When decorating for the holidays consider upcycling materials from around your home instead of buying new. I have a million and one old tshirts that I saved for crafting and couldn't wait to try making an upcycled wreath. This project was inspired by the upcycled wreath that I made for my daughters room using a bed sheet. Supplies: 2 large tshirts, foam wreath form, and scissors or rotary cutter Time: 1 hour for med-large size wreath Directions: Cut fabric strips approximately 1-2" by 6". Tie each strip onto the wreath form with a simple knot. Continue tying strips to the wreath until you fill up the entire form. Embellish with a fabric flower. (Directions for the tshirt fabric flower can be found at Emily's Little World blog.) I used tshirt scraps and braided them to for the hanging ribbon for this wreath. You can use straight pens to attach the braid to the back of the wreath. Hang your wreath and enjoy! Happy Holidays! ... [ Read More ]
How to Upcycle a Pet Food Bag to a Cosmetic Bag
What do you do with your empty dog food bags? You can't really recycle them (bummer) so ours usually end up in the landfill. I remember a post by Beth Terry (My Plastic-Free Life) once where she had suggested using them as your garbage bags (I always forget to do this). You can also sew with them. They are made with a really sturdy water-proof material that is perfect for cosmetic bags, water bowls, and even a shopping bag. A regular needle worked fine on the material. Supplies: 1 empty pet food bag 1 zipper sewing machine matching thread Directions: Cut 2 pieces 10.5" X 9" in size. Sew the zipper to the underside of each piece. Unzip the zipper part way before you begin sewing the rest of the bag (right sides together). Sew down the other 3 sized to close the bag. Trim the corners and edges. Flip so the right sides of the bag are now on the outside. Note: You could create this project at any size, just buy the appropriate sized zipper. It would ... [ Read More ]
Upcycled Cardboard Blogger Business Cards
Are you a blogger and need some business cards that will stand out from the rest? PR agencies and businesses get thousands (if you're going to BlogHer '12, 4,500+ attendees) of cards. How do you make your card stand out from the rest? Being an eco-friendly "Green" blogger I've always struggled with business cards because they really waste a lot of natural resources and most people only need them for a short period of time. I have an entire box of business cards that I had made in 2010 with my sponsors names on the back. Kind of hard to reuse when it says "My 2010 Sponsors are..." This year I will have a mixed batch of cards. I still have about 20-30 square blogger business cards left from 2011 that I will use up. I also have my 2010 cards that I will apply address labels over the 2010 sponsor information on the back. Finally I have a batch of upcycled cardboard blogger business cards that I made from some used cardboard boxes. Directions: Cut cardboard to desired size ... [ Read More ]
Upcycled Sweater Boot Socks or Leg Warmers
Do you have any old sweaters in you closet that you know you'll never wear again? I have a few that I love the colors and textures of but hate the way they fit. The hot trend last fall was to make boot socks and leg warmers from old sweaters. The project is incredible easy and even a novice seamstress like myself can complete it in about 15 minutes. Directions: Cut the sleeves off of the sweater as close to the top as you can. Pin and sew a 1/2" hem around the cut edge. That's it! This sweater was tapered at the wrist so I had to slit the sleeve at that end. I sewed a straight stitch to keep it from unraveling. This would be a fun project for kids sweaters too! I think I'm going to have to make Lil' B her own pair for Fall. Note: This entire post was done from my iPhone, even the photographs!