Recycled Christmas: Christmas Card Planner

Today is the last day of September, which means there are only 2 months between now and Christmas. I don't know about you, but I still have a lot of things to do before I can consider myself ready for Christmas. To keep myself organized and hopefully finish everything in time, I have made a planner using a Christmas card. This project is the first tutorial in the Recycled Christmas series and I am excited to share it with you.

Christmas Card Planner

For this project you will need: 

*A computer

*Microsoft Office or another word processor

*Computer paper (I used resume paper for a vintage appearance)

*A printer

*A Christmas card with envelope

*Ribbon

*Glue

*Tape

*Scissors

Planner Pages

The first thing I did was create a template of the inside pages on my computer. When I first created my template I wasn't sure of what pages I would want to include or how the pages would be ordered when I printed them out. This meant that not everything I have in the finished project were included in the original template and assembly proved a bit challenging. If I were going to make this planner again I would order the pages on my computer first and then print them out differently so that assembly was easier. If you have access to a card template on your computer I recommend using that template to create your pages because my pages didn't print the size I needed them to be, which meant a lot of unnecessary cutting afterwards. The pages in my planner are tabbed for easy access. The tabs are Calendar, Gifts, Cards, and Notes. 

Envelope Pocket 

On the inside front cover of the card I glued the card's envelope to the inside and trimmed off the excess. After I trimmed off the excess I had to go back and glue the edges of the envelope together so that it once again functioned as an envelope. Adding the envelope to the inside front cover provided me with a pocket, which I will use to store receipts or coupons that I need to reference later. I then assembled my pages in the order I wanted and used a hole punch to make two holes on the edge of the pages. I then used these holes to mark where I wanted the pages to lay on the inside of the card, which I marked using a pencil and then used the hole punch to make the holes. 

First Page of Planner

I would have liked to have used a ribbon that matched my card, but since this is a Recycled Christmas I used ribbon I already had to thread the pages to the card. I then taped the edges of the ribbon to the back of the card. You could also use more ribbon and secure the pages to the card using a bow. I decided to use tape and to not make a bow because I wanted my planner to lie flat when closed. The finishing touches to my planner were made using the pieces trimmed off of the envelope. I used the envelope flap to decorate the first page and the remaining pieces to create tabs for the different page types. I then began to fill out my planner using gel pens in colors that matched my planner.

The compact size of this Christmas planner means that I can easily tuck it into my purse and take it with me. I have tucked mine into my existing planner so that I will reference it regularly and stay organized this Christmas. Since this year is a Recycled Christmas, I am trying to purchase my gifts from eBay or to make my own using existing supplies I already have. The calendar pages in this planner are useful for tracking ending dates on eBay, as well as providing me with a written timeline for completing projects. While the gifts section allows me to keep track of the gifts I have already purchased and to record ideas for gifts I want to purchase in the future. This will also be useful in tracking gifts when the packages come in and I may have forgotten which item went to each person. Let me know if you are interested in the templates I used in my own planner as well as your own ideas for staying organized at Christmas. 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: A Recycled Christmas

Fall is officially here and I realized I haven't done a Christmas post this year. Ordinarily I have already posted an idea or project to implement for Christmas and have already started my own Christmas planning, but this year I am behind. I know that it is only September, but Christmas is approaching fast. I was at the store yesterday and the clerk reminded me that there are only 88 shopping days until Christmas. In the last few weeks I have received a dozen or more Christmas cards from various charities so yes, Christmas is right around the corner. As I started to put these Christmas cards away in my card box, I realized how many I had received over the last few years. The sheer number of cards that I hadn't used gave me the idea to have a recycled Christmas this year. 

In past years I have always picked a theme early and then used that theme to create photo cards to mail out to family and friends come Christmas time. This year I have been slacking in my Christmas planning and didn't pick a theme or create photo cards. Part of me is grateful for that because it gave me the opportunity to realize the abundance of Christmas items that I have left from previous years. I have so many items left over that I no longer have room to store the planning/themed supplies in one bin. In an effort to reduce clutter and stay organized, I am trying to adhere to a one bin rule for seasonal items, which includes Christmas, Halloween, and summer activities. I had been able to contain Christmas to one bin with the exception of my Christmas ornaments, which are stored in a separate container to keep them safe. 

