Upcyclers Creativity Challenge: April Results

Each month, Team Upcyclers offers a Creativity Challenge to our team members.  Sarah from SweetSomeday was April's judge!  Judges are responsible for selecting an upcycled medium and picking the winning entries!  First and second place receive a month long ad on the front page of our blog.

Here's what Sarah had to say...

The medium I picked for this month is one that was easy to find: a cardboard toilet paper tube! I told the team members that I would also accept paper towel tubes, wrapping paper tubes, and really any type of cardboard tube! The fun started with ideas of cardboard tubes to use that I didn’t even think of – the inside roll of lint rollers, packing tape, and ribbon! The possibilities were endless!

Picking two winners was almost impossible because there was such a wide range of submissions, using the tubes for organization, projects with kids, jewelry, and more! It’s amazing what can be done with just a little bit of cardboard, that I would normally toss into the recycle bin. So anyway, I had to pick a winner! I truly wish I could pick every project, but I decided to go with the ones that I actually pictured myself owning and using regularly:

1st place is this precious little notebook made by Joanna from PippinRunWild. 

I could just picture myself keeping it in my purse for jotting down notes and lists!

2nd place is this lovely tree ornament made by Alison from prupru. I could see this ornament hanging on a plant or in a window year-round!

And as a bonus – both of the winners included tutorials for their projects! So you can make one (or more) of your own if you’d like!

Cardboard Tube Notebook Tutorial

Toilet Paper Roll Ornament

Please check out all of the entries! It was so much fun to see everyone’s responses to this challenge!

Thanks, Sarah
Sweet Someday

September Results for Upcyclers Creativity Challenge

The challenge this month was to upcycle a t shirt.  We all have a t shirt or two that just sits in the dresser or hangs in the closet, so why not make something fun out of it, and make that t shirt useful again!

I had just finished a series about t shirt yarn, and was excited to see what ideas it might inspire.  I was blown away by the creative use of t shirts that people submitted!

Three of My Favorites:

RaLaCe's braided and embellished tank top.  How fun is this??

SweetSomeday's fabulous t shirt dress.  She shows how versatile it is in her blog post.  It is wonderful for so many seasons!

 

SunflowersByDesign's fun ToteBag.  I love the design on the front, and the way it is finished!

Honorable Mentions To:

MikesTshirtYarn for his wonderul beanie.  Perfect for winter, and stylish too!

 

TheSalvagedEdge's t shirt dress for a child.  So adorable!!

 

Pearlreef's upcycled basket.  I love anything that can help me get organized!

What did I do?  Well I made a rug!  Okay, I almost finished a rug.  I can only use the bottoms of the t shirts for yarn.  So I cut the tops into strips, and sewed them together to make a braided rug.  Okay, to almost finish a braided rug.  It is "in process", and you can see the strands coming off the end, but you get the idea.  

Thank you everyone for your entries!  It was tough to choose only a few to feature on here, but all entries can be found on our Challenge's Pinterest board:

I really enjoyed seeing what everyone came up with, and cannot wait for next months challenge!

Luci

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Read Up on Upcycling!

I was checking out some upcycling supplies on Etsy and came across a couple of books on upcycling projects! That led to a search for more and I thought I'd share my finds with you~ most of these are available for a reasonable price and can be great sources for your weekend DIY projects. A couple are eBooks written by the seller on Etsy so you could actually buy them and use them this weekend!

eBook by Mahe Zehra Husain

Halle's Hobbies

eBook by Mahe Zehra Husain

Resah's Attic

Halle's Hobbies

2luvbugz

mamas*little*treasures

Daisy and Florrie

I've linked the book images to the Etsy shop listings~ but you can also check for some of these titles on Amazon or Ebay. You'll find thousands of others as well, all great sources of inspiration for upcycling projects. Keep in mind that most all DIY projects can be adapted to reuse materials or scrap if you use your imagination!

Have a fantastic weekend!
;) Cat

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Design It Yourself!

Okay DIY lovers~ this week we're putting a new spin on the 'D' in DIY!

I found products made by our Upcyclers team that you can custom order in your own design~ choose your colors, send in your own favorite jeans, pick a name & photo or just customize the size! You name it, you got it!

Lynn Minney Designs offers you a chance to upcycle those favorite old worn out jeans into a new handbag!

The Crafters Co-op will handsew custom wool "Slocks" (slipper/socks) for you in your size and choice of colors!

Or how about a custom made handsewn fiber art bird from Gone Rustic? Each one is uniquely designed for you...

Like monsters? Cadence from Altered Decadence starts her creations with an Altoid tin and upcycles them into furry monsters designed in your choice of colors, eyes & TEETH!

Here's another way to upcycle an old favorite cloth item! Drapes of Wrath can custom design an apron from your old shirt, a pair of Grandma's funky vintage curtains~ you name it! They love an "Upcycling Challenge"!

Prairie Peasant will upcycle your choice of hardcover books into a Rebound Journal... I loved reading these when I was a little girl!

Jordana from LaraLeib Designs will create a beautiful collage in a magnetic frame using your photo and name of choice~

Another collage artist, Abounding Treasures, will create a Flutterby Treasure just for you!

It's wedding season, so how about some custom made shot glasses for the bride and groom created by Pir8t? Choose a design, names or a saying to be etched in glass!

Here's another gift idea for the happy couple from Tough and Twisted, who create custom designed metal art in a wide variety of choices~

I love this one from Heather, even though she's not on our team I just had to include this! Choose from a variety of original graphic illustrations by Drunk Girl Designs (love that name, giggles!) of your favorite recipe to hang on your wall or give as a gift! How unique is that?

So even if you aren't super crafty, you can still Love 2 DIY~ just do the designing and Upcyclers will do the rest!

Have a fantastic weekend!
;) Cat

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Look What We've Pinned!

We've been pinning away
on our new Upcyclers' boards! Like everyone says, Pinterest is addictive~ and consumes more time than most of us can afford, but wow, what fantastic stuff you can find! We actually have a board called: Love 2 DIY~ it's full of inspiring ideas for you. There's another we call, of course, Love 2 Upcycle and we've pinned our favorite upcycling ideas there. So today, I thought it would be fun to share a few with you! You can DIY to your hearts content this weekend, as long as you don't start pinning!

25 Fabric Scrap Tutorials from The New Home Ec

Saved by Love Creations

Some of these are inspirations you'll have to figure out from the photos, but others are linked to the original post from our boards! We always try to give credit to the original author or owner of the material, that's one of the complaints about Pinterest. If you are concerned about what you pin, be sure to follow the link back to see where it came from. I followed the DIY Chair photo back to several pinners and still didn't find the source, but then I couldn't resist sharing the idea with you! It's such a great way to upcycle an old chair~

What will you upcycle this weekend?