Bottlecap Art: Mixed Media Assemblage by Leigh Kirkland

Bottlecap Fish by Leigh Kirkland

I spotted this awesome bottlecap fish at Sweet Melissa's, a breakfast place in downtown Decatur, GA. Isn't it awesome?

Atlanta artist Leigh Kirkland made this bottlecap fish, and it looks like just one of many in her collection. She works in a variety of media, from watercolors to mixed media art featuring found objects. Her found object assemblages are by far my favorite pieces though.

There's a great bottlecap flounder on her website that uses old hinges as the fins. I just love how she uses what she has to create sweet art pieces that clearly have a sense of humor.

Have you spotted any cool, upcycled art lately? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

5 Upcycled Art Ideas

5 Upcycled Art Ideas

Need to spruce up your walls a bit? Try a few of these sweet upcycled art ideas!

Let's get real, y'all: art is expensive. Big pieces of wall art in particular can really get pricey. Making your own upcycled art can save some cash without sacrificing style! Check out some of these ideas to add a little upcycled decor to your home:

1. Moss Typography Art - Typography art is on-trend, and it's so simple to make your own! Just cut your letter of choice from reclaimed cardboard and decorate away. I love the earthy look that the moss gives this piece of upcycled art.

2. Junk Mail Art - Think of this striking junk mail collage as a jumping-off point. You may not be able to create this piece at home, but I love the way that this upcycle art piece makes you look at junk mail in a new way.

rubbish rainbow

3. Rubbish Rainbows - Take a cue from this craftivism project and colorize your trash to make beautiful art. I think this technique would work well mounted in a shadowbox on the wall, don't you?

4. More Junk Mail Goodness - This is a simpler take on the junk mail wall art idea, and it includes step-by-step instructions on how to use common craft supplies to elevate junk mail to upcycled art.

5. Recycled Wood Fox Art - You can really use any stencil you like to customize this project for your own decor. I love the rustic look of the recycled wood paired with the modern fox cameo!

Spotted: Upcycled “Hunting Trophies”

Hunting Trophies from Old Bike Parts

I am not a fan of hunting. At all. Call me one of those hippie vegans, but I feel ill when I walk into a room and see the head of a dead animal on the wall. That's why I kind of love these awesome faux hunting trophies made from reclaimed bike parts!

Bicycle Parts Hunting Trophy

Austrian Artist Andreas Scheiger makes these trophies out of bicycle parts that he salvages and repurposes into beautiful pieces of art. All of his work focuses on the surreal, and I love that he's taken an artform that I find nauseating and made it playful and fun!

You can find these and the rest of Scheiger's work on his website.

Spotted: Upcycled Milk Jug Rings

Upcycled Milk Jug Rings

Do you buy milk or juice in a plastic jug? Instead of tossing the empty bottle in the recycle bin, clean it out and make these sweet upcycled milk jug rings instead!

Leslie at Pink Stripey Socks shares a fun tutorial for how to make upcycled milk jug rings. Her rings are based on a couple of other similar projects: one used reclaimed cardboard to make the rings and another used shrinky dinks. Leslie's project is an upcycled take that has a similar look to the shrinky dink version without using any new plastic. BOOM.

These rings are simple to make and a fun addition to your kid's dress-up box or your own costume jewelry stash!

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You only need a few simple tools and supplies to make your own cute plastic rings:

  • scissors
  • Exacto knife
  • scrap paper
  • pen or pencil
  • permanent marker
  • plastic milk or juice jug
  • cutting Mat
  • tape
  • Q-tip and nail polish remover (optional)

Got your supplies ready? Let's make some rings! Click here to see Leslie's complete tutorial.

Cork Crafts: The Wino Cork Board

Cork Crafts: Wine Cork Board

If you're a wine drinker, cork crafts are a great way to use those leftover stoppers instead of tossing them into the trash! This clever project uses hundreds of salvaged corks to make an awesome 3D cork board.

Allison at Reduce, Reuse, Redecorate shares how she made this epic wino cork board. It's almost a massively scaled-up version of our mini wine cork board, and I love the rustic look and practical functionality of this project! Allison did an awesome job making a sturdy board. She also lined up the corks to give her board a finished look.

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To make your own giant wino corkboard, you'll need:

  • wine corks - I tried to estimate how many corks Allison used. It took at least 400 corks, so ask your friends, family, and maybe a local bar to save up for you!
  • particle board or other reclaimed wood - Go with whatever you have on hand or can salvage.
  • hot glue or wood glue - Allison used hot glue, but I might opt for wood glue instead. That's what I used for that mini cork board, and it's still going strong four years later.

Ready to get crafty? Get the tutorial here!

Upcycled Cardboard Pirate Ship will Blow Your Mind

We love a good upcycled cardboard project around here, and when I saw this pirate ship made from reclaimed cardboard boxes, I knew I had to share it with you guys!

