Recycled Christmas Placemats!

Over the past couple years I've shown you how to recycle your old holiday cards, junk mail, and gift wrap into many festive new objects, including ornaments, gift tags, countdown paper chains, mini gift bags, and scrapbooks (via last month's e-newsletter). What else could there be to use all this old "trash" for?

Today's fantastic recycled Christmas placemat project comes from none other than my extremely creative sister Heidi, of iBusybodies.com! This is a great project to use up those old holiday cards, gift wrap, holiday-themed junk mail & catalogs, and even those PHOTO cards!

Here's what Heidi did...

Cut squares out of all the recycled items you want to use.

She used this square punch, and used the corner rounder (below left) on the corners when finished. I don't have a square punch, so I made some using my cutting board, cutting 1.5" squares.

Here's the fun part that will really personalize your placemats...use photo cards you get in the mail too! Make sure to center the squares around your friends and family's faces. You may want to hand cut or use a cutting board for this so you can see what you're doing.

Then, simply stick down the squares on your larger paper until you fill it up. Heidi used a double-stick tape applicator made for scrapbooking on the back of each square. When I made mine, I laid out a long strip of double-stick tape on my paper backing and stuck the squares to it.



Trim off edges where necessary, and round the corners if you choose. Then, so they can stand up to spills and drips, have them laminated at Kinko's or your print shop of choice.



And you're done! These placemats will be even more fun to look at in years to come as the photos of friends and family get older! Top them with a recycled holiday light napkin ring and you're sure to start a conversation with your guests! Thanks for the great idea, Heidi!! And, kudos to my mom, Rollie Brandt, who took all the great photos!

DIY Project: Placemat into Diaper Clutch

I've got a good green, DIY-er mommy project for you today!

So here's how this little project started out. I was getting tired of lugging around a big diaper bag on short errands just in the rare case my baby had a blowout away from home, when I almost never even open it. I wanted to get one of those little diaper change clutch thingies that just hold the essentials for one change: diaper, wipes, changing pad, that would fit into my purse. (or now, my big Mommy bag)

Then I decided to go to Target and check out the diaper wallet they had for $16.99. I had seen it on another trip but then couldn't find it. I thought it was too expensive but I was getting desperate. I then saw that they had this little diaper pouch thing for $9.99 which I thought was also rediculously over-priced for a pouch with a velcro flap that would have taken me 5 minutes to make. This is where I decided that I could totally just make my own and save money. Yes, many of my DIY projects stem from my cheap-ness coupled with my constant desire to have a project going. On my way out I came across these placemats on clearance for $1.98 on an end cap:



I thought it was a cool blue pattern and decided to pick a couple up and use the fabric to turn into my own travel sized diaper changing kit. So, this is how my logic went on this project, and after I had purchased these placemats I thought...duh, I could have gotten some at a thrift store and re-purposed something that was already used. But, alas, I was thinking in the wrong order. I decided this was still a cool, simple project to post here and suggest that you try it out with some old placemats. I always see tons of them at thrift stores and garage sales so it's another great way to recycle something!

So, here is what I did: (illustrations by GF Design ;-)


1) Get a placemat! Better yet, get two. You can fold up the extra one and stick it in the holder at the end as a matching changing mat! Or, use it in case you mess something up on your first try.

2) lay your travel sized wipes container on it to measure the height, add a couple inches, and trim off the top excess. Save that scrap as you'll use it later!

3) With the outside pattern you want facing up, fold the ends in to create the two pockets you'll have to hold diapers on one side and wipes on the other. Just make sure that when you fold the pockets in that the wipes container just takes up half the width, so you can fold it over on itself when done.

4) Sew the edges of the two pocket ends. Then, turn the two pockets inside out so you now have the pattern on the outside.

5) You'll find the edges curl up a little from sewing the pockets and turning it inside out, so this is where I ironed a seam and sewed them down where shown in the illustration above. It's probably not absolutely necessary but I thought it gave it a more finished look.

6) Take the scrap you cut off and sew the raw edge shut, attach some velcro, and then attach the whole works to the holder as a strap to hold it shut!

And you're done!



Mine is now equipped with a cloth diaper and cloth wipes! I will have more reviews from my cloth diapering adventures coming soon too, by the way!



If any of you try this, I'd love to post pictures of yours, so feel free to send 'em my way! Contact me through my website and I'll reply with an address for you to send attachments to! (Sorry, I dare not post my email address straight out as I already get literally hundreds of spam messages per day! If only I could turn electronic junk mail into gifts as well!)