A Cherry Pack by Saved by Grace Designs

Through an Upcyclers contest, I won a Hot/Cold Cherry Pit Pack!  It is made from a 100% cotton shell, filled with dried cherry pits. Pack can be microwaved or frozen, and I have especially enjoyed the frozen pack on my sore neck.  With concern for the environment, Saved by Grace Designs, created a socially conscious hot/cool pack without using a food source, or chemically manufactured products.  We were lucky to win one of this quality made packs!

Handmade Toque from Lambkin Toques, etc.

Excuse the phone camera photo, but I won this cute slouchy hat from Lambkin Toques etc. Located in Canada, this handmade Etsy shop uses recycled wool to make these awesome hats. I love the chocolate color and the soft wool of this hat.  Now I just need it to get cold enough in Florida to wear it.

Personalized Key Chain by Beadsoul

Beadsoul, where I have previously shopped, held a Facebook giveaway not long ago. I won a hand stamped personalize key chain. I love it! Lisa, from Beadsoul, uses great communication and her talents to make some high quality customized pieces!

Ladies Organic T-Shirt by WOMB Apparel

Again, please excuse the camera phone image. I won this cool t-shirt on the Love 2 Upcycle blog.  Wisdom of Mind and Body (WOMB) Apparel sponsored a giveaway on this upcycled website.  I won this 100% preshrunk organic cotton ladies t-shirt!  It has kept its color through washes and is very nicely made.

On Earth Day I won a $10 gift certificate to Our Children’s Earth, where I selected some felt play food for my two year old,  It is made from recycled felt, including some that was made from recycled plastic bottles in the USA!  My daughter loves playing with it in her kitchen, and we love this eco-friendly shop!

Locally, at a Leukemia Lymphoma Fundraiser I won a $500 for laser hair removal gift certificate, a paper beaded necklace, and one month gym membership. Cha-ching! Here’s the recycled paper beaded necklace…

AND many of you know I LOVE to garden! So I am happy to report while tweeting on Twitter’s #gardenchat, I won a $250 gift certificate to Subaru Gear, which afforded me this awesome collapsible wagon.  I have been using like crazy! Here we are at the farmers market.

Can’t you believe I’ve won all that?!!  This comes from a girl that a year ago would have told you she never wins anything. lol  Not sure how long my luck will last, but I am excited to have received such awesome creations. Most giveaways took just a second with a like on Facebook, a comment on a photo, or a share on Twitter.  So next time you see a giveaway come across your social media networks, take a minute to check it out. It might just pay off!

‘Love me some corks!’ by thewoodenbee

Great for eco crafting: garland, key chains, coasters, trivets, bulletin boards, the list goes on… Colored corks make unique creations; from wreaths & ornaments, to vase fillers & wedding favors. Corks are a versatile eco-friendly craft supply!

Colored Wine Corks – Gr… TheWoodenBee $8.00	Red Wine Corks – eco cr… TheWoodenBee $7.00	25 SOLID Synthetic Wine… TheWoodenBee $4.25	Purple Wine Corks – eco… TheWoodenBee $5.00
Purple Wine Corks – eco… TheWoodenBee $7.00	Colored Wine Corks – OR… TheWoodenBee $8.00	Colored Wine Corks – De… TheWoodenBee $8.00	Upcycled Wine Corks, Lu… TheWoodenBee $4.00
Oak Wine Corks for eco … TheWoodenBee $1.75	Colored Wine Corks – TE… TheWoodenBee $8.00	Upcycled Wine Corks, Fu… TheWoodenBee $4.00	Colored Wine Corks – Gr… TheWoodenBee $7.00
20 Wood Grain Wine Cork… TheWoodenBee $4.00	Purple Wine Corks – lot… TheWoodenBee $5.00	Colored Wine Corks – OR… TheWoodenBee $8.00	Dyed Oak Wine Corks – u… TheWoodenBee $3.75

How-to Upcycled Scarves, made from old t-shirts

Before we get started, let’s talk t-shirt selection:

~ Different size shirts create different size scarves. I like the length of a scarf made from a men’s t-shirt. I can double it or wear it long. I think women’s t-shirts make good children’s scarves. I used the leg of a pair of sweatpants to make my toddler a scarf.

~ I recommend a solid t-shirt because the design is going to stretch and distort.

~ Always check sides of t-shirts for seams. It is possible to make a scarf from a shirt with two side seams, but for this look, it is better to select a t-shirt without side seams.

~ Since there is a stretching of the material, I think the thicker the t-shirt material the nicer the scarf.

~ The scarves really do keep you warm.  A white scarf is my favorite.  They can make any color jacket or shirt look new.

Okay, let’s get started…

This was a t-shirt my sis & I purchased to irritate our dad when we were young.

Lay the tube of your shirt flat on a surface and return the cut ends out. The sides of the shirt will be top and bottom. Start cutting lines/stripes in the shirt. Do not cut all the way through the shirt. You will want to leave at least one to three inches uncut on one side of the shirt tube.

The width of the cuts depends on the look of your scarf. The smaller the cuts, the more layers/strings your scarf will have, the wider you cuts the chunkier your scarf layers/strings.  I wouldn’t make cuts smaller than a half inch, or bigger than four inches. I like scarves with about two inch cuts. It is all a preference. You can make thin and thick cuts in the same scarf for a different look as well.

Once you have finished cutting, you need to stretch your scarf and your done!  I think the easiest way to do this is to run your arm through the uncut side of the shirt tube, and then just pull or stretch each cut strip to get your desired look. You can pull some harder or lighter than others for variations, or all with the same resistance. Just be sure to pull firm enough so the cuts disappear and the layers/strings look soft on the edges.

