Toilet Paper Inspirations

When I don't know what to post about, I look to YouTube and see what other crazy people are doing.  My searches vary but always come up with something interesting and fun.  Here's 3 videos on toilet paper / paper crafting.

Um, I almost want to buy the book, but it feels a little weird.

Amazing, must see!  A terrific way to recycle.  Maybe not practical for mailing, but good inspiration for creating.

And finally some more practical how-to ideas!  I tried and tried to embed a YouTube video called 10 things to make out of toilet paper but alas, I could not.  I did find rampant videos on how to make mini albums out of toilet paper rolls and embedded the one that took the least amount of extras to buy. 

Take a look and think again before tossing something into the recycling.
-b
 

Make Something Monday - the Tricky Fold

Sorry this is a bit late in the day, but I was away this weekend and exhausted.  Today I worked and had to mow as my place was starting to resemble a meadow and I was worried I would find a neighbor grazing cows on my yard!

Anyway, this idea is brought to you by the book I used last week.

It has a few more intriguing ideas left and I find this one to be a very different format compared to the standard card.  You will need a sheet or 2 of 8X11 cardstock (scrapbook paper is fine - medium weight recommended), glue, cutting board and an exacto knife or razor blade.

Start with an 8X11 inch sheet split lengthwise.  In this case I used 2 different types of paper.  The one to the right is folded in half.

 Fold them both in half and center them over each other and then glue in place.  Do the gluing so they are perpendicular to each other and the flaps overlap.

Fold the flaps over each other and place over the edge of your cutting board.  Cut through both together to form a slit on both ends. Slit should be about 1.5 to 2 inches in length.

 Take a piece of cardstock 5X2 inches and slide it through both slits. This closes the card so that it cannot be opened unless it is removed.

 Do not forget instructions on how to enter otherwise somebody may take scissors to all your hard work!

Think of all the surfaces you have to weave your letter through!  I hope you enjoy making them as much as your reader enjoys taking them apart to read.

Happy writing!
-Becky

Mailbag - Role Call

Some more pics of mail while I am on the road.  Enjoy!

Postcrossing from Belarus

A vintage Postcrossing from Canada

A multi view from Germany

A card to color?  A USA Postcrossing

A postcrossing from Germany

Original art from Taiwan  - postcrossing

A postcrossing from Poland

Love the traditional Polish artwork!  A postcrossing

Mickey is a lucky dog living in the Netherlands - a postcrossing

A postcrossing from Great Britain with a Dr. Who stamp that I forgot to showcase, but awesome nonetheless.

A taste of Austria from Poland postcrossing.

2 letters from Ciara.  Above is a fold up with a central envelope that contained a note!  Nice!  Below is an original Ciara drawing.  I loved it and requested a letter be written on it.  Unfortunately the camera washed these 2 out a bit, but I hope you can still enjot them.

Above is an awesome postcrossing from China where she sent a bundle of magazine articles for me to get a glimpse of the English speaking perspective on the Chinese culture!
Happy Mailing,
-Becky

On the Inbox

I am going to be traveling this weekend and I thought I would try to get some of the inbox images up for your viewing pleasure.

 A postcard from Tara at Hello Life.  Her life is taking her back West again!  Safe travels friend.

 A day at the nude beach - postcrossing from Sweden

 A check in postcard from Miss Millie

 Postcrossing from Germany

 A postcard from Ciara showcasing some interesting artwork!

 Postcrossing from the Czech Republic

 Postcrossing from the Spain/ France border

 Postcrssoing from Russia.  Actually a repeat but still nice.

 Beautiful cat car and stickers from KC.

Postcrossing from Germany - No translation

 Letter from Kati in Finland
 
 Letter from Hannah

 TMC and some awesome old stationery

Postcrossing from Finland.  Glad summers here!

That's all for now!
-Becky

Make Something Monday- Zig Zag Fold

Hello all!  I figured I would try to use the Make Something series to do a few projects I had tagged out in several craft books over the years.  This project comes from a book I snagged out of book sale on orgami type cards.  For a most part, I am not super happy with many of the projects, so after I do a few of these, it may go into a book donation for scholarships that I help with.

Above and below are the book and the project for today.  Sorry about the lighting but I was outside enjoying the amazing weather while I worked.  As far as the book, this is one of the easier projects and it made sense to me. 

 I recommend you use a cutting board, cutting guide, and circular cutter if you are going to make the original long fold like in the book.  The paper is a roll I got in the painting section at Lowe's.  The book's measurements were 7 inches down to 3 inches over a 20 inch span.  My paper was 9 inches so I cut down to 4.5 inches at a slant.  See below.

 Basically you accordion fold these.  I used the washi for visual interest.  The first one I folded from short to tall and the second from tall to short.  The book recommended a 4 inch fold.  I stuck with that since I think these will fit into the standard business envelope.  But you could definitely adjust the size and fold to what you desire.

 The first is to the left and the back is funky because I am terrible at getting exactly 4 inches on a fold.  It definitely looks funky.  The second I started from the back and went forward.  That on looks a lot better even though the folds are far from perfect.

 I decided to do a 3 fold using cheap, thin scrapbooking 12 x 12 paper.  I used half a sheet.  Remember, the thick beautiful scrapbook paper doesn't fold well so DO NOT USE IT for these type of projects.  You will have remorse over the destruction of it.

 This time I got smarter and taped the bottom edge down with washi since part of the issue with folding was the page sliding back and forth.

 Smaller, but it is still visually pleasing.  I then reused the piece of washi across the back middle fold.

This was an interesting project.   Once I use one of these pieces for a letter I will have a better opinion on how much I will utilize the project.

With that, happy creating!
-Becky