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H A P PY H O L I DAYS
Dreaming of a green Christmas? by Carol Blitzer
Here are some of their ideas.
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offee filters? Check. Old calendars? Check. Toilet paper tubes? Check. With just a little glue and ingenuity at the holidays, anyone can turn ordinary household scraps into beautiful gift wrap — and keep more trash from going to the landfill. Recycled calendars can become bows that resemble roses; coffee filters can become big, puffy chrysanthemums; and thin paper bags can be transformed into frilly bows. At a recent workshop on “EcoBoxes, Tags, & Wrap,” Monica Lee, a teacher at San Francisco’s SCRAP (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts) and artistin-residence at Ruth’s Table, and Dorothy Yuki, a design and production consultant, shared their ideas for using everyday items to add sparkle to one’s gifts. A toilet-paper roll, for example, can be folded at each end and decorated with a wallpaper scrap. Voila! A gift box is born. Continued from previous page
the best year. This is the first time we had to go to Safeway to buy extra supplies,” says Mr. Crittenden, who had been on kitchen duty since 6 a.m. The breakfast was sponsored by city of Menlo Park Commu-
out and attached to a package.
Chrysanthemum bow
Gift tags
Start with six or seven large white coffee filters; fold circle in half, then again and again. Grasping the point, cut the edges into either rounded shapes or points (think snowflake). Open. Repeat with other filters. Place one filter on the table and dab some glue from a glue stick in the center. Press the second cut filter on top, rotating the cut edges. Repeat until all layers are glued together. When dry, pouf the bow by lightly crushing the fronds. You can then glue a bead or button in the center.
Gift tags can be made from mat board (or the insides of old cereal boxes), with glued-on designs made from torn newspapers or magazines or junk mail. They can be enhanced with bottle caps or stickers, or colorful twine wound around the tag.
A book bow
A simple bow can be easily created from a strip cut from an old book (these can be cut at Office Depot for $1/cut, Yuki said). Break off about 1/2 inch of the book at the spine. Then fold each sheet into the spine. You can alternate and double fold every two or three. When finished, the bow can be fanned nity Services, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, and Menlo Park Rotary. Less fortunate children also benefited from the breakfast, with several families bringing toys for the firefighters toy drive. A
Rose bow
To make a rose bow, begin with about an 8-inch square of colorful paper, perhaps taken from last year’s wall calendar. Round out the four edges. Then cut a continuous spiral, beginning about 3/4-inch from the edge (“It doesn’t have to be straight,” Yuki said; in fact it’s better to cut a wavy line.) Beginning with the outside edge, with the side you want to see on the inside, start rolling tightly, all the while keeping the bottom edge together. When you get to the end, twist the end flat, add a dollop of glue (from the glue gun) and press down. “A rose petal is never ever, never
exact,” Yuki said. And no two “roses” are ever the same. One can cluster a trio in different sizes at the corner of a package, and glue in place. Paint-strip bow
Wondering what to do with all those paint strips you’ve brought home over the years, only to discard? You can create a fan of color by folding along the white strips between the colors (a “mountain” fold), then folding halfway along each color square in the opposite direction (a “valley” fold). Repeat for a second strip. Then fan each out and glue ends together to make a round bow. Add a button to the center with hot glue. Scrap-paper tree
You can create a little Christmas tree, beginning with a skewer attached to an old cork. Tear up scraps of paper in different sizes. Beginning at the bottom (the cork end), pierce one scrap at a time and push down the skewer, using larger pieces at the bottom and smaller
ones as you near the top. Every few pieces, add a folded piece as spacer. “This is a great project for grandkids. It’ll keep them busy for days,” noted Jonathan Cranch, president of FabMo, who participated in the workshop. Wallpaper ornament
A quick tree ornament can be made from 3/4-inch strips of wallpaper. Begin by cutting strips 8 inches long, 7.5 inches, 7 inches and 6.5 inches. Make a loop from red string and knot at one end. Gently fold the shortest strip, capturing the knotted string at the end; fold the next three strips around the first one. Staple the end. Then push down from the center on the bottom, lining up the strips at the other end, and staple that. Just think how happy the recycle crew will be when they find a gift wrapped in an old paper bag, with a coffee-filter bow and matboard tag. Associate Editor Carol Blitzer can be emailed at cblitzer@ paweekly.com. A
Visit AlmanacNews.com to see more photos. Photo on the cover: Angie Kenny holds her 18-month-old daughter Avery, while she reacts to meeting Santa Claus during the Breakfast with Santa event at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center in Menlo Park on Dec. 1. Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac.
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