Last Minute Table Favors- Recycled Tubes

Being a huge fan (still) of recycled crafts, I have continued my quest in hoarding recycled cardboard tubes to use as napkin rings, kids crafts and small favors. At the lastest minute this year, I decided to make these sweet table favors using Jacquards Lumiere and Neopaque paints.

I love Lumiere paints because they come in 32 beautiful metallic colors and spread smoothly and stay flexible. They are a perfect choice for fabric and leather, but are also stunning on surfaces like paper, photos, wood, shrink plastic and even styrofoam! I used them on paper surfaces only for this project.

Starting with plain short tubes, I machine stitched the ends closed to create a little pouch. I was inspired by Becky Shander's art in Sommerset Life to create these adorable pouches this way.

If you don't sew, use a strong adhesive and glue the end closed. Hold it in place while it dries with a clip or clothespin.

Leave one end open to create the little pouch. I chose Metallic Copper, Citrine (my fav) and Metallic Gold to paint the tubes. These make beautiful Fallish colors. Switch up the colors to make Christmas ornaments or little gift card holders in reds and greens or blues and silvers.

Paint the outside and the inside for a nice finished look. A couple of coats should do the trick.

I used a unmounted rubber document stamp with black ink to stamp the image on the front. This is a little tricky so don't be frustrated if you are unable to get the entire image to transfer. You can cover those parts with embellishments.

I cut plain lightweight cardstock into 2" squares and painted with light coats of the lumiere. I also dry brushed them with contrasting colors and edged them with a little Neopaque paint in black.

Embellished squares I used my handmade embellishments created from felt, paper, recycled brads and pinata colors. Each embellishment is a brad so I simply punched a hole in the center and inserted each.

Here is a peak at the embellished tubes. I used self adhesive gem stone rows since I like that extra bling factor.

To make the handles, I used yet another cardboard tube and cut 1/2 strips from the tube, cutting in half to form a handle.

Paint your handles with Neopaque in black.

Neopaque paints are designed to cover dark backgrounds with light application so you will need one coat for this step. Attach the handle to the tube by punching holes at the ends of the strip and to the sides of the tube with a small hole punch. Hold together with brads, preferably jeweled ones!