A group of friends created this amazing ship for a Treasure Island-themed party last year. Now there is a party that I wish I had been at! They scoured their neighborhood for cardboard boxes and created this incredibly detailed, gorgeous upcycled cardboard ship as the centerpiece for their warehouse party.

Upcycled Cardboard Pirate Ship

The most amazing part about this project? It only took these guys five days to construct their upcycled cardboard pirate ship out of just reclaimed cardboard and copious amounts of hot glue. Five days!

Of course, the second most amazing thing is that they were able to find enough trashed cardboard to create this piece of art. This pirate ship speaks volumes about our throw-away culture, doesn't it?

h/t: Inhabitat

5 Reclaimed Wood Projects

Reclaimed Wood Projects

Have you been on the lookout for reclaimed wood projects? Check out these awesome ideas!

Some of the reclaimed wood projects on this list use pallet wood while other call for other unconventional sources of wood, like old bedroom doors. Of course, the list below is just the start when it comes to reclaimed wood projects! Here are a few from our archives that you might also like to try:

The important thing to keep in mind when you're planning your reclaimed wood projects is that you want to be sure your wood is truly reclaimed. If you snag a wood pallet from behind a store, for example, and the store was going to keep using it, you're not reducing waste. It's only upcycling if you're giving something a new life that would have otherwise been landfill-bound, right?

5 Reclaimed Wood Projects

This list of reclaimed wood projects doe a great job of offering you options for each project, so you can work with what you have. Check it out:

Reclaimed Wood Projects

graphic via Jarrimber

5 Upcycled Home Storage Ideas

DIY Home Storage

Need some help getting organized in the new year? Check out these DIY home storage ideas!

Sure, you can hit the big box store for shelves, bookcases, and storage boxes, but those commercial solutions come with a big carbon footprint. When you create your own home storage from reclaimed materials, you're doing double service to the environment. Not only does your DIY home storage have a lower impact than the sort produced in a factory and shipped all over the world, but you're also keeping waste out of the landfill.

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5 Upcycled Home Storage Projects

  1. Bike Frame Shelving - Did your bike bite the dust? Turn the frame into hanging shelving !
  2. Dresser Drawer Shelves - Go vertical for efficient storage made from old dresser drawers.
  3. Burlap Coffee Sack Box - Instead of baskets or soft boxes, turn an old coffee sack into a pretty home storage solution,
  4. Vintage Suitcase Drawers - Did you pull the drawers out of a dresser to make shelves? Replace them with vintage suitcases! Bam!
  5. Crutch Shelves - I love a ladder shelf, and I love this ingenious one made from an old pair of crutches even more!

Have you made any cool upcycled home storage solutions? Tell us about them in the comments!

Image Credit: Crutch Shelf photo via Mamie Jane

Spotted: Vertical Storage from Old Dresser Drawers

Vertical Storage from Dresser Drawers

If you live in a small space, storage is at a premium. Vertical storage is a great solution for fitting more stuff into less space!

Just like vertical gardening, vertical storage takes advantage of height to help maximize a small area. Store-bought vertical storage solutions can be a little bit pricey, but when you make your own from reclaimed materials you save money and reduce your environmental impact! Bing, bang, boom!

I love these sweet vertical shelves that Samantha at the Douangphilas made out of salvaged dresser drawers. She ran across these empty drawers at a Habitat Restore, and it's surprisingly easy to find drawers without homes. So many folks leave old dressers out by the side of the road, and the outside gets ruined, but the drawers are sheltered and remain intact.

Keep an eye out for dilapidated old furniture, because even if you can't salvage the whole thing, this tutorial shows that you can even use parts to make something wonderful.

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To make your own vertical storage from old dresser drawers, you will need:

  • old dresser drawers
  • damp rags, to clean your drawers
  • paint and paint brushes
  • sandpaper
  • fabric or contact paper
  • coat hooks and screws (optional)
  • long screws to mount the drawers to the wall

Ready to make your own vertical storage? Click here for the tutorial!

5 Ways to Craft with Old Windows

greenhouse built from salvaged windows

There are lots of fun ways to craft with old windows! Here are five of our favorite projects.

Whether you're replacing the windows on your own house with more efficient ones or you stumbled across an old window in your travels, there are many ways to reuse these relics than tossing them in the landfill! Check out these project to craft with old windows and keep them out of the waste stream!

1. DIY Dry Erase Board - Glass makes a perfect dry erase surface, so it's a snap to turn an old window into a message board to keep you organized.

2. Build a Greenhouse - If you're looking to craft with old windows and you have quite a few of them, you can turn them into a greenhouse and grow food all year long.

build a reclaimed raised garden bed

3. Window Garden Bed - Don't want a whole greenhouse? You can also use old window frames to create a raised garden bed.

4. Window Chalkboard - With just a few supplies you can turn a salvaged window into a chalkboard!

5. Picture Frame - Check out this awesome technique for using a window to frame large prints.

Do you like to craft with old windows? I'd love to hear about what you're making in the comments!

Image Credits: Window Greenhouse by oviddawen, Raised Garden Bed from video tutorial