Woven Newspaper Tubes Heart

During these times I've been a bit reluctant to venture out, so as a result, I had to look long and hard around the house to come up with something to make for this month's 'Do It Over Designers' challenge. In case you've forgotten, 'Do It Over Designers is a group of talented bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY, hosted by Anne @The Apple Street Cottage. 

It's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Anything from fabric, old dishes, and decor to dressers and hutches. Items found in closets, barns, garages, yard sales, thrift stores, you name it! Sounds like fun, doesn't it!

Well, I didn't have to look too hard! It was right in front of me! Newspaper! 

I've been subscribing to a newspaper since I was out on my own. My dad got me into reading the paper each day when I was growing up. Now I can't do without my daily routine! So why not put them to good use after reading, by recycling or repurposing into something fun and crafty! There are tons of things you can create with newspaper - just look on Pinterest! As a crafter, newspaper is a great source for recycling and making something unique and creative! 

Since Valentine's Day is just around the corner and love is in the air, I want to show how to make an adorable woven newspaper tubes heart.

Materials:

• Newspaper
• Skewer stick
• Quick grab and dry glue
• Parchment paper
• Painter's tape
• Acrylic paints/brush
• Heart template/cardboard
• Heavy duty scissors

Let's begin with making the newspaper tubes - you will need to roll about thirty tubes to make the heart. 

1.  Fold a newspaper section in half and fold again so you have four sections.
2.  Cut out the four folded sections and open length-wise.
3.  Take a thin skewer stick and place on the corner edge of paper at an angle, as pictured.
4.  Place the end tip of the paper over the skewer and start rolling the paper with fingers pressed down on the table first.  Once you've started rolling the paper, lift up the tube so your left fingers are controlling the roll while your right hand is rolling the stick and tightening the tube.
5.  Just before finishing the roll, add glue to the corner end tip and continue rolling until reaching the end to seal. 

Then place the tubes about 1/2 inch apart on parchment paper and tape down the top ends.  You will need two sets of newspaper tubes - about twenty for the purple color and about half that amount for the white tubes. You can make one in whatever colors you like!

Begin painting the tubes, first one side and let dry. 

Turn the tubes over and paint the opposite side and let dry. You may need a couple of coats to cover the print for each side. Repeat for the white tubes.

While the tubes are drying, copy and paste a free heart template or make your own by folding paper in half and drawing a half heart shape along the folded edge of the paper and cut out the heart.  

With the purple tubes still taped down, begin weaving with the white tubes, over and under each purple tube, using your fingers to move the weaving white tubes closer together.

As you add more weaving tubes, it will be easier to pick up every other purple tube and use your hand to hold the tubes up, in order to add the white weaving tubes. Doing it that way made it really quick to weave.

When the desired size of the weave is reached for the heart template .  .  .

add glue to the back of the heart and .  .  .

apply to the woven newspaper tubes, lining up the white tubes symmetrically with the heart shape - 

Once dry, carefully cut out the heart shape weave. You may need to glue down a few stray tubes, but it should look perfect to use as a decorative piece. Sorry, I thought I had taken a picture of the front just after cutting it out. I guess I was too excited to see it finished and forgot to.

I decided to add the woven heart to a frame that .  .  .

I had decoupage previously with napkins, similar in color.

I love how the woven newspaper heart looks in the frame.

Just perfect with my decor!

Be sure to check out all the 'Do It Over Designers' listed below to see their lovely "do overs" too!  

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Chas’ Crazy Creations

Cloches & Lavender

Doodle Buddies

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Pandora’s Box

Purple Hues & Me

Unique Creations by Anita

Homemade Heart Sweet Treats

These bite size heart sweet treats are a melt in your mouth delicious goody to create for Valentine's Day! You won't believe they're made with just Ghirardelli white baking chips and cashew nuts formed in pretty silicone heart shape molds! That's it! Quick, easy and simple! 

I was inspired to make this treat from this pin on Pinterest.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of things I didn't like about the recipe. But I loved the pretty end results, so I came up with an easier and simpler way to make a sweet heart shaped treat.

 Of note - this baker refers to white chips as "white chocolate" chips. Even though they're made by Ghirardelli, they are not chocolate since the chips do not contain any type of cocoa. And chocolate whatever, has to have cocoa in it to be called chocolate. Ghirardelli was sued a few years ago for using "white chocolate" on its' packaging and had to pay a steep fine. Nevertheless, the white chips actually taste better than white chocolate according to a "taste test" and are perfect to use in most "white chocolate chip" recipes, including mine!

Ingredients:

Ghirardelli White Baking Chips

Chopped cashews

Wilton's Silicone Stack-N-Melt Candy Mold

Teaspoon for smoothing

Instructions:

Let's begin by hand washing the mold with soapy warm water. Rinse and dry thoroughly.  Then place 12 white chips in each of the twelve heart shape molds.

Place in microwave and time for 2 1/2 minutes at 50 percent power. Remove mold and using a small spoon, gently smooth the melted chips around the heart shape.

Chop about a 1/2 cup of cashews beforehand and .  .  .

spread a layer of chopped cashews over the melted white chips.

Then add 12 more white chips over the nuts. Microwave at half power for 2.5 - 3 minutes. The chips should be melted and ready to smooth out using the back of a teaspoon.

