Not disposing of the disposable.....

.... or upcycling as I like to call it!

I have a Instax portable printer (more about this lovely little gadget another time) and it has disposable print cartidges - and these, I discovered on holiday, make great little box frames...

When I go on holiday I pack a basic craft kit (I'm not good at laying in the sun for too long lol) - this time I packed 2 sets of JOFY stamps (1st time I've done this) - the alphabet plates (JOFY21&22) - along with pens, glue, washi tape, and some bits & pieces of patterned paper... and a small set of alphabet stamps (approx 5mm high)...

When the printer cartridge is empty it looks like a little mini tv screen when laid sideways (landscape)...

but I decided to used it'standing up' because I really liked how it was wider at the bottom and so stood up.

I created the piece by stamping the flowers from one of the stamp sets onto papers, cutting them out, stamping a background & word strip and compiling it all inside the cartridge.

Its a really simple little 'thing' and was fun to make - nice to make 'something' from an object that was to be thrown away... hope this inspires you to look at 'rubbish' in a different light.

xx

(please excuse any wierdness in the layout etc of this blogpost - I'm using a Greek computer and it literally is 'all Greek to me'! I'm quite proud that is got this far lol)

mmmm pretty colouring pens...

....make me happy.. yep, its that simple - & NEW pretty colouing pens (or pencils) in a box & in colour order (squeel) makes me very happy...

I like to colour in my stamp images in pen, and I've been using Distress Ink pens (which I love) but they don't work well with Fresco Finish paints which is a problem because I paint A LOT with Frescos (obviously!)... Distress Pens have their place - great if you're using the other Distress products: inks and stains, and directly onto paper but not on Frescos because they get absorbed into the paint.... so I've been keeping an eye out for an alternative and (drum roll please...) taa daaaaaaaaaaa  Fibralo pens made by Caran d'Ache!!!  oh be still my pen loving heart! lol

go on stroke the pens - you know you want to...

I had a quick play with them.. - I want to do straight forward (?!) colouring with them and so I created the little tile tester in the photo above... just playing around and getting them to blend which is what I want pens to do - not block colour, something more delicate...  

What I love about these pens is that they are water soluble- you can scribble onto a craft sheet  (or into the inside of the lid of the tin (?)) and pick up the ink with a wet paint brush and paint with them like watercolour paints!!  Bazinga!  Love!!
My little tile sample is created on a watercolour postcard which the pens worked really well on... I also painted onto Fresco Finish paints - great blending & no absorbing into the paint.. woop woop!!

If you want to see what else these pens can do check out Darcy's blog post over on the PaperArtsy blog where she did all kinds of interesting stuff with them - HERE  and you can buy them HERE