I love fresh starts and what better time than the beginning of a new year. It’s time to get rid of some emotional baggage and move forward into a new year with renewed energy.

I don’t make new years resolutions . . . but instead choose one word that describes my vision of the upcoming year.
My word for 2012 is “NEW” - New beginnings, a new outlook and new goals.
Along with that I decided to try a new scrappy/paper crafting technique at least every other week (we’ll see how that goes?!) and post the how to details here on my blog.


Making your own ribbon out of coffee filters:
I saw this idea in a Creating Keepsakes magazine some time ago, actually six years ago. One of those things I always wanted to try and never got around to . . . you know how that goes . . . better late than never. I’ve put my own twist to it and used Glimmer Mist instead of watercolors and gathered it instead of hemming the edges.


1) Smooth the coffee filters out.

2) Spray the coffee filters with Glimmer Mist (or paint them with water colors) and let them dry.

3) Cut the filters into 1” or 2” strips

4) Sew the strips together end to end and trim excess filter and threads

5) Run a gathering thread the length of the sewn together coffee filters and gather the strip

This is a layout that I completed for my  “Use A New Technique Challenge" at MSW this month. I hope you will play along and be inspired to make your own ribbon or try a new technique that you have wanted to try.