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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Recycled waste—wastebasket




I know you’ve got them.  The stack sits in the corner waiting.  What can it be?  It’s a pile of junk mail, flyers and advertising media.  So instead of tossing them IN a wastebasket why not toss them ON the wastebasket?  The colors remind me of a quilt.  Don’t worry if the strips wrinkle a bit.  It adds texture and completes the quilt-like look.

You will need:

A small round wastebasket, any color

A pile of junk mail, flyers or advertising media

Tacky craft glue

Scissors or paper cutter

Mod Podge decoupage glue

Paintbrush

1.     Cut the junk mail into strips.  Vary the thickness but a good start is ¼”.  It is easier if you stack them together and cut the strips with a paper cutter but you can use scissors.  You can even use a shredder.




2.     Spread some tacky glue around the edge of the wastebasket.  Begin adding strips around.  Overlap and connect each strip.  Continue adding glue and strips working your way down the wastebasket.  If a strip doesn’t meet connect with smaller strips.  Being perfect doesn’t matter and you can’t do it wrong.  Let dry.  You may notice that the strips may wrinkle slightly; this is desirable since it adds texture to the wastebasket.  You can smooth the wrinkles down with your fingers if desired.




If strips don't meet cut smaller pieces to connect


3.     When the wastebasket has dried use the paint brush to spread some Gloss Modpodge over the entire surface and let dry.


23 comments:

  1. Cute idea! You could do this with a lot of things--cans, etc. I wonder about prettying up an ugly cardboard box so that it could be used for storage. I wonder if paper on paper would work well, though? Nice idea. :)

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  2. Another great idea. I like to do paper weaving with junk mail so this caught my eye.
    @ Rita - cans + pen holders, brush holders - thanks for another idea with this technique.

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  3. Now that is pretty. I will look forward to junk mail now as I am itching to try this. Thank you for sharing this with us. Marion x

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  4. This is excellent! Love this idea Crystal!!!

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  5. what a fun idea.. I am pinning this! Thanks for linking up at friday fun party. Have a great weekend

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  6. How fun it is..perfect..what a nice recycling..keep sharing my dear..

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  7. Cute idea. Lots of bright colors in the junk mail!

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  8. This is such a cute project. I was wondering if you would link it in my Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop. Here is the link:

    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/06/natural-translucent-face-powder-and.html

    I would love to have anything that you would like to link.
    Sincerely,
    Debi Bolocofsky
    www.adornedfromabove.com
    Adorned From Above

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  9. This is so cute. Thank you so much for linking up with Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop. I really appreciate it.
    Sincerely,
    Debi Bolocofsky
    www.adornedfromabove.com

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  10. Just too cool! You make me want to have more junk mail. This looks so fun and is kinda ironic because that's where most junk mail goes. Lol Thank you for sharing at Freedom Fridays!

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  11. new follower i love your blog! i whould love if you checked out mine oneofakind-kikistok.blogspot.com

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  12. I would have never tried to do this, but it is SO cute! I love the bright colors!

    I featured this on my blog today:
    http://christinasadventures.com/2012/06/sunday-features-77.html

    I also pinned it:
    http://pinterest.com/christinasadven/20-below-features/

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  13. Most of my projects start out this way. The difference is I cover the strips with paper mache clay. Love the way this turned out.

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  14. Now that is clever! Thanks so much for sharing it at Shine on Fridays!

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  15. Wow, what a great idea! Thanks for sharing at our Pinteresting Party.

    Have you heard about our Craftastic Competition? I'd love for you to enter in it! Lots of prizes to be won too!

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  16. Popping back in to thank you so much for entering in the Craftastic Competition. Good luck!

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  17. Hi Crystal

    Thank you for linking up your Recycled waste wastebasket in our Saturday Crafty Showcase last week! Your post was one of our Bowdabra Designers Top Picks and you are being featured today! Stop on over and say HI and see your feature. We'll be giving you a Facebook, twitter and Pinterest shout out today!

    We would LOVE for you to stop in on Saturday-Thur and link up more of your crafty post! We love your blog.

    Susie @Bowdabra
    http://bowdabrablog.com/2012/06/22/feature-friday-bowdabra-top-crafty-showcase-picks-2/

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  18. This is a great use for those advert fylers. I bet this would work great on cans too for use on the desk. Thanks so much for sharing at Tout It Tuesday. Hope to see you next week.

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  19. Yes, I do have them... stacks and stacks still waiting to go to the recycle bin. I will have to try this. Thank you so much for sharing it on Dare to Share.

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  20. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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Thanks for your lovely comments!