Recycle, Upcycle and Reuse

Hello crafty friends!

Are you a recycler, an upcycler or a reuser?

I definitely am and today I'm going to show you a great

upcycling project that I've been working on.

Someone on my Buy Nothing Group offered two

large bags full of used Amazon mailers.
I jumped right on that offer and brought them home,

I already have one full bag in my craft room, so now

I have 3 big bags full.

You might ask,

What in heaven's name are you going to do with them? 

The answer is to reuse them.

My daughter and daughter in law have started a business.

They will need padded envelopes to mail out some of their items.

So I'm making them some cute mailers.

Here are a few of the mailers I covered with 

wrapping paper.  It's easy and very inexpensive

to make these and no one knows they are

old reused mailers.

Here are a few of them that I covered with 

scrapbook paper that I had in my stash that I will 

probably never use.

From one Amazon mailer, I can get 2 - 4 "new" mailers,

depending on the size of the mailer.

All they'll need to do is put a label on the front with an

address and return address, put their item inside,

pull off the double sided tape backing and seal it up.

Now they are ready to mail it.
If you are interested in how these are made,

here is a video showing how it's done.

Easy peasy.

If you are interested in what my girls are 

creating, follow the link below and it

will take you to their website.
They are adding more to their site often,

so be sure to check back at another time.

I'm really proud of what they are doing,

guess the creative gene runs in the family.

The name of their business is 
Clumsy Cloud Gifts

Thank you for stopping in today to 

check out what I've been up to.

Please come again.

Until then,

recycle, upcycle and reuse!

 

Dryer Balls #2

Hello crafty people!

A few posts ago, I showed you some dryer balls

that I had made and told you I'd be making some more.

I got 2 100% wool sweaters from Goodwill

and deconstructed them and unraveled them

and rolled them into balls, about the size of tennis balls.

I then cut an old pair of panty hose and put the balls into 

the legs of the hose. I tied a knot after each yarn ball.

I then put them in a pot on the stove and boiled them  for

about 10 minutes.  Once they were boiled I put them in

the dryer to dry.  This took quite a while as they hold a lot of

water.  Once they were dried, I took them out of the hose.

This was the hardest part, untying those knots was

tough, but I got them out and they were all nicely shrunk 

and felted.

Here is what I ended up with.
From 2 sweaters I got 14 dryer balls.

Here is a link to a tutorial about making these 

kind of dryer balls.

Why use dryer balls?

Here are a few reasons......

• eliminate the need for fabric softener or dryer sheets (these are bad for your dryer, your clothes and are full of chemicals that are not good for you.)
• are eco-friendly (no more throwing away dryer sheets)
• reduce drying time by 20% (less money spent on energy)
• remove static cling
• are easy-to-use (just throw a few into the dryer with your laundry and then leave them there for the next load)
• are chemical-free (better for you and the environment)
• you can add natural scent if you apply essential oils
  
  
  Thanks for coming by today,
  I hope you have learned something new 
  and have been inspired in some way.
  Come again soon.
  Until then,
  try something new.

 

Ornaments

Hello crafty people!

Today I have some ornaments to show you.

I made these for my family this

Christmas. Each "family unit" received one.

We also had a ornament exchange with 

our scrapbooking/crafting group and

I decided that I would give one of these 

for that.

When I had to clean out my Aunt Marilyn's

apartment, when she went into a nursing home,

I found an old dresser scarf that I'm pretty sure

her Mom crocheted.

It had some torn spots, but I didn't want to

get rid of it, so I brought it home with me.

I took the pieces apart and made these ornaments

with the crocheted circles.

Everything else came from my stash in my

craft room, so every ornament is different.

I used chip board coasters for the base,

some were covered with

Indian Gold

 Nuvo Embellishment Mousse

These darker ones were covered with 

Firebird Art Alchemy Metallique Wax

I made the flower on this one with a 

scrap of fabric and colored it with 

some of the Nuvo paste.

This flowers and the other ones this

style, I made using Washi tape.

Some of them have buttons from

my button box, like this gold flower button.

Some have charms and this one

has some actual wool which I 

brought back from one of our trips to the

UK. I found it along a fence that was 

around a pasture for the sheep.

I absolutely LOVE how these turned out

and my family loved them too.

I still have plenty of the crochet circles left,

so I'm sure I'll be coming up with another way 

to use them.

They make a wonderful memory of some

family history for me.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

think about using something 

out of the ordinary to make something

special.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.