365 Days with Kiddos - #17 - Make Creativity Journals Using Recycled Paper & Books

If you have kids you probably have them... books that have wrecked bindings, ripped or missing pages, or maybe so much doodling on some pages that they are ready to be tossed. Instead of tossing them you can use them for many projects, including for making creativity journals. This is a simple project that along with other paper destined for recycle bin is a great way to save paper.

Creativity Journals
By Tiffany Teske

Materials
- Delapidated book
- Paper that needs to be recycled, like printer paper that is printed on one side, old notebook paper or filler paper, drawing or construction paper from mostly used books, your child's art work, etc
- A cover for your book, either a soft book cover or cardboard from packaging
- Scissors or paper cutter
- Office type comb binding punch machine for use with wire or plastic comb bindings
- Wire or plastic comb binding that fits your punch
*For a variation
- Three ring binder punch
- hinged key chain rings if using a three hole punch

Directions
1. Trim down paper to a size that fits in your binding machine. All of your pages do not need to be the same size as long as the largest size fits in your punch. Lay out your book whatever way you like with smaller pages contained inside large ones. Once you have your book the way you want it, use binder clips to hold the "spine" in place.
2. Put your book into your punch all at once or in sections.
3. Put your comb binding into the machine and make your book.

*Variation
Instead of using an comb binding machine you can three hole punch your book and then used hinged key chain rings to hold the book together. There are many many ways a book can be bound. If you are looking for other ways just google "book binding".

In the book shown we used all-purpose kid's craft paper from a book we found partially used at the thrift store, and an old book that had come apart. We put a piece of paper, then a book page, then paper, then a book page. I made this book before we headed out for a summer plane trip. It was a good way to combine a book to read with paper for drawing in a way that was compact and contained. We also brought along crayon cakes, which will not roll off a plane tray table onto the floor...

Feeling Accomplished...

Yesterday, I made a submission to a book project that I pretty excited about. I made it in just under the wire, submitted on the deadline day. I know it seems like I do that a lot but it is not in most cases that I am a procrastinator, it is that I literally seem to find out about things like this the day before. Such is the case here. I was checking out the Etsy home page, and the bottom of the page, where the Storque articles scroll by, caught my eye. Garth Johnson, of ExtremeCraft.com, is compiling a book called 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse. The book, which is being published by Quarry Books, is a great idea! From what I can tell it will be a gallery of sorts, no how-tos, just photographs of finished projects. The best examples of paper and book arts, jewelry, clothing, home and personal accessories, furniture, art, and miscellanea will be feature and Johnson put out the call through Etsy, to designers, artists, and crafters for submissions. There will be no cash payment for those selected but there will be lots of glory and a 50% discount on buying the book.


Mosaic Table by Tiffany Teske

I submitted 20 photographs for about 12 projects of mine. I was thrilled that Quin could go up to play at Norquay for the day so that I could work on it. It took me the better part of the day, even though I already had all the photographs. I needed to resize them to the required specs, make an image list complete with dimensions and materials used, and to file out a grant of rights. And you know how when you are trying to upload things, your computer never seems to work right? It took me a long time to upload everything but I really felt awesome when it was all done. I think it is important to always have good photographs of your work on hand. They can really come in handy when you have very little time to get together a submission. I am on pins and needles to hear back about whether any of my projects will be featured... stay tuned!


Tsotchkes Bowl by Tiffany Teske

Feeling Accomplished...

Yesterday, I made a submission to a book project that I pretty excited about. I made it in just under the wire, submitted on the deadline day. I know it seems like I do that a lot but it is not in most cases that I am a procrastinator, it is that I literally seem to find out about things like this the day before. Such is the case here. I was checking out the Etsy home page, and the bottom of the page, where the Storque articles scroll by, caught my eye. Garth Johnson, of ExtremeCraft.com, is compiling a book called 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse. The book, which is being published by Quarry Books, is a great idea! From what I can tell it will be a gallery of sorts, no how-tos, just photographs of finished projects. The best examples of paper and book arts, jewelry, clothing, home and personal accessories, furniture, art, and miscellanea will be feature and Johnson put out the call through Etsy, to designers, artists, and crafters for submissions. There will be no cash payment for those selected but there will be lots of glory and a 50% discount on buying the book.


