Eightymillion

A DIY craft and photography blog. Dogs included.

DIY Recycling Inspiration: Handmade Smash Books for Christmas

Today is the first day of July.  And there’s no better time than to start those handmade Christmas projects than now. I’m trying very hard not to wait until the last minute with gifts this year.  I have two nieces and four nephews who will love these smash books.   
I’m going to post updates as the project progresses all the way up till their completion.  I invite you to create one along with me. Give one as a gift or a keepsake for yourself.
There is a few things that I would like to say before we get started.  
First, if you Google smash books you will get a wide variety of options to look at.  There are several ways to create one.  Some may call them a scrapbook or a journal.  I like Smash Book.  I’m sharing my ideas with you for inspiration.  There is no wrong way to make one.  Let your imagination flow.  I’ve seen some that focus on one particular subject or event.  My creations are going to be collection of photos and oddities that my nieces and nephews will enjoy.  They will all be signed and dated.  As I type this I’m envisioning in my head that this may turn into a yearly gift from their Aunt Jennifer.
We are living in a world full of technology.  Agree?  It’s nice to have something tangible to track your footprint.  Are you with me?
Second, I’m not promoting any of the product boxes that you see in this post.  I’m recycling everyday products that we all have in our homes.   
Let the creativity begin!
The core of this project revolves around recycling.  I’ve been collecting and saving all sorts of boxes for quite some time.  Cereal, crackers, Mac & Cheese, fruit snacks, etc.  If I can find a way to reuse something I’m happy.  Another bonus is your production costs is low.    
The Secret Life of Bees.  Have you seen it?  I’ll be watching this tonight while I start this project.  Perhaps I’ll order a pizza also.  Too hot to cook and I don’t dare turn the oven on.
The beginning is the most time consuming part.  If you own a large industrial paper cutter than you can breeze through the prep work.  I only use my paper cuter for cardstock, so using a pair of scissors will get the job done.  
I’m taking all of the boxes and cutting off the sides, top, and bottom.  Those will get set aside for use later.  The front and back will be used for the base pages of the books.     
I’m taking all of the cereal boxes and cutting them in half.  This will be the general size of the pages for each book. Do I measure each page to make sure they are even?  No.  Once you get to know me, you’ll find that I don’t measure anything.  To eyeball it works just fine for me.  I have some ideas for combining various sizes in the same book.  I’ll share that later when I get to it.
That’s all for now.  A Sunday evening with a movie, pizza, and a pair of scissors.  My next update will come when I’m all done cutting.  I have six books to make so I want to get the most gruesome part done all at once.
If I can inspire you to make one, you are awesome!  If your here to read along, you are awesome!  My muse sings a river of ideas to me daily.  And if I can create something interesting and inexpensive, then I want to share it with you.
I would love to hear (see) from you if your participating in this project.  Leave me a comment below. You can also communicate through my Eightymillion page on Facebook.  

DIY Instant Flower Pots Using Recycled Cement Bricks

Here’s an easy recycling project for you to do.  These are the bricks that I got from a friend last year.  I don’t have much knowledge in regards to flowers, so I just pick what looks good together and go with it.  This year I chose begonias and dusty miller plants.  I thought I was paying attention to the sun requirements, only to notice that one of them requires full sun.  The bricks rest on the sidewalk where there is part sun.  Oh well, hopefully they’ll survive.  (Update, yes they both did well)
After weeding out what was left in the bricks from last year I added some additional top soil and then the plants.  Going with an every other pattern placement gave them an interesting look.  

Message From the Dogs: Thank You

We hacked into our Mom’s computer to access her blog.  Disco checked the camera and found some photos of us sleeping.  Why she takes them while we rest we aren’t sure.  But, it’s common to have an image with the post right?  So, we’ll see if this turns out okay.  Perhaps we should try and take one of her sleeping and post it here.
Anyway, we wanted to take a moment to say “Thank You” to all of you for stopping by and reading our mom’s blog.  She puts a lot of time into it. A day doesn’t go by that she says, “Hey, that would make a great post.”  It makes us happy that she includes us within this project. She calls it our job.  And with the tight economy we all got to work, right?  I guess you could say we all work from home.  Speaking of the economy, it’s a good thing we walk where ever we need to go because the gas prices are ridiculous.   We get paid with edibles.  And that’s just fine with us.
I peeked into her agenda and she’s got a lot of fun stuff planned.  Wait until you see what’s coming this weekend.  It’ll get you in the mood for Spring.  My brothers and I can’t wait for our parents to put the garden in.  We make every attempt possible to steal the cherry tomatoes through the fence.  Well worth the timeouts we get for doing it.
  
I think I hear her coming and I still have to spell check this.

Hardy, House, and Disco