DIYing the Perfect last Minute Upcycled Gift

Ack, Christmas is just three days away! Have you found all the perfect gifts for your loved ones yet? Believe it or not, there is still time to DIY the perfect "green" gift for that someone special.  I'm bringing back some of my favorite projects so that you can whip up a unique gift for anyone on your list in an afternoon or less:

For the Bird and Garden Lover

Wine Bottle Hummingbird Feeder

Teapot Bird House

Thrifted Parts Bird Bath

Soup Can Herb Garden

For your furry family members

T-Shirt Dog Toys

And let's not forget the T-Shirt CAT toys

 

Dog Dress Made from a Sweater Sleeve

 Fun, fast and easy jewelry

Cuff Bracelet made from a Tie

 

Beaded T-Shirt Yarn Bracelets

Please Recycle Soda Can Earrings

And don't forget the gift wrap! 

Funny Pages Gift Bag

Magazine Page Wrapping Paper and Soda Can Butterflies

For Anyone

Super Customizable Wine Cork Key Chain

So who will you DIY a last minute gift for?

Easy Peasy Soda Can Butterfly Ornament: Day 12 of 12!

This is it, a dozen upcycled ornaments complete!  This upcycled Soda Can Butterfly Ornament is not only pretty but also quick and easy!

This is also you're last chance to share this post and win all of the ornaments that I made during this twelve day holiday event. Use the Rafflecopter below to enter and I'll announce the winner on YouTube tomorrow!  Good luck to all of those who entered and thank you so much for following along.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just in case you missed any of the tutorials, here they are:

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments

T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes

Shabby Chic Denim Dove

Felted Sweater Ball Ornament

Paper Towel Roll Flowers

Tissue Box Ball

Cookie Cutter Ornament

Silverware Handle Ornament

Pallet Picture Frame Ornament
DIY No-Sew Sweater Snowman
Junk Angel from a Whisk and Cork

A Junk Angel, Handmade by Me! Day 11 of 12

I wasn't sure how this ornament was going to work out!  But I say, "Not bad, not bad indeed." As an added bonus, all of the components (except for the glitter) are upcycled!  Can you guess what she's made of?

Did you think I was really going to make you guess?  Do you see it? Her face is a slice of a wine cork, her wings and dress are pieces of a wire wisk and the ribbon comes from the inside of a ladies shirt...you know those ribbons they sew on to help keep the garments stay on the hanger in the store.  Yep, I save all those too!  Hop over to YouTube to see how I pulled this Junk Angel together.

No joke, y'all....we only have one ornament left.  And then someone is going to win 'em all!  Here's the Rafflecopter to enter for today:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget to check out all of the other hand-made and upcycled ornaments:

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments

T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes

Shabby Chic Denim Dove

Felted Sweater Ball Ornament

Paper Towel Roll Flowers

Tissue Box Ball

Cookie Cutter Ornament

Silverware Handle Ornament

Pallet Picture Frame Ornament
DIY No-Sew Sweater Snowman

DIY Felted Sweater Snowman Ornament: Day 10 of 12

I've used up some more of that felted sweater from the Christmas balls that I made  several days ago for today's ornament.  I wanted to make this cute little Felted Sweater Snowman Ornament completely NO-SEW, and I did!  Check it out the cuteness:

Don't forget to enter to win this and all of the ornaments in this series withe Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And just in case you missed any of the past ornament tutorials in this series:

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments

T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes

Shabby Chic Denim Dove

Felted Sweater Ball Ornament

Paper Towel Roll Flowers

Tissue Box Ball

Cookie Cutter Ornament

Silverware Handle Ornament

Pallet Picture Frame Ornament

DIY Pallet Wood Picture Ornament: Day 9 of 12

I'm pulling out a whole slew of power tools for today's upcycled Christmas ornament!  But don't let that scare you, they make this project one of the quickest ornaments so far (I'll add some product accessory links at the end of this post if you need to reference them). This Pallet Picture Frame Ornament has a bit of sentimental value for me and is an actual gift that I'm making for my brother and sister. (I'm hoping the brother didn't click through when this blog post arrived in his email inbox today - fingers crossed)  Here's the ornament, see the story below: 

Over the last 26 years, no matter where I lived or what my design tastes where at the time, there was always one photo that I prominently displayed:

That's a picture of my "Ninny" embracing my brother and sister as she was getting ready to leave on her last visit with us.  A few short months later she passed away.  I took the picture (with my 110 film camera), that's why I'm not in it. But I have always displayed it to remember her and what an amazing woman she was.

