As a teen, I used to watch my father and neighbor sit for hours staring at a chess board and wonder how in the world anyone could sit for that long. With all the dancing, exercising, walking and jumping waiting for me to do, I couldn’t be bothered with so much sitting back then.

Now, sitting is literally my life.

Whether I’m blogging, crocheting, sketching, writing short stories, working as a private duty caregiver or crafting, sitting is the necessary evil that has incited me to intensify my yoga practice lately. Thankfully though, I made a pact with myself years ago to never sit without a crochet hook in my hand. Lately I’ve amended that pact to include colored pencils, needlepoint, computer keyboard, and … wait for it … TOILET PAPER ROLLS!

Toilet paper roll art?

I would never have believed that somebody could actually turn toilet paper and paper towel tubes into something you could actually hang on the wall and call art. But Pinterest and Google proved me wrong. There are literally thousands of creations to make use of your recycling efforts, and here’s the one I made for this post.

The great thing about this project, other than the fact that I contributed to the recycling effort, was that the toilet paper/paper towel tubes supplied most of what I needed, and the prep work – flattening the tubes and cutting them into strips – was perfect to do while watching a movie, keeping me awake on the bus, or keeping me occupied during my night shift.

To complete this project you will need:

• about 15 to 20 toilet paper or paper towel tubes. (I preferred the paper towel tubes because they are firmer, but it’s a personal choice)
• a glue gun/glue sticks
• a 7 or 8-inch mirror
• a 7 or 8-inch embroidery loop
• jeweled decorations (optional)
• paint – the tutorial recommended Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint so that’s what I used. But any color spray paint will do.

I loved creating this project. I hung the finished piece on my wall and not only does it look great, it gave my sitting a purpose.

I hot-glued clear jewels to the tops of my design to give it a bit of sparkle when the light hit it. 🙂