How-Tuesday: Greeting Card Lamp + Gift Wrap Yarn

SisterDiane

Story by SisterDiane

Published on Dec 28, 2010

Photo by Crafty Pod & laigrai

Whew, breathe a sign of relief! The busy season of making presents, baking gingerbread, gluttonous snacking, preparing orders, stamping, taping, wrapping, giving, and on and on has mellowed out, and it’s time to sail into another year. Sometimes the holidays have a way of generating a lot of pretty paper that’s just destined for the recycling bin.

This week’s How-Tuesday features two projects for giving that gift wrap a second chance. Learn how to spin paper yarn with Laila Grainawi from LaiGrai, and make a lamp with the help of Diane Gilleland (a.k.a. Sister Diane) from CraftyPod (if you haven’t already, be sure to check out her podcasts) and Kristin Roach from Craft Leftovers. Read on, recyclers!

Greeting Card Lamp

If you have a lot of colorful greeting cards lying around, why not cut them up and turn them into a cool piece of home decor? This project is a fun way to customize a plain lamp shade, and you can easily change the colors as your mood changes.

This project is inspired by Card. Paper. Ribbon, an ebook of craft projects we published together in early 2010. The ebook has even more creative ways you can use torn gift wrap, used greeting cards, and kinked-up curling ribbon. You’d be surprised at all the useful things you can make from these leftovers! You can score your own copy of Card. Paper. Ribbon right here on Etsy. You can even buy the ebook and make another craft project with the guidance of one of these tutorials.

Materials:

  • Old greeting cards
  • Paper cutter
  • Christmas ornament hooks (or 24 gauge craft wire)
  • Tacky glue
  • 1/8” hole punch
  • Package of 11 mm jump rings
  • Needle nose pliers (optional)
  • Super glue

Two Notes on Greeting Cards:

What’s great about this project is, you’ll be cutting your cards into 1” squares, and that size tends to obscure most holiday-specific graphics. I like to group my old cards according to their main color family, and then combine the colors according to the room I’m crafting for.

Remember, glitter dulls blades. If your greeting cards have any glitter on them, this can be hard on your paper cutter blade. It you’re using glittery cards, you might want to keep a fresh blade on hand, just in case.

1. Cut off the front panels of your cards. Then, cut each front panel into 1” strips.

2. On the back of these strips, measure and draw a pencil line down the center, lengthwise. (These lines will be a guide for punching holes in a moment.)

3. Now, cut each strip into 1” squares. The number you’ll need depends entirely on the size of your
lampshade. The small shade I made here took 88 squares.

4. Take a tree ornament hook and bend the top around so it looks like this. The loop at the bottom should be flat against your work surface while the main hook faces upward. (Or, cut a 2” length of craft wire and bend it into this shape.)

5. Place the bottom loop of the hook between two card squares and glue them together with tacky glue. Place the squares under a heavy book while the glue dries.

6. Use a 1/8” hole punch to make a tiny hole in the top and bottom of each square. Use the lines you drew in Step 1 as a guide for centering your punches, and keep them no more than 1/8” away from the edges of each square.

7. Arrange your squares in rows, placing the colors and patterns as you like them. Take one jump ring and twist it open a little, as shown here. (Note: the 11mm jump rings we’re using here are large enough to open and close with your fingers, but you might find it easier to use a pair of needle-nose pliers.)

8. String two squares on this open ring, facing back to back. Twist the ring closed again.

9. Keep adding squares in this manner until the strand is as long as you want.

10. If you’d like, you can put a tiny drop of super glue over the opening-point in each jump ring. This will seal the ring so that the squares won’t slip off later.

11. Punch a hole in the center bottom of the hook piece you made in step 5, and attach it to the top of the finished strand with another jump ring. (Note: The hook should be pointing down when the piece is attached to the strand, as shown here.)

12. To attach the strand to a lamp shade, simply hang it over the top. Pinch the hook to tighten it around the shade. You can make as many or as few strands as you like, depending on the look you want. You can also make them long enough to dangle below the shade, or the same length as the shade — it’s up to you!

Wrapping Paper Yarn

Project by Laila Grainawi, from the beautiful, fibrous shop, laigrai.

After each carefully wrapped present is ripped open and shouts of glee have faded from the air… what to do with that mess everywhere?

Let’s admit it, the holidays come with a certain amount of waste. But, those torn wrapping paper bits don’t have to end up in the trash bin. Gather them up, plus a spinning wheel (or a drop spindle), a cone of yarn, some wool, and your hands.

In this particular tutorial, we are going to corespin the paper around a thread. (Corespun yarn is made by wrapping fibers around an inner fiber.) Essentially, this takes some of the stress off the paper to enmesh together and form a strong enough bond to support the twist needed to make yarn.