I've also been repeatedly asked by my brother and sister (and mostly my mother) why I have that photo and they don't.  So this year, I decided to do something about it.  Unfortunately, I only had the one picture and have no idea where the negative might be if it even still exists.  So I scanned my only photo and hopped over to Shutterfly.  I had a couple of sheets of wallet-sized photos printed up to use in these DIY picture ornaments.  When my order total came to only a few bucks...I kept browsing.  And I picked up another Christmas gift for my mother.

Mom was just complaining about how her wedding album was a mess. And boy was it?  The album and the photos have yellowed over the years and one edge on each photo was bent and cracked.  You see her album was a touch small for the photos so they had all been folded up and are now pretty brittle. I was able to scan the photos and crop out most of the cracks in the photos and then drop them into pre-styled pages. I'm not much of a "scrapbooker"so having really fabulous layouts already made for me made it so easy to do.  I'm pretty excited about the way it came out and know she'll be excited to see it under the tree this year...but I digress.

There are just three more upcycled ornaments after today, so before you hop over to YouTube for the tutorial, don't forget to enter to win all of the hand-crafted ornaments that I've made during this twelve day event.  Here's the Rafflecopter to enter with for today's Pallet Picture Ornament:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you need to reference them, here are a couple of the accessory products that I used in today's project:
Martha Stewart Simple Circle Cutter
Lenox Hole Saw

And just in case you missed any of our previous projects that we've made, here are the links. (you can still earn extra entries by visiting each one now):

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments

T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes

Shabby Chic Denim Dove

Felted Sweater Ball Ornament

Paper Towel Roll Flowers

Tissue Box Ball

Cookie Cutter Ornament

Silverware Handle Ornament

DIY Spoon Handle Ornament: Day 8 of 12

I've been aching to pull out the power tools to make a Christmas ornament and today I did it!  My Dremel makes quick work of these DIY Silverware Ornaments so be sure to hop over to YouTube and see the full tutorial.  But before you go...

...be sure to enter to win one of these silverware ornaments and all of the hand-crafted ornaments that I'm making during the 12 Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments.  Here's today's Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just in case you need the details on specific power tools and parts that I used in this tutorial, here are a few links:

Dremel 200
Dremel Flex Shaft Attachment
Cut-off Wheel
Silicon Carbide Grinding Stone
Dewalt Cobalt Pilot Point Twist Drill Bits

And don't forget to check out all of the other projects:
Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes
Shabby Chic Denim Dove
Felted Sweater Ball Ornament
Paper Towel Roll Flowers
Tissue Box Ball Ornament
Cookie Cutter Ornament

DIY Cookie Cutter Ornament: Day 7 of 12

More than half way through our Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments and the 5K giveaway.  Phew!  Have you been making any of these ornaments?  I hope you'll love today's Cookie Cutter Ornament, it's a pretty easy one to achieve!

I'm excited to be giving away all of the ornaments that I'm making during this 12 day event so be sure to enter with the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out all of the previous ornaments that we've made so far:

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes
Shabby Chic Denim Dove
Felted Sweater Ball Ornament
Paper Towel Roll Flowers
Tissue Box Ball Ornament

DIY Christmas Ornament from Tissue Boxes: Day 6 of 12

Today's featured Christmas ornament is a simple one indeed and great for kids and adults alike.  Check out these Ornaments Made From Tissue Boxes:

Tissue boxes have some the most fun and even beautiful packaging.  I use them in my jewelry creations quite regularly but there's always plenty of these empty boxes laying around.  So why not add a little glitter and hang it on the tree?

Don't forget to share this project for your chance to win all of the ornaments that are part of the Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments. Here is today's Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out all of the previous ornaments that we've made:

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes
Shabby Chic Denim Dove
Felted Sweater Ball Ornament
Paper Towel Roll Flowers

Paper Towel Roll Christmas Ornaments: Day 5 of 12

Seventeen BILLION toilet paper rolls are thrown away each year! WHAT?! And that doesn't include the tubes from paper towel rolls.  I think that makes the roll the perfect medium for a Christmas ornament, don't you? Here are a few examples of some that my niece and I made one afternoon.  This IS the perfect craft for families to do together.  Check 'em out:

You can see how we made our Toilet Paper Roll Ornaments on YouTube!  Don't forget to enter for a chance to win all of the ornaments that we make over this 12 day event.  Here's today's Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you missed any of our other projects be sure to check them out (and YES you can still enter each of the previous projects Rafflecopters so share on):

Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes
Shabby Chic Denim Dove
Felted Sweater Ball Ornaments

DIY Sweater Ball Christmas Ornament: Day 4 of 12

I have a really simple and elegant Christmas ornament for you today.  I made this one from a felted wool sweater with a coffee stain that I found at a thrift store.  I'm pretty sure more than a few of you have accidentally shrunk a wool sweater before...I hope you didn't throw it out because it will be perfect for this fourth project of the Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments.

