Championing the makers, artists, and wanderers in all of us.
On our anniversary this year, we took Quijote for a picnic at The Farm at South Mountain.
We saw herbs in terra cotta pots on these stepped shelves that looked like little plant bleachers. Maybe they were cheering on the good weather!
With Earth Day coming up, here are some DIY ways to make things you might normally throw out into things you can use!
The bird seed feeder tutorial also has detailed instructions in how to cut a hole in the glass using a diamond bit drill, while the lamp project recommends using a dremel with a tungsten carbide head to make a hole for the cord.
Also, make sure you’re making safe hummingbird nectar without red dye or food coloring.
More glass bottle DIYs on Redbook.
You don’t even need to use new envelopes for this – even the ones that arrive with junk mail inside work great!
Depending on what size tin(s) you have, you can store yarn or beads or fancy scissors. Also, check out the craft organization ideas I shared in a previous post.
Even though my example is holiday-themed, you can use any kind of card with art you like on it to make gift tags to use year round.
You can make “plastic yarn” or “plarn” from shopping bags and crochet it into all sorts of things, like a floor mat, tote, jump rope or shower shoes.
Of course, it’s great if you can opt for reusable coffee cups or sleeves, but, when you can’t, you can at least make the cardboard sleeve part of a craft project.
This will help hold the moisture in when you’re starting seeds.
The rubber from bicycle inner tubes can be used as a vegan alternative to black leather.
More bicycle inner tube crafts.
If you live in a hot climate (***waves from Arizona***), you’ve probably ended up with melted chapstick or lipstick at some point. And noticed it does not go back to its original state after it cools off. This is a way to salvage it instead of leaving it stuck inside the tube.
How cute is this vintage bread warmer?!
You can find more ideas for setting up a Little Free Library on their site.
What are your favorite ways of reusing things instead of throwing them out?
I learned the word zarf when I was writing about a coffee travel kit with a list of accessories that included “Two Felt Zarfs.”
Looking it up, I found out it’s another word for something that goes around a coffee cup to keep you from burning your hands on it. Like a scarf for your coffee.
They definitely could have said “coffee sleeve” or “cozy” instead. But zarf is kind of a cool word. Originally, it was a fancy metal thing used with glass tumblers. Now it’s a cardboard ring around a disposable cup.
***insert pithy observation about the decay of civilization here***
The good news is there are several ways to make a zarf/coffee sleeve/cozy that you can use over and over.
(My sister-in-law Liz made me the cool fabric one above. I love the colors!)
1. Reusable Coffee Sleeve: First, a coffee sleeve in the most literal sense – made by upcycling the cuff of an old shirt.
2. Leather Cup Jacket: Make a leather jacket for jars or other cups without handles.
3. Fabric Coffee Sleeve: Inspired by projects she had pinned, Sarah from One Crafty Home sewed up a reusable sleeve and a put together a tutorial with a template, so you can make your own, as well!
4. Crochet Cup Cozy: Julie Tarsha of Simply Notable created this cute pattern for a cable-knit cozy that you wrap around a mug and secure with a button.
5. Felt Coffee Cozies: Tutorial for making 16 felt coffee cozies at once, so you can give them as gifts or set them out next to cups for hot chocolate at your holiday party.
6. R2D2 Coffee Cup Cozy: Twinkie Chan created this clever crochet pattern that uses acrylic yarn, a red button, a silver eyelet, and a safety eye with the post snapped off to make exactly the droid you’re looking for.
And, of course, if you’re not up for DIYing this time, there’s always Etsy!
Caffeinating Please Wait Cup Cozy by Sew Tara ($14).
Happy Fox Cup Cozy by Tiny Bubbles Crafts ($12).
“You Got This” Leather Coffee Cozy by Wilhelm and Friends ($18).
If you do end up with a cardboard sleeve around your cup, you can still re-purpose it as a travel flower press or work it into collage and other paper craft projects.
Photos via:
DIYs –
1+2. Me
3. Modcloth
4. Matt Pierce / Design*Sponge
6. Julie Tarsha / Simply Notable
7. Purl Soho
8. Twinkie Chan
Etsy sellers –
1. Sew Tara
Phillip finished grad school, after seven years of working full time and taking classes part-time. So we needed to have a party.
We ended up reserving space in a restaurant near where the commencement ceremony was, so friends and family could just go there directly afterward. I wanted to add some festive touches but knew I’d have little to no time to decorate before people got there. (It turned out to be the latter.)
