Thursday, March 25, 2010

Recycle those empty toilet paper rolls into a fun little mini!!!

OK, we all have these available. Why not put them to good use instead of throwing them out? I am talking about your empty toilet paper rolls. Since March is a "green" month, let's think green and do some recycling with the help of our Bind-It-Alls and the fabulous Zutter Rivets. Both are fun to use, and easy peasy too.



I decided to make a book of colors for my grandbabies who are 1.5 years and 2.5 years old. First, I saved 10 TP rolls. Next I flattened them, and painted gesso on them so I could use some fun Glimmer Mist colors on each page.



I wanted each page to really sparkle. :) Here they are drying. Don't you love the marble-ish look?



After I finished spraying each "page" on both sides, I cut out the color using cardstock, then glued it to the roll. Here is one done, and one not done-



I did both sides, then used my pink BIA to punch the binding slots -



Next I used the Zutter Pound-It-All to set rivets on each toilet paper "page", including a little loop of ribbon. I squirted a smidge of hot glue down the end of the TP roll where the binding would go to help keep the roll nice and flat. You don't have to do this glue step, but I didn't want little fingers trying to explore gaps in the toilet paper rolls. Next I bound the book together using the 1 1/4" Antique Silver Owire.


I punched out my title, glued it to the front, then used a silver pen and traced the word black since it did not show up as well.


All finished!





Give recycling a creative try today! It is fun and easy peasy. This project is perfect for creating any type of fun little mini, and other than the Owire, you probably have all the supplies right now in your craft room (or the bathroom!)

Happy crafting!

Zutter Zister DT Member Pam Sandy

18 comments:

Elaine A said...

What a really clever idea! And this turned out so cute!

Elaine Allen

Unknown said...

this is such a good idea. I have about 50 rolls saved up already and need to put them to good use. thanks for the inspiration.

Anita Bownds said...

lol loo rolls awesome idea

Larsi said...

i like the look of the book. my daughter used to get everything in her mouth until she was about 4 years old and later she did so sometimes. for children like her this book would be dangerous. so this is maybe not such a good idea as it seems, because most little children dicover things by taking them into their mouth.

Shelley Haganman said...

Great project! Very clever use of the rolls!

Anne Marie said...

How fun is that! What a great idea!

Unknown said...

I love how you discribed making one of these step by step. I've used the same process in a sense...and decorated the outsides then placed plain paper with ribbons to be used as notes. So much fun to do!!!
http://dreamsofpurelove.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Tp is flattened whating for a fun project, This is it, TFS,Mary M

The Gov. said...

How clever is this!

Scrapinkats said...

Cute a friend brought one by to show me hers... need to make one

Patsy Ingram said...

What a clever idea. Love it!

Kim said...

What a cute project! I'm going to start saving those TP rolls. Great idea!

nanapayne said...

Never would have thought about doing this.
Cool idea. Doggone I want some glimmer mist.

Eileen said...

That is brilliant - so simple too! I have some TP rolls ready flattened, and haven't decided what to do with them ...

Great idea for little 'uns!

Milly said...

LOVE this idea -- so many possibilities using something there seems to be a never-ending supply of! Thanks so much for sharing!!! Oh, and LOVE the inks you sprayed the tubes with -- gorgeous colors!
Milly / Thistlecraft.etsy.com

MsJay said...

I have been saving my rolls for a project similar to this one. I really like yours.

Claudia said...

Very very clever. Gotta start savings those rolls!

Sonia said...

Beautiful!!!, full of pretty colors! Great Job!

**Sony**
Sonia-Studio60