Yellowed embroidery pattern

I was looking up some thread in one of my 'treasury' boxes (I keep my crafting materials in a couple of  boxes in an empty bedroom), and came across an old embroidery pattern that I ones used in my teenage years, that was completely yellowed. This pattern consisted of all kinds of tiny patterns of leaves, letters, numbers and fruitbaskets.

In the past weeks I created some tiny cross-stitch art-works myself (of a heart and a boat), but I didn't have the courage yet to start stitching letters and numbers myself. This pattern was exactly what I had been looking for on the internet, and now I found it in my own home: a long forgotten treasure. I created some initial tags the day after, embroidering letters on tetrapak tags, which (I can image) are perfect for a wedding or a baby shower.

Upcycled paper and cardboard examples

Since a couple of weeks I started to collect examples of upcycled paper and cardboard. Many people are actually appreciate the beauty of cardboard and paper!

I collect these examples on Pinterest, which is a nice platform for collecting your own interests and combining them with the findings of other people. Check-out my Pinboard!

Cardboard upcycling Tutorial

Every two weeks the city services pick up boxes full of old paper and cardboard in our street. Each household collects a box or two, full of old papers, packaging boxes, magazines, old postcards and tickets. 


I became more aware of the old paper in my home, when I went to print an invitation card at a copyshop in our neighborhood. I had to pay almost 5 euro's for one sheet of 200 gram's A4 with a full-colour print on only one side! That is really a costly business. I thought that printing my own designs would make me poor, and I started to think how I could overcome this... Next time I dumped a cereal box in the bin, I noticed what a brilliant colours were printed on this box, and how thick this cardboard actually was. I could use this cardboard to create some special postcards. Eureka!

1. The first step was to collect a couple of discarded boxes, some old christmas cards, two perfume boxes with nice colours and even some with golden prints. 
2. I cut out the nicest pieces of cardboard in squares of 3 x 3 cm. 
3. When I had a big pile of squares, I started to combine the squares in mosaics of 3 x 3 matrixes, using colours that were quite similar. 
4. I  created 12 postcards by applying each mosaic to a blue folded postcard of 10,5 x 14,8 cm. I used adhesive foam (for 3D cards) to lift up the squares a bit from the card. 
5. This is really fun to do, especially making the mosaics just right and  sending the postcards to my friends and family, who like to get those at their birthday! 


Perhaps a good idea for your easter weekend? These cards are also available in my Etsy shop, as a ready made set, or as a DIY kit.