Upcycle This!

Tell me the truth....how often do you skip to the end of the saying reduce, reuse, recycle and forget all about the first two calls to action?  We are all guilty of it from time to time but I urge you to stop now and consider the benefits of reducing and reusing.  The economy is rough, right?  So the reducing part is a no-brainer.  But what about reusing?

I like to think of reusing a product as a subset of UPcycling.  Being able to shop at consignment stores, yard sales and the like is the easy way to reuse.  But taking it a step further to upcycling, repurposing a product or a piece of a product that is headed to the landfill, is just as good if not better.  Many even think that the inherent charm of these often unique and one of a kind pieces adds even more value to the finished product.  In fact, large companies are even jumping on the bandwagon and creating NEW products that mimic upcycled ones.  I have to say, all the charm is lost in these products using virgin materials. 

I love the story of the fifth grade girl who started her own business making bottle cap jewelry.  Check out the video to see how she got started upcycling. 

Now take a look at what I found in the craft store:

One of the items that I have really enjoyed making, if for no other reason than the reaction that I get from shoppers, are my light bulb bud bases:

 And now the eyesore in the craft store:

 

 

And I adore all the wonderfully artistic creations that the "zipper lady" makes out of previously used zippers  

  I guess big business loves them too, it's just too bad they use virgin materials!

How about these bunches of jersey knit material that I found in the craft store?

And on Etsy, the upcycled product:

You tell me, upcycled or brand spanking new?  I think I'll stick with Upcycled Stuff! :)

Wordless Wednesday Featuring a New Product From Soda Bottles

More to do with Magazines: How to Make a Wallet

There are lots of similar tutorials out there for homemade wallets that divert magazine pages from the recycle bin that use packing tape as a laminating agent.  I wanted to find a way to make them so that you didn't have to deal with the seams that are created from the strips of packing tape.  I also wanted to soften them up a bit.  Well, I found a way!  With both Mother's and Father's Day coming up, I hope you'll find it easy enough for the kids to get involved too, they will need a little assistance though!

Start by gathering up some supplies.  Pick some of your favorite pictures from magazines that you already have laying around the house.  It could be from a gardening, hobby, fashion or celebrity magazine.  Just find something that you (or the person you're making it for) love. You'll also need a roll of clear contact paper and something to cut with.  I use a rotary cutter and straight edge but scissors are fine too. And finally, you'll use a sewing machine to stitch up the sides.

Start by trimming the rough edge of your magazine page.  Before you begin laminating, you'll want to make sure your page is the right size for your wallet.  Begin by folding the "wrong side" of your wallet together leaving the bottom edge slightly lower than the top, like this:

Then fold the bottom edge up one more time.  This will form the pocket that will hold your cards so you're only going to fold it as far as necessary, but not too far or you'll have to dig to get your cards out.  Use a card as a guide, it should look like this:

Now cut off 12 inches from your roll of contact paper.  You'll want to make sure to remove the backing carefully, lay the sheet out as flat as possible as you peel.  It's very easy to make unsightly creases in the contact paper if it folds up during the peeling process.  Okay, lay your contact paper out in front of you with the sticky side up.  Like so:

As you can see, I got a crease.  Adjust the laminate, so creases are closest to you as they will be on the inside of the wallet and likely hidden in the folding process. Now grab your magazine page and carefully place it wrong side up on the laminate.  Where you place it is not all that important, you just want to make sure that you leave a margin all the way around, like so:

Then you'll make some cuts to make folding the laminate easier.  So you'll make a cut from the magazine page to the bottom of the laminate.  You'll start your cut approximately 1/2" in from the edge of the magazine page:

Repeat on all four corners:

Fold your two shorter edges up on the page as shown below.  I find it easiest to work on making sure my crease folds nice and straight before pressing the remaining laminate into place.  But making adjustments with contact paper is definitely easier than making them with packing tape!