You can find the video tutorial for this Felted Sweater Ornament here.

While you're here, don't forget to share this tutorial and enter to win all of the ornaments that I'm making during this holiday event.  Here's the Raffecopter for today's post:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

...and if you missed any of the other ornament tutorials, you can check them out here:
Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes
Scrappy Denim Dove

DIY Denim Bird Ornament: Day 3 of 12

It's Day 3 of the 12 Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments and today I'm showing you how you can make a shabby chic ornament in any design you can imagine from a pair of jeans.  In this case I'll be making a dove.

Remember this is also part of the 5K subscriber giveaway over on my YouTube channel. Here's the Rafflecopter for this project:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Be sure to check out the last two upcycled projects:
Aluminum Can Ball Ornaments
T-shirt Yarn Candy Canes

DIY T-Shirt Yarn Candy Cane Ornament: Day 2 of 12

So simple, so cute, so upcycled...that's my kind of Christmas ornament!  These T-shirt Yarn Candy Cane Ornaments were so much fun to make that I had to make a few extra for my upcoming craft fair!  But fear not, I'm sharing the loving and giving you the step by step instructions to make some of your very own.  Not to mention giving them away as part of the "Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments" and 5K Subscriber Giveaway.

Head over to my YouTube channel to see how I made these cute little candy canes from a couple scraps of T-shirt yarn.  And don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to win these and all of my other ornaments.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Miss Day 1 did you?  You can find my tutorial for the Aluminum Can Ornaments here.

Sparkly DIY Aluminum Can Ornaments: Day 1 of 12

Happy Black Friday y'all, the Christmas season is finally here!  Well, at least in my book it is anyway.  As a young child, I remember all the ornaments coming out of the attic the day after Thanksgiving and watching dad struggle to untangle the lights for the tree.  Once the lights were on my mom would hand one ornament to each of us kids to go put on the tree, and then another and another. And then that night, after we were all tucked in, my mom and dad would redecorate the tree so that it wasn't quite so "bottom heavy."

But now I'm tall, taller than my mom and I can decorate my own tree...the whole tree!  I still deck the halls with some of my childhood ornaments but there is always room for just one more. Well, hopefully twelve more because that's what I'm adding this year.  So without further ado, here is ornament numero uno of the Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments, they're made from Arizona Tea cans:

Don't forget, I'm giving away all of the ornaments that I show you how to make over the next twelve days in exchange for your help in getting me to my 5,000 subscriber goal over on YouTube.  You can enter twice each day of the contest, just check out the Rafflecopter below. You can see all the details in my last post here.

Here's the video tutorial.  Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Twelve Days of Upcycled Christmas Ornaments and a Giant Giveaway

Before we all head off to enjoy our Turkey Day with friends and family I wanted to tell you about a fun little holiday series AND my first YouTube giveaway that both kick off the day after Thanksgiving.  I’m calling it the “Twelve Days of UpcycledChristmas Ornaments” and the 5K subscriber giveaway.  Every day for twelve days I’ll be showing you a new tree ornament made from what else? Upcycled Stuff.  You’ll see me using aluminum cans, blue jeans, wool sweaters, T-shirts, Tissue boxes, silverware, cookie cutters, pallets and a few other various pieces of trash.  There will be something for everyone and I’ll show you how I made each one, step by step!

It's going to be loads of fun and I hope you'll avoid the Black Friday crowds and stay home and craft with me instead.  Here's a quick video that I whipped up that explains how you can enter to win all of the hand crafted ornaments that I'll be making during the twelve day event:

Until then, enjoy the holiday with those who are closest and I'll see you in a couple of days!

My Upcycled Storage Tote from a Kitty Litter Jug

I'm back at it again - trying to find some other way to repurpose all those kitty litter containers.  So far I've shown you how to make a strawberry pot, a toy box and a handy garden helper out of the larger bucket style litter containers.  Today it's storage from the smaller jugs!

