Category Archives:DIY

30
Apr

Spotted: Wine Cork Pendants

craftRECYCLED logoWine Cork Pendants

Check out these beautiful pendants made from reclaimed wine corks!

We love crafting with wine corks around here. That humble little cork in your bottle of vino has so many crafty possibilities! Whether your bottle has a plastic or a natural cork, it's worth collecting those suckers in a little bowl, because both make great, free craft supplies. The bonus? When you craft with your old wine corks, you're keeping that material out of the waste stream.

wine cork pendants

Over on the Fiskars blog, Lisa Storms shares a tutorial for making some super sweet wine cork pendants. You only need a few materials to make your own:

  • A sharp knife - I've found that a serrated blade is best for cutting cork
  • Paint
  • Paint brush
  • Stamps
  • a 5mm eye screw

You probably have most of these supplies laying around the house! Ready to make your own wine cork pendants? Click here for the complete tutorial!

Posted:   |   Categories: Clothes+Accessories, cork crafts, Craft Recycled, DIY, DIY pendant, Living, reuse, upcycling, wine cork crafts, wine cork pendants, wine corks
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30
Apr

Spotted: Wine Cork Pendants

craftRECYCLED logoWine Cork Pendants

Check out these beautiful pendants made from reclaimed wine corks!

We love crafting with wine corks around here. That humble little cork in your bottle of vino has so many crafty possibilities! Whether your bottle has a plastic or a natural cork, it's worth collecting those suckers in a little bowl, because both make great, free craft supplies. The bonus? When you craft with your old wine corks, you're keeping that material out of the waste stream.

wine cork pendants

Over on the Fiskars blog, Lisa Storms shares a tutorial for making some super sweet wine cork pendants. You only need a few materials to make your own:

  • A sharp knife - I've found that a serrated blade is best for cutting cork
  • Paint
  • Paint brush
  • Stamps
  • a 5mm eye screw

You probably have most of these supplies laying around the house! Ready to make your own wine cork pendants? Click here for the complete tutorial!

Posted:   |   Categories: Clothes+Accessories, cork crafts, Craft Recycled, DIY, Living, reuse, upcycling, wine cork crafts, wine cork pendants, wine corks
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26
Apr

5 Ways to Reuse Cereal Boxes and Organize Your Life!

craftRECYCLED logo

Cereal Box Crafts Magazine Organizer
[This magazine rack is made from recycled cereal boxes!]

Feeling guilty about the cereal boxes in your recycle bin? Pull 'em out and try some of these upcycled projects to give them a new life!

Recycling is great, but reuse is always better! Cardboard recycling is pretty efficient, as recycling goes, but it still takes energy to turn old cardboard into new paper products, and transporting cardboard from your home to the recycle center produces carbon emissions, too.

Boxes are a natural pick for storage, right? When I was researching some ideas for cereal boxes, I noticed that so many of them were organization-related! Next time you polish off a box of cereal, save the box for one of these home organization cardboard crafts!

1. Magazine Rack - Do you have magazines all over your house? Tidy those suckers up with a cereal box magazine rack!

2. Expandable File Folder - Get organized! Check out how to turn an old cereal box into a chic way to store your files.

upcycled mini album

3. Mini Album - Get your photos all in order with an upcycled album.

4. Fabric Storage Baskets - Cover old cereal boxes in fabric to make boxes for all kinds of organizing needs!

5. Closet Organizer - Tame a messy closet with the power of upcycled cereal boxes!

Have you guys made anything fun with reclaimed cereal boxes lately? Share your ideas in the comments!

Posted:   |   Categories: cereal box crafts, Craft Recycled, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, Home+Decor, Living, reuse, upcycling
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24
Apr

Spotted: Mini Photo Album from Recycled Cardboard

upcycled mini album

Turn reclaimed cardboard into a DIY mini photo album!

