If you’re a scrapbooker, cardmaker or a crafter of any sort, I challenge you to save your plastic packaging and see what you can come up with.  The possibilities are really endless:  ink with alcohol inks, embossing, sanding, or use as a window in a card.  You could even try applying heat, and get some interesting melty effects, (for this you should be very careful to have excellent ventilation.)

Here’s a really cool card that I made with the clear packaging that my Sizzix Big Kick embossing machine came in:

First I cut the plastic to the size of a standard card, 5.5″ x 8.5″ and then embossed it using the Sizzix Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder, D’vine Swirls. This was heavy plastic, and it took a little muscle to get it through the machine.  Try experimenting with plastics from various packaging.  Some will turn frosted at the embossing, which is another great look.

Next it was time to score along the fold line, just firmly enough to make the card fold.  If you crease too hard, you may cause the plastic to crack along the line.  It might take some experimenting with what you have.

When cutting the paper strips for decoration, keep in mind that you’ll need four.  One for the front of the card, one for the inside, so you’ll have someplace to write a greeting and sign, and the others  will go behind the first two (so, one on the inside of the card, behind the front decoration, and on the back of the card, behind the greeting/signature.)  This will cover up any adhesive and give a professional, finished look.

To make the flowers, I covered Grunge paper with book paper, inked with a variety of distress inks and then cut out with the Sizzix Flower Charms #2 die.  The shine you see is because I used a gloss finish Mod Podge to decoupage the papers.  I think I would have preferred a Matte Finish, but gloss is what I had. 

Have fun making something wonderful out of what would have been thrown away!

A few of the products used:

Broken China Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Faded jeans Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Peeled Paint Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Shabby Shutters Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dusty Concord Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Fired Brick Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Tumbled Glass Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Wild Honey Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Spiced Marmalade Tim Holtz Distress Ink 
Glue Dots 3/8-Inch Memory Dot Roll, 300-Clear Dots
Scallop Punch: Scallop Sentiment Border Punch(Fiskars)

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