Upcycled Design Lab Blog

Upcycled Magnetic Chalkboard Video

 

 

Just a quick post to say that I made a video from last weeks Upcycled Magnetic Chalkboard project.  I still have a lot to learn about filming and editing but I had a lot of fun working on this project.

 

 

Upcycled Magnetic Chalkboard

 

 

I think that Spring has finally arrived to stay in Colorado.  We are not expecting anymore snow storms just a few rainy days here and there.  So I anticipate working on some garden projects in the near future but this weeks project comes from the craft cave last week when I was still dreaming of spring.

I like to think that I am a fairly organized person but lately I seem to keep forgetting to pay my bills until the day they are due.  They often seem to disappear into the void that I call my desk.  I am not proud of the fact that there are time when the afore mentioned desk does take on some of the attributes of a black hole but there, I have admitted it anyway. 

 

Now most sensible folks might just resolve to keep their desks a bit more tidy but having lived with myself for close to 50 years now I have come to accept that I am not the tidiest housekeeper.  So my solution to my bill problem is to stop putting the bills on my desk at all.

 

:-)

 

I had the top of an old metal TV Tray.  Are you old enough to know what I am talking about?  They were popular back when TV channels went off the air and switched the the test pattern at 10:00 pm.  I would be giving away my age if I hadn't already told you how old I am.

 

 

After a couple of coats of chalkboard paint it looked like this.

 

 

I used a wire hanger, pliers and some elbow grease to make the somewhat acceptable hanger shape.

 

 

And then used E6000 Glue to attach it to the clips on the back of the TV tray.

 

 

 

In honer of spring, that I was sure would show up at some point even during last weeks snow storm, I made some flower magnets.  I still have quite a few scraps of t-shirts from my 20 T-shirt Challenge so I used some of the scraps to make the flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I decorated some Altoid tins to hold the chalk and erasers.

 

 

 

So now I just have to see if this resolves my bill paying tardiness. 

 

 

I know you are thinking I should just clean my desk.

 

Happy Upcycling,

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Upcycled Party Photo Props

 

In an on going effort to convince you of......what shall we call it....

my propencity to plan pre-maturally, 

I have another project for use at my impending Birthday Party. 

An event which may not even happen but as I still have several months before I really have to commit I am prentending happily that turning 50 is no big deal and presuming that I will want to share the experience with my friends and family.

All of this will actually be determined at a later date.  But if it actually happens I will be prepared with these silly photo props and last weeks bubble blowers. 

 

Material requirements

Empty cereal or cracker boxes, printed art props, bamboo sticks,  real sticks or chop sticks, glue stick, hot glue gun, scissor.

 

Step I - Find and print out the desired shapes.

 

Step 2 - Use glue stick to adhear prints to the cardboard boxes.

 

Step 3 - Cut out shapes.

 

 

Step 4 - Use hot glue gun to attach stick to the back of the shape.

 

Step 5 - Display for use at party.

 

Happy Upcycling,

 

Upcycled Emergency Travel Kit

Oh Ho Ho!!!  The holidays are fast approaching and as usual I am feeling more than a bit unprepared.  I had planned to make a lot of my gifts this year but as I have not started a single one I may need to come up with plan B.  I fear I may end up being the gift card giver this year which is a fine gift to receive but not very creative or fun to give. 

 

On to this weeks project.  You may remember the Abstract Snowflakes from last week which left me with some empty CD sleeves.

 

 

I don't know where the idea sprang from but it occurred to me that I could make a travel kit with them.  I was wishing for some inspiration on a Christmas gift but this is what the universe sent me.  So I went with it.

 

I didn't get very good pictures of this step but the gist of it is that the top of a zip lock (preferable a used one) is cut off and glued into the top of the CD sleeve to prevent all your stuff from spilling out.

 

 

I decided to use some old cardboard boxes for the cover and some extra contact paper that I had.  It occurs to me now that covering it with an old map would have been a better idea but I never seem to finish a project without wanting to improve on it.

 

 

I used the bottom hem piece from one of my 20 T-shirt to hold my travel kit together.  So I am actually considering this as one of my T-shirt projects.  This might be a bit of a stretch but since I am trying to use up all of the material from all 20 t-shirts I am having to be a little creative :-)

 

 

 

I filled the first pouch with first aid items.

 

 

And the second with sewing items.

