Guest post: Turning junk mail into nerd art with Mariel of More Than ...

Today's guest post is brought to you by the ingenious Mariel of More Than ... (You can learn more about her in her Geek of the Week post.) Thanks so much for doing this, Mariel!

Hi C&CC readers! I'm Mariel from More Than ..., my personal blog about being a geek, developing my craftypants skills, and living a faith-inspired life. I'm so thankful that Mandy was awesome enough to let me do a guest post! Thanks, Mandy!

If you are anything like me (or really, any normal human being), you probably HATE finding junk mail in your mailbox. Well, here is a way to turn those piles of advertisements and old magazines into some geeky wall art!

Boo! Junk!

First, cut your junk mail into thin strips—I did mine about 3/8" or so, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Alternatively, if you have a paper shredder you can use that, too (but it's less fun).

Ready to go!

Randomly glue down your strips onto a piece of cardstock.  Or you can play around with the color scheme, use text only strips, etc. (see below for an example) It's up to you! Be creative!

There is catharsis in glueing things...it's a fact.

Next, print out a geeky design/silhouette (or if you have mad skillz you can draw one) onto another piece of cardstock and carefully cut it out with an Xacto knife.  I chose the Aperture Labs logo from the Portal games for my piece, but I was also thinking about using all blue strips of junk mail to do a TARDIS.  Or how about showing your allegiance to the rebel alliance? Or maybe you're a retro gamer? The possibilities are endless!

I still think the Aperture Labs logo looks too much like the Picasa logo, but oh well...

&

Glue your silhouette on top of your junk mail strips, trim off any loose edges, frame, and hang!

Craft Skill Achievement Unlocked!

(And here's an example of a monochromatic piece—not nerdy, but you get the idea. I alternated strips of color with strips of text to give it a bit more of an clean/organized look.)

If you make this project, please link a picture in the comments! We'd all love to see what you come up with! Thanks again for letting me guest post, Mandy!