Upcycled ... A Cricut project!

OK, damn it. I forgot to blog on this project, which recycles one of Earth's most annoying products: old Christmas wrap. So let's look at it this way: ANY wrap will do.


Step 1: (left) Choose your paper. If you're like me and in love with paper, you save the most ridiculous stuff. You know what I mean ... it's just a little snip you're going to scrapbook ... someday ... But it's NOT so much that you've become a candidate for that "Hoarders" show. (Just keep repeating that last sentence and we'll all be fine.)


Step 2: (right) Smooth it nicely onto your sticky mat, ensuring there aren't any ripped bits that could get caught in the machinery. You could theoretically trim the sheets down, but that would verge too dangerously away from the insanity of the creative process. It's all about leaving things to chance and all ... measuring once and cutting twice. You know.


Step 3: (left) After sending it through the Cricut (not shown; you can figure that out, hunh? :) ), catch an end and peel up. This is what I call the magic step, seeing what you got as the little cutouts are revealed. (And as a side note, see that swipe of white paint there on the right? This is my dining room table. That paint has been there since, oh, I'm guessing 1987. That's how often we actually use the dining room table to eat. I'm dedicated to my craft, hunh?)


Step 4: (above) Well ... there really isn't a Step 4. I just had this extra photo.

Think about how cool this would be if, for example, you took some of the birthday wrap from your little girl or boy's birthday presents and cut out cupcakes. I bet THOSE would go in a scrapbook before the kid turns 29, now wouldn't they?

That's what I keep telling myself.