Upcycle: Inspiration in Your Mail

Shortly before my daughter's birthday, an advertising packet of cards came in the mail from Piperlime.  I was pretty taken with their images and just couldn't throw the cards in the recycle bin.  The card stock they were printed on was really nice too.

I decided that cut up and "altered", they would make a fun birthday card for my second daughter.

She is certainly fond of clothes and accessories so it seemed a fit for her.

The card is like a flip book.

I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the pages.

  The cards I began with were two sided, but I didn't worry too much about what showed up on the back of the pages.

I used free form cutting to cut out all of the letters for my message pages.  Nothing Fancy, I'll call my hand cut font.

Free form cutting can work even for a flower. :)

The little girls thought this card really looked perfect for their big sister along with the "be happy" card.

I used rivets to finish off the holes and tied it all up with a black cord.  You could just punch a hole though if you didn't have rivets.

If you are interested in how I went about cutting out the pages, continue on:

First, I made myself a frame the size I wanted using a ruler and exacto knife.  The finished size of the page is the inside measurement of the frame.

Now, I could use the frame for seeing what part of the card I wanted to crop out.  This really works well for you to visualize the proposed page.

Also, with this method you can easily see how the image may look set at an angle.

Once you like your placement, trace the inside of the frame with a pencil.

I used a ruler and my rotary cutter to cut along the pencil lines.  You could of course just use a scissors.

(blurry cell phone picture here...)

If you are a maker of sorts, I would highly recommend a rotary cutter, cutting mat, and a clear ruler.  They sell them for quilters, but I use mine equally as much for cutting paper as I do fabric. And, those tools make projects much easier!

I made this out of a catalog this morning.  Only folding, a scissors, and a glue stick needed.

With all the Christmas catalogs and advertising that will be coming out now, you may want to keep your mail!