Day 3 Creativity challenge

It is day three of my 10 day creativity challenge. Today’s challenge: quickly sew something without using fabric. =&0=&Use candy wrappers, leaves, packaging, plastic…anything that isn’t fabric from a store. Sew by hand if you don’t have a machine. Free your mind from limitations and expectations. It doesn’t need to be good or perfect. It doesn’t need to be functional. I used two plastic mesh lemon bags from Trader Joe’s and cut up another red plastic sweet potato bag for the handle to make this all-weather collecting bag for my daughter. It took less than 7 minutes! =&1=&. Don’t think. Just sew. My first experiment was sewing eucalyptus leaves together…I can’t say it worked yet. The needle just cut the leaves, but am still trying. And the inside of my machine smells really good. Idea: make upcycled or recycled valentine’s cards on card stock! Share your creations on my Facebook page or instagram using hashtag #yourcreativitychallenge.

Recycled Newspaper Holiday Garland

Today’s festive and spirited craft is really helping me feel the season. I always see pretty garlands on Pinterest but I don’t usually take the time to design my own. This project was inspired by folded circle felt garlands I have seen, but I made mine from recyclables! I am a huge fan of newspaper and I like to use it for lots of projects–I just love the whole low meets high thing. I mean, newsprint is basically trash–it is cheap and ubiquitous. (The shiny ad section came in very handy because of all the red ads for Christmas, so I took advantage of those.) I elevated it a bit by inserting a restricted palette of scrapbooking paper.  I like making pretty things out of trash. And I like making something so ephemeral and normal into a special and cool holiday decoration. To make the garland:

  • Cut the circles with a 2 1/2″ diameter hole punch from Michael’s.
  • Now just start grabbing different colors and creating a nice composition and color balance as you sew:
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