Do you all know the artist Cassandra Tondro? She is a trailblazer in eco-friendly artwork, and one of her latest creations is Ecoprints. Ecoprints are one-of-a-kind prints made by steaming leaves against paper. No inks or dyes are used – just the natural color from the plants themselves. Well, it happens that Cassie is a friend of mine (lucky me!), and she recently gave me a stack of Ecoprint samples that were “rejects,” and she thought I could do something with them.

So in the spirit of being eco-friendly, I decided to repurpose, or upcycle, the prints into functional art. Using my Sizzix Big Shot die-cutting machine and some of my favorite dies, I made some really beautiful pieces – a business card holder, a post-it note memo holder, and a decorative box. They went through the die-cutting machine really well. The one thing I did do was double up the prints back to back, bonding them together with Super 77 Spray Adhesive, so that they would be thicker. The thickness allowed the paper to be scored in the Sizzix Big Shot. I hope Cassie gives me more cast-offs. I want to make more stuff with it.

These are the dies I used. They were all designed by Eileen Hull, who is also a friend of mine. (Lucky me!)

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die – Business Card Box

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die – Memo Holder

Sizzix ScoreBoards XL Die – Box, Candy Drawer

Sizzix Bigz Die – Leaves  (The perfect touch, since the Ecoprint designs are actually leaves. For the box, I used the leaves to make a lotus on top. All the embellishments on these pieces were from the Leaves die. And some look like wood, but they’re actually the paper with the Ecoprint design on it.)