What seems like forever ago, I pitched an article to Memory Makers Magazine about using recycled goods in your scrapbooking. I was never one to get too caught up in the acid-free thing...in truth, I just like paper.
And one of the greatest sources of paper is your mailbox.
Junk mail.
The result of that pitch was an article about Green Scrapbooking...a nice way to say "use your junk mail to make pretty things."
Like a mailer with coupons for diapers...
...which became a little mini album.
Or, if you're in children's ministry and wind up with a random roll of raffle tickets...
They make a lovely background for a layout.
So whenever I get a catalog I love, like Anthropologie or Land of Nod or anything else that comes to my mailbox full of things I know I can't afford, I hang onto it.
My husband calls this "hoarding."
If I'm not careful, he's going to put me on A&E.
Doesn't he know you can turn the pages of a catalog into a gift for a very sweet, very wonderful, very amazing friend on her birthday?
I took a sheet of kraft cardstock on the outside and gussied it up...which is a nice way of saying I got it good and messy. With paint, rub-ons, stickers...all the things that make birds sing outside my window on a clear day.
I like messy things.
You should see my bathroom. If I wasn't exhausted and if I knew how to take an indoor photo at night that didn't turn out burnt orange, I would go take one to show you how messy it is.
The funny thing is, I also have a cleaner, more graphic side, but these messy pages with masking tape and paint and STUFF sticking out all over the place? They make my heart do cartwheels.
Because when I make something like this, I am NOT over-thinking. I am creating. And it's therapeutic to get a little lost in what I'm doing...to think about the message I want to convey, in this case "You are an amazing person and I wholly adore you."
That photo above shows you that this is not a fancy-schmancy book. I took a stack of pages, folded them down the center and hand-stitched the binding.
EASY but seriously, so fun.
I inserted pockets by folding one page over and stapling it to the following page. Then you can stick even MORE stuff inside! Here's a closer view...
If you get a cute graphic like this flower-guy from Land of Nod...
Let it show by folding a sheet of book paper back.
It's a completely original, one-of-a-kind gift...the kind you give when you really want your heart to show.
We've all got plenty of junk mail laying around...and I know we read about controlling clutter and how throwing junk mail away immediately is key...but what can I say?
I think I've found a way to justify holding on to a few things...
What about you? Have you ever turned your junk into art? I would love to hear about it...or better yet...I'd love to SEE it!!
We hoarders have to stick together.
