<b>Starring Habitat for Humanity Restore</b>
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More and more people are having fun with upcycling. Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or unusable products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. What better time to put your crafty skills to use than the holidays using something that is readily available and inexpensive? That is to say: upcycle books!

Of course, the first step is to read.  Indulge yourself in fantasy, romance, science fiction.  Books abound at the Restore for a price that is not to be believed.  There in addition to novels you can select from local authors, cookbooks, non-fiction, and even collectables.  Books make a great gift as well, especially for children.

Now to the crafty part.  Once you have read your books you can use them to make Christmas ornaments, trees, wreaths and angels.  They can be made into lamp stands, coat hooks and much, much more.  Let’s stick to the holiday ornaments.

Here is a pretty glitter book angel:

Fold each page so that the top right hand corner folds down into the middle of the book. Then fold the page again so that it meets the middle of the book

Turn this folded page over and fold up the triangle that is sticking out at the bottom and tuck that piece in. Fold the first 20 leaves of the book then fold the next 5 or 6 leaves upwards, varying the amount of the second fold for each page to create a fan effect.

This is one of the angel’s wings. Continue folding pages as you did for the tree until you are about 25 leaves from the end. Then repeat the upwards fold for 5 pages reversing the order of the fanning effect in order for your angel’s wings to be symmetrical. Fold the remaining pages as you did at the beginning. To complete the angel glue a bauble on the top for a head or a polystyrene ball or ping pong ball. You can spray paint it or glue and glitter it to create your desired effect.

The LowCountry Habitat for Humanity ReStore is at 616 Parris Island Gateway, Beaufort, SC, 29906 on Thursdays thru Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Donations welcome. Call 843-525-0055.

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