Upcycled Design Lab Blog

Purple Petunia Paper Paint - Upcycling from the garden

 

 

Ok it is really more of a stain or dye than a paint but paint made a more catchy title.

 

 

Sometimes I feel anxious about nothing in particular and everything all at once.  Do you know what I mean?  Those questions in your head about what you are doing with your life vs what you should be doing with your life? 

Most days I am content and happy to pass my time on this planet engaged in activities that I enjoy with the people that matter in my life.  But every now and again I feel the nagging question of, is it enough?  Should I be doing more?  Should I being doing something entirely different? 

Sometimes it seems that the closer I get to being me and living the kind of life that matters to me, the more disassociated I feel from the rest of society.  I do not share the same priorities.  I no longer have a traditional week day job.  I don't "live for the weekends" or need to spend my precious vacation time traveling to far off tropical paradises.  I come from a traditional family but have never had one of my own.  I don't need or even want the designer jeans, the biggest house the, the fancy car.

What I do want is time.  Time to be with the people I love.  Time to have new experiences.  And time to create.

 

I have long believed that to create is the most life giving force in the universe.  Some people are gifted enough to create great music, great pieces of artwork, amazing architecture.  Most of us create on a much smaller scale.  We redecorate a room.  We experiment with new recipes and ingredients in the kitchen.  We tell a story of who we are on our Facebook page. 

 

When we feel anxious about our lives and/or our futures.  It becomes easy to think that these small things we have created in our lives are somehow insignificant, that we are wasting our limited time on trivial pursuits.  But I would argue that those silly little activities that we find enjoyable are among the most precious things that we have and we should endeavour to have more of them not less.

 

And so this week as I was feeling anxious about nothing and everything the thought occurred to me "Stay Calm and Keep Crafting."  From experience I know that the anxious feelings pass and that during the anxious times I am best suited to stay the course and not change what I am doing.  Self-doubt is a part of life and I believe that it is healthy to ask ourselves from time to time if we still want to continue in a particular direction or if we desire to change our course.  

 

The trick is to answer the question honestly for ourselves and not to choose what we think we are supposed to choose.  For me, for now the answers remain the same. 

I need time with the people I love,

 

time to have new experiences

 

and

 

time to create. 

 

So early in the week I decided to make a wall hanging with the wording "Stay Clam and Keep Crafting."  And through out the week as I felt the anxious feelings I reminded myself of this little mantra.

But it wasn't until I saw this stain on my sidewalk that I had my inspiration for the materials to use for my project.

 

A purple petunia flower had fallen to the ground been crushed and the water that drained from the planter near by had caused this beautiful purple color to seep in the sidewalk.

 

As I am generally up for any crafting experiment I set about collecting all the dried up purple petunia flowers from my pots.

 

 

 

With a few drops of water and a little petal crushing, the color starts to emerge.

 

 

I did a little testing with paint brushes but discovered that the best deepest color emerge by just letting go of the project and letting the dye do what it would do.

 

 

 

Some where along the way I started to wonder about other things I could use to color my paper.

Some crushed up bing cherries that were a little past their prime made a beautiful reddish color.

 

 

 

 The orange mums produced a lovely yellow.

 

 

And a tea bag yielded a nice brown.

 

 

 

 

 

Some folks may think I wasted my time.  Others may be inspired or at least find the project interesting.

 

Me? 

 

Well I found it enjoyable.

 

:-)

 

 

Happy Upcycling

 

Be true to yourself. 

 

The universe will be better for it.

 

Upcycled Shoe Makeover - Cuz Who Doesn't Love "New" Shoes?

I love it when a craft project jumps out and calls me and then comes together in a couple of hours.  I was planning to share another t-shirt project this week.  Yes,  I really am still plodding away at the t-shirt pile. But this week I found myself in need a pair a black sandals.

I know you are probably thinking who doesn't own a pair of black sandles but I have survived the better part of the summer with only a junkie pair of black flip flops. And I suppose that the flip flops would have worked for my casual  lunch date but then I was inspired by these.

 

 

They have languished away in my closet for years.  I was never willing to part with them because they have simple timeless styling they are pretty comfortable, the soles are in good shape and I liked the color in spite of the fact that they were a little stained and I could never find anything to wear with them.

So with some fabric paint, shoe polish, a couple of 1972 silver dollars, some bottle caps and glue I threw this project together in time for my lunch date.  So easy and I am quite pleased with the result

:-)

 

Happy Upcycling,

 

Come on in and see the lab (Aka: my hot mess of a craft room)

 

 

Have you seen this magazine?

 

 

 

 

 

Or this one?

 

 

 

 

If you haven't you should take a peek at them. 

