How to Turn Unwanted Greeting Cards into Colourful Bunting

For an inexpensive bunting have a go at doing something along these lines. 

I had a pile of greeting cards that we had discontinued, and since I hate waste of any sort, I thought I'd recycle them into a colourful length of bunting. Here's what I did:
I roughly tore the cards into triangle shapes aiming to get a rough edge along the torn edges

The rough edges will soak up water nicely; mix up some colour in water. Using what I had to hand I used ink for one colour and dilute watercolour for the rest. But you could use anything that is water soluble - experiment with acrylic or even food dye.

Dip the torn edges into the dilute colour so that the colour can be taken up by the paper: 

And hang the triangles up to dry; I used a clothes airer and some pegs as they were both handy:

Once you have a nice stack of colourful triangles it's time to chose your ribbon. I decided on this simple green and white gingham ribbon from Jane Means Ribbons. I think it looks fab with these colours and brings the whole together.

Collect together all that you will need to assemble your bunting. White pva glue is perfect, and I use either bulldog clips or clothers pegs to hold the ribbon in place while the glue is drying.

Sometimes it's easier to work on the floor!

And then you're ready to party, or decorate your room. The bunting is one sided, since the greeting card design will be on the back, but hey, it just feels so good to create something fun out of all those old cards (especially all those Christmas cards from previous years)

How have you recycled old cards in the past? I'd love to hear your creative ideas.

Kintsugi - adding new beauty

I recently broke a very special cup. It's not really a special cup and the saucer has long since been mislaid. But it's the cup I remember my dad using for tomato soup when I was quite a young girl. My parents divorced early on so I never spent as much time as I would have liked with him, but my memories of moments in time from that period are special; hence this tomato soup cup is special.

So I've made an attempt at mending it, inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pots - repairing the pots with gold, making a feature of the brokenness and celebrating it.

"The world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places." ~Ernest Hemingway

I like that I have spent time with my dad in my thoughts while I attempt my repair. I've not followed the traditional methods, just used modern glues and gold powder, and I've not done an amazing job, but I have my cup back and it may feature as a prop on some of my product photographs.

I found this blog post by Sequins and Cherry Blossom really interesting:

http://sequinsandcherryblossom.com/2014/01/26/kintsugi-lacquer-repair/

Have you ever had a go at Kintsugi? Do share your photos with us!