Recycle, Upcycle and Reuse

Hello crafty friends!

Are you a recycler, an upcycler or a reuser?

I definitely am and today I'm going to show you a great

upcycling project that I've been working on.

Someone on my Buy Nothing Group offered two

large bags full of used Amazon mailers.
I jumped right on that offer and brought them home,

I already have one full bag in my craft room, so now

I have 3 big bags full.

You might ask,

What in heaven's name are you going to do with them? 

The answer is to reuse them.

My daughter and daughter in law have started a business.

They will need padded envelopes to mail out some of their items.

So I'm making them some cute mailers.

Here are a few of the mailers I covered with 

wrapping paper.  It's easy and very inexpensive

to make these and no one knows they are

old reused mailers.

Here are a few of them that I covered with 

scrapbook paper that I had in my stash that I will 

probably never use.

From one Amazon mailer, I can get 2 - 4 "new" mailers,

depending on the size of the mailer.

All they'll need to do is put a label on the front with an

address and return address, put their item inside,

pull off the double sided tape backing and seal it up.

Now they are ready to mail it.
If you are interested in how these are made,

here is a video showing how it's done.

Easy peasy.

If you are interested in what my girls are 

creating, follow the link below and it

will take you to their website.
They are adding more to their site often,

so be sure to check back at another time.

I'm really proud of what they are doing,

guess the creative gene runs in the family.

The name of their business is 
Clumsy Cloud Gifts

Thank you for stopping in today to 

check out what I've been up to.

Please come again.

Until then,

recycle, upcycle and reuse!

 

Dryer Balls #2

Hello crafty people!

A few posts ago, I showed you some dryer balls

that I had made and told you I'd be making some more.

I got 2 100% wool sweaters from Goodwill

and deconstructed them and unraveled them

and rolled them into balls, about the size of tennis balls.

I then cut an old pair of panty hose and put the balls into 

the legs of the hose. I tied a knot after each yarn ball.

I then put them in a pot on the stove and boiled them  for

about 10 minutes.  Once they were boiled I put them in

the dryer to dry.  This took quite a while as they hold a lot of

water.  Once they were dried, I took them out of the hose.

This was the hardest part, untying those knots was

tough, but I got them out and they were all nicely shrunk 

and felted.

Here is what I ended up with.
From 2 sweaters I got 14 dryer balls.

Here is a link to a tutorial about making these 

kind of dryer balls.

Why use dryer balls?

Here are a few reasons......

• eliminate the need for fabric softener or dryer sheets (these are bad for your dryer, your clothes and are full of chemicals that are not good for you.)
• are eco-friendly (no more throwing away dryer sheets)
• reduce drying time by 20% (less money spent on energy)
• remove static cling
• are easy-to-use (just throw a few into the dryer with your laundry and then leave them there for the next load)
• are chemical-free (better for you and the environment)
• you can add natural scent if you apply essential oils
  
  
  Thanks for coming by today,
  I hope you have learned something new 
  and have been inspired in some way.
  Come again soon.
  Until then,
  try something new.

 

Ornaments

Hello crafty people!

Today I have some ornaments to show you.

I made these for my family this

Christmas. Each "family unit" received one.

We also had a ornament exchange with 

our scrapbooking/crafting group and

I decided that I would give one of these 

for that.

When I had to clean out my Aunt Marilyn's

apartment, when she went into a nursing home,

I found an old dresser scarf that I'm pretty sure

her Mom crocheted.

It had some torn spots, but I didn't want to

get rid of it, so I brought it home with me.

I took the pieces apart and made these ornaments

with the crocheted circles.

Everything else came from my stash in my

craft room, so every ornament is different.

I used chip board coasters for the base,

some were covered with

Indian Gold

 Nuvo Embellishment Mousse

These darker ones were covered with 

Firebird Art Alchemy Metallique Wax

I made the flower on this one with a 

scrap of fabric and colored it with 

some of the Nuvo paste.

This flowers and the other ones this

style, I made using Washi tape.

Some of them have buttons from

my button box, like this gold flower button.

Some have charms and this one

has some actual wool which I 

brought back from one of our trips to the

UK. I found it along a fence that was 

around a pasture for the sheep.

I absolutely LOVE how these turned out

and my family loved them too.

I still have plenty of the crochet circles left,

so I'm sure I'll be coming up with another way 

to use them.

They make a wonderful memory of some

family history for me.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

think about using something 

out of the ordinary to make something

special.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Place Mats Into Bags

Hi all!

Today I have something a little different for you.

My friends and I decided to host a weekend scrapbooking crop

this fall.  Our theme is Birthday Bash 

to celebrate the 9th birthday of
My Happy Place Scrapbooking and Crafting Studio

and everyone's birthday.

I got the idea of using place mats to make bags

that can be used for storing and carrying crafting

supplies and/or tools.  I love to repurpose things and

this seemed like a good chance to do so.

I went to a few thrift stores and picked up place mats

very inexpensively.

This is what I started with.......

and this is what I ended up with.

I simply folded them and sewed them up the sides.

