Category Archives:upcycling

24
Apr

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!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, DIY wall art, upcycled art, upcycling, wall art
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22
Apr

Dog Portrait Made from Reclaimed Cardboard

Dog Portrait from Recycled Cardboard

Artist Ali Golzad created the awesome dog portrait pictured above out of reclaimed corrugated cardboard, but his depth as an artist goes much deeper.

I didn't understand folks who had portraits done of their dogs until my husband and I adopted our sweet rescue a few years ago. Now I could totally see myself wanting a piece of wall art featuring our sweet girl Jenna. The cut up pieces of cardboard give the piece a beautiful texture, don't they? You almost want to reach out and pet this sweet pup! The dog is named Lucy, and Golzad created the portrait for her owners.

Invisible People by Ali Golzad

Golzad is an avid craftivist, and his body of work extends far beyond dog portraits. His series Invisible People - also made using reclaimed cardboard - is meant to raise awareness about human trafficking. This excerpt from his artist's statement about the series is so powerful:

I have a strong affinity for these traumatized and abused children because when I was ten years old, I was forced to flee my native Iran due to revolution there and live as an orphan in Sweden until I was reunited with my parents three years later. To me the plight of child soldiers and children abused as sex slaves escapes notice in the civilized word which causes me to question how civilized we really are. To me, these are invisible people.

Posted:   |   Categories: Ali Golzad, Art, cardboard, cardboard art, craftivism, human trafficking, Innovation, Invisible People, upcycling
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22
Apr

Dog Portrait Made from Reclaimed Cardboard

Dog Portrait from Recycled Cardboard

Artist Ali Golzad created the awesome dog portrait pictured above out of reclaimed corrugated cardboard, but his depth as an artist goes much deeper.

I didn't understand folks who had portraits done of their dogs until my husband and I adopted our sweet rescue a few years ago. Now I could totally see myself wanting a piece of wall art featuring our sweet girl Jenna. The cut up pieces of cardboard give the piece a beautiful texture, don't they? You almost want to reach out and pet this sweet pup! The dog is named Lucy, and Golzad created the portrait for her owners.

Invisible People by Ali Golzad

Golzad is an avid craftivist, and his body of work extends far beyond dog portraits. His series Invisible People - also made using reclaimed cardboard - is meant to raise awareness about human trafficking. This excerpt from his artist's statement about the series is so powerful:

I have a strong affinity for these traumatized and abused children because when I was ten years old, I was forced to flee my native Iran due to revolution there and live as an orphan in Sweden until I was reunited with my parents three years later. To me the plight of child soldiers and children abused as sex slaves escapes notice in the civilized word which causes me to question how civilized we really are. To me, these are invisible people.

Posted:   |   Categories: Ali Golzad, Art, cardboard, cardboard art, craftivism, human trafficking, Innovation, Invisible People, upcycling
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15
Apr

Spotted: DIY Easter Basket from an Old Paper Grocery Bag

How to make a Simple DIY Easter Basket from a Paper Grocery Bag

Want an alternative to a store-bought, plastic Easter basket? Here's a simple way to make your own using an old paper grocery bag.

Lia Griffith uses a simple paper weaving technique to make an upcycled DIY Easter basket from a paper bag. Pretty much any brown craft paper will do the trick. If you order anything on Amazon, that brown packing paper that they use would also work well for this project.

Combine this cute, upcycled Easter basket with some home-grown Easter grass, and you're on the way to a low-impact Easter that saves money and natural resources!

It only takes a few simple craft supplies to make your own DIY Easter basket, and I bet you have all of them in your stash right now.

Tools & Supplies:

  • a brown paper bag or other large pieces of brown craft paper
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • scissors
  • hot glue gun
  • clothespins
  • ribbon, for embellishment (optional)

Ready to make your own paper Easter basket? Click here for the tutorial!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, DIY, DIY Easter basket, easter, Easter crafts, grocery bag crafts, paper crafts, upcycling
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28
Jan

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

Posted:   |   Categories: crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, upcycled cardboard, upcycling
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16
Jan

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

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, crative reuse, DIY, reclaimed wood, recycled wood, reuse, upcycling
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09
Jan

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.

craftRECYCLED logo

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

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, DIY, DIY home storage, DIY shelving, home storage, reuse, upcycling
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07
Jan

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.

craftRECYCLED logo

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!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, DIY decor, DIY storage, reuse, upcycling, vertical storage
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31
Dec

Window Crafts: Make a DIY Dry Erase Board

Window Crafts: DIY Dry Erase Board

We love window crafts, and this simple DIY dry erase board is a perfect way for you to get organized for the new year!

Bonnie - one of the writers I work with at Crafting a Green World - created this sweet upcycled dry erase board using an old window that she found, and I love the simplicity of it! She used her board to write a sweet saying, but you could use yours as a to-do list or even to keep track of your groceries and reduce food waste.

The genius of this project is that a window is basically already a dry erase board! A dry erase marker will wipe off of glass almost as easily as it does off of proper a dry erase surface, so there's no need to treat the glass at all.

craftRECYCLED logo

This Crafting a Green World window craft doesn't require sanding and painting, but if you want a more modern look you can grab some medium grit sandpaper and zero VOC paint to refresh the window that you're using. To get clean lines, use masking tape to cover the glass and remove any hardware before painting. A vibrant jewel tone or fresh coat of bright white would look great!

Once you're painted - or not! - you just need to gather the short list of supplies that Bonnie calls for and make your dry erase board! Here's what you'll need:

  • an old window
  • recycled paper
  • glue or tape
  • a dry erase marker

Got your supplies handy? Head over to Crafting a Green World to get your window crafting on!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafting with windows, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, reuse, upcycling, window crafts, windows
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19
Dec

Pallet Crafts: Make a Tea Light Holder

Pallet Crafts: Tea Light Holder

Pallet crafts are such a fun way to keep waste out of the landfill, and this tea light holder is beautiful in its simplicity!

A lot of pallet crafts call for a lot of special materials, and what I love about this one from our friend David Quilty at The Good Human is that you really don't need special tools or woodworking skills to make this candle holder. The finished project has a rustic look, so even if you're using a hand saw, you'll end up with a very nice-looking candle holder when it's all said and done.

I know, I always talk about this when I talk about pallet crafts, but it's so important! When you're sourcing your pallet, you want to be sure that you're using one that's headed for the landfill. Don't just nab a pallet from behind the local big box store. Make sure you pop inside and ask. If they don't have any pallets that are being discarded, ask them to contact you when they do have one. You're saving them money on disposal fees, so don't be shy about asking!

craftRECYCLED logo

This simple project only requires a few simple tools and supplies. You will need:

  • A wood pallet
  • A way to cut the pallets to size - David used a miter saw, but you can also use a hand saw if you're patient
  • Wood glue
  • Spade or hole drill bits
  • Wood clamps
  • Sand paper
  • Tea lights

That's it! Just a few basic tools, and you're ready to get crafty. David has detailed instructions, including plenty of images to help you along the way over at The Good Human. Click here for the full tutorial!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, pallet craft, pallet craft project, pallet crafts, reuse, upcycling, wood pallets
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