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  Looking for lots of crafts made from recycled materials? You’ve come to the right place. I go beyond soup can pencil holders here. It is all about greening up your crafting and moving toward a more sustainable way of living. This site is full of eco-friendly crafts for children and adults. Making use (re-use really) of otherwise unwanted materials is good for the pocketbook and good for the environment.

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This project is simple enough for even very little hands, although, you might need to draw out the rainbow strips in which they are to fill.

For a more tile-like look use thin cardboard which is thicker than tiles made from regular paper.

For more information on paper mosaics see my post: Recycle Your Cereal Boxes and More Into Pretty Paper Mosaics

You probably have all the supplies you will need for this project right in your recycle bin. Cereal boxes and salvaged note book covers become art when cut into pieces and cleverly arranged.

How to tips:

Design your mosaic and sketch it lightly on a stiff piece of paper. I use foam board pieces and mat board scraps from a framing shop. These scrapes would otherwise be wasted. Call around to see what might be donated to you.

Save scrap paper (such as colored handouts form school, phone book covers, magazine pages…) or thin cardboard (such as cereal boxes, crackers and other food boxes, non-food boxes, notebook and coloring book covers…).

Cut the boxes in strips ½ inch thick. Focus on the parts with the most pure color. I like to use a paper cutter. More advanced students might want thinner strips in order to achieve finer details.

Here I have organized the scraps by setting ice cream containers into Clementine boxes.

Artists will cut up the strips to make their own mosaic tiles. It isn’t necessary to cut all the pieces in squares. Sometimes you will need more of a triangular shape to fill the space. Besides, you want to have a broken tile look.

Work one area at a time. Fill in the areas by gluing your “tiles” on one by one. Paste works well and is environmentally friendly. Glue sticks work nice but create a lot of plastic waste. If using white glue, I recommend using an old paint brush to apply the glue.

When done and the glue/ paste is dry, apply a layer of Modge Podge or an equivalent product.

*The butterfly mosaic above was a collaborative effort by young artists whose ages ranged from 6 to 11.

To see an example of a paper mosaic made from recycled thin cardboard such as cereal boxes, see my post: St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Mosaic

Fill the holes with screen. If you are lucky you will have some screen salvaged from a screen door or window. You could buy screen new but why? It is better to make use of something on its way to a landfill.

You can easily make a beautiful Metamorphosis Observatory. It’s a safe place to care for a caterpillar and a great way for you to watch their amazing transformation. I made this one many years ago and it has fostered lots of caterpillars over the years.

How to:
Find a cardboard box. I think I used the box my blender came in. Use a ruler to mark a border around all the edges. I used the width of the ruler Instead of doing a lot of measuring.
Use a box cutter or exacto knife (careful!) to make a hole in four sides (not the top and bottom).
Find butterfly and flower pictures from last year’s seed catalogs or unwanted magazines etc…
Paste on pictures coving the whole exterior of the box.
I applied varnish (optional) on the inside and the outside of the box so it would last longer.

Fill the holes with screen. If you are lucky you will have some screen salvaged from a screen door or window. You could buy screen new but why? It is better to make use of something on its way to a landfill.

When you find an interesting caterpillar chomping on a plant, put it along with some of the plant, into the Metamorphosis Observatory. To keep the plant fresher, put the stems into a container of water. Replace the plant until the caterpillar is satisfied and begins its transformation. We found that it was necessary to cover the water with plastic to keep the wondering caterpillars safe.
Or place the branch with a found chrysalis on it into the box.
Once your caterpillar have come out of its chrysalis, give it time and space to let its wings expand and then be sure to let it go. This box was not meant to house the butterfly.

She’s full of wonder.

A monarch emerges from its chrysalis.

Send a Valentine message to someone special in your heart. This sweet gift will be a constant reminder of your love.
How-to:
A. Cut letters from magazines. You will find a great variety of fonts in all sorts of colors. Go searching for just the right ones. You may want to find all the letters in the same color or you might want the letters to be as varied as possible. Cut out the letters and make sure they fit on the tiles.

B. I used the tiles from a salvaged My First Rummikub game which was missing some of the pieces. Paste a letter on the front of each tile.

C. The magnets I used are promotional flat flexible magnets. (Promotional flat flexible magnets are often given out by businesses for promotional reasons, are usually business card size and are easy to cut.) This is a perfect use for those unsolicited magnets. Use scissors to cut a piece large enough to cover the back of the tile and glue it there.

See my other post for additional ideas and uses for tile magnets including using them as a teaching aid.