Mosaic Table by Tiffany Teske

I submitted 20 photographs for about 12 projects of mine. I was thrilled that Quin could go up to play at Norquay for the day so that I could work on it. It took me the better part of the day, even though I already had all the photographs. I needed to resize them to the required specs, make an image list complete with dimensions and materials used, and to file out a grant of rights. And you know how when you are trying to upload things, your computer never seems to work right? It took me a long time to upload everything but I really felt awesome when it was all done. I think it is important to always have good photographs of your work on hand. They can really come in handy when you have very little time to get together a submission. I am on pins and needles to hear back about whether any of my projects will be featured... stay tuned!


Tsotchkes Bowl by Tiffany Teske

FreeCycle Calgary

I joined FreeCycle Calgary several weeks ago but just got around to posting my first offer tonight. It is for a rain coat and pants that I used to use back in my fly-fishing-in-the-rain-while-living-in-Maine days. Good memories. I hope someone will take it and return it to its useful glory. I am interested to see if anyone jumps on it, since I am in Banff, and most members are in Calgary, over an hour away. The whole point of FreeCycle is to recycle items that would otherwise go to a landfill. The best way to do this is to keep it local, having to ship it or to pollute the environment by driving way out of the way to pick something up is neither wise nor environmentally friendly. As a new member I have no idea if anyone else is in Banff. I will bring it to local Victory Thrift if there aren't any takers. Or, I am toying with the idea of applying for a Banff Group. I think it would be managable for me to moderate it. And I love the concept of FreeCycle. It is brilliant! I would be happy to help people find the items they need and to help them find people who need what they don't. I am going to sleep on it...

Keats & Plastic Bags...

" books, fruit, fine weather, music..." John Keats 1795 - 1821

On Friday evening, my sis in law, Julie, and I, hit the streets of Banff for a bit of shopping. I picked up a copy of Craft Magazine, one of my favorites, at Indigo Bookstore. I actually picked it up to do some homework. I was one of just 36 people on Etsy who was quick on the draw and bought a $50 cooperative advertising space in Craft. I believe the issue is out May 1st. I have to have the ad copy & image in by Feb 28th, and I would like to try something new and different, something crafty with my images, since right now they are visual art but not cool and crafty for Craft... but I am getting off the intended topic of my post...



I have been thinking a lot about plastic bags lately and the awful impact they have on the environment. We have gotten pretty good at stock piling cloth and mesh shopping bags and I always try to remember my favorite fashionable colorful bag but had forgotten it for this journey. So, I did take my Craft in a plastic shopping bag. When I got home, I started looking at the bag because of the above quote by Keats which is written on it. Indigo is a big Canadian bookstore chain, the kind that is killing the small independent book shops. I do shop in those small shops, especially the second hand ones, but in Banff the small book shop refuses to carry magazines and I buy lots of magazines. I don't usually buy the common mags but specialty ones. The kind that only a large chain carries because they have hundreds of magazines. The Indigo here in Banff is a small shop compared to most, a new business concept that was possibly spurred by the local uprising about a chain book store coming to town. Anyway, you can tell I have a lot of guilt about both where I bought my mag and the bag I brought it home in (next time I will bring the canvas bag and since Craft is $15 each quarterly issue, and they only charge $40 for a Canadian subscription I am going to get one!!).

Back to the bag, I was reading the quote and noticed that the bag was made in Canada AND THAT IT IS OXO-BIODEGRADABLE!. Wow. Way to go Chapters, the parent co of Indigo! Now if only everyone who feels they need to carry plastic bags in their shops would switch to these we would be better off. I do think these bags are still an issue to marine and wildlife but now they will break down in the landfiles. Check out how Oxo-Biodegradable plastic works here. And some frequently asked questions here. There are many resources on the internet. I even found Oxo-Biodegradable bubble wrap! Items made from this can also be recycled. And apparently all biodegradable bags aren't the same:

Are all biodegradable bags the same? (from this site)

No. There are two broad categories – oxo-biodegradable and hydro-biodegradable sometimes called starch based. These starch based products tend to degrade slightly faster but not to not be as strong as oxo-biodegradable ones (e.g. they are too weak to carry liquor bottles). They meet the international compostable plastics standards that were designed for them (but performed no better in the CRIQ compost study than oxo-biodegradable bags) but they cannot be commingled in the existing recycle stream because they have a totally different chemical structure than conventional plastics. Both have market niches where they have advantages.

Coolio. I learned something new today. And I can't end this post without a craft. Thanks to Anda on Etsy (congrats on your new babe, Anda!) you and I can now turn bad plastic bags into upcycled/recycled fabric for imaginative crafts!! YIPPEE!! Here are the instructions and some photos on fusing plastic bags. Thanks, Anda!