These are our wonderful mascots which were created by Beth Hill from Worcester Resource Exchange who is also a scrapstoresUK Trustee.

The next Owl is the amazing ScrapstoresUK mascot made by Beth at Worcester Resource Exchange. All of it has been made out of scrapstore scrap and it's just fantastic. The photo doesn't really do it justice and if you see it in person it’s great fun to try to work out what all the bits used to be...

Here’s some help;

• The body, head and wings have been made from giant baubles which have come from a retail Christmas display. They have been cut to shape and fixed together.
• The toadstool has also been made from a bauble but has been covered in sticky back vinyl off cuts to create the red colour.
• The chest feathers have been created by sticking on silver foil cut outs.
• Now for the beak and claws, can you guess? This one’s really special; they are made from speedometer needles. So imaginative!
• Even the grass is waste, an offcut of artificial turf.
• Shelley - our snail has a cardboard tail and head with skewered Christmas baubles on the ends

Right now I'm feeling all creative, hope you are too.

Remember to comment, we really like comments; well nice ones anyway.

Claire Drake scrapstoresUK Trustee based at Scrap Magic in Bradford

It does seem that Owls are very fashionable at the moment, they are everywhere. The ones we'll focus on handmade from waste materials which after all is what scrapstores are all about.

As this is the first of these Owl blog posts I think we'll start with cardboard owls as it's one of the easiest materials to get hold of and as you'll see it can be adapted to be used in lots of different ways.

To start us off here's an idea introduced to by a Scrap Magic member. A quick internet search of Toilet Roll Owls brought up lots of pictures of different ways to decorate the toilet rolls but I quite liked the ones from in this picture.

This is definitely a child friendly idea to do at work or with children at home. All you would need to buy would be some paint and glue and the rest can be anything you have lying around or from a scrapstore to decorate. The only limit is your imagination with this one.

Moving on to something a little more 'wise owl' are these gorgeous little creatures made from rolled up corrugated cardboard. Basically thick cardboard packaging is usually two layers of cardboard stuck together and if you split thick card apart you'll have two sheets each with a smoth side and corrugated side, unless you're lucky enough to find some that's already corrugated. Cut a strip roll it up secure together, make a smaller one, stick that on top of the big one and make a little face with small bits of cardboard and buttons, don't forget the hat and eyebrows - hey presto!

Creative Recycling Ideas @jodigrady

Do you remember the book Owl Babies? Well even if you don't these ice lolly stick and cardboard cut out owls are great as little puppets with or without the story book. A few little bits for eyes and feathers and you've a great little craft activity for even the youngest Brownies.

Finally a few small pieces of coloured card, glue and some cup cake cases and you're ready to make these beauties. I know Milton Keynes scrapstores stock cup cake cases if you want to do a big batch of these.

Well that's all for now folks but don't worry, owl be back ;)

Dear Supporter

I hope you had a lovely time over Christmas with family and friends.  I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I raise a glass to an exciting 2013.  The coming year holds lots of promise and significant challenges.

At the start of another year, I would like to say a heartfelt thank-you to each of our supporters for your invaluable support over this past year.  2012 was a very difficult and challenging year for scrapstores, especially in the current economic climate, but it was also a year when all scrapstores showed great courage and commitment to their cause and I am sure with our help and support they will succeed.

ScrapstoresUK continued its support by providing regular advice and help and I would like to acknowledge the time, commitment & drive of our National Coordinator Nikki DiGiovanni and her team for the enthusiasm & dedication in which they approach their work.

This year saw another successful National Conference in Nottinghamshire where the community came together for a great day of learning and sharing and of course the legendary “end of the day swap”.    We also saw the successful delivery of our CIWM Courses, which have had fantastic feedback.

We have much to look forward to this coming year, including on-going and new exciting projects which Nikki will be developing and sharing in the coming months.

I hope that 2013 will be a good year for you all, and that you will continue your support to make scrapstoresUK as successful as it has been for the past few years. Looking forward to keeping in touch with you in 2013.

Thank You and Happy New Year!

Jonathan Armstrong

Chairman, ScrapstoresUK