By Sandi Genovese
McClatchy-Tribune
Tablets, computers and e-readers provide a convenient way to read the news, but a good, old-fashioned, printed newspaper offers a wonderful resource for all sorts of recycled creations.
The graphic nature of the black and white printed page affords opportunities for recycled (or up-cycled) crafts from greeting cards to wearable art.
A newspaper background is perfect for a card with a message like “What’s news with you?” The paper that is woven through the newsprint is a page, cut from a wedding magazine which is completely in keeping with the recycled theme.
If you want to re-create this card here are the stats:
- The newsprint is 6 by 17 1/2 inches with 3 1/2-inch covers and accordion pleats that are 1 1/2 inches wide.
- A 3 x 8 1/2-inch rectangle is cut out of the pleated section of the newsprint.
- The magazine paper is 4 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches with accordion pleats every 1 1/2-inch. In the center of each pleat is a }-inch slit on both the top and bottom of each pleat.
- Letters that spell "HI!" are hanging from the three mountain folds of the newsprint pleats and held with tape on the back
If greeting cards aren’t your thing, you might try your hand at wearable art. Newspaper and magazine pages play well together in the creation of a flower pin. It is as easy as cutting several flower shapes from both papers and mixing them together in the assembly of a unique floral pin. You need only fasten a pin back, available at any craft store, to the underside of the flower in order to make it wearable.
So after you finish reading the paper and before you use it to wrap up yesterday’s trash, consider giving it new life in the creation of unique crafts that will make good use of yesterday’s news.
