Hello Everyone, it's Piroska here today with my latest layout for Clique International. My task for this blog post was to make something for the theme: Don't Throw Me Away. Recycling is very popular nowadays, and I love that you can even do it in scrapbooking. Let me show you my scrapbook layout using pieces of a packaging material.

First I cut the Craft A Happy Life cut file of CUT to YOU from white precision cardstock. For my layout I chose the Me Time Base Kit, which features some single sided cardstocks from Alexandra Renke, double sided patterned papers from Altenew, die cuts from both, stickers of Heidi Swapp and shaker embellishments of Jen Hadfield.

First I backed the cut files with the patterned papers of Altenew (Wildflower: Pathway, Blooming Vines) from the Me Time Base Kit. I also used the packaging material for the backing, I just love this embossed craft cardstock, I got in a box to save my ordered products, it looks awesome, and is great for these cut files, isn't it?

When I was ready with backing the cut files, I started to fussy cut some paint tubes from the Alexandra Renke design paper from the Me Time Base Kit. My photo was taken 4 years ago, when my daughter sat next my mother and they started to paint. They are both so creative, and my daughter was totally taken up by painting. Loved watching them in that flow feeling :-)

Then I started to arrange my layout. As the two cut files are quite big, they directed the arrangement. I put the title in the upper left corner, and the paint brush cup in the bottom right corner. The photo came between them diagonally, I also added some packaging material under the photo to add some dimension to it.
As the packaging material is quite high, I used foam adhesive for glueing down the cut files.

Then I started to glue down the fussy cut paint tubes from the Alexandra Renke design paper from the Me Time Base Kit. I highlighted some of them by using foam adhesive.

I hope I could inspire you to not to throw away the packaging materials from your boxes but recycle them in you scrapbook projects, Reducing waste is a must, so why not be creative with it? ;-)
Now head on to the Clique International shop and grab your Me Time Base Kit while supplies last! ;-)
Happy crafting!

Good morning. Nicole here! For those who may not know me, I am a recycler. I recycle whatever I can in my house. I have two trash cans in my kitchen. One for trash and the other for recycled goods. Whenever I receive a nice box, I keep it! There are so many things you can do with boxes. You can keep them for the next time you need to ship something out or alter them! Let me show you how I altered my Heidi Swapp boxes. I think they turned out fun!

To begin, I painted the top, bottom and sides of the box with white gesso from The Crafter's Workshop using a paint brush.

I let the gesso dry for about an hour. Then, I grabbed my stencil from the Orchid Stencil Butter Kit along with the stencil butters to create a floral pattern on the box. You will want to use a palette knife for this and clean it with a wipe in between colors. If you prefer to use acrylic paint, you can use a sponge to dab all over the stencil with the paint!

Move the palette knife from top to bottom slowly, while being careful not to move the stencil.

Carefully, lift the stencil from the bottom and lift it up to avoid smearing your stencil butters. Isn't it pretty!?

I used stamps and black ink to stamp around the box. Then I rubbed some black ink around the edges of the box to grunge it up a bit.

The next time you are about to throw out those boxes, think twice! Who wouldn't like to receive a box like this? Totally fun! Don't forget to grab a few stencil butters from the shop! Thank you so much for visiting today!

Before we get started here, let’s talk breakfast…shall we? I love me a good piping hot bowl of oatmeal. And ya know what? Every time I have to toss the huge cylinder packaging I just about cringe at all the waste…and I have been secretly dreaming of what I could alter that to become. TA DA…like magic…lookie girlies at what we have here…yep! An altered canister! You’re going to have dump your oats in a Ziploc baggie or go buy some and then dump them in said baggie, because we got some creating to do! The new Limited Edition Bliss Art Journaling Kit with my exclusive mini journal was perfect for this project!

I first coated mine with about 2-3 layers of Bad Girls Couture Gesso. Our gesso is super thick and will do the job! Then I added one coat of Haute Mess “Kiss and Don’t Tell” from Clique Kit’s Paint Add On Kit. Choose a favorite paper and cut it into three pieces lengthwise. Now add three strips from another paper to take up the space, making sure you leave a little bit of space to let the paint color peek through. Now I mixed Haute Mess “Couture Pink” from the Paint Add On kit with Haute Mess Gesso. This will not work with any Gesso. Ours is very thick…making it so you can work with it as I did to create dimension. Using a palette knife work the gesso mixture into the crevices where the papers separate and onto the papers to give the illusion of rustic shabby chic walls. Using a scallop scissors, cut one of the wood patterned papers in your kit, then punch each scallop in the center. Adhere to your dried canister top and bottom with a good adhesive or double sided tape.

To complete your top…paint it exactly as above. Add patterned paper to the top. Give it the same gesso/painted treatment as above. Trim the sides and inner top with gems. Punch a hole in the center and add a small crystal knob or any knob of your choice. Tie the Chipboard Sticker tag to the top after you have backed it with pattern paper.
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Hi friends! Dana Tatar here today sharing an upcycled project featuring the beautiful Wind Beneath My Wings Limited Edition Kit. The Don't Throw Me Away post series is focused on recycling, repurposing, and reducing waste as we create. I had a lot of fun repurposing materials for this project!