Simple, frugal, handmade, upcycled, and stylish. Love it! You can find more (some elaborate) t-shirt tutorials on my Pinterest board.

Happy Crafting!

Our first year on Etsy we had 101 online sales.  Since September 2011 we have had 90 online sales.

DIY Bulletin Board Kit

Distressed Wall Hanger with reclaimed copper knobs

Reclaimed Cabinet Door with Mirror & Hooks

Distressed Wall Hanger for keys & more...

Like last year, FREE eco-friendly gift wrap will be available upon request on all orders. Buyers just need to request the free gift wrap in the buyers note section of their order.   Free gift wrap offer is good November 26th through December 20th, 2011.   Here is what we are offering this year:

Eco-friendly, recycled brown wrapping paper handstamped with the words “One Earth.”  All gift wrap materials, including ribbons, gifts tags and bows, will be recycled and upcycled.  Our goal this year is to make use of the large craft supply collection we have accumulated.  You should see my boxes of ribbons!

Each gift wrapped order will vary because of the upcycled materials, but all will include our hand stamped recycled paper and upcycled paper bows.

I decided to make paper bows out of discarded toliet & paper towel rolls. I’ve had a big stash of them for awhile now so I wanted to use them up.  I’ve blogged about crafting with paper rolls here before and this time we just used the same concept, except we glued the paper roll pieces to each other instead of to the paper.  I can tie them up with ribbon or attach them to gift wrap now.

I had to make sure I considered shipping methods when deciding my eco-friendly gift wrap.  The flat bows will work great with shipping, and the recycle brown paper will help protect our wood creations.

Of course, our free gift wrap will include a gift tag!  I searched high and low for upcycled gift tag ideas.  I settled for this simple recycled christmas card gift tag.  I had a container of beautiful christmas cards that I had saved over the years.  I enjoyed punching out the cards so much that I punched too many!

So I decided to share the upcycled love and give some away. Just comment on this post and you could be selected to WIN 20 recycled gift tags! Tags are shown in above photo, along with many others.  Make sure your comment has an email address for contact.  Winner will be randomly selected by random.org at 10pm on Thursday December 1st, 2011.

It was important to me that our gift wrap help promote the fact that our wood is eco-friendly and we are an sustainable shop.

Look for our next blog post to have information on our Holiday Sales, especially our Cyber Monday coupon!  It’s our biggest deal of the year.  Until then please check out two of my upcycled gift wrap posts on Upcyclers for more upcycled gift wrapping ideas!

Upcycled Gift Wrapping Ideas

Upcycled Gift Bows & Tags Ideas

Happy Wrapping!

Bee

We had a productive October with both online and custom orders keeping us busy.  I am excited to have purchased some more crates and tables for our expanding studio. I spent many hours last month reorganizing and hopefully making our little operations more productive.

Action in our sustainable supplies section of our shop is always fun! We have sent upcycled colorful wine corks all over the country this past month. We have also given leftover azek materials new life.  We sold a couple batches to Chucka Stone Designs, another handmade shop on Etsy.  They turned our reclaimed azek into gorgeous faux granite coasters! How amazing!

Jenn from Chucka Stone Designs wrote a great article on making the faux granite coasters. Check it out! She has a new batch coming out soon too!

Etsy, our online marketplace, offers a team community that is great for shop support and development. We were asked to become a team leader for Upcyclers, a collaboration of 1400+ worldwide shops that love to upcycle and recycle.  I am very excited for the opportunity and now have a regular Sunday article on their blog. Here are a few of the posts that I published there last month:

Sunstainable Sundays: Corrugated Mosaics

Greener Shopping: Halloween Candy

Sustainable Sundays: Abounding Treasures

Sustainable Sundays: Altered Perceptions

Another fabulous team that I am involved with, EcoEtsy, selected my treasury creation to win a contest and I received some free online advertising! Woohoo! They also asked me to become a ”Pinner” for the team, and a small bio of our shop can now be found on their site.

If you haven’t yet looked into Pinterest. It is great! We actually pin for two Etsy teams and love the access to ideas and photos that Pinterest gives the online world. It just a virtual world of bulletin boards. I personally use it to collect and save craft ideas for the kids. For the shop I use it to promote, collect and share upcycled ideas, and for the gardening blog I use it to collect and share organic gardening ideas.  Here is screen shot of my boards:

Looking Ahead…

Now that Halloween is behind us we are looking forward to the holiday season!  We have tried to replenish our online shop inventory to get ready.  This has been a bit hard to do with our sustainable coasters kits. They have been so popular that at one point I had a small waiting lists for them. We currently only have four sets online. Hoping for more by the end of the month!

November plans included several crafty holiday blog tutorials. Be on the look out!  We also have plans to showcase our first ever reclaimed wood tree ornaments! We are very excited to introduce these gorgeous wood creations. Quantities are limited (as in 5), so be sure to be on the look out!

Here’s a little sneak peek…

Happy November!

the reclaimed wood chalkboard in my kitchen

All my life I have loved to craft. When I was a child, I made hair bows, bracelets and cross-stitched. I took art and photography classes in high school. In college I worked for a jeweler and artist. I just have always gravitated toward creative situations.

Since today is my birthday, I thought I’d share a few of my own private pieces of work. And since pencils are my favorite medium, here are two sketches that I really enjoyed making.

Your eye is the gateway to your soul, 1999.

All tigers are endangered, 2000.

To help celebrate, I thought I would also offer a 15% off coupon for my online shop. TODAY ONLY! Enter coupon code ”BIRTHDAY” at checkout to get your special savings.

Happy Birthday my friends! I hope we all have many more creative days ahead.

~Bee