Junk Mail Rejuventated!

Seems as though many of us who are into the paper arts never throw anything out that we can use in our art. Junk mail is some of our favorite fodder for our journals, our planners, our mail art. So tonight, I've recycled the inside of a security envelope to make these adorable flowers!

I have a huge stash of wooden popsicle / craft sticks that I use periodically for projects.  And this one couldn't have been simpler!  

DIRECTIONS:
First, I cut open a security envelope, and colored it into 4 sections with Copic markers.  I used Maize, Peacock Blue, and Shock Pink for these flowers and a small section in New Green for the leaves.  Once colored, I pulled out 3 circle punches in 1-3/4", 1-3/8" and 5/8", and punched out 3 in each color.  Freehand cut 4-6 "leaves" out of the green section.

 I doodled on one of the flowers to see how it looked and on one of the leaves.  Certainly adds dimension.  You could also use some other paints like Acrylics,  Stickles, Liquid Pearls, or even fabric paint to add dimension and shine!

Layer the 3 circles in your color preference, and  using an awl or ice pick, poke a small hole through all 3 layers. Insert a small brad and spread it open on the back.

Color your craft stick with paint, or as in my case, I also used a Copic marker in  New Green.   Glue the "flower" to the top of the stick.  Add your leaves, and  you're done!

Now, wasn't that easy and fun?

These are going in some happy mail packages that are due out this week...... so watch your mailbox!  More to come in future packages!

We're saving the planet, one piece of junk mail at a time.

Happy creating!
~Betty



Overnight update:  I had so much fun making those you see up at the top of this post, I played the rest of the night and in-between drying times on some large background papers I've been working on, I made more fun flowers.

On this new batch, I cut up some scraps of scrapbooking papers, the remnants of some background pages that were laying on my desk and cut small ovals this time out of some free paint chips in green for the leaves.  I embellished some of the flowers with Stickles by Ranger and added flat backed "jewels" to the centers instead of brads. I experimented with several different permanent black pens including Faber Castell's Brush tip, Sakura Gelly Pen, Sakura Micron, LePen, my favorite Scarlet Lime  pen and two other generic black roller ball ink pens and all worked equally as well.

I purposely drew squiggly lines around each section of the flower, and tried to makes the leaves have more of a steady hand, just for definition.  The possibilities for exploration are endless on these flowers.

Part of the fun for me was of course playing with the punches, then mixing and matching the assorted papers. I didn't realize I had pulled soooooo many blue colors.  Must have been a blue kind of night! LOL.

I will be tucking these into future happy mail packages and as tuck-ins for some of my swap exchanges.  Everyone needs a happy flower or two, right?

If you don't have circle punches in assorted sizes, certainly you could use a circle template and fussy cut them all out, or cut your templates from heavy cardstock and just outline your template.

Somewhere I have a circle template with scalloped edges.  Going to play with that one next.

Can't wait to see what YOU come up with!

Again, happy creating!
~~Betty