 

 

Note:  the safty pin and needle holder is a label from one of my 20 t-shirts. :-)

 

The third pouch I decided to fill with emergency activities for when the battery is dead on your i-pad or smart phone.  In true upcycling form I cut out the Suduko and Crossword puzzles from the paper.

 

 

And made my own set of Dominoes from more of my card board boxes and contact paper.

 

 

It all fits into this small booklet.

 

 

 

Happy Upcycling,

 

 

Cord Control - Upcycled Boxes

This weeks project is nothing glamorous but when I decide to work on a project I usually look around the house for something I need and then I ponder how I could fill that need with stuff I already have.

This is what caught my eye.

 

 

Lovely isn't it? 

 

Sadly my whole desk looks that bad but lets just focus on the hideous cords in the windowsill.  A couple of weeks ago I moved all of the cords off of the floor and put them in the windowsill.  The reason for this was two fold.  One we have two dogs and two cats (read tons of hair to clean up) in our house.  Two I am not the greatest house keeper so anything to simplify the cleaning process is a good idea.  The idea was that I could keep the floor cleaner if all the cords were out of the way.  (Not really sure how that is turning out but it still seems to be a good idea in theory.)

 

I was inspired by this tidy little box idea that I had pinned onto one of my Pintrest boards.  Don't you just love Pintrest!  You can collect all the stuff you love from the web and then go back to your boards or someone else's when you need a little inspiration.

Anyway, realizing that anything would be an improvement I decided to forge ahead see what I could make with these.

 

 

So with some cutting and a lot of taping I made this.

 

 

All the cords fit inside.

 

 

And the whole thing fit in the windowsill.

 

 

So now I just need to make it pretty.  I decided to cover it with old book pages.

 

 

I bought this book of children's fairy tales for a dollar a couple of years ago and so far I have used it to make this.  (One of my crazier projects :-)

 

 

And this.

 

And now this.

 

 

I wanted to decorate it some how or paint it with a little color but our office room is the only room in the house that we haven't re-finished so it doesn't have a color scheme or any sort of theme.  Maybe it's time to get on that.  Anyway if / when that happens I can finish my box.  For now, I will settle for the slight improvement.

 

Happy Upcycling,

Upcycled Cereal /Cracker Box Gift Box

 

 

I have been into the "basket weaving" types of crafts lately.  You know the ones that don't require a lot of concentration or skill.  See my latest upcycled t-shirt project here.

 

I started this weeks project without much inspiration but I think it turned out ok in its own weird way.  Awhile back I cut up a gazillion old return address stickers that I got from a dozen different places.  You know the ones they send you when you donate money to something.  Well I didn't figure I could use all those return address labels in my life time but I didn't want to part with the pretty flower or the puppy dog part of the sticker so I cut the labels apart.  Yes it's true my life is just non-stop adventure. 

 

Anyway, this project started with me mindlessly sticking random cat head, flowers and flags stickers on to an old cracker box and ended with some plastic toys glued on top.

 

Not all experiments are hugh successes.

 

Or colossal failures

 

Some of them are....

 

well......

 

 

 

Just little imperfect expressions of who we are.

 

Happy Upcycling,

 

Something Old (Nothing New)

My crafting efforts this week have been very unfocused.  I have dabbled with a few t-shirt projects and contemplated some upcycling ideas for the the garden but in the end nothing has really come together for this weeks post.  And so with some disappointment I bring you a project that I made a couple of years ago. 

I am keeping this post quite brief in the hope of moving on into my day and feeling some sense of accomplishment at the end of it.

 

 

Multi Media Collage Made from cardboard cereal box, magazine pages, old belt and other found objects.

 

Happy Crafting,

 

My Cats Are Into Upcycling

I generally think of cats in two categories.  The friendly pet me, Pet Me, PET MEEEE PLEASE!!!! type "A" cat.  And the "Humans exist only to worship me, you can touch me only on my terms, make sure my food dish is full at all times, it never smells when I use the litter box,  I am supreme ruler of this domain. " type "B" cat. 

 

This is my type "B" cat Isabeau.  Resting on one of the dog beds because no one in the house hold messes with her.

 

 

 

She doesn't look particularly worried about the well being of the planet does she?

 

This is my type "A" cat Jumbeau.  (Sleeping sitting up???)

 

 

 

He doesn't let anything get to him.  Not even global warming or overflowing landfills.  He spends his days sleeping, begging for attention from humans and annoying Isabeau.