As you can see above, I've turned quite a few of them into storage for all of my T-shirt yarn.  But they also make great grab and go containers for when you want to take a started craft project with you.  I also use one in the car to store all the dogs leashes, water, bowl, poopy bags, treats, etc.  They are with me so often in the car that I need to have all that stuff on hand.  So, yep, I made a video tutorial for the Kitty Litter Jug Turned Crafty Storage project and I hope you'll take a peek.

If you have other ways that you use your litter buckets, I'd love to hear about it as I have an endless supply of them that just keep multiplying!

DIY Soda Can Earrings That Make a Statement

Statement jewelry seems to be all the rage these days and  I'm taking the term quite literally in this tutorial!  These earrings, made from spent soda cans, let you speak your mind without saying a word.

To make these Please Recycle Soda Can Earrings be sure to head over to my YouTube channel for complete instructions.  But before you go, you'll need a few inexpensive jewelry making tools:

Needle Nose Pliers
Round Nose Pliers
Flush Cutter

You'll also need a couple of beads, ear wires and eye pins.  These are fabulously fast to make and would make great holiday gifts for every eco-conscious female on your list!  So get busy and have fun with it!

The Best Little Product That You Never Knew You Needed

So, I don't typically do straight out product reviews.  It's just not my thing.  But if you're a pet owner/lover then you are going to love this little product, especially if you have pets that shed!  Heck maybe YOU shed.  If so, then this product is for you.

Meet the FuRemover Duo, the best little product that you never knew you needed.  If you own a dog/cat/rabbit or any other furry little creature then I'm sure you own one of those rolls of masking tape on a stick.  I know I do!  But this little silicone pet hair remover changed everything for me!  No more wads of masking tape to throw away or pay for!  And man does it work fast!  I whipped up a quick little video to show you just how fabulous it is, you can see it here.

I hope you love it as much as I do and if there are any other green products that you'd like to see reviewed, let me know!

**Disclaimer:  I have not been asked to do this review by anyone nor have I been compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are my actual feelings about this product.  However, this post does contain an affiliate link to the FuRemover Duo.  If you click the link and make your purchase through Amazon, I receive a few pennies commission....which help me bring more great posts like this one!**

Some Fun and QUICK Tips

In October I started posting some fun ideas for upcycling commonly tossed items over on my YouTube channel. The beauty of these videos is that they are fast, in fact they are all two minutes in length or less.  I've been posting about one quick tip every other week or so.  If you're not a subscriber, here's what you've been missing:

This is a good (upcycled alternative) to those skinny magnetic pads that you can buy specifically for list making.  My version allows me to keep a stack of scrap paper attached to the fridge that would have otherwise ended up in the recycle bin.  Here's how I made my Magnetic Shopping List Pad from a Clothing Hanger.

You may have seen it before while lurking around Pinterst, so I thought I'd show you just how to Use a Pop Tab as a Picture Hanger. As a bonus, I'll even show you the no fail way to remove a pop tab with the center ring in tact every time!

And just in time for Election Day - How to Turn a Political Campaign Sign into a Chalkboard.  Not only will you make something useful from something headed to the trash but you'll also help clean up our neighborhoods of all this campaign trash.  God knows the candidates don't do it....can you tell that this is one of my biggest pet peeves?

Seriously though, I remember a time when people would make their own signs on an old sheet or cardboard box and display it from a window or somewhere out in the front yard.  To me that says, "Hey, I passionately support my candidate!"  Nowadays though it's like visual white noise.  Some streets get so overrun with campaign signs that you just stop seeing them.  And the places that they are stuck in the ground are in these "no man's land" type of places; vacant lots, street corners, etc.  So, not only are they not connected to anyone actually supporting the candidate but they sit and sit and sit looooong after the elections are over. Geesh, it makes me nuts!  But I digress.

I hope you'll take six minutes to check out these quick tips and if you have ideas for other quick tips or want to learn how to upcycle something, just leave it in the comments below and maybe you'll get a video response.  Oh and DON'T FORGET TO VOTE.

Three Upcycled Dog Toys Made From T-shirts

Have you all met my puppy, Cooper, yet?  Most of you will have met Chico, my ancient Chihuahua, if you haven't seen him in my YouTube videos then you've surely heard him snoring in the background. I love him to death but he's never been one to play much.  Although to be fair, I adopted him at ten years old!  Anyway, here's my Cooper:

He seems so little in this picture at the dog park.  And it was taken just a couple of months ago.  Last week I caught him trying to fit in the bottom cube of this cubby in the bathroom.  He used to fit so nicely in there.  Now...not so much!