I kept it super simple with a few school-themed items that I could set up in a flash – all using things I had on hand.
How I made the book page pennants:
1. Ripped out several pages of a ridiculous conspiracy theory novel that I had picked up from free bin outside Changing Hands. (I mean, I’m not going to cut up a good book!)
2. Found the center of the page by folding it in half, only creasing the very bottom of it and making a mark. You could also actually measure and/or use a template if you’re into precision.
3. Made a cut from the top right corner of the page to my center mark. Then repeated from the top left.
What I wish I would’ve done: cut from the top right and left margins of the page instead, so that the text would run all the way to the edge.
4. Punched a couple holes near the top of each pennant.
Then I just threaded some bakers’ twine through the holes and added the tassels.
In keeping with the graduation theme, I made paper tassels for each end of the garland, loosely based on instructions I found on A Subtle Revelry.
Here’s how I adapted the project:
I thought about adding some color with watercolors. However, my test pages totally curled up, even when I used the smallest amount of water possible or painted just part of the page.
Another thing that could’ve been cool was using a book or notes from Phillip’s classes. But he didn’t have anything like that around – at least nothing that he was willing to sacrifice to the craft gods.
So I went with the conspiracy book, because I liked the page size.
I tried to make sure there wasn’t any murder on the pages I used, but it was hard to avoid. And there were still black helicopters and government officials typing things out on Blackberries – not very festive or on theme.
I hoped people would see it as decor and not try to read it.
No such luck.
One family member said they had been trying to figure out if the pages had some significance or clues. (Nope.) Another one asked me what the garland spelled. (Nothing.) It took me awhile to convince her that what she thought were large letters were actually backwards chapter numbers showing through some of the backlit pages.
I obviously should have come up with more for people to do.
I loaded up a large ziploc bag with everything I (or whoever) would need to set up the decorations at the restaurant:
I had hoped to hand the bag off to my parents, who were designated to get the party started, since I guessed (correcty) that Phillip and I wouldn’t be able to leave the place where the ceremony was and get over there right away. But they were so focused on their mission that they left before I could give them the Decoration Bag.
So I set things up halfway through the party. Less than ideal, but that’s life.
At least having everything in one bag meant I could get it done in record time. And at least the guests didn’t have to wait on the food.
Mobiles and wind chimes can brighten up your garden, patio, or a bare corner of your living room. And you probably have the stuff to make one right now!
Here are some unexpected objects you can use to make your own.
Emily Neuburger’s Simple Color Mobile could work inside or outside. I like the simplicity of the rainbow-colored circles, but you could also add a wooden initial or other shape.
(Side note: You know the wood-stuff-for-painting aisle in the craft store? I always have to browse through it, and, even though I don’t usually do wood craft projects, I always kind of want to buy everything in there.)
Justina Blakeney made this Boho Mobile from an old lamp shade frame and small decorative items her in-laws brought back from India. If you have a lot of little knick knacks from trips taking up shelf space, this would be another way to display them. Like an oversized charm bracelet.
Love this minimal Paint Swatch Mobile from Natalme! You can mix up the colors like she did or use a gradient of shades for an ombre or rainbow effect, which would look especially rad spinning around.
Another Natalme inspiration: turn embroidery hoops into a place to hold photos (or holiday cards or kids’ artwork)!
Decorative ceramic bells made from Sculpey by A Beautiful Mess. Apparently, these are purely decorative, since they don’t actually ring. I’m wondering whether you could change that with some metal inside the clay. Or what if you hung more than one copper pipe from each bell, making every bell into kind of a mini-wind-chime?
Crafts Unleashed has a turorial for displaying your beach-combing finds as sea glass wind chimes!
You can also make a wind chime from old keys, like this one from Inner Child Fun.
FYI I found this on a list by The Garden Glove (with about a dozen more DIY ideas).
Trina Lyn (of Trina Is Artsy Fartsy) shared this tutorial of how to make a bottle cap wind chime, as frequently seen – but not always explained – on Pinterest.
Trina also combined a variety of found objects, including a smashed vintage beer can, into The Junk Windchime. It brings together a lot of the materials in the other projects above, like bottle caps, glass, beads, and a key.
What materials would you use for a mobile creation? Chime in!
A few more shareworthy (and shoppable) mobiles and wind chimes:
Photos via their respective sites.