Flower box

I used to package my flower magnets in little sachets. This involves a lot of work and really all the packaging is a bit of a waste too. Besides that, selling 'em seperately has the advantage the people can choose the color of their choice on fairs. The downpart is, that they look happiest all together in their rainbowcolors so you might be tempted to buy 'em all. :)

I decided to go to the second hand shop and buy a tin box for 0,25 euro (0,35$). I sanded it. Then I put a few coats of white acrylic paint. After all was dry, I applied a transparant glaze. The magnets contrast really well with the white background.
And of course, all the magnets go in the tin. Such little effort! Don't you love recycling?

How to make recycled decorative tape?

I love Japanese masking tape and the way it's used for wrapping gifts and decorating. It is fun to make your own tape with designs that you specifically want to use for a certain package. It's a great way to recycle some paper scraps that you kept around for god knows what reason...

Here is what you need:
Doublesided tape, cutting mat, cutting knife,
a variety of magazines, folders, newspapers, wrapping paper,...
Cut out a piece of patterned paper from a magazine.
Turn it around and stick a piece of doublesided tape on it.
Cut along the sides of the doublesided tape with your cutting knife.
With a paper punch, you can also punch figures out of the strip.
Take away the paper from the tape and stick it onto a giftbox.

Tada! How easy it is to pimp your packages with your recycled decorative tape!Update:
I just now see that Pascale from between the lines did a tuto on diy Japanese tape too not very long ago. I completely missed it but it's really rad! Check it out here!

How to - love

I love this Etsy how-to, how about you?

How to make recycled bags?

All the credit for the first part of this tutorial goes to my good friend Ana from Nanouke as it's her idea. I met her in Portugal recently after having virtually met through Etsy before. She's cool and crazy and you can only love her! :)
She gave me a beautiful Babuschka brooch and it was wrapped in coolest packaging ever. I asked her if I could do a tutorial on it and she didn't mind since she doesn't have time herself at the moment. So sit back and relax as this is easy as pie!

What do you need?
Old magazines, tape and sciccors

Tear out a fun page of the magazine.

Fold it in half.

Put tape on the open sides.

Cut away the tearing edge.

Fold over the top and cut part of the paper out.

A perfect bag for little items to give out on your market or fair.

If you need bigger bags, you can go to your local decoration store and
ask if they have old wallpaper books that they are getting rid off.

Tear out a page.

Fold it in half and add tape on the edges.

Cut off the tearing part.

Fold the top over and cut out a part.

Big bag for bigger items.

And here are some more simple but effective packaging ideas:

A brown paper bag adorned with paper doilies.

Add some stars to a transparant plastic bag.

Use some decoupage paper and put it with a white paper in a plastic bag.

Stamp a nice stamp on a Pergamin bag and add a paper doilie inside.

Add a fun stamp to white paper bags and close with a tiny clothespin.

In case you are purchasing something in my shop, most likely you will get something in your mailbox that looks like this. I scored some new packaging materials and I love to play around with wrapping. Nothing is more fun then getting something nicely packaged!

How to make a little booklet?

I have so many bits and bobs of pieces of paper laying around. I just have a hard time throwing away paper & try to recycle as much as I can. I usually cut them on the same size and use them for grocery lists or just to doodle on.
My partner told me a great way to make little booklets from them and of course I wouldn't want to keep this easy and fun tip from you.

Here is what you need: white glue (PVA, bookbinding glue, vinyl glue, wood glue,...), a glue brush, two pieces of cardboard, a pair of clamps, pieces of paper cut on the same size.Take a heavier piece of paper and put the same size cut papers on top of them. I used one of my business cards.

I also put a business card to put on top of the little booklet.

Put the pile of paper on a piece of cardboard.

Put another piece of cardboard on top of it.
The cardboard is just to protect the paper, it can also be wood or thick plastic.

Take a clamp and twist it firmly so that the paper is pressed in between the cardboard.

Take another clamp and do the same.

Then apply some glue on the edge of the paper.

Repeat this process a few times.

When it's dry, take away the cardboard and the booklet.

Here you go: a fun little booklet to carry with you in your handbag,
give away as a freebie or just to hold all those loose laying around pieces of paper.

So there is no reason any more to throw away paper, just recycle it as often as you can 'cause every tree counts!