My husband and I are constantly working on projects around the house and our scrap wood pile is steadily growing. I had my husband cut the top corners off of a wood block to make the house shaped base for this project. We recently installed a new window in our kitchen. Part of the packaging materials included foam-backed cork tiles to protect the glass. I immediately saved all of them! I really love mixing textures in my art and wood and cork are two of my favorite materials to create with due to their versatility and ability to stand up to a lot of different mediums.

I added an embellishment cluster between the hearts and sentiment on the rice paper made with acetate shapes, die-cuts, and paper flowers from the kit.

I finished the face of the wood block with vellum hearts and dimensional butterfly stickers.

To carry on with the yellow I added using embellishments to the front of this piece, I decided to paint the sides of the wood block with yellow acrylic paint. I stamped and embossed the cork tiles and colored the hearts with red and pink paint pens. I alternated between cork tiles and rhinestones to dress up the sides of this wood block.

Aloha, it's me Gia and I am excited to be kicking off a new series of posts on the Clique International blog this term all about recycling, repurposing, and reducing waste as we create. Ordering the products for your kits means I get deliveries of lots and lots of cardboard shipping boxes. It feels like I could start my own landfill, which is the opposite of the impact I want to have on the world. It is wonderful that many companies are reusing shipping materials and using more sustainable materials than they used to--but I still end up with a shit-ton of corrugated cardboard. Fortunately, I love to use corrugated cardboard in mixed media artwork. Some other items that I just can't bring myself to throw away are the little baggies that are used for packaging of small embellishments in the kits- whether they are little glassine or bags made of japanese rice paper like these pink ones that were used in packing the limited edition Easter kit. I never throw them away  because I always find a way to work them into a layer here or there on a project.
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Since we live in Hawaii we are lucky to have a climate where we almost never have to use the dryer because we can hang our clothes to dry on a clothesline. This saves on use of electric power from the grid which in turn uses fossil fuels. My fiance sometimes gets annoyed with me when he can't find any room on the line because the space is taken up by me hanging pieces of deli paper covered in smears of wet paint. Whenever I clean my gelli plate or have to wipe excess paint off a brush I use deli paper (like wax paper but thinner and less waxy) and when I clean up I hang them on the clothesline to dry for long term storage. Once they dry, I keep them in a drawer I can sift through later.
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I wanted to do a layout that would capture the feeling and the memory of the idea, "Not stuck at home...safe at home" to document staying home during the Covid-19 pandemic and I pulled out a photo of my son looking angelic asleep in his bed at home. This photo was my starting place and for some reason I thought of using corrugated cardboard to make a grid of little houses on my layout. Are you thinking of the song, "Little Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp also? So am I,  and it's stuck in my head and probably yours too now...you're welcome.

Here is a little list of the other materials I used in my project:

• The blue paper from Heidi Swapp's Art Walk collection that was in the Wonderful World kit and is available in the shop as part of the paper pack.
• The LOVE paper from the Bloom Street collection which was an add on kit ( with all the word strips on the B side)-- I just used a few of the word strips in my collage.
• The B side of the Amy Tangerine Picnic in the Park collection paper with all the hearts on it. This paper was in the Over the Rainbow kit and is also available in the paper pack.
• A wood veneer bird embellishment from the limited edition Easter kit.

Since these base kits as well as the add on kits have sold out, I will list each individual paper that is left over in my "spare parts" collection individually in the shop- though I tend to procrastinate on doing that because it's kind of tedious. But I promise...I will get to it soon.

Last but not least, I used the Heartworthy epoxy flair badges from My Creative Corner shop on Etsy (the owner of which happens to be on this design team!) The colors matched so perfectly I decided to go ahead and use almost the whole pack!
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To create each house I free-hand cut out the cardboard in house shapes of different heights and widths, then layered a piece of patterned cardstock on top using some iridescent gel medium. I next used the medium to adhere a square of paint smudged deli paper, and finally stitched a pink heart free-hand cut from the rice paper bag on the top layer. I left the natural texture look showing on the roof because I liked the way it looked striped. I love the way the layers look with some of the paper scraps semi-translucent.  I used a good strong glue (3 in 1 by Beacon) to adhere my houses to my background cardstock. 

After cutting the squares from the blue patterned paper I used more scraps to free-hand paper piece the letters in the word "Home." I used one of the epoxy flair badges as an "O" because I thought the design on the flair really popped and looked coordinated with the photo.

I hope you keep and re-purpose as much of your cardboard as possible because there is so much you can do with it and in reality when it goes to the recycling center not that much of it is ever really re-used- the most helpful thing to do is re-use boxes as much as possible before discarding them. Also, if you haven't started using solar energy (a.k.a. a clothesline) to dry your clothes I hope you will consider it. And leave some room for drying paint LOL.

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