Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Recycled Bunting Flags


Yesterday was my husband's birthday but in our house we celebrate birthdays for the WHOLE entire week! I decided that creating colorful bunting flags for our celebrations were a must and of course I had to make them out of recycled materials.



Do those business reply mail cards in magazines annoy you as much as me?!? Well, for months and months I have been saving every single card that falls out of a magazine with the plan to make something out of them- this flag project was perfect opportunity to put them to use.



I started by painting the cards with a quick coat of acrylic paint (on both sides).


While the paint was still wet, I added pattern by stamping and painting simple designs on the surface.


Once the paint was dry I cut the cards into triangles and small rectangles.


Then I sewed the flags together with a straight stitch, leaving a little extra room in between each flag.


I sewed 4 strands (measuring roughly 5 ft long)


and hung them all over the dining room.






They are so pretty and fun I might just have to keep them up year round!





36 comments:

Amy said...

love this! I think you should keep it up!

whyducks said...

They annoy me too, what a waste of good trees, but at least you have found a good use, mine go straight in the recycling bag. I will have to think again now!

jennifer lorton said...

What a wonderful thing to do with those annoying little goobers (I wanted to say something else but thought better of it). It looks so festive and pretty.

Hashi said...

Awesome! So festive and fun, and it's great that you recycled :-)

Kate said...

Another shout for keeping them up, great idea :)

Julie said...

fabulous!

Mel Guthrie said...

I have been wanting to make a few of these for my room, but I thought I was going the have to find some cute paper from the craft store. This is so much better!! Greener and more creative!

Deb's Artful Journey said...

What a great idea! I hate those things too, but now cant wait to get a bunch of them and do this!!

Judy Shea said...

I love the way you think... these are perfect, creative and adorable. I hope hubbie had a great birthday week.

Kittyj said...

Happy birthday week to the old man! Ha! LOVE these!!!

tanya said...

very cool! I was planning on a banner like this in my studio- love the recycled subscription cards!

Jane LaFazio said...

what fun. I always think birthdays should be a big deal and love the idea of banners!

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea and absolutely awesome result! I will never again complain about those cards 'cause now they serve a creative purpose - because I'm definitely going to make me some bunting flags.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

These are so fun! I love them. I would keep them up! I'll be linking.

A'n'G Johnson said...

what a great way to celebrate! Happy Birthday to your hubby!

Jo Reimer said...

I didn't know these were called bunting flags. A store in Cannon Beach has many strands hanging, made from fabric diamonds folded and sewn over seam binding. The owner told me she used 26 packages of seam binding to make flags for the garden when her son was married. They also remind me of prayer flags, but I like yours much better.

Monkey Mind said...

Lucky husband!

Judy Merrill-Smith said...

Festive and fun!

chrissy said...

love how colorful and fanciful and free they were happily hanging from your ceiling
and
then
how sweetly they went to sleep as the sun set and they hung...keeping watch.
I LOVE YOUR INSPIRATION.

Virginia said...

These are gorgeous and a fantastic way to recycle. I've been using up 'unused' items in my alterables box recently and your Graffiti Chic class teachings on paint has opened up a whole new world - so now rather than looking at cardstock and thinking I can't use it because I don't like the colour I just set too with the paints! I love it - thank you so much! Hope the birthday celebrations go well!

Anonymous said...

Wow, they are amazing. I really love your bunting flags!!!
Maudy

Kristin Dudish said...

Love this!

(We celebrate "Birthday Weeks" at my house too!!! So cool to know someone else does that also :) Hope he had a great one!)

Jessica said...

out of the approximately 35,707 bunting how-to's out there, this is my new fave.

Kristin Ann said...

Simple, beautiful, and recycled! Love it!

jane eileen said...

Sweet!

wendy said...

My hero! That's like finding a good use for mosquitoes...these are gorgeous!

Jennifer DeDonato said...

This is great! love that it is recycled! Great job.

Nelda Ream said...

What a wonderful banner! And I love the thought of celebrating a birthday for a full week.

cupcake studio said...

What an awesome idea! Those cards make me NUTS in my magazines! You've given them purpose :)

Dori Patrick said...

Alisa, yet another one of your beautiful ideas! You really are reminding us to look at every piece of "trash" in a new way! You've got me saving some boxes for a shadowbox project! Ha!

Maranda said...

I love this! Thank you for the wonderful idea

j. wilson said...

i like how you added all that texture, super pretty...i use my valu-coupons for this...scallop the bottoms, add some punched holes and stitch to ribbon and you got some happy papel picados!

Jenny said...

What a great way to use these annoying pieces of paper. I just went to the Dr's office the other day and ripped a bunch out of the magazines in the waiting room. Ready to try this!

gail said...

I love to recycle and have always felt guilty tossing those tear outs as well as other nice cards... now I can reuse them as well, thank you for the inpirations!

gail said...

I love to recycle and have always felt guilty tossing those tear outs as well as other nice cards... now I can reuse them as well, thank you for the inpirations!

Carmen said...

Great idea, I will try it. Thanks.

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