That light cardboard from old cereal boxes, frozen pizza boxes, or six packs is endlessly useful for crafting. It's sturdy, easy to cut, and flexible enough to use in all kinds of projects from gift boxes to sweet little toys. Over at Dollar Store Crafts, Rhonda shares another awesome craft you can make from reclaimed light cardboard: a mini photo album!

Rhonda uses new wrapping paper to decorate her photo album, but you could really use any kind of pretty paper you like. Maybe you are like me and save pretty wrapping paper from gifts that folks give you? You could also use recycled scrapbook paper or even the insides of  junk mail envelopes to cover your album. Oh, the upcycling possibilities!

To make your album, you will need:

  • Reclaimed cardboard - old cereal boxes will work best
  • Reclaimed or recycled paper
  • Mod Podge
  • A brayer - this is a rolly tool that will help you cover the cardboard in paper without ripples and lumps. A rolling pin will work in a pinch!

Ready to make your own upcycled mini album? Get the tutorial here!

Posted:   |   Categories: cardboard crafts, cereal box crafts, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, DIY photo album, upcycling
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07
Mar

Craft Recycled: Your Spring Garden

craftRECYCLED logo

vertical garden shoe planters

Spring is so close that I can smell it! It's just about time to start planting those spring crops, and now is also the perfect time to add a few upcycled touches to your spring garden. Here are a few ideas to get you going!

1.  Boot Planters

Going vertical is a great way to grow more in less space. Hit the thrift store and find some old rain boots to create these sweet, upcycled hanging planters.

2. Reclaimed Raised Bed

Raised beds are great for keeping weeds and pests at bay and in areas where the soil quality might be on the poor side. Instead of using new lumber, check out this upcycled garden bed using reclaimed wood instead.

wine box container garden

3. Wine Box Containers

For smaller plants, like herbs, you can use old wine boxes to create beautiful, upcycled planters.

4. Bike Wheel Trellis

Gather up some old bike wheels and create a beautiful, upcycled trellis for your climbing plants, like beans!

5. Wine Cork Plant Markers

You think you will remember what you planted where, but there's always those one or two plants that slip through the cracks when you don't write things down. Grab some wine corks from your stash to make sweet, upcycled plant markers and never guess at your garden's layout again!

Are you adding any upcycled touches to your garden? I'd love to hear what you're planting and how you're designing your space in the comments!

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, DIY, Gardening, Living, reuse, spring garden, upcycled garden, upcycling, Yard+Garden
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06
Mar

Tutorial: Turn an Old Playpen into a Launry Sorter

by Cristin Frank, author of Living Simple, Free & Happy: How to Simplify, Declutter Your Home, and Reduce Stress, Debt & Waste

EORlaundry_after

Hi Green Upgrader readers! I'm Cristin from Eve of Reduction and I'm thrilled to announce that my debut DIY book, Living Simple, Free and Happy is now available for purchase on Amazon!

This guest post is one stop on my virtual book tour. This means, if you go to the book tour page and leave a comment, you can win a copy of the book (mailed to US residents, digital copy if winner lives outside the US). If you go ahead and purchase a copy (thank you!), please leave a review on Amazon and let me know on the landing page of my blog tour, you will be entered to win a free, online upcycling consultation with me, Cristin Frank.

And with that announcement I want to share an upcycling project that will help organize and simplify your life: upcycling an obsolete playpen into a lights and brights laundry sorter.

EORplaypen_before

Anyone born before 1980 will probably recognize this wooden playpen from pictures of their toddler years - or the movie Back to the Future. Yeah, no one wants these any more. Well, except me...and maybe you by the end of this tutorial.

A neighbor of mine was getting rid of this playpen, so I took it off her hands before it became landfill fodder. I put it down in my basement and the next time I went down there, I was like, "What's that awful smell!" Yikes, this thing smelled so musty, to the point of reeking. The good news was, I was planning on hacking it up, which meant it would be in small enough pieces that I could seal it in a large black garbage bag with some kitty litter. The clay litter absorbs moisture and smells wonderfully and can save many old, musty pieces like suitcases, too.