 

Aren't they fun to look at?  I am always envious of these artist beautiful creative spaces.  They are so put together and organized.  I am pretty sure that they tidied up before their photo shoots but even so you can tell that these are serious, nicely finished spaces for their owners to create in.  I sometime dream of having a space like one of these.  A space that says something about me and my creations.  A place that is organized and oh so very tidy. 

 

 

But, I already have that space.  It is not ready for a photo shoot in either of the aforementioned magazines and it occurs to me now that it probably never will be.  It is not the perfect space that I dream of but it does say something about my style, which I can only describe as  

 

"Gypsy Dorm Room". 

 

I think I am ok with that.

 

So without further adieu......

 

Please come on in.

 

 

 

 

You will have to excuse my messes.

 

 

 

 

I dabble here sometimes.

 

 

 

 

These are the colors I would paint my room if I ever get around to it.

 

 

 

 

My little sewing corner and messy drawing table with two projects in process from my 20 T-shirt Challenge.

 

 

 

 

I cut a hole in my wall for this thread storage at least a year ago.  I guess it is functional but finished?  Not so much.  Just another reason I will not be featured in the next issue of Where Women Create.

 

 

 

 

My bigger crafting table with another t-shirt work-in-progress and wardrobe where I keep all the stuff I sell on EBay.  (Yes it's true I live a double life :-)

 

 

 

 

I bought this antique sewing machine at the flea market last summer because I just fell in love with it.  And well to be honest there was some beer involved.  But I still love it when I am stone cold sober. 

 

 

 

 

The belt is broken and the cabinet also needs some repair but that doesn't keep me from fantasizing about sitting and sewing at my pretty little machine.  I am on target to do that just as soon as I get the call from Studios Magazine.

 

 

Onward....

 

 

This is the current state of affairs for my beloved little treadle machine.  All tucked away and surrounded by junk.

 

 

 

 

Not even sure what that crap on the floor is.  But I must keep it for some reason.  This photo also gives you a nice shot of the lovely carpet and the fact that the door has no inside frame work.  Just one more unfinished project to obsess about.

 

 

Still with all of it's short commings it is a little slice of heaven to have a crafty space to make messes in.  Don't you agree?  I wish you all this same happiness.  Even if all you have is a little temporary crafting space stolen from your kitchen table it feels good to get out there and make some stuff.

 

 

Happy Crafting,

 

 

Happy New Year from Upcycled Design Lab (it's my birthday)

Ok it's not my birthday.  But my little blog is one year old today so it seems only natural to do a little looking backward as well as looking forward into 2012. 

I have on many occasions wished that I was a little more disciplined at keeping up with more regular posts but the good news is while my posts are quite intermittent I am still here and do intend to continue.

Here are a few of my favorite posts / projects from 2011.

 

I am looking forward to what I hope will be a slightly more productive 2012. 

 

I plan on finishing my 20 t-shirt project and I hope to pay a little more attention to my Etsy store.

 

Happy 2012 to all my fellow crafters.

 

 

I am not sure what this post is about...Maybe it's just about getting started

 

 

I have been pitifully neglectful of my blog lately.  I have started several posts and not had the enthusiasm to finish them.  This one may suffer the same fate but I will try again anyway. 

 

 

I have been thinking about the reasons or reason that I haven't been writing and posting and most of it goes straight back to the fact that I haven't been creating, ergo I have nothing to write about.  To be completely honest it's not true that I haven't created anything at all.  I have begun a few projects, and I always have some half baked ideas floating around in my gray matter but I haven't created anything that I am so proud of I want to show it off on my blog.  

 

 

As I write this it occurs to me that perhaps I am taking the whole thing too seriously.  (As if a person can call playing with trash "serious."  Under any circumstances this strikes me as a bit rediculas.)  Be that as it may I think it is a big part my non productivity.

 

 

I want to have pretty finished products with professional looking photographs to post and some silly part of me thinks that these products and projects should just flow out of me like water from the tap providing a daily stream of projects and blog post.  Of course the truth is that inspiration comes and goes and then there are all the other pieces of your life that require time and attention. 

 

 

I do have a part-time job (although I wouldn't exactly call it work.)  I also have an EBay Store that requires a fair amount of time.  My poor little Etsy Store is more neglected than this blog.  And of course there are all the household chores that never quite seem to be under control.  I am probably just making a bunch of excuses.  But life is busy for most of us and we prioritize the best we can.

 

 

I know that I shouldn't compare myself to others but sometimes I can't help it.  There are so many creative people out there more talented and much more productive than I am.

 

 

Here are a few of my favorite people to envy.

 

 

A new dress a day - Yes this amazing woman actually made a new dress out of an old dress for 365 days and counting and she posts all of the projects on her blog.