At ten months old, he still has a ton of puppy left in him and he is constantly needing to be entertained.  Otherwise, well, he'll find ways to stay entertained.  And typically, he and I don't see eye to eye on appropriate entertainment methods.  So that my friends, brings me to the purpose of this post.

The number of chew toys that I've had to purchase in the last few months is enough to break the piggy bank for sure.  Coming up with some cheaper (and greener) alternatives was a must!  My Cooper loves all three of these toys and each was made with little more than a T-shirt and a pair of scissors. I know you're wondering so let me tell you...YES, there is a video tutorial. It's a long one, but I do show you how to make all three toys in one video.  And if you hang in until the "bitter end" you'll be treated to a glimpse of my cutie patootie playing with one of his T-shirt toys.

What other ideas do you have for DIY dog toys?  I am ALL EARS!!

How to Make a Reusable Trick or Treat Bag

I love a good (and EASY) T-shirt upcycle and this one is exactly that!  If you've got ten minutes and a quarter, you too can make a fabulous trick or treat bag that is kinder and gentler on the earth.  Not to mention a major upgrade from the pillowcase that I used to use as a kid!

Whilst shopping at my local Goodwill Clearance Center, I started to run across super cute Halloween kids shirts....all throughout the year.  And I ended up with a stack of 'em.  For this project, I used just one from my stack along with a pair of scissors and a sewing machine.  If you have a little one just learning to sew, this is an excellent project!

If you'd like to see a brief video demonstration, you can check that out here...it's less than two minutes! Or you can follow these simple steps:

1.  Cut both of the sleeves and the collar of the shirt away.
2. Turn your T-shirt inside out and use the bottom hem as a guide to sew a straight line across the bottom opening of the shirt.
3.  Turn your bag right side out and DONE!

It really is that easy.  And what a great way to balance out the waste of all those candy wrappers!

My Trashy Autumn Wreath

I love my new Autumn wreath, it's made completely of trash!  Okay so I exaggerate, but only slightly.  I have about fifty cents (MAYBE) worth of glue  and duct tape in this project, about a dime in wire and another dime's worth of T-shirt.  Everything else was repurposed from junk laying around the house.  Can you tell?

I have a quickie video over on my YouTube Channel to show you how I made this wreath.  The main reason I wanted to share it with you though is to show you that with a little creativity/insanity (call it what you will), you don't need to spend a lot of money or buy new stuff to decorate.  This wreath was made from the following objects;

• A pool noodle
• A T-shirt
• A broken wind chime
• A grapevine that my mom "gifted" me after removing it from her kitchen window after about a decade of decorative use
• A couple of sunflowers and spray paint - both left over from other projects

So tell me, what do you think?  Is there a trashy Autumn wreath in your future?

My Little DIY Coaster and Hot Plate made from Denim Hems

Now that Labor Day is behind us, it's time to start thinking about fuzzy sweaters, cozy fires and warm casseroles.  Right? Well, I'm definitely not there yet.  But I did make a pretty nifty hot plate for all of those casseroles that are sure to grace the dinner table sooner or later.  I made this one out of the hems of blue jeans:

Of course the idea came to me while I was making a coaster in the same fashion for all of the tall, icy glasses of sweet tea yet to be had during these final days of summer.  Have you seen these floating around the web?  I love them and figured I needed to give them a whirl.

Of course, there is a video...a two-for-one deal as both tutorials are rolled into one video.  You can see that video here. If you'd rather save a click, here are the instructions (lots more detail, tips and tricks in the video):

1. Remove all the double stitched seams from a pair of jeans.  The coaster above used two pant leg seams and one from the seat of the jeans.
2. Spreading a bead of E-6000 along the inside of the seam start coiling the seam around and around. Add as many seams as you need to achieve the desired size.
3. When you get to the end, clamp the end with a binder clip to keep the coil end in place while the glue dries - give it about an hour or two.
4. Remove the binder clip and you have a completed coaster. And now for the hot plate...

5. Continue making coils of different sizes.
6. Arrange your circles on a piece of denim from the blue jean leg.
7. Glue (with E-600 - do NOT use hot glue for your hot plate) the circles to the piece of denim and to all adjacent coils...be liberal with the glue.
8. Let dry for 24-48 hours.
9. Serve a casserole on your fabulously upcycled hot plate.

Easy, right?  And what a great way to use all the pieces of a pair of blue jeans so that nothing goes to waste!