T.P. Tubes as Card Holders

I know, I know. The very title of this post is giving you heart palpitations. If you feel giddy about composting; get chills on your child's birthday not because of the gifts but because of the cool boxes the toys came in that you just know you can turn into some vague kind of "art"; and save glass food jars because you think that some have a particularly pretty pattern, well, here is a little idea for you.

 

I didn't think of this myself.....I got the idea from the very cool blog maya*made. Anyway, this Maya lady has a strong affection for empty T.P. tubes and security envelopes; I admire her. She uses empty T.P. tubes -- painted, of course, and dressed up a little bit -- as holders for handmade cards. I saved up a bunch of tubes for just this purpose, but then got sidetracked when some internet order of my husband's arrived in the mail stuffed with these crazy-awesome little rectangles of corrugated cardboard. I snatched them up, with the devilish glint in my eye that probably makes my daughter sigh to herself, "Oh, no. Mommy's gonna be makin' me paint THAT thing."

She was right.

Actually, she was engrossed in another project, so I did most of the painting, and then she helped me affix a bunch of paper and felt hearts to the card holders, and she glued on the buttons. And then she wrote her name all over the place like crazy, 'cause she just likes to do that.

 

We used scraps of felt from other projects, so we didn't have to buy a thing for this project, and we still got to show some friends a little V-day love.

So, why am I showing you a project for a holiday that's a month past?....Well, because it's endlessly adaptable. You can use little rectangles of cardboard as holders for any card, gift card, or token of your affection. St. Patrick's Day, a birthday, Administrative Assistants Day (although, if you are at home making things out of scraps of cardboard like me, then you probably do not have an administrative assistant...and if you do, make sure she gets some real nice gift card inside your old T.P. tube, okay?). These are admittedly more charming with the touch of a child, although I made my husband a recycled-cardboard Valentine myself, and he at least pretended to be pleased with it, which was nice of him.