Recycled Flowers for a Friend

When recycling came to our town in IL, I embraced it wholeheartedly. I loved the fact that we set out more blue containers than garbage cans weekly, and that so much of what we didn't need anymore, i.e. glass, plastic, cans, paper, and cardboard, could be repurposed.

Moving to GA brought a bit of recycling disappointment into my life. GA residents cannot recycle EVERY number of plastic, only 1s and 2s. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY THINGS ARE 5s?!? We can recycle glass, but not curbside. I have to save it up and take it to an area recycling center, but there's no fee to participate.

Well, as much as I've accepted recycling as part of my life, I'd never thought of repurposing items for CRAFTING before I read these posts by my cool Texan friend, Lydia. She thinks WAY outside the box creatively, and inspires me to do the same. How does this play out? I think of her every time I open a business sized envelope that has junk mail or a bill inside it!

Lydia LOVES blue. All things would be blue if she could find a way to make it so. So, when I saw the guts of these unassuming envelopes on a fine spring day, I knew what I wanted to do with them.

I pulled out my 1.75" and 2" scallop circle punches and made flowers! I cut down the scallops so that they'd fringe a bit, thus becoming more three dimensional, plopped a 3/4" circle of Yo Yo Yellow in the middle and topped it with a little button.

Then I needed a "landscape" for these flowers. I chose the swirly doodle from retired set Doodle This and stamped it in Garden Green to simulate funky foliage. Okay, this is coming together, but what about saying something? This card needed a sentiment, and I was a bit stumped as to how to incorporate it into the design. So I left the elements on my desk for a few days and came back to it yesterday. I decided I wanted a pennant, so I went to my stashes of SU! blues and chose Ballet Blue because it's the closest to the flowers. The sentiment is from Season of Friendship and it's stamped on Whisper White with BB ink.

I hope this makes you proud, girlfriend! I'll never be as cool as you, but I can try!