How many of you have looked at a coffee sleeve and thought there might be something more that it could be used for than just keeping your fingers from being burned holding your yummy (and probably expensive) coffee?
Even if you haven't thought anything more than, "gee I'm glad my hands aren't getting burned", check out a fun project that you can do with them - and feel good about reusing something that would have otherwise become garbage : a coffee sleeve mini book. Now, those of you who know me aren't surprised that something like this would appeal to me to try, but believe it or not, the first time I saw an illustration of how to make one on YouTube, I was not impressed and didn't want to be bothered. It wasn't until I checked it out again recently that I figured I'd try to do more with it than the gal with her example.
So since we're celebrating Mother's Day this month, here's a suggestion that could make a good gift. You can put quotes about moms in it, write your own "memories", favorite things about your mom, or put pictures in- it's pretty small though which will make getting pictures in there challenging unless you can size them down a lot. I will show you the process of how I made mine- I'm still working on the decorating part, but I'll show you a picture of the original one I made with Scripture verses in it to encourage a friend in the hospital.
Here we go:
Get your coffee sleeve and cut the right side where it's perforated, then open it up.
Next determine what papers you want to use. For the inside I used a heavier weight of printed paper for my pages, but you could use solid cardstock and either glue patterned paper on it or decorate it otherwise, it's completely up to you. You will trace around the outline of the opened coffee sleeve a total of 4 times - one for the outside of the cover, one for the inside of the cover, and two for the inside pages.
I found that the paper fit the inside and outside of the cover if I cut it in half where the fold would be, I then glued it on. I used regular adhesive (a glue runner- glue stick would work sufficiently too) for the outside of the cover, and for the inside- since it's corrugated, I used Terrifically Tacky Tape - a super sticky tape, so that it would adhere well, since it's hard to get good surface coverage with the corrugated paper.
I made a little strip of paper the height of the book and folded it over the "binding"/fold of the mini book, scalloped/inked it, and glued it on to cover the slight area of cardboard paper that showed in the fold. I used the tacky tape for this because it holds better with the opening and the fold.
I then put all the pieces together as a book and punched holes at the fold/center with my Cropadile, but if you have regular hole punch that would get the job done also. I set eyelets in the middle of the front and back cover of the book so you can thread ribbon through it and tie it shut. I also scalloped the edges of the inside pages with my corner rounder and inked it because it added a little more "oomph" to the look. I tied ribbon through the holes in the center and trimmed off the edges nicely. It's now ready to decorate.
Even if you haven't thought anything more than, "gee I'm glad my hands aren't getting burned", check out a fun project that you can do with them - and feel good about reusing something that would have otherwise become garbage : a coffee sleeve mini book. Now, those of you who know me aren't surprised that something like this would appeal to me to try, but believe it or not, the first time I saw an illustration of how to make one on YouTube, I was not impressed and didn't want to be bothered. It wasn't until I checked it out again recently that I figured I'd try to do more with it than the gal with her example.
So since we're celebrating Mother's Day this month, here's a suggestion that could make a good gift. You can put quotes about moms in it, write your own "memories", favorite things about your mom, or put pictures in- it's pretty small though which will make getting pictures in there challenging unless you can size them down a lot. I will show you the process of how I made mine- I'm still working on the decorating part, but I'll show you a picture of the original one I made with Scripture verses in it to encourage a friend in the hospital.
Here we go:
Get your coffee sleeve and cut the right side where it's perforated, then open it up.
Next determine what papers you want to use. For the inside I used a heavier weight of printed paper for my pages, but you could use solid cardstock and either glue patterned paper on it or decorate it otherwise, it's completely up to you. You will trace around the outline of the opened coffee sleeve a total of 4 times - one for the outside of the cover, one for the inside of the cover, and two for the inside pages.
I found that the paper fit the inside and outside of the cover if I cut it in half where the fold would be, I then glued it on. I used regular adhesive (a glue runner- glue stick would work sufficiently too) for the outside of the cover, and for the inside- since it's corrugated, I used Terrifically Tacky Tape - a super sticky tape, so that it would adhere well, since it's hard to get good surface coverage with the corrugated paper.
I made a little strip of paper the height of the book and folded it over the "binding"/fold of the mini book, scalloped/inked it, and glued it on to cover the slight area of cardboard paper that showed in the fold. I used the tacky tape for this because it holds better with the opening and the fold.
I then put all the pieces together as a book and punched holes at the fold/center with my Cropadile, but if you have regular hole punch that would get the job done also. I set eyelets in the middle of the front and back cover of the book so you can thread ribbon through it and tie it shut. I also scalloped the edges of the inside pages with my corner rounder and inked it because it added a little more "oomph" to the look. I tied ribbon through the holes in the center and trimmed off the edges nicely. It's now ready to decorate.
