ7NZSDBEasDnSL6k7bIoLW53PL2vgTYIamiGD-JbCnOGGLoKFxOz4ruDMU8b80520_jUHFiA#c2988219043799823034

Items I used:

• 3 pages from a magazine
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Craft Glue

Take 3 pages of  magazine and square them up - I folded them up until they looked square then cut off the excess.

With a small hook in the center, draw an outward spiral on the paper with a pen or pencil and it will look sort of like this (sorry, you couldn't see the pencil on the pic I took so I did this instead).

Cut the spiral on the lines and you will end up with a long squiggle of paper.

Start with the outer edge and roll inward.  I ended up using dabs of glue as I went because the first time I tried making one after gluing the end the center unrolled like a Slinky.   How tightly you roll the flower  and how many layers you use will give the flower a different look.  The large flower below was rolled loosely, lower left tightly and for the small one on the right I only used 1 layer of paper.   For the above flower, a tight roll was glued inside the larger flower.

Upcycled Gift Wrappings

Gift package wrapping made entirely of upcycled items.

This was based on tutorial over at Craftzine by Vanessa at Designs by Vanessa:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/12/upcycled_gift_wrapping.html

Items used:

• Bubble mailer
• Magazine pages
• Scrap of fabric
  
• Scissors
• Glue stick
  

It is the same concept except I used an old bubble mailer instead of a grocery bag, a scrap piece of fleece instead of a piece of sweater (although I love the sweater look - just haven't chopped up any recently so I don't have any scraps) and instead of the cardboard tag I cut out letter for the name free hand from an old magazine.   The piece of paper with the wording is Singular ad.

This was a page out of a magazine with letters cutout then tied with a scrap of green fleece.

CUTTING CORNERS 2.0 - Decorated Durable Bookmark

This was inspired by "Cutting Corners" by Anna the Ewok here on CO+K but takes it to the next level.

I didn't take pictures of the process as I was going along as this was more of a trial run, but when I make another one I will add them. Based on an original project in a book available here

Items needed:

• Magazine(s) or sale flier
• Envelope from junk mail
• Glue or Glue Stick
• Clear Packaging Tape
• Scissors

Estimated cost to make: Under 5 cents

Cut the corners off of the envelope. Prior to cutting, I lined mine up with the edge of the book, folded it up and cut along the fold.

Pick out the images that you want to put on the corner, cut them out and set them aside. I used pictures and description from a sales flier on mine.

Pick out the background you want for the images. I flipped through a magazine until I found what I wanted then put the cut corner over the edge of the magazine page, then cut along the edge. Do this twice I you will need a background for each side of the bookmark.

Glue the background pieces to the envelope corners.Then glue the images cut out that you selected and glue them on top of the background pieces.Allow to dry for a few minutes.

Straighten up any stray edges or uneven edges with the scissors.

Apply packing tape to the images on both side to protect them for smearing, smudges, wear and tear. One tape is applied to both side, you are done!