Cone yarn and blue-faced Leicester wool roving

How to corespin a wrapping paper yarn:

Please reference this video I have created, if you need help with steps 2 through 6.

1. Salvage your wrapping paper remains by tearing them into strips about 5 inches long.
2. Thread and tie your cone yarn onto your spinning device (wheel or spindle).
3. Draft out your fibers and corespin a little bit of the wool, by letting the fibers wrap on perpendicularly to the core.
4. Split the wool and insert a section of torn wrapping paper.


5. Let the wrapping paper wind onto the cone yarn, creating spirals of paper.

6. Tuck in the ends of the paper by securing it in place with some more wool.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 until you have a sizable amount of wrapping paper yarn.

8. Now, use your new yarn to drape around as a festive garland, knit a New Year’s party hat with it, or with a couple wraps, it’s your new favorite necklace!

What are your gift wrap recycling ideas? Share with us in the comments below!

Paper Craft Tutorials | More How-Tuesday Posts

Discuss: 59 comments

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  • myvintagecrush

    myvintagecrush says:

    Yay for reusing! That yarn is quite crafty ;)

    1 year ago

  • purrpower

    purrpower says:

    that is the most amazing thing! so clever

    1 year ago

  • ThoseThreeWords

    ThoseThreeWords says:

    Wow! Love the lamp idea, great uses for holiday leftovers!

    1 year ago

  • vKnit

    vKnit says:

    i love all these DIY's on Etsy! Totally loving the yarn wrapping paper!! xox

    1 year ago

  • MegansMenagerie

    MegansMenagerie says:

    Wow! Awesome! That lamp is amazing! Great idea =)

    1 year ago

  • WinchesterLambourne

    WinchesterLambourne says:

    Oh, this is an excellent article! I love working with leftovers.

    1 year ago

  • NotYourGrandmasAttic

    NotYourGrandmasAttic says:

    Love the idea of using throw away items to make nice crafts. Great ideas.

    1 year ago

  • Marietjee

    Marietjee says:

    The lamp is really cute!

    1 year ago

  • Parachute425

    Parachute425 says:

    Was just sitting here cutting up this year's holiday cards to recycle. Will check out the podcasts. Thanks.

    1 year ago

  • auntjanecan

    auntjanecan says:

    I like this. Interesting article and I love reusing things.

    1 year ago

  • girltuesdayjewelry

    girltuesdayjewelry says:

    The wrapping paper yarn is amazing!

    1 year ago

  • museumshop

    museumshop says:

    Great ideas. Recycle is good.

    1 year ago

  • daydreamjewels

    daydreamjewels says:

    So clever!!! The wrapping paper yarn is fabulous and the lamp is so cute. Very create :)

    1 year ago

  • accentonvintage

    accentonvintage says:

    Great way to use old cards and wrapping paper!

    1 year ago

  • gizmofiberarts

    gizmofiberarts says:

    This looks like fun, can't wait to try making that lamp shade!

    1 year ago

  • drawcity

    drawcity says:

    Ingenious, recycling is the order of the day! Great article, thanks for sharing :) http://www.drawcity.blogspot.com

    1 year ago

  • HadaraTLV

    HadaraTLV says:

    Fantastic!

    1 year ago

  • QueenofCuffs

    QueenofCuffs says:

    Wonderful - I love reuse - revive - I love this thinking. Vintage are not the only pieces to be set up again - love the ideas here. Thanks for sharing.

    1 year ago

  • JudiPaintedit

    JudiPaintedit says:

    Different...

    1 year ago

  • AZCreativeStudio

    AZCreativeStudio says:

    Great project idea!!!

    1 year ago

  • Niftic

    Niftic says:

    Clever & Fun! Never know what you guys will come up with next. Sharing is awesome.

    1 year ago

  • abigailsclothing

    abigailsclothing says:

    We love both ideas, upcycling projects are great and we love upcycling!! Thanks for the fab ideas!

    1 year ago

  • paramountvintage

    paramountvintage says:

    what a cute way to recycle. very clever!

    1 year ago

  • carlossantiago

    carlossantiago says:

    oh my! cute things!

    1 year ago

  • KMalinka

    KMalinka says:

    Superb work!

    1 year ago

  • WoodlandCottage

    WoodlandCottage says:

    Love both projects--they give me such great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! I LOVE holiday paper--HATE to throw it away! This would make such cool garland for the tree next year--that's what I'm going to do!

    1 year ago

  • Verdurebydesign

    Verdurebydesign says:

    What a great article. Thinking about what we use and how to reuse it is exciting!

    1 year ago

  • ErikaPrice

    ErikaPrice says:

    What great ideas - thanks for sharing!