Then folded the other end over to close them.

This is the one I made for myself,

isn't it pretty?

Here it is opened.

I think these little bags could have a lot of uses.

They would be great to carry cosmetics, or hair care items,

or maybe some lingerie while traveling.

Maybe to store your curling iron or scarfs.

Everyone that attends our crop, including my friends 

who planned it with me, will receive one of these

little bags with some goodies in it.

Here is what they will get as their goodie bag.

The bag with 10 - 6x6 birthday themed papers,

a package of birthday themed sticker, a pencil,

candy, a little candle and pretty holder, really you can't have 

a birthday with out candles, right?

And some tickets to win some prizes.

I wrapped up all the gifts with colorful tissue

paper and ribbon and tied a cute wooden tag to the ribbon.

They will be on each 

crafter's table when they arrive for the crop.

I hope they like their little goodie bag as much as

I liked making them and finding the goodies to go 

into them. They will also receive some 12x12 

birthday themed paper, but that doesn't fit into the 

bag.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you've been inspired to 

reuse, recycle or repurpose something.

Come again soon,

until then

Happy Crafting!

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose Project

Hello crafty friends! 

Recently there was a contest on the Glue Arts blog, it was to recycle, reuse and repurpose some items into a project.  I would like to share my submission with you today.  I didn't win the contest, but I had a great time making my projects.  I had to use Glue Arts products in my submission, but keep in mind that you can use which ever products you like.  To be honest, I wouldn't use the Glue Glider Max again.  I borrowed it from a friend (thanks Jen T!) for this project and I found it very difficult to use.  I would use my ATG Gun in the future.

Supplies needed:

pockets cut off old jeans
Glue Glider Max
Glue Glider Pro
Crop a Dile
scrap fabric
scrap card stock
Pearl accents
ribbon
silk flowers and leaves
charms
crystal accents
butterfly applique
old bracelet
glitter glue
Say it With Studs (hearts)
Say it With Crystals (flourish)

These are the supplies I used for the 2 projects I am showing. Any type of embellishment may be used. These just happened to be what I had on hand.

These are the two projects I made. They can be used for many different purposes. When my daughter was young I made one of these as a “locker pocket” and put magnets on the back so she could put it inside her locker door at school. She kept small things like pencils, pens, erasers etc. in it. The one with the strap can be used as a little purse, or it can be hung on a door, like in the picture to put notes into it for your child. Hang it on your child's bedroom door and leave little love notes in it, or maybe hang it somewhere it is sure to be seen and use it for outgoing mail. Keep the extra keys in it, or extra change, or maybe you sunglasses, so you know where they are. The one with out the handle can be used to put a small gift in as a gift bag, put magnets on it to go onto the fridge to hold coupons, or take out menus. There are a lot of uses for these adorable pockets.

Your first step is to find some old jeans and cut the pockets off the back. I use two matching pockets, although you could use one and back it with another fabric.

Next use the Glue Glider Max to apply adhesive to the back of the pocket right along the stitching . Fold over the extra fabric right along the edge of the pocket. Cut off any unwanted fabric. Do this with the other matching pocket.

Now you will apply adhesive to the back of the pocket, line up the 2 matching pockets back to back and press them together. You will now have a “double” pocket. You can decorate both sides, but I have only decorated one on mine.

Now you can embellish you pocket. For this first one, I used some scrap fabric to make flowers. I cut the fabric into long narrow strips, about 1” wide. I cut a piece of scrap card stock into a circle, using my Glue Glider Pro, I covered one side of the circle with adhesive. Starting in the middle of the circle, I began to attach the fabric as seen in this tutorial, I made 3 of these fabric flowers in different sizes and added some pearl accents to the centers of the flowers. I used Glue Glider Pro to adhere silk leaves to the back of the flower and then to adhere the flowers to the pocket. I embellished the pocket further with some “Say It With Studs” (Prima) hearts and a butterfly applique. You can embellish in any way you like, a little, a lot, girly, boyish, whatever you like.

Next use the Crop a Dile to make holes in the fabric between the 2 pockets. Narrow strips of fabric are again used, to make a strap for the pockets. Use the Glue Glider Pro on the back of the fabric and then folded the fabric onto the adhesive and trim off any extra threads. Then simply fed the ends of the strap through the holes and tie a knot at the end. You could also use ribbon as a strap.

The 2nd project was constructed the same way, but was embellished differently. I used all items that I had on hand in my stash.

First I took a red crystal bracelet that my daughter didn’t want any longer and I cut it, this I adhered to the pocket with liquid adhesive. I then used my Glue Glider Pro to adhere the flowers and a bow that I had made. The flourish and the small flower are “Say it With Crystals” (Prima) I found the butterfly and heart charms in my stash and adhered them with liquid adhesive.

I decided that I didn’t want a strap on this pocket project, but I can easily add one at a later date if I choose. I had a lot of fun making these and think they would make great gifts for the little girls in my life.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you have enjoyed these projects and tutorial.  If you would like to leave a comment that would be great, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section or e-mail me (address is in right column) and I will get back to you asap.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!