I cut up the playpen into 8 sections so that they could be reassembled as two, four-sided laundry sorters.

You'll notice that I'm making 2 structures, each with 4 legs, but there are only 4 casters. To remedy this, I positioned two casters as the back legs, then repurposed a crib spindle to use as the front legs of the laundry sorters.

Because there were so many cut edges, and now the miss-matched wood from the crib spindles, I painted the laundry sorters to bring it all together.

Next, I reused a fitted sheet to make the laundry bags. This worked out great because I reused the fabric and elastic, plus the casing for the elastic was already sewn.

Click here to get the sewing pattern for the laundry bags.

The last detail was adding a bottom onto the sorters. I fully intended to cut up the original particle board bottom that came with the playpen, but the sorters left a very tiny ledge for them to rest on the inside and from underneath, I'd have to cut around the added front legs. I decided it would be easiest to simply use the remnants of the fitted bed sheet to tack down a fabric bottom. The fabric was really easy to work with.

If you like DIY projects that are easy, inexpensive, reduce waste and add beauty and function to your home, please check out Living Simple, Free and Happy on Amazon. It is also available at bookstores, home improvement stores and craft stores nation-wide.

Living Simple, Free, & Happy Book CoverThe book includes 10 upcycling tutorials that take easy to find furniture items and transforms them into customizable, organizational solutions from your home.

What else do you get?

  • Simple techniques that eliminate clutter and keep it from returning
  • A personalized plan to help you reclaim your time
  • Practical (and profitable) ways to sell unused items in your home
  • Tips to eliminate debt and curb consumption
  • Dozens of exercises that help you identify and honor your talents, values, and goals

Please remember to leave a comment on my blog tour page to be entered to win a copy of Living Simple, Free & Happy. There you also see my blog tour schedule and can check in to learn more about upcycling, simple living, decluttering and writing a book.

Please know that I look forward to reading each and every comment, and Becky, thank you so much for being a gracious book tour hostess!

Posted:   |   Categories: Books, craft books, Craft Recycled, crafting books, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, DIY laundry sorter, Living, reuse, upcycling, upcycling books
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06
Mar

Tutorial: Turn an Old Playpen into a Laundry Sorter

by Cristin Frank, author of Living Simple, Free & Happy: How to Simplify, Declutter Your Home, and Reduce Stress, Debt & Waste

EORlaundry_after

Hi Green Upgrader readers! I'm Cristin from Eve of Reduction and I'm thrilled to announce that my debut DIY book, Living Simple, Free and Happy is now available for purchase on Amazon!

This guest post is one stop on my virtual book tour. This means, if you go to the book tour page and leave a comment, you can win a copy of the book (mailed to US residents, digital copy if winner lives outside the US). If you go ahead and purchase a copy (thank you!), please leave a review on Amazon and let me know on the landing page of my blog tour, you will be entered to win a free, online upcycling consultation with me, Cristin Frank.

And with that announcement I want to share an upcycling project that will help organize and simplify your life: upcycling an obsolete playpen into a lights and brights laundry sorter.

EORplaypen_before

Anyone born before 1980 will probably recognize this wooden playpen from pictures of their toddler years - or the movie Back to the Future. Yeah, no one wants these any more. Well, except me...and maybe you by the end of this tutorial.

A neighbor of mine was getting rid of this playpen, so I took it off her hands before it became landfill fodder. I put it down in my basement and the next time I went down there, I was like, "What's that awful smell!" Yikes, this thing smelled so musty, to the point of reeking. The good news was, I was planning on hacking it up, which meant it would be in small enough pieces that I could seal it in a large black garbage bag with some kitty litter. The clay litter absorbs moisture and smells wonderfully and can save many old, musty pieces like suitcases, too.