    1 year ago

  • shop1848

    shop1848 says:

    Great ideas! Excellent work!

    1 year ago

  • vivikas

    vivikas says:

    This is great!

    1 year ago

  • MadebyLinLin

    MadebyLinLin says:

    Awesome ideas thanks so much!

    1 year ago

  • ArleenDesign

    ArleenDesign says:

    What a fabulous idea!Can't wait to check my torn holiday wrapping papers and see what i can do with them.Thanks!

    1 year ago

  • pinkpoison74

    pinkpoison74 says:

    The lamp idea is really cool it would be super cool if you connected all four sides of the square together to make a complete lamp cover with the light beaming through :)

    1 year ago

  • pinkpoison74

    pinkpoison74 says:

    super cool! love recycling xoxo

    1 year ago

  • ITartYou

    ITartYou says:

    I love this! I enjoy finding new ways to reuse things and this will definitely come in handy during this time of year :)

    1 year ago

  • theroyal

    theroyal says:

    fun

    1 year ago

  • SweetlyFallen

    SweetlyFallen says:

    Very neat! Thanks for sharing!

    1 year ago

  • PattiTrostle

    PattiTrostle says:

    I like the recycling ideas!!

    1 year ago

  • TheVinylChalkboard

    TheVinylChalkboard says:

    I love the yarn idea! Thanks for sharing!

    1 year ago

  • Jewelry4Change

    Jewelry4Change says:

    Inspiring... thanks for sharing.

    1 year ago

  • LittleWrenPottery

    LittleWrenPottery says:

    Really like the card lampshade, would make a really pretty garland!

    1 year ago

  • Floreal

    Floreal says:

    Very Inspiring!

    1 year ago

  • grandmamarievintage

    grandmamarievintage says:

    So creative! Great ideas!

    1 year ago

  • pinkbijou

    pinkbijou says:

    Thanks for your article!

    1 year ago

  • redemptionart

    redemptionart says:

    I am the recycling queen...these ideas top mine for sure! Thanks!

    1 year ago

  • novemberbutterflies

    novemberbutterflies says:

    very good! i love both ideas! i used my old wrapping paper scraps as firestarter (i heat my house with a woodstove) and old christmas cards make great decoupage, pressed jewelry(like pressed flowers) and calendars.

    1 year ago

  • novemberbutterflies

    novemberbutterflies says:

    i loved both ideas! i used my left over wrapping paper scraps for firestarter, and left over greeting card fronts make great items for decoupage, making calendars, making jewelry, making new christmas cards (cut the fronts off and put on a new cardstock back)

    1 year ago

  • khobkhuncraft

    khobkhuncraft says:

    woowww... AWESOME !! thx for sharing ^o^

    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

  • ricardj

    ricardj says:

    I take all the greeting cards I've received and cut around the pictures in such as a way to make gift tags for next year....I put a hole in one corner and put ribbon thru. They are great looking!

    1 year ago

  • sunkae

    sunkae says:

    ***GrEaT IdEaS!***

    1 year ago

  • TheKraftRoom

    TheKraftRoom says:

    cool ideas! I love it.

    1 year ago

  • skltnsinmycloset

    skltnsinmycloset says:

    i like the lamp one the most. it looks like something i can do to cover some hideous lampshades

    1 year ago

  • JaneCooney

    JaneCooney says:

    Great ideas - thanks!

    1 year ago

  • shopthinkingofU

    shopthinkingofU says:

    so creative!

    1 year ago

  • hingmade

    hingmade says:

    Best idea is to use recyclable gift wrap ^^

    1 year ago

  • Witchey

    Witchey says:

    cleeeeever! this is so cute and creative! not to mention eco-friendly.

    1 year ago

  • muddassar

    muddassar says:

    too much fantastic cards Great way to use old cards and wrapping paper! Plastic Card

    1 year ago

  • TheKatHouse

    TheKatHouse says:

    Holidays are the most Joyous of times, yet I could never shake those bittersweet feelings I had, watching friends & family open gift wrapped presents. It is always extremely heartwarming to see the look of surprise & happiness, during our gift exchange, however, a dull sense of guilt always crept up inside me, as wrapping paper flew across the living room, aimed for the "Big Black Trash Bag" (just as much a Holiday tradition as Mom's Delicious Baked Ziti .) I would think about all that paper, the trees, not to mention the ENERGY used to produce, transport, & purchase it. All wasted. All the discarded wrapping paper would be on its journey to the landfill in a few days. It had served its purpose. Your Eco Friendly projects are a wonderful way to up-cycle wrapping paper! My thanks to everyone for their cool, creative up-cycling ideas. I will now be guilt free in 2011! Peace Kat Kory

    332 days ago