 

 

A fanciful twist - The name says it all.  This blog is full of beautiful photo's and happy little stories.

 

 

Crazy Aunt Purl - It's a little bit about knitting and a lot about life all shared in an hilarious way.

 

 

I read something recently that helped me take a step back.  Take a deep breath and accept that I will probably never be as productive as the gal from A new dress a day, my posts will probably never be as beautiful as A Fanciful Twist or as witty and humorous as Crazy Aunt Purl, but they will be uniquely mine.

 

 

The advise was this:

 

"focus on asking small, interesting questions, rather than on demanding big, amazing ideas."  from Ken Robert's Blog Mildly Creative Adventures In Being Human. 

 

Which I adapted for my purposes to:

 

"focus on small continuous steps, rather than demanding big amazing results."

 

 

I started this blog as an experiment with the purpose of experimenting with unwanted and disposable items to see what, if anything could be done with them to give them new life.  An experiment by it's very definition isn't guaranteed to be a raving success and believe me plenty of my projects are not successful.  I have one train-wreck in mind right now (made from plastic hangers) that I may share in a later post.  And of course there is the Green Cat Tale but to be fare I was only in 2nd grade when that happened. 

 

 

Anyway I think the point I am trying to get at is that while I am a little envious of all the a fore mentioned folks they all also inspire me.  Not to be like them, but to be like me.  And so I am taking one small step today.  I am writing this blog post and I am sharing the rather unfinished project idea that has been floating around in my head.  My plan right now (which may very well go awry) is to share the process as it unfolds in what ever messy and painfully slow manner it chooses.  I will try to take continuous small steps and not get so wrapped up in the fact that my projects will not make glamorous glossy magazine covers.

 

 

At any rate and with out further adieu.  My semi-formed project plan is this.  I have 20 T-shirts.  And I want to see what I can make from them with as little waste as possible. 

 

 

Here are the T-Shirts. 

 

 
 
 

 

I would like to have called this the 20/20/20 project. 

 

 

Can you hear the big radio announcer?

 

 

"Twenty Projects from twenty T-shirts in Twenty Days!!

 

 

  But, well, I don't really have to explain why that is a bad idea do I?

 

 

 

Do you think like an Upcycler? Sometimes it is as easy as this:

I sell a lot of 2nd hand items in my EBay store so I spend a fair amount of time looking through thrift stores.  I know this past-time isn't for everyone but the frugal among us love the thrill of the hunt.  As I said before I generally am looking for items that I can re-sell.  I am also always open to the items that spark my creativity for a craft project.  But upcycling is more than just crafting with old items.  Sometimes it is easy as finding an item and immediately putting it to good use.

 

The other day I saw these two placemats and knew that they were a good color match for my kitchen. 

 

 

 

I don't use place-mats that often and when I do it usually means that we are entertaining which would require more than two mats.  But I had a use for them and promptly decided to purchase them.

 

 

 

Now you may not think that going from human place-mat to canine place-mat is really upcycling but in my book it is.  Because in the truest definition of upcycling I took something that hand become "worthless" to someone else and gave it "value" perhaps more than it every had before since these place-mats are now being used all the time and not just once in a while.

 

Even our house guests gave it their endorsement.

 

 

 

Here is the old mat that I had disliked for quite awhile.  It was too big and the colors where not quite right.  It seemed to require constant vacuuming.  The "new" place-mats will be easy to throw in the washing machine.  I am all about the easiest way to clean. :-)

 

 

 

So there is my two-cents on how easy it is to upcycle (which incidentally is about how much I paid for the two place-mats.)

 

 

 

 

:-)    :-)    :-)

Arrrrgh!!!

I haven't been feeling like writing lately and I suspect that it is because I am between projects.  I haven't felt very inspired to start any new projects and the couple that I have attempted have become total messes so far.

 

My one little seedling that I was sooo proud of has gone to the that little plant heaven in the sky and I am expecting the PETA of the gardening world at my door any day to site me for the unethical treatment of an English Daisy Sprout.

 

I hope to be back on track soon with some new projects and the courage to subject some more seedling specimens to life without water. 

 

R.I.P.

 

Little Sir Edward (I am sure he had some link to the Royal Family Garden)

 

 

Compost bins, garden knee mats and survival stories

It's been a bit cloudy here the past few days although the weather is still pretty mild for this time of year.  And I am still dreaming of lush and colorful gardens this summer.  I finally dove in the other day and made a small compost bin from some wire fencing, I guess that's what it is I don't really know but I found it collecting dust in the garage and thought it might work. 

 

 

 

 

I "sewed" it together with some florist tape to make the circle and used some cut pieces of wire hanger to stake it to the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

It looks pretty small but I have put everything I have for "wet materials" and it isn't even half full. 

