10 ideas to give new life and creatively recycle wrapping paper
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIl Christmas is now behind us and, in addition to the gifts received, it is very likely that you will also find yourself in the house of the paper as a gift used which you do not know what to do. True, you have endeavored to package your packages in an alternative and eco-sustainable way, and perhaps to convince your friends and relatives to do the same, but despite all the effort you have put into it, a few sheets of colored and decorated paper still peeped out under your christmas tree. And now, how to dispose of it in an eco-friendly way and avoid further waste?
If for the torn, damaged or unusable one, all that remains is the collection, it is right and proper recover the used paper but still in good condition. The first possibility we have, the easiest, is to keep it carefully for future anniversaries: a simple and immediate way to contain waste, respect the environment and also do some economy, which never hurts. Otherwise, in case you want to try your hand at something more original, here it is some little tips of creative recycling: as usual, the important thing is to set the imagination in motion.
1) Besides being very useful to accomplish flakes, home decoration e origami for your tree, so that next year you will find yourself at an advantage with the preparations for the Christmas holidays, the wrapping paper is very suitable for decoration cards and postcards in cardboard. Taking into account the occasion and the recipient of your card, you can try to decorate it with colorful cutouts of different shapes and sizes, creating collages that reflect either your mood or what you want to communicate or the tastes and characteristics of the person to whom you address it. In this way, your wishes will be truly unique, original and personalized.
2) Alternatively, you can take advantage of your used gift wrapping paper for decorate and make a very common wooden or cardboard frame special. you can coat it evenly or decorate its surface with cutouts, giving free rein to your taste and your imagination. With paper, glue (possibly ecologica) e a bit of patience, you will have created a small original work, to give more prominence to your favorite photos. And, if the final result seems convincing to you, your custom frame can also become a useful one gift idea.
3) Again, you can reuse the gift card for lining and making cardboard boxes for clothing and objects less anonymous that you keep stacked in some corner of your room. And, with the same procedure, you can cover the shelves, shelves and internal drawers of your wardrobe, perhaps completing the work with lavender bags, to pleasantly perfume the environment and give everything a nice touch of class.
4) The creative recycling some wrapping paper can succeed transform a container destined to be thrown away into something fun and durable. How? Take, for example, an emptied box of legumes or peeled tomatoes, take care to clean it well and then cover it well with your paper, choosing the color or pattern you prefer. In this way, you will get a comfortable and very useful desk pen holder, which you can further customize, to your liking, by gluing cutouts of the most diverse shapes and sizes to the base covering. And if you are a lover of order, uniformity and precision, you can try cover yours too with the same paper pencils, in order to match them to the pen holder. Just take a very common cylindrical pencil, preferably with a smooth surface, and line it, using glue and a brush, with paper scraps that adapt to its size.
5) In the same way, with some glue, a brush and a little precision you can line the caps of the containers with gift paper glass that we often have in our kitchens (such as those of jam, spreadable chocolate or pickles, so to speak), in order to create colorful glove that can also be used in other places in the house. On Design Sponge find a useful tutorial, complete with images, which will guide you through the creation of your own container. Once completed, your little work of art will be perfect for storing pins, paper clips, needles, threads, buttons and can even become a comfortable and witty bedroom jewelry box.
6) Remember the idea of renovate your home furniture by recycling bottle caps? Well, if you are skilled in decoupage, you can try replace the caps with colored paper scraps: are enough a little time, scissors, glue, good will e a surface in wood on which to give free rein to your imagination. Maybe you have at home some old furniture or ornaments that you find a little anonymous or, more simply, you want to make some small changes in the furniture and to renew the atmosphere a little. Once you have identified the object or piece of furniture to decorate, it will be enough choose the theme of your work - for example, fruit shapes for the kitchen, small flowers for the living room, colorful teddy bears for the children's room, and so on - and willingly get to work.
7) Who has gods children little ones can use the old wrapping paper to try their hand at making masks in cartapesta: of course, you need to have some free time to devote to the work and be skilled and experienced in manual work, and maybe the initial results will not be exactly of the highest artistic level. But, if you choose this option, the reuse some wrapping paper will turn into a beautiful one an opportunity for fun and games for you and your children. What more could you want? Especially since Carnival is approaching ...
8) Less imaginative but still useful is the idea of use scraps of paper to fill and stuff baskets, packs and packages, instead of the usual packaging, too bulky and not very sustainable.
9) A much less amusing and poetic idea but, apparently, effective, would instead consist in throwing the scraps of paper into the container of composting with worms (in the case of the vermicomposting): in this way, according to what the web magazine writes Inhabitots, the used wrapping paper could turn into a useful fertilizer for your garden ...
10) Finally, going back to a little more creative procedures, if you particularly like the gift paper to be recycled and it also has a certain consistency, you can always use it to cover lampshades, chandeliers and table lamps, as suggested by the site Apartment Therapy (it's true, their proposal mainly concerns the recycling of used wallpaper, but it can easily be extended to wrapping paper as well). Or, if you have talent and a particularly artistic spirit, you can create your personalized collage directly on canvas, creating a small picture to hang in the living room and show off to friends.
In short, the possibilities are definitely many, you just have to give free rein to your creativity!
Lisa Vagnozzi