I don't need to inform anyone of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" movement or our culture's tendency to have excess and honestly that's not the point. The point is how I am planning my Christmas and these are my ideas for a recycled Christmas. My goal in sharing these ideas is that other people would find them useful and be inspired, especially when ideas for a recycled Christmas are limited. If you've never looked then trust me they are very limited! Recycled Christmas isn't exactly a theme. This means that if you begin to tackle your Christmas planning with only recycling in mind that you can quickly become overwhelmed and your Christmas will appear messy. Maintaining a theme while also keeping recycling in mind is tricky, but allows you the opportunity to be creative and exercise your brain.

In choosing my theme, I inventoried my existing Christmas materials and thought about a theme I hadn't used in previous years. The Christmas cards in my box that I treasured the most were the cards that were rustic or images of childhood happiness. Initially I had trouble discovering a theme that would be able to incorporate both types of cards, but a review of the wrapping paper I had, although never used, helped me to envision my theme. Keep in mind that my overarching goal is for my Christmas to be recycled, to use the supplies I already have, and to reduce future clutter, which means that my theme is not going to be executed cleanly. My theme this year is a Moose Riding A Train, which incorporates both the rustic (moose) and the childlike (train) aspects of the Christmas cards. I already have the wrapping paper, which is quite literally a moose riding a train, and I will use the colors in the wrapping paper for everything else I create this Christmas. I will post a picture of this wrapping paper in a future post, where I will also show you how to recycle cardboard boxes using wrapping paper. 

Upcoming posts:

September 30th, 2015 Recycled Christmas: Christmas Planner

October 2nd, 2015 Recycled Christmas: Christmas Gift Boxes

Welcome Fall with a Crochet Door Bumper

Disclaimer: This is only a pattern review. The original pattern is not mine and can be found here. Changes I made to the pattern are given in this post as well and these changes are mine.

Fall is here and the weather is beginning to change, although in my hometown the changes are harder to feel. As the weather begins to cool, the wind blows, and the doors in the house begin to bang when they are closed. Well maybe not if you live in a newer house, but if your house is older then you will understand and appreciate this post. My house was built in the 70's, but the doors still have a tendency to bang due to poor construction or a crooked foundation. There is one door in particular that can be heard with a loud bang every time it is shut. Despite how annoying this is, I actually didn't go in search of this pattern, but stumbled across this pattern while searching Pinterest for quick yarn stash busters. A pattern for a door bumper came up in the search and I had an idea: I could use up some of my yarn and solve a problem. I quickly grabbed my supplies and made the door bumper in 10 minutes.

As I mentioned I found this pattern on Pinterest as part of a collection of patterns posted, but the original pattern was written by Crochet Dynamite and can be found on her blog Crochet Dynamite!. In her post she speaks of living on an old farmhouse and the creaking of doors, which is the inspiration behind her pattern. She also included a revised pattern to make a different style door bumper, but I chose to use the simple pattern because I wanted a quick project.

Option Two: Button Closure

When I am trying a new pattern, I don't read over the entire pattern prior to starting so I don't know if there is a problem in the pattern until I have already started, which can potentially be problematic. However, this pattern was well written and easy to follow. I didn't find the need to make any adjustments until the very end and then I only made a single adjustment to the closure. The original pattern calls for a tie closure on one end, but even the creator said the piece has enough stretch that you don't need the tie closures. If you don't use the tie closures then you have two options. Option one is to sew the ends of the pieces together to create a loop for the door. Option two is to create a loop on one end and sew a button on the other, which is what I chose to do.

These finishing options are my own original ideas and are not a part of the original pattern. An alternative option, that I thought of as I was writing this, is to connect the loop as you construct the entire piece. The pattern for this is listed below:

Alternate Pattern 

Chain 36

Round 1: Single crochet in 2nd chain from hook, single crochet in each chain across, chain 1, turn.

Rounds 2-4: Single chain in each single chain across, chain 1, turn.

Round 5: 2 single crochet, chain 10, skip 10, 13 single crochet, chain 10, skip 10, 1 single crochet, chain 1, turn.

Round 6: Single chain across, 2 single crochet, chain 1, turn.

Rounds 7-9: Single chain in each single crochet across, chain 1, turn.

Round 10: Single crochet across, 3 single crochet, turn, continue to single crochet around entire piece with 3 single crochet in each corner, slip stitch to join, fasten off.

Weave in loose ends.

In the alternative pattern I used the stripe pattern Crochet Dynamite used. I made mine using the Oakland A's colors. As you can see there are so many possibilities in making these in your own favorite colors or to fit a theme. I think these would be great for a nursery and would make great baby gifts. If I made them for a nursery I would use the button closure option and then use a cute button that matched the nursery theme. What colors would you use?