 

 

 

 

 

So now I guess the waiting begins I figure I will keep adding to it for a couple of weeks but then I need to give it time to do it's thing so it will be ready with luck sometime in early May. 

 

 

Since I have had gardening on the brain so much lately I see things differently.  Every empty container is contemplated for its planter worthiness.  Empty boxes and junk mail head to the shredder to become compost material.  Even the vegetables rotting in my fridge can now still have a purpose.  It's very exciting this world of gardening.  And composting...well, isn't mother nature just the best Upcycler of all!

 

 

Anyway as I was wondering through one of my junk piles today I came across these.

 

 

 

 

 

And I immediately thought of making a mat to kneel on when I am working in what is sure to be the most beautiful garden that anyone has ever seen.  I am allowed to mock myself right?  I mean this is my blog after all.  Any way with a little trimming and taping.

 

 

 

 

I ended up with a nice sized mat that will be perfect for both of my tender little knees.

 

 

 

 

 

Those are my success stories but I also have another tale.

 

 

As you may already know I have one lone tiny seedling that has sprouted in spite of the dogs, the cats and most of all me.  I have tried to pay it the proper attention but the other day I found it in a horrible state, laying flat as a pancake (well flatter than that to be honest) in the bone dry dirt. 

 

 

 

 

I realize that this doesn't speak well for my planned future endeavours as a gardener extraordinaire but I am happy to report that after rushing some much needed water to my tiny specimen it looked itself again in just a few short hours.

 

 

 

 

I love happy endings.  Don't you?

 

Here's to you my mighty tiny little miracle!

 

 

Is Composting for Dummies?

I have been feeling a Crazy Spring Fever FEVER this year and a desire to do more gardening or maybe I should say some gardening as the former implies that I have actually done some before.  Be that as it may I have been reading a lot about composting.  My yard and garden areas (read: dirt patches for both) could certainly benefit from some extra nutrients.  And it seem quite appropriate for this blog as it is a wonderful way to upcycle so many things that I currently just throw away. 

 

I have often felt that I should do something else with the carrot and potato peelings that I toss in the garbage.  I know that I could eat them but let's be clear I don't feel that guilty and of course there is the pig or goat option.  I don't really know what pigs eat but I imagine that vegetable peels would be part of whatever constitutes pig slop.  And well haven't we all heard that goats will eat anything.

 

Check out the great fenced off area of our yard.  Pigs like mud right?  It would all be so perfect.

 

 

 

Alas, there seems to be some city ordinances not to mention a verbal prenuptial agreement which prevents me from pig and goat ownership.  So that brings me back to composting.

 

Here are a couple of tutorials that I thought might work for my smallish yard and beginner status.

 

WikiHow - How to Build a Compost Bin

About.com - Turn a garbage can into a Compost Bin

Lowe's - How to Compost at Home

 

I can't quite decide which one to attempt.  The enclosed bins are tempting to try since I don't really know what I am doing and they seem safer since they are small and have a lid.  Just how much does compost smell?  It's hard to tell since I have found the scratch and sniff video tutorial yet. 

 

I do have this empty space in my yard that seems like it might be the perfect place to compost and it saves me from having to find a plastic bin.

 

 

 

From the sounds of it, I can just start throwing stuff in, stir it and make sure it has the right amount of moisture.  I should be able to handle that right? 

 

Have I told you that I killed half of my front yards last summer?  Or that I have one house plant that has some how become accustomed to once a month watering.  It must have a really strong survival instinct.  I also have a couple cactus's? or is it cacti?  But I am not sure that they count since they are meant to mostly ignored.  Anyway the point which I have made before but is worth reiterating is that I am for all intensive purposes a green thumb dummy.

 

I did manage to grow a few flowers in pots last year.  Or more accurately I was able to purchase some flower plants and keep them alive all summer. 

 

 

 

That kind of counts as gardening.  Right?

 

So is composting for dummies?

 

I'll have to keep you posted.

Shopping Day

Yesterday was a shopping day, to buy stuff to sell on EBay, but here is what often happens.  I am looking through all this thrift store stuff and I find more things that I want to use for crafts and upcycling project.  Like these groups of T-shirts that might become an upcycled t-shirt skirt.

 
 
 
Do you think I got carried away?

I also bought these

 

Cause I.. a.... liked them and a.... they are good for storing stuff right? 

Like maybe neckties.

 

Yep! I might be certifiable but I bought 81 neck ties.  I don't even know what to do with them.  I am just hoping to come up with something.  Any ideas???

Hey we all have our own brand of crazy and this is part of mine.

P.S. - I did actually find some items to sell on EBay too. So win win right?