And To All a Good Night!

If I had just one wish, it would be that all families, all around the world could have this one day to celebrate each other.  In the light of recent events, I know this won't be possible.  For the families struggling to piece their homes back together after Superstorm Sandy swept them away and the entire community experiencing the grief left in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, I will keep each of you in my thoughts this year. 

In the coming year, I call on all of my readers to honor the strength shown by those who are suffering in my home state of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and beyond by sharing a little more of yourselves.  Give to others, be kind to one another and the earth and celebrate your loved ones every chance you get.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and brightest of New Years. Thank you for following me on my journey this year, I look forward to another adventurous year of upcycling with you in 2013!

A Menu Board from a Cabinet Door

Last month I posted my first blog piece to the Eco-Etsy blog called A Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a Bird.  For those of you not familiar with Eco-Etsy, it is a group of Etsy artists who products are made with the environment in mind.  I'm happy to say that this month, and once a month from here on, I will be posting under the Green Living section of the blog.  This month's feature shows readers how to turn an old kitchen cabinet door into a menu board for the holiday table.  Here's a sneak peek:

Be sure to visit the Eco-Etsy blog for a step by step tutorial.

How to Make a Sweater Dress for Your Dog ... From Your Old Sweater!

Today Miss Bella is modeling a very eco-chic sweater dress that has taken a bit of a walk on the wild side.  This mint green dress was fashioned from the sleeve of an old sweater and embellished with a zebra striped ruffle.  It's the party dress that every girl needs this holiday season.  Here's how to get yours...well MAKE yours:

First gather your supplies:

• Old Sweater
• Something to sew with (preferably a machine)
• Scissors 
• Ruffle Trim

 

First, cut off one of the sleeves of the sweater and make two arm holes.  Cut it just like I have it pictured, the extra "tail" of fabric will be used to attach your ruffle skirt.  You'll cut your arm holes both at the same time while the sleeve is folded as it is in the first picture below.  This will ensure that your arm holes are the same size...kinda.

Then zig zag stitch over your cuts to keep the seams from unraveling.  It's not an easy feat and if you tug too much as your sweater feeds under the sewing machine foot you'll have some wonky looking armholes!!  Not that I know from experience or anything...

Now for the cutie patootie butt ruffle! Start at the bottom of your sweater dress and pinned down (then stitch) a length of ruffle into place.  Move up a bit and do another ruffle slightly overlapping the first, then another and another.  Do as many as you like, I ended on the fourth length of ruffle.

So what do you think?  Very eco-chic, adorable and simplish, right?

Wordless Wednesday Featuring a Tool Chest...Organized!

 

 

 

How Many Christmas Words in a Scrabble Game?

So just how many Christmas words can you get from a Scrabble game?  Really, I don't know the answer to that question.  You see, in case you haven't noticed, I'm an upcycler.  That means that when I purchased my Scrabble game it was from a yard sale.  The sale came with a comment something similar to this, "I'm not sure all the pieces are there...."  Unlike most people who spend their hard earned cash on board games, this was music to my ears!  "I'll take it!" 

So, I set off to make some ornaments with my Scrabble game.  You've seen the ones where they put the letters in the rack and use it as part of the ornament, right?

I decided to mix things up a bit with mine.  I addition to painting the racks and using them in the ornament, I also used ribbons and other upcycled bits in them.  I'll show you mine, but as for a tutorial, if you know how to use a glue gun then it's pretty self explanatory.

I also did some with scrap pieces of ribbon and cording that have been taking up space for a couple of holiday seasons now:

Nifty right?  You could even use the letters to spell out the names of all the members of your family....pets, too.  Great opportunity to teach a spelling lesson to the younger kids in the family without them even knowing it!  The possibilities are a many! 

In all I ended up with about  15 or so ornaments from this one maybe incomplete game of Scrabble and a ton of leftover tiles with the letter I on them.  If you come up with some great Christmas words using a few Is, post below (please).

