Upcycle of the day

A great way to use empty laundry bottles!

from craft magazine

10 uses for plastic bags

1. Fuse them into a thicker plastic, and make bags and other items out of them. Tons of folks have made some really neat things out of this material. Mostly bags, but I've seen raincoats, bibs and hats too. Top of the google link to etsy's tutorial: right here.

2. Cut them into yarn. This has been going on for ages, long before 2007 when this link was posted. Still, that's a great, easy visual tutorial for ya. Then, pretty much anything you can do with yarn, you can do with plastic bag yarn. (Some folks call it plarn, but that just makes my ears want to bleed a little).

3. Use 'em to pad your fragile gifts in the mail. This especially works with produce bags and the bags that newspapers are delivered in on wet days; gently blow the bag up like a makeshift balloon, tie the end, and put it in with your item. I don't think you need a link for this one really.

4. Use 'em for pet cleanup. As in poo. It cracks me up that people buy plastic bags specifically for this purpose. I don't think you need a link for this one either. If you do, you probably shouldn't have pets anyway. :D

Okay, so it's four uses. But it's four uses I've done in the past, they're four uses that are pretty easy, and uh... you should try them too.

down jacket. help me "upcycle"

I've been thinking long and hard about this blog. I don't want it to be a uber-personal diary. I do want people to read it and enjoy it. But I don't want to edit all the politics out of my posting. But I have. I've been more worried about scaring readers away and making things somewhat more "professional."

And it sucks. So what if my posts rarely seem like they stepped out of the pages of a ten dollar craft magazine? So what if I don't offer high five and accolades for a craft product that I don't like? I don't need to not feel like writing posts anymore just because I haven't taken pictures (at exactly the right amount of light, and edited them to point of perfection) to go with my posts.

You'll have to put up with me. As is. The good and the bad. The boring and dull and excited and bright.

This is where you come in. Sometimes I might need your help. Like today.

I have a black down jacket. The zipper's busted. It's not cute. It's a bit long, and big around. I wanna turn it into something else. Too small for a bed for our 75 pound dog. Cats have plenty of places to sleep. What should I make out of it?

Open the seams and save the down, stuff it into new little stuffed animals? Make it into hats? Gimme ideas, and I'll give you a few more posts :)

Got old computer software?

reuse your floppy disks, and make a nifty Moving Turntable Greeting Card

speaking of coffee

It's not the easiest thing to keep coffee in the house. To make us more mindful of how much coffee we go through, and help us PAY for the coffee we go through, I made the coffee bank. We throw fifty cents for a small or average sized cup, and a dollar for the few large cups we have. If someone wants to down the entire french pressed contents, they gotta pony up two bucks. We've had it for a few months and it seems to be working pretty well. It was a hot chocolate mix tin. I peeled off the label, washed and air dried it, cut a slit in the top, and decorated the front with paint markers. I think it looks kinda cute.

Once we decide we don't need or want it anymore, it can easily become a planter!

Wednesday WTF

I am amazed that Palin's in charge of anything. I am astounded that anyone would try to give her a position with more power. Also, some decisions that involve my union don't seem like they are exactly awesome or inspiring.

Thusly, we have:



So the inside looks kind of unprofessional. Whatevs.



at least the modeling is professional. ... uh...



P.S. I hate iron-on letters.

Contest Winner = me!!!

It came in the mail! All the way from the Philippines. I'm often amazed by the generosity of the crafting community, but with my first contest win, and the writer of Hired mailing a package all the way to Portland, I'm again a believer.

So, dear readers, you've been good. And patient. I finally have time to blog... Between work, craft, union steward stuff, gardening, participating in some nerdery, and other real life things, it's hard to fit in the interweb sometimes.

I know you're wondering what was in that package. I got:

EARRINGS!!!


MORE (badly photographed) earrings!


An earring holder, still in its package:


It's made from recycled packaging <3 She also sent a bracelet with tiny shells. Here's the anklet:

It's also made from recycled bits, and the main body of the anklet is a trimmed serged seam. Totally makes me question what we consider waste.

Portland Necklaces!

I made those for a swap. I made 'em outta #6 plastic from a take out container, bits from a dismantled turntable, a bird charm, and a few traditional jewelry bits. Sorry for the shitty image, but my camera cord is missing in action. Yay for scanners.

xoxo,
steph

p.s. search #6 shrink plastic on the interwebs!!!