In honor of Earth day, I thought I'd share a recent earth-friendly project that I whipped up one day in my studio in an effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
You may remember my warm weather studio play date where I made these papers with Smooch Spritz. The three pieces in the middle were cast offs from a big gelatin printing session, but I knew with a little love they could be made into something special.
Fast-forward a couple weeks and I have a birthday present that I need to get out the door. And not just any birthday present, one for a dear friend who really appreciates handmade items. Instantly the idea of making a set of little tags came to mind. I knew that I could make them from the little strips I had decorated.
I loved the shimmer of the Smooch against the shiny copper eyelets. There was also some great variation in the color on the paper strips so some of the reinforcement circles on the tags ended up green and some blue.
Putting the tags together was pretty easy thanks to a couple of go-to tools in my studio. The tags were all cut with a paper punch, but you could easily cut them with scissors or a paper cutter and then snip off the corners or even use a corner rounder paper punch. The 1/2" circles were also made with a paper punch, but you could make square reinforcements with scissors.
After punching the shapes out, I used a good quality glue stick to adhere them together. I used a tool called a Crop-a-dile to punch a hole and set the eyelet.
After making a dozen of these lovely little tags, I decided they needed to be accompanied by ribbon. I found this ribbon on the top of my stash. (I have a large stash!) I had saved it from the packaging of flour sack towels that I bought during the holiday season to screen print and give as handmade gifts. I just couldn't bear to throw the ribbon away–and now I'm glad I didn't. I laid it out on my drop cloth and sprayed it with more of the Smooch Spritz. This made it match just perfectly.
Now I just have to get my act together and wrap up the gift in a recycled box, and then I can feel great about giving handmade and saving the planet–in my own creative way.
So, what can you make in your studio in honor of Earth Day?
Be Green!