A Little Relief for the Animals of Hurricane Sandy

It's been a month since Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey on October 29.  While humans tried to deal with the wrath of mother nature, many were left with no choice but to temporarily surrender their animals to shelters while others still where simply lost. Today, many pets are still waiting to be reunited with their families.

To help relieve a little bit of the boredom of shelter life, Etsy for Animals artists came together (virtually) over the long holiday weekend to make tug toys for three animal shelters in the hardest hit areas.  Some even donated funds which were used to purchase catnip sachets from other Etsy sellers.  Etsy for Animals is a group of dedicated artists who donate a percentage of their Etsy shop sales to the animal charities of their choosing.  My donations go to the Jane Goodall Institute but I've also donated funds for rhino conservation in the past among other charities.  This weekend I joined my EFA teammates making toys for both dogs and cats...here's my stash (oh yeah, they are all upcycled):

Let me break it down for you (and tell you how to make your own):

I started out with 25 straight braided tugs.  Easy, peasy - tie a not, braid tightly, tie a knot!  I used two materials for these toys; fleece and T-shirts.  I didn't pay a penny for the fleece, they were all scraps of binding (the part of the fleece that is folded over and sewn like a hem, making it useless in your projects).  The T-shirts were all from the Goodwill Clearance Center.  They charge by the pound and on Sundays everything is half off.  The T-shirts work out to be about a quarter a piece.  Depending on the size you can get one or two tug toys from each shirt.  You can see the Etsy for Animals T-shirt Tug Toy tutorial here.

I sent another fifteen of these fun round ones that are also made from scrap fleece.  They are essentially the same as the straight braided tugs with a couple of differences:

1.  Tie your first knot loosely
2.  When you're done braiding, untie the first knot and tie the two ends together

And finally, we can't forget the kitties!  I accidentally discovered that my cats went nuts for the knots!  Frustration had me cutting some of the knots off of the straight braided tugs and as they flew across the room the cats hauled bootie after them.  It was quite a spectacle!  So I took more fleece scraps that weren't long enough to braid and tied them into super tight knots.  Then I just trimmed one of the ends off.  I managed to make 30 of these from the tiny scraps that I had left over. And, yes, I found an I {heart} NY T-shirt at Goodwill that I had to turn into a drawstring pouch for all those kittie knots.

In all I spent less than $5 to make 70 cat and dog toys to send to NY, shipping was my largest expenditure.  So, I hope that encourages you take a few tips from this post and make some toys for your local shelter this holiday season (and beyond).  It's an easy project for the kids and a great way to reinforce the spirit of the season.  Not to mention, shelters are always in need!

To learn more about the other artists who donated to this Operation Chew Toy, visit the Etsy for Animals website.
 

Window Screens Turned Glittery Tree Ornaments

When I was a child it was tradition to set up the Christmas tree on the weekend of Thanksgiving, usually Saturday.  With Elvis Presley's greatest Christmas hits playing in the background, we three kids waited patiently for dad to wrap the strands of lights around the tree.  Once he was out of the way, it was a dash to the tree with one ornament at a time as mom handed them off to us.  Once we had loaded up the tree dad would put the angel on top and we'd admire our handiwork, albeit a bit lopsided.  It was also tradition for mom and dad to redistribute nearly every ornament on the tree once we were in bed.

As an adult, I typically maintain the tradition of erecting the tree over Thanksgiving weekend.  But I have, of course, added a tradition or two of my own.  That includes a new ornament each year to add to my tree.  This year I made a new set of ornaments and will forgo the purchase of a new one.  Are you ready for some Christmas tree cuteness made from old window screens?

I started out making these star shaped ornaments and then had a request for a large tree topper shaped like a dog bone...for a "certain someones" pet shop (MOM).

So I did that too!

And then thought why not little dog bone ornaments - which of course I had to personalized!

Want to make some for yourself?  Check out the video tutorial that I did for the star shaped ornaments.  Just want some to show up in your mailbox?  You can do that too!  You'll notice that I didn't just stop at stars and bones....








Did you put your tree up this weekend?