I am super excited to share that I have opened a brand NEW Etsy shop called Esselle Crafts Makes!
Continuing my lifelong passion for papercraft and upcycling, I am making good use of any scrap paper materials that I find and turning them into beautiful, upcycled art ♻️
Some of my zero waste, eco-friendly greeting cards are already in the shop, including these that I made out of old wall calendars.
I also have several greeting cards featuring colourful mosaic designs. I originally made each of the mosaics out of upcycled cardboard packaging, then scanned them and had them printed onto high quality 300gsm card.
Welcome to another fabulous upcycling project! ♻️ This time, I'll be showing you how I turn used wall calendars into these stunning greeting cards!
Some of these cards are currently available in my NEW Etsy shop and come complete with a recycled brown Kraft envelope.
To make one of these cards, you will need:
* used wall calendar
* square greeting card blank measuring approximately 15cm x 15cm / 6" x 6"
* square metal die measuring approximately 4cm x 4cm / 1.5" x 1.5" * die cutting machine
* sticky note
* pencil
* ruler
* eraser
* craft glue
* brayer
If you are not using a metal die, you can make a simple template by cutting a 4cm / 1.5" square of card.
Watch my video tutorial showing how to make the greeting cards, and be sure to follow the tips below.
TIP 1 : Cut around the photos on the back of the calendar carefully, making sure that you leave a small border.
TIP 2 : Use a sticky note to hold the metal die in place. This is so that the glossy surface of the photos doesn't pick up any scratches from the cutting plates.
TIP 3 : Arrange the photos in a 3 x 3 formation so that they look balanced. I like to put similar colours on opposite sides and, if there are animals, I like to face them inwards towards the centre.
TIP 4 : Lightly draw two diagonal lines with a pencil from corner to corner to find the centre of the card. After gluing the first photo in place, any visible lines can then be rubbed out.
TIP 5: Leave a gap of approximately 0.5cm / 0.2" between each square.
Very often, the front and back covers of a wall calendar are printed on glossy card, which gives the greeting cards a lovely, shiny, professional finish!
Don't forget to check out my NEW Etsy shop for these cards and other upcycled gifts!
Hello, and welcome to another upcycling tutorial! This time I will be showing you how to transform an ordinary, cheap gift bag into a fabulous, designer-worthy handbag gift bag!
Over the years, I've been given so many of these gift bags, and I've saved them, thinking that one day I will be inspired to create something new out of them. Now I can't wait to share with you what I've made, and show you how to make one for yourself!
Doesn't it look amazing! 😍
This is the gift bag that I started off with. The label on the base showed that it came from Tesco and was called T.Tropical Gift Bag, but as I was given it so long ago, I doubt if it's still available.
Take a look at my video tutorial below showing how I made the handbag!
Here's a close up view of the rosette on the front. The button was also repurposed from an old cardigan.
Here's a view of the handbag from the back.
It's still very roomy inside, and still folds flat!
I just love how the pattern on the two handles matches up perfectly!
I am so pleased with how this bag has turned out, and can't wait to get started on another one!
In my previous post, I showed you how to make an upcycled mosaic desk tidy from used greeting cards. I had lots of those little punched squares left over, so I decided to use them to create my own little Christmas cards!
Following on from my previous post, showing how to create hanging star decorations from used Christmas cards, the next upcycling project I'd like to share with you is this stunning mosaic desk tidy!
Again, I have used my old Christmas cards here, together with a few other greeting cards that I had saved, but you could just as easily use scraps of coloured cardstock.