Put the mold in the freezer for thirty minutes for the hearts to firm. Remove from freezer and place mold on a hard surface. Remove treats from molds by gently pushing up on the bottom of the individual molds to release the heart goodies. 

The intricate detailing of the molded treat is very impressive!

Now, it's time for our January Pin Challenge which is - can you guess - Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes! The purpose of the Pinterest Challenge is to motivate us to not just pin, but to make it happen! 

For more Pinterest inspired projects from this month's Pinterest Challenge hosts, check out the links below ↓

Now, let's see what the other hosts have created ⇓⇓

• My Pinterventures - Easy Sweet Crepes Recipe
• Slices of Life - Pink Popcorn for Valentine's Day
• Little Vintage Cottage - Keto Raspberry Cheesecake Bites
• Purple Hues and Me - Homemade Heart Sweet Treats
• Our Sutton Place - Vegan Mini Heart Shaped Brownies
• Mom Home Guide - Air Fried Strawberries & Cream Cheese Fondue Wontons
• Our Good Life - Chocolate Cherry Fudge
• My Family Thyme - Skinnytaste Cheesecake Cupcakes

Grocery Bag Organizer Dispenser

 

 As a crafter, I like to use things I've accumulated to organize my stuff. I can usually find something I need in my recycling bin to help me get organized. Who doesn't love repurposing items? They make for good projects. And there are plenty of them, too! Most of the containers our food comes in like cans, bottles, glass jars and even cardboard boxes can all be repurpose! And with a little creativity, they can be quite decorative and functional, too! 

Take, for example, the Lysol wipes container - and re-using it as a dispenser to hold bags from the grocery store. You'd be surprised how many bags you can put in this container! I know this idea has been around but it's one of the best ideas I've seen to store grocery bags! So I'm making a few to use around my home, too. 

I use grocery bags to line all of my small trash cans - including the ones I have in my bathrooms, craftroom/computer room, and bedrooms. I also use them in the kitchen when I'm cutting up vegetables like celery and onions - you know the cut off ends will clog up the garbage disposal if thrown in - ask me how I know this! I also use garbage bags when I'm throwing out old leftovers from the fridge, tool So you can see why I need several bag dispensers around the house!  I usually just throw the empty bags onto a shelf like this:

 But really, it's so easy and simple to turn a wipes container into a decorative bag dispenser! Here's how:

Materials 

Wipes cylinder container - like Lysol or Clorox

Grocery bags

Ruler or tape measure

Self-adhesive Vinyl paper

Directions

Remove the label from the wipes container and thoroughly clean it, including removing the outside glue residue and inside area. Then dry with a paper towel. You don't want any previous liquid residue getting on the bags. Next, measure the area around the container and its' height. Then take a sheet of self-adhesive vinyl paper (Hobby Lobby) .  .  .

turning it over and using the measuring lines on the back to cut out the width and height of the container. You may need to piece the paper together for full coverage. I love this paper because it is sticky on the back so you don't need to have any additional glue to secure it to the container. Did I tell you that it's vinyl, too? Plus, it's removable if you don't line up the edges correctly the first time.

Once the paper is cut to the container size, separate a portion of the backing from the decorative facing at the edge and apply the decorative paper edge to the straight edge line that's on the container (there's one on the side when the plastic container was formed) - this makes it very easy to put the paper on straight.

Once the paper is lined up, begin smoothing it out on the container, while slowly removing the backing.

Continue smoothing the paper on the container while removing the backing .  .  .

until the container is covered. An additional circular piece can be cut out and attached to the top for a pretty decorative look!

Now it's time to roll the bags to fit in the container. 

Lay the first bag out on a work surface - smoothing it to remove any air pockets. The bags have  pleated box ends where you can insert your fingers into each end to easily snap the bags back into the original folded position.

Then fold the bag in half, matching the handles together and again, smoothing the bag out to remove any air.

Then fold the handles over and out to the side .  .  .

and begin rolling the bag neatly toward the bottom.

But before reaching the bottom, place just the handles of another folded bag on top of the first bag in order to get the dispensing effect .  .  .

and continue rolling the bags.

Adding more as you roll - just placing the handles on top of each additional bag.

Just remember to leave the end of the last bag that you roll visible, and then place the handles of the next bag on top of that bag and continue to roll - pushing the air out as you roll.

You should be able to roll up at least forty or more bags - which is a lot! Most wipe containers can hold up to fifty standard size grocery bags.

When you've finished rolling the bags, give a final squeeze to remove any air and insert the rolled bags with the handle sticking out into the wipes container.

After the rolled bags have been placed in the container, attach the top and pull the handles through the slotted opening.

What an awesome way to store bags .  .  .

while leaving space on the shelf to store other items, too! Lol!

It’s time for our monthly blog challenge! Every month a group of blogging friends,  participate in a challenge blog hop hosted by Beverly @Across the Blvd. For the first month of the year, our focus is on Organization Ideas! I'm sure you can’t wait to see how others met this month’s challenge!

Be sure to visit all of these talented bloggers for their organization ideas:

Across the Blvd

Domestic Deadline

Purple Hues and Me

Coastal Bohemian

Slices of Life

Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

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