Making something out of nothing

the subtitle of this post could also be toilet paper roll stealer. Just a little post about being green (er). See below:



Recently, I have been in the "covering" mood. I want to cover everything. I could chalk it up to being just tired of storing my scraps or just because I like making everything pretty. I got this idea from a label printer at work. One of our secretaries was refilling the label printer and had this nice sturdy cardboard roll. She was just going to throw it away and I had this bright idea to keep it and make something of it.

The cardboard roll posed a bit of a problem though. One could cover it all you want but you could not have a bottom in it. Well, I fashioned a circle about 1/4 inch bigger than the diameter of the base with card stock, cut little slits in the circle, all the way around and then glued the slits to the inner side of the roll. Then I thought, that card stock will not hold up to office tools, such as pens, scissors, and other pointy stuff. So I made a circle with transparency just slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the roll and put messy clear glue all over it and pressed it into the bottom of the roll.

I still was not happy with the inside so I then sprayed the heck out of it with glimmer mist to cover the word advertising that is in the inside of the roll. You can still see the outline, and I suppose one could paint the inside but I chose not to. The whole idea for me is to make it look re-purposed.




I then picked out some pretty papers that I have some of, with embellies, that I thought might look nice, and better yet, be able to use the scraps for something besides cards. The first one I made is the one with Bo-Bunny "No place like home one".

I have since branched out. The short squat one is a duct tape roll, that I found empty under my son's bed when I cleaned his room last week. I thought this was more shallow and could be used on a desk, holding paper clips or something like that.

The final one is the key to the toilet paper roll hint above--the one with the Daisy D's Paper and the 2 Prima flowers on it. At my LSS, they have these large TP dispensers in the restroom and when the roll is empty, it yields a nice large roll to make this project. I did ask the owner, my good friend Rhonda, if I could just take it, and after she looked at me funny, she said yes. {I think she will be the FIRST person to get one of my "green" projects--after all, she paid for the TP, roll and all}...LOL

The best part of it was that when I visited the store yesterday afternoon was at the right time, and the roll was empty again. I took that roll, which she said of course "by all means"...and made a comment about how she went through so much TP when she has Friday night crops. Not so good for her, but good for me. He-he!

So that is my rendition of making something out of nothing. I would like to put a disclaimer in here though, I will NOT be visiting many restrooms, taking paper rolls out, UNLESS they are empty. The whole idea is to be aware of your surroundings and if there is a good opportunity, take it. I hope I get beyond the covering everything phase, and move on to scrapping something once in awhile, but until then, keep your eyes peeled for empty rolls for me! LOL Love and Hugs, Lara