Sassy Matchbooks!

I don't know why, but I love sassy matchbooks. A plain matchbook is simply an instrument -- a tool. A sassy matchbook is a delight in a small - very small - package.


This is where it starts - plain old matchbook that costs about one dollar for 50 of them.

First I remove the matches - I suppose you can use a staple remover if you have one -- I don't, so I used a very small screwdriver and needle-nosed pliers.

Then I tape off the "striking" area -- that rough dark strip on the back. I use painter's masking tape that's been cut down to the correct size.
Next I spray paint the matchbooks with whatever pale paint I have around - in this case beige. Since it's so cold and humid out, I use a big box in the exercise room. I put the matchbooks way back in the back and then spray lightly. This is simply to lightly mask the original artwork -- we don't have to be Leonardo da Vinci (or even Jackson Pollock) at this point.

Then I remove the masking tape and glue a decorative paper to the back and the bottom of the matchbook. I use a glue stick for this project -- I think it's works better on papers than the wetter glues.

Re: the bottom, I make the paper a little longer than it needs to be and I glue it around the edge and to the inside. I just think it makes a neater edge. In the picture below, you can see how I've wrapped it around the bottom edge to the inside.

I've added a little design on the front that says blessings. I simply printed out the word in an oval frame on paper I created from free scrapbook paper designs at this wonderful site: http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/themes.html I cut out the little oval and glued it to the front center of the matchbook.

After I've finished decorating the matchbook, I staple the matches back in. I just use a regular staple, but I have to use a little more pressure than normal. And then I use a teensy screwdriver to press the staple where it protrudes in the back -- just to make sure it's secure.

This is how it looks when it's complete. I have also done some others with scrapbooking papers and I've used a printer to add initials.

I think these are great as a small "thank you" to an etsy order, or to a waitress who was especially kind or as an add-on to a candle gift.

Anyway, I LUV mine!

Tissue Paper Storage

We're in the process of adding built-in bookshelves in the living room so we moved the old stand-alone bookshelves from the living room into my home office. During those changes, I decided to re-think how I'm storing/organizing some of my STUFF. This post is specifically about an idea I came up with on how to store tissue paper.

All my rolls of wrapping paper are stored very neatly by standing them up (cheek-by-jowl) in a tall open box. But how could I neatly store all those different packages ... and partial packages and single sheets ... of tissue paper? I happened to have a couple of empty cardboard cores from bolts of fabric -- that says something about how much fabric I have! -- and I decided to open the bolt cores up and use them for storage. I used 12 buttons, perle thread and the empty cardboard core and VOILA' - tissue paper storage!

For snug closure, I put buttons in the center and at each end of the container. To keep the buttons from tearing through the cardboard, I put a button on each side -- sort of inside and out, back to back -- and sewed them together right through the cardboard.

I just put all my lovely tissue papers inside - down the center, fold the sides closed and secure them and then fold the top and bottom flaps and secure them.

Each button-closure arrangement has 4 buttons -- 2 that are showing and 2 that are inside the cardboard container. The perle cotton is tied permanently to one of the top buttons and has been knotted on the very end so it won't ravel. I wind the string in a figure-8 around this button and that button and back to this button a couple of times and it holds very securely. It's a lot like those intra-company envelopes that large companies use.

It's not necessarily pretty -- I suppose I could have covered it in pretty paper or fabric -- but I was in a hurry and it works just fine for me.

And now I can stand it up next to the tall skinny box of wrapping paper! I love it!

It's another necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention kind of thing.