I cut up the playpen into 8 sections so that they could be reassembled as two, four-sided laundry sorters.

You'll notice that I'm making 2 structures, each with 4 legs, but there are only 4 casters. To remedy this, I positioned two casters as the back legs, then repurposed a crib spindle to use as the front legs of the laundry sorters.

Because there were so many cut edges, and now the miss-matched wood from the crib spindles, I painted the laundry sorters to bring it all together.

Next, I reused a fitted sheet to make the laundry bags. This worked out great because I reused the fabric and elastic, plus the casing for the elastic was already sewn.

Click here to get the sewing pattern for the laundry bags.

The last detail was adding a bottom onto the sorters. I fully intended to cut up the original particle board bottom that came with the playpen, but the sorters left a very tiny ledge for them to rest on the inside and from underneath, I'd have to cut around the added front legs. I decided it would be easiest to simply use the remnants of the fitted bed sheet to tack down a fabric bottom. The fabric was really easy to work with.

If you like DIY projects that are easy, inexpensive, reduce waste and add beauty and function to your home, please check out Living Simple, Free and Happy on Amazon. It is also available at bookstores, home improvement stores and craft stores nation-wide.

Living Simple, Free, & Happy Book CoverThe book includes 10 upcycling tutorials that take easy to find furniture items and transforms them into customizable, organizational solutions from your home.

What else do you get?

  • Simple techniques that eliminate clutter and keep it from returning
  • A personalized plan to help you reclaim your time
  • Practical (and profitable) ways to sell unused items in your home
  • Tips to eliminate debt and curb consumption
  • Dozens of exercises that help you identify and honor your talents, values, and goals

Please remember to leave a comment on my blog tour page to be entered to win a copy of Living Simple, Free & Happy. There you also see my blog tour schedule and can check in to learn more about upcycling, simple living, decluttering and writing a book.

Please know that I look forward to reading each and every comment, and Becky, thank you so much for being a gracious book tour hostess!

Posted:   |   Categories: Books, craft books, Craft Recycled, crafting books, crafty reuse, creative reuse, DIY, DIY laundry sorter, Living, reuse, upcycling, upcycling books
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05
Mar

Spotted: Bicycle Wheel Trellis

Bicycle Wheel Trellis

We love offbeat gardening ideas around here, and this bicycle wheel trellis is just a stunning example of creative reuse!

Bike wheels are pretty durable, but a big accident can mean that your old wheel goes kaput. Maybe it gets cracked or bent too far out of shape to be trued again. Whatever the reason, once a bike wheel is dunzo, it's...dunzo. It's not easy to recycle, but just because it's not useful for pedaling anymore doesn't mean it's not useful at all!

Over at the Kirksville Permaculture Education Center, they shared a gallery of photos of this beautiful trellis. What a lovely way to reuse kicked bike wheels!

Of course, most of us don't have a a bunch of bike wheels sitting around our house, but I bet your local bike shop has lots of spent wheels laying around! Next time you're in the neighborhood, pop in! Chances are they'll be happy for you to take those off of their hands. In many places, businesses have to pay to dispose of trash and recycling, so there's a good chance you're helping them out as much as they are helping you.

The Kirksville Permaculture Education Center site didn't have instructions on how to build this trellis, but it looks super simple. Here's how I think it went down:

Materials

  • Wooden H-frame - you can buy one or build your own from reclaimed wood
  • 8 used bike wheels
  • zip ties or popped bike inner tubes

Directions

1. Stake the frame in the ground wherever you want your trellis. Make sure it's nice and secure, because those tires and the plants that grow up them are going to add a lot of weight.

2. Use your zip ties or the inner tubes to link the tires together and link the tire grids to your frame.

3. Plant something that climbs - like grapes, luffa, or beans - at the base of your structure, and watch it go!

Want to see lots more photos of the bike trellis? Click here!

