Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Trash-to-Treasure...Creating Papercrafting Embellishments From Used Dryer Sheets


Yes, you read the title of this post correctly...I'm going to show you one of the ways that I recycle used dryer sheets to create embellishments for my papercrafting projects! In the card above, I created the layered flower from used dryer sheets that I tea dyed...here's how I did it:

Begin by cutting several used dryer sheets in half lengthwise. Boil water and add to bowl(s) along with teabag(s)...I used both regular tea bags as well as raspberry tea bags:


Once the tea has reached the color you desire, remove the tea bags from the water and place the dryer sheets into the bowls of "tea", stirring to completely saturate the dryer sheets:


Leave the dryer sheets soaking in the tea for several hours or overnight. Remove dryer sheets from liquid and lay on paper towels to completely dry. As you can see in the next photo, the brown dryer sheets were dyed in the water with the regular tea bag and the light purplish/pinkish dryer sheets were dyed in the raspberry tea bag water:


To create the flower in the card shown at the top of this post, I simply cut one of the dyed dryer sheets into 4 pieces and, using a Sizzix and a flower die, cut out multiple flowers:


I then layered several of the dryer sheet flowers, and sewed a button on to hold the layers together. Using cardstock that I ran through my corrugator, I cut out leaves and created a vine for a little extra dimension. Here's a close-up shot of the flower...I really like the fiber-y, (is that a word??), texture that the dryer sheets give them, don't you?


Stay tuned...in the next few days I'll be showing you another project that I made using some of the other tea dyed dryer sheets!

Have a SUPER day!

Photobucket

8 comments:

  1. A gorgeous card and a fab flower technique! I've a pile of used dryer sheets taking up space in my Craft Cave ... time to dye 'em and make flowers out of them! TFS and thanks for the inspiration!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that's awesome Becky! I've never seen this done before. What a neat way to recycle and make fabulous embellishments!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh...this is such a neat idea! Makes me never want to get rid of anything!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much for this tutorial Becky! I can't wait to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea! I love the look of these.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the texture of these rather than just paper.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had to check out your tutorial. Great idea. I love the texture it gives to your project. I have used coffee filters before but never thought to use dryer sheets.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving a comment; I truly value your thoughts, ideas and opinions! Have a blessed day! Becky B.