My mom bought me a cool little gift a few weeks ago: coasters made of recycled foreign newspapers. I added them to my drawer of cute little things I tend to have: candle sticks and napkin rings and other entertainment cuteness. That's right, this stuff gets a whole drawer in my small kitchen because these little things make me smile when I use them.
But as I looked at the coasters again yesterday, made of basic elements with recycled materials, I thought, pfff! I can make that! So tonight I recreate something with a potential gift-giving possibility. (If you have enough coasters, you can make a trivet or tray!)
On another unrelated but actually kind of related note, I noticed a Women's Day article (no judgement please) about some weird put-lemon-juice-in-everything diet. Now, the fact that WW has a new diet every issue with a normal person that isn't fat anymore on their cover makes me a little suspect but, eh, I like lemons and willing to passively see if lemon juice/zest revs up my digestive system and makes me lose 5 pound in a week! (That' WW's exclamation mark and not mine.) So tonight I'm drinking a Disco Lemonade, mostly due to it's name but also because I may be the next star of Woman's Day if I do.
Let the crafting begin!
Materials Newspapers and magazines I'm recycling anyway (if you're looking for newspapers, visit your local paper for back issues… I'm sure they'd be happy to give them to you!)
Ruler
Scissors
Modge Podge or spray adhesive or, if absolute last resort can't find anything else, a glue gun($5-$10 depending on weapon of choice)
Pencil (to twirl the strips of paper around, you'll see in a minute)
Cocktail of the Day: Disco lemonade—orange liquer and vodka (equal parts) plus lemonade (I'm adding some lemon zest, WW style)
1. If you don't have T.V. put on some crafting upbeat (dare I say disco?) music. Make your lemonade.
2. Cut pages or parts of pages into rectangles of equal sizes (10 strips will make one coaster). Wrap part of your pencil on one end of the page to start the party. Spray adhesive or Modge Podge or hot glue the page as you roll, baby roll. You are essentially making a strong strawlike piece of paper. Set aside to dry. Repeat with the other pieces of paper. (Attention: Glue out of a glue gun is hot!)
3. Now that your straws are ready, glue them together to form a little raft. While it dries, confuse the dog by discoing with your disco lemonade.
4. After your "raft" is dry, you can finish the edges with strips of magazine/newspaper but you can also try yarn, fabric, or anything else you think would look nice on the edge that you may have around the house. Adhere to the edges and tada!
Ok so the real things looks a lot better but with some practice, I can see the TCT equavalent looking pretty cool. Just remember a couple things:
1. Shorter strips are easier to roll.
2. Hot glue should be a last resort.
3. Something slightly thinner then a pencil would be ideal for rolling, but I can't quite think of what that object would be.
Happy crafting!