Pink Saturday…A Recycling Project Several years ago I made a purchase at a craft mall…it was a recycled vegetable can that had been painted and embellished to hold a pencil and notepad…cute idea, but the John Deer green paint and obvious crimping with a pair of pliers detracted from the presentation…I bought one and took it to Hubby. “How can I make this look better?” I asked. He suggested crimping with a vice instead of pliers. “We have a vice, don’t we?” I asked knowing full well that if Sears or Harbor Freight made them, we had at least one…turns out we have two…and that’s how I started making gift pockets out of recycled cans. Over the last seven or eight years, I’ve made hundreds. They are big sellers at craft fairs and one was my very first sale in my Etsy store…I start by removing the bottom of the can and crimping a narrow seam around the bottom…

 

Then it gets a coat of paint or a decopauged layer of  colored tissue…today I’m showing a PINK one,

The bottom seam is hidden under strips of vintage paper or scrapbook paper trimmings. Old catalogues, maps, children’s books, stamps, buttons, jewelry pieces, well, you name it, and it just might show up to decorate one of these recycled and repurposed pockets.  They are the perfect size to hold a gift card, a lottery ticket, movie passes, tea bags, a perfect bite of chocolate, a decorated cookie…you get the picture. Each one has a theme, this one celebrates HOME. Maybe you can read the words and sing along with Steven Foster’s song lyrics pasted down behind the old folks…

And you might recognize the bits and pieces of ephemera that have been gathered and gleaned to decorate these humble little works. Vintage wall paper really set off these pockets made for a Red Hat group.

And wrapping paper furnished lots of images for these spring gardening cans…

I like treating the Earth kindly by reusing…I think it’s a PINK attitude…and speaking of PINK, stop by Beverly’s blog http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

to see who’s posting Pink beauties for you to admire this weekend. Thanks for stopping by. Leave a note so I can pay you a call. My next post is going to be a thank you note for an amazing giveaway I won…but more about that later…