I can hardly believe it's almost Valentines Day. This year once again I'm making my card to MOH and this year I'm sharing it early - and he's under strict instructions not to read this post until after the event!

For all of my cards I like simple and strong designs and this card is no different. The part of it that's close to my heart, is that I've reused old magazines and made them into something pretty special. Throughout this post I'm also going to share more about my new craft light from Iconic Lights. It's brilliant.

1. I started with some colourful pages from an old magazine and cut them into oblongs around 5cm x 12cm - just large enough to cover my heart die.

My plan was to roll these pieces of paper up and stick them onto a piece of backing card, and then use my die cutting machine to cut a heart shape.

If you don't have a die cutting machine you can follow a similar approach but you'll need to draw a heart template and cut that out by hand.

2. I used a small amount of PVA Craft glue as I rolled each piece of paper up to stop it unrolling as soon as I'd turned my back, and then attached them to some scrap backing card using the same glue.

Already you can see how the pattern is building up, and while you only see part of the magazine page I think it's interesting watching the pattern develop.

Before we carry on with the card, let me tell you more about my new light from Iconic Lights. I am clearly using it as a craft lamp, but it's more regularly known as a 'Stell' LED Telescopic Adjustable Desk Lamp. It comes in black and white and folds flat when not in use - so a mega-plus if you're using it for a specific purpose, like me and don't have room to keep it on show all the time.

It gives out a decent amount of light and really helped me focus on the close work. At £18 I think it's very reasonable and am considering buying some as presents for fellow crafters.

Here's a few photos of it fully extended, unextended, tilted and folded flat. What I especially like about this lightweight light is the telescopic bits which remind me of telescopic aerials we used to get on radios - perhaps they still exist, but I don't have those any more.

Right, back to the card.

3. Once you have stuck sufficient rolled paper pieces to cover your die or template, it's time to leave it to dry. If you're using a die cutting machine you can place it under a large book (or something equally heavy) while it dries, but if you're cutting your shape by hand be careful about how much weight you add, or you'll flatten your rolls of paper.

The rolls of paper will flatten in the die cutting machine which is why it is less important to keep the shape at this stage.

4. Now all that you need to do is to attach your newly created heart to a blank card. I've chosen a brown card to reflect the recycled nature of my card, and I think it shows off the heart well.

completedheartsvalentinecardfromscrappaper

It really is as easy as that. And as with my other cards, the possibilities are endless - who knows how else I use this technique. I'm pretty sure I'll be using it again though.

What green Valentines crafts are you planning this year?

I was sent the Stell LED Telescopic Adjustable Desk Lamp to review as part of my role as one of Iconic Lights' approved blogging ambassadors, but all views and opinions are my own.

Well you may think I'm odd but recycling food waste is something I feel strongly about. We've composted vegetable peelings for as long as I can remember, and when our local council introduced a green bin I was all for that too. Not only does it take all of the food waste we can't compost, such as bread, bones and fat (once it's cooled down) it helps us shift the garden waste we don't have room for in our two compost bins. Remember the fun (!?) and how much compost we got from the first one, yes the one that looked like a Dalek... well the second one's due for emptying soon, so we'll be enjoying some more mucky fun in the next few weeks!

Anyway, I digress a little. Recycling food waste is something we can all do and it's not as bad, smelly or gross as you think. I promise. Last year the people at Recycle Now asked on Twitter for tips on how to recycle food waste, so off I tweeted about my under counter food bins which I was determined to incorporate in our new kitchen.

So when Recycle Now got in touch and asked if I'd be willing to go on film and talk about recycling food waste, I did. There's nothing like putting your money where your mouth is, is there? You can watch my video, filmed in my kitchen last December showing how I recycle food waste here:

Do you recycle food waste and have other tips to share? And if you don't yet recycle your food waste, are you reconsidering that decision?