 

Now as different as my two felines are they do have some similarities other than just their grayish color.  They both enjoy the ever frequent cat naps that are often so close together that it appears as if sleeping is all these furry gray blobs do.  But every now and then they are awake and alert and they both like to play with trash.

 

I have tried buying them expensive cat toys.  Really I have.  I am a doting cat owner who isn't ashamed to spoil her feline children.  Ok I am a little embarrassed to admit that I spoil my cats.  But here is the truth of the matter my cats don't like store bought toys.  You know the fish and the feather cat teasers and the rattly plastic balls.  They pretty much ignore these items.

 

But give them a ball of tin foil and it's game on.

 

They love to play in and around empty cardboard boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

And the all time most favorite toy is this:

 

 

 

I wish I could get a good video of them playing with this piece of milk bottle top but they move like lightening when they play with this "toy."

 

This is photo was taken right before the jump to light speed.

 

 

 

Their beds are also made from upcycled items.  An old hard-side suitcase.

 

 

 

It is a little cozy but they seem to like it.

 

 

 

Their other bed or should I say Isabeau's other "bed" is a pillow case filled with old tee shirt scraps.

 

 

 

 I threw this "bed" together just for Isabeau because she must be allowed to sleep on my desk at any moment that she desires (and I prefer to keep her off of my computer and whatever it is that I dare to be working on in her royal presences.)

 

 

 

After all of this I have come to the conclusion that cats aren't really that smart (please don't tell Isabeau I said that.)  But really I don't think she knows she is playing with trash and sleeping in someones old suitcase.  If she did I am sure that she would protest or perhaps just go for my jugular in the middle of the night in the hopes that her next human servant would treat her in the manner in which she deserves.  But I wake up every morning (so far) with my jugular intact and she is still quite happy to play with her trashy treasures and sleep in not so catty cat beds so there is peace in our little kingdom.

 

Jumbeau I don't worry about.   He is like the Jimmy Buffet of the cat world.  I am pretty sure that in his head he lives in the cat version of Margarita-ville and nothing could ever really vex him.

 

Except maybe this.

 

 

 

Do you think they know I am mocking them? 

 

 

 

:-)

 

 

 

Eco-Easter Upcycled Gift Basket

Ok I know it is almost Mother's Day and I am just getting around to posting about Easter unfortunatly that is just the way I do things.

I am not the biggest Martha Stewart fan but she did inspire me to decorate my own eggs this year.  I used the red cabbage recipe.   

 

My eggs didn't turn out exactly like hers I don't know why mine are mottled instead of smooth but I thought they were very pretty.

 
 
 
Honestly they were the best part of my Easter Basket. 

Here is the link to the Martha Stewart Video

Natural Egg Dyeing

I made some upcycled t-shirt wrist-let coin purses for my nieces

 

and a pocket magnetic poetry for my nephew.

 
 
Even the wrapping was upcycled from old laughing cow boxes and a peanut can.

 

I painted them with bright easter eggy colors

 

The finished basket  was somewhat underwhelming but here is a picture of it anyway.

 

All in all is was a satisfying experiment.

Upcycled Artist Trading Cards

Well my accomplishments from yesterday are not all that impressive but I did in fact create which I haven't done for several days.  So in that sense my efforts were rewarded.

 

 I did set up a couple of rules for myself.

 

 1)  I pulled out a couple of drawers of my craft supplies from a little corner storage cabinet.

 

 2)  I already had some pre-cut blank trading cards cut from a cereal box (2 1/2" x 3 1/2")

 

 3)  I gave myself an hour

 

 4)  I had to use just what was out on the table

 

 Here is the outcome:

 

 

 

 Spectacular?

 

 No.

 

 

 

 Progress?

 

 Yes.

  

 

 

 I don't think that I am completely out of my slump but it felt good to cut and glue and not worry about making some note worthy piece of art that would make me a million dollars and win several awards. 

  

Of course none of my stuff actually does that but I do take my projects too seriously sometimes and that seems to be when they are the least willing to cooperate.

 

 I guess I had better be off.  Mondays are busy days for me and never allow much time for crafting.  But maybe tomorrow I will steal more play time.

  

Toodles  :-)

  

P.S.

  

It's snowing here today. 

  

It's like winter just dropped back in for a unexpected visit. 

  

But I know she can't stay for long so I will appreciate this frosty morning and the pretty white blanket that has covered up my little world.

 

 

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