Posted:   |   Categories: bicycle crafts, bike crafts, bike wheel crafts, Concept+Design, DIY, DIY garden, Gardening, Innovation, Living, upcycled garden, Yard+Garden
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28
Feb

Craft Recycled: 5 DIY Grocery Bags

craftRECYCLED logo

DIY Grocery Bags

Is your stash of reusable grocery bags a little slim? Beef it up with these DIY ideas!

Did you know that you should be washing your reusable bags? Those totes are much better for the planet than the single use plastic sort, but without proper care they can harbor food-borne illness. That doesn't mean you need to switch to disposables, but it does mean that maybe it's time to add a few bags to that rotation, so you'll still be able to grocery shop when one set is in the wash.

You could pick up reusable bags at the store, but then you'd have the same boring bags as everyone else! We've rounded up a few grocery bag tutorials to make sure your stash or totes is as unique as you are.

1. Embellished Grocery Bag

You can use this tutorial from Sew Homegrown to spruce up one of the bags in your stash or fancy up any tote you pick up at the thrift store. Not only does she show you how to add cute, geometric embellishments but she walks you through adding a pocket! Perfect for stashing a magazine or your coupons!

2. Upcycled Denim Bag

The Queen of DIY shows you how to make a reversible grocery tote from an old pair of jeans! A bonus? Denim is super durable, so this bag is sure to last you ages!

DIY Mesh Grocery Bags

3. T-Shirt Grocery Bag

Got some old tees in your stash? Use them to make a DIY mesh grocery bag - no crochet or knitting skills required!

4. Vintage Pillowcase Bag

A reclaimed pillowcase is perfect for hauling those groceries around, and SpiderWomanKnits shows you how to make a super sweet upcycled grocery tote from a vintage one. Just make sure you choose a pillowcase that's in good shape. Some of the older vintage pillowcases can have very delicate fabric, and you want your bag to be durable!

5. Flour Sack Grocery Bag

Have you ever bought flour in one of those awesome cotton sacks? Here's how to turn that flour sack into a grocery bag! You could use the same instructions to turn a burlap coffee bag or rice bag into a tote, too!

Image Credit: DIY Grocery Bags photo via Bigstock

Posted:   |   Categories: Craft Recycled, DIY, DIY grocery bag, DIY grocery bags, DIY grocery tote, how to make a grocery bag, Living, Shopping+Services
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26
Feb

Spotted: DIY Mesh Grocery Bag from an Old T-Shirt

DIY Mesh Grocery Bags

Is your stash of reusable bags a little bit slim? If you've got an old t-shirt handy, you can turn it into a DIY mesh grocery bag super easily!

My very first reusable grocery bag was one of those crochet mesh ones. I got it at a health food store as a teen and felt so good about saying no to plastic and doing the family grocery shopping. The whole thing felt so grown up!

Over the years, I've built up a big stash of reusable bags, and I don't think any of them are that old school mesh sort that I remember from my teen years.

Those bags were great, though! You could shove them in your purse, because they got really small, but the mesh design meant they expanded to hold way more food than they looked like they would.

Want your own mesh bag, but don't want to pony up for the expensive crochet version they sell at the store? Delia Creates shows you how to make your own out of a reclaimed tee, no crochet skills required! All you need are:

  • an old t-shirt
  • pen
  • fabric scissors
  • sewing machine/thread or needle/thread
  • ruler
  • rotary cutter (optional)

Get the tutorial here!

Note: She says that you can use a straight stitch or a narrow zigzag, and I would definitely go with the latter, unless you're super skilled at sewing jersey. The zigzag gives that knit fabric more room to stretch, so you'll be less likely to have stitches break.

Posted:   |   Categories: Bags+Briefcases, Clothes+Accessories, DIY, DIY grocery bag, DIY grocery tote, DIY mesh grocery bag, how to make a grocery bag, Living, t-shirt crafts, upcycled t-shirts
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