Now cut off the four excess rectangles of contact paper, but save them as you will use them later:

Now fold the two remaining sides inward:

Once your margins are folded in, you'll have some exposed magazine paper in the center of the page.  Use your excess strips to cover them.  Don't worry about how it looks, it'll be on the inside but you want to be sure it's all covered to protect the wallet.

Now you can fold it all back up and bring it to your sewing machine.  Simple stitch down each side and your wallet is complete!

To finish it up, fold the wallet in half and tie a rubber band around it for a couple of days to help it keep it's shape.  I make a bunch at a time and usually only have to keep them in a band for about a day:

If you're feeling adventurous you can chop up a page or more and laminate the pieces separately then sew them all together instead of the folding.  You can make more pockets that way and the pictures and words on the inside don't have to be upside down.  I have both types in my Etsy shop.

If you try this method, let me know how it goes below.  Did you do anything different?  Either way, get creative and have fun with it!

Plastic Plastic Everywhere!

The very first true plastic, Bakelite, arrived on the scene over a hundred years ago and today it is everywhere!  It brings amazing benefits to our daily lives but at a high environmental cost.  While some plastics are recyclable, others are not.  So, in today's post we'll look at some alternative uses for the plastics that we consume on a daily basis.  While you are reading, be sure to keep in mind the verse Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  All to often, we head straight to the Recycle part and forget about the Reduce and Reuse part.  While recycling is a great alternative to the trash can it also has some economic and environmental costs associated with it.  Here are some ways that I reuse the plastics in my life and hope that you'll post other great ideas below.

In the opening photo, I've chosen some plastics that are not recyclable in my community.  We are a little behind the times with plastics #1 and #2 being the only types of plastic accepted at our local facility.  I have stacks of plastic food containers (typically #5) that I use for a variety purposes.  Once they have been cleaned they are ready to store leftovers, craft supplies and much more.  Most of these smooth plastics can even be written on with a dry erase marker to label whatever is stored inside.  And when you're ready to store something else just wipe it clean and relabel it.

Pill bottles make great storage for little items.  For the jewelry that I sell in my Etsy shop I make beads out of newspaper, magazines and plastic bags and I store them in these pill containers until I am ready to use them.  While I lack the patience and talent for it, some artists make beautiful art with them. Here are some beautifully beaded pill bottles. As with all of your reused plastic containers, you'll want to be sure to wash out those bottles very well.




Another really great bead (or any number of small items) storing container is this one. It had Ferrero Rocher chocolates in it and I've used the containers both with and without the insert.  The one shown has the insert and is used to group similar beads that I want to keep together.

 How is this for a fun, messy and upcycled kids craft?  My niece and I  worked on some papier mache projects together.  We obviously used newspaper and balloons for the form.  But she's a little older and we wanted to add a little sophistication.  To accomplish this we added a base to each piece.  For the small ones we used milk and soda caps and for the larger pieces of art we used the bottom of Starbucks cups.  Add a little papier mache over the plastic pieces and viola - upcycled decorative bowls that stand upright!

 My passion for "doing right by the earth" surely stems from my love of animals.  Anyone who visits my home can make no bones about that statement when they are greeted by 5 cats, a dog, a bird and a tortoise (all rescues)!  You can only imagine the kitty litter that I go through with 5 cats.  I buy one 35 pound container EVERY week!  I can never bring myself to get rid of those amazing containers and have found so many uses for them. I use them for everything from christmas cords and decorations storage to collecting garden scraps whilst pruning and weeding.

They make pretty awesome recycling containers as well.  Check out this recycling container with swagger in my Etsy shop.  I have a feeling there are more where that one came from!


Please post you're ideas for reusing or upcycling your plastic below!

Introduction

Welcome to Upcycled Stuff's new blog!  This will accompany our Facebook fan page to help you live a greener life.  We'll give you simple tips that you can incorporate into your daily life and we'll even give you some more complex and fun ideas. I hope you enjoy the blog!