Magazine letter magnets are perfect for teaching. Use with a child that needs to learn their ABC’s or with a beginner reader. He or she will have fun playing around with these tiles and showing you what words they can spell. Pretty soon they will be making whole sentences!

Use on the refrigerator or on a magnetic cookie sheet.

Note: not for the very young; tiles may be a choking hazard.

Teens and preteens will enjoy leaving messages or sayings for others to read. Or they can make sets of tiles with their friends’ names and gift them. Magazine letter magnets will personalize your friend’s locker.

How-to:

A. Cut letters from magazines. You will find a great variety of fonts in all sorts of colors. Go searching for just the right ones. You may want to find all the letters in the same color or you might want the letters to be as varied as possible. Cut out the letters and make sure they fit on the tiles.

B. I used the tiles from a salvaged My First Rummikub game which was missing some of the pieces. Paste a letter on the front of each tile.

C. The magnets I used are promotional flat flexible magnets. (Promotional flat flexible magnets are often given out by businesses for promotional reasons, are ususally business card size and are easy to cut.) This is a perfect use for those unsolicited magnets. Use scissors to cut a piece large enough to cover the back of the tile and glue it there.

You might also be interested in seeing a related post: Special Valentine Message Magnets Made From Salvaged Materials.

If you take a piece of standard lined notebook paper and fold it in half then fold it in half again the other way, it will fit nicely into this 4 x 6 inches envelope.

You can buy an envelope stencil or you can make your own. Just find a pre-used envelope and use it as a stencil. Better yet use that envelope to make your own stencil out of an old file folder or a piece of plastic. I used an ex-ray from when my husband broke his elbow; I knew I’d find a use for them someday.

On envelopes that are too dark to write directly on, you can apply sticker labels.

To eliminate the need for stickers, I like to cut a window in the envelope with an X-acto knife. Children should use scissors. Place your letter inside the envelope and write the address on the back of your letter where it shows out the window.

A. Cute cat envelope was made from an old calender.
B. Frog envelope was made from a used Ranger Rick Magazine.
C. Jungle envelope was made from a damaged book called Animaze! by W. Madgwick.
D. Farmer envelope was made from a book that was falling apart (Meet Jack Appleknocker by A. Sundgaard).
E. Crocodile gift tag envelope is made from a page in a book called Lyle Finds His Mother by B. Waber.
F. Beautiful Fish envelopes were made by my children out of a book they got at a yard sale: Cayman Underwater Paradise by Pitcairn and Paul.
G. Boat envelope was made from a Baby Einstein Book that was well worn. The image is of a Van Gogh painting called Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

How 2: Easy cat envelope Cut your paper 9 ½ inches x 6 inches. Make your first fold at line b (see image above). The distance between a and b should be 4 inches. After you have made your first fold, you will need to add a small line of glue alone the two sides (or use a glue stick). The flap of the envelope (c to d) needs to be folded down. Easy.

Other envelopes Trace your stencil onto a piece of funny/ beautiful/ cute/ wacky/ or trendy piece of re-claimed paper. Save interesting paper to be used for this purpose. Use Salvaged, damaged, and/or vintage books, fashion magazines, catalogs, calendars, old posters, whatever. Be aware of where on the envelope the image will be. Fold. Use a small amount of glue to adhere it together.

Make valentine gift boxes from salvaged catalog paper and glue a vintage children’s valentine on top. You don’t have to use vintage cards, you can use a valentine card saved that your child brought home from school last year. Put something special in this small box and give it to your sweetheart. Maybe even tuck a love note inside.
An 8 inch square piece of paper yields a box top of 2 7/8 square inches and 1 7/16 inches tall.

How 2: See my post on how to make origami gift boxes with easy to follow photo instructions. They are easy enough for adults and older children to make.

Make sweet little gift boxes from a picture in a magazine, advertisement or catalog. You will find paper thickness will vary. If the paper is too thin your box will be too flimsy. If the paper is too thick then it will be hard to fold. You will have to experiment a bit here. Fill with candy or fair-trade chocolate and pass out to friends or give as party favors.
A 6 inch square piece of paper yields a box top of 2 1/8 square inches and 1 1/16 inches tall.

How 2: See my post on how to make origami gift boxes with easy to follow photo instructions. They are easy enough for adults and older children to make.

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  Are you having any trouble understanding some of the instructions? Feel free to send me a quick e-mail at HesterJane@FunInTheMaking.net. I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Do you have any suggestions regarding a specific post? Maybe you have a better way and would like to share it with the other creative people visiting this site? -Hester Jane

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