Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creativity. Show all posts

March 1, 2013

Upcycled Creativity Challenge: CORK

For the first two months of the year we hosted our monthly Upcycled Creativity Challenge. I organized this challenge last spring because we felt it would promote creativity and inspiration within our team.   Not only it is fun, but it's a nice way to see our talented shops take one medium, like corks, and turn it into so many different items.

After helping others host the challenge last year, this is the first challenge I have been able to judge. The monthly judge selects the medium and the winners.  I had several other judges tell me how hard it was to pick two winners and I always thought to myself, oh it can't be that hard. Ha! When you pick your favorite medium CORK and see so many great ideas entered, it does become difficult to select two winners. We had wine cork jewelry, cork hair bows, wine cork boats, and toy cork snakes to name a few of the cool entries!!!

As hard as it was...

First Place


Upcycled Wine Cork Necklace by JaneKoopman

JaneKoopman creates earth inspired jewelry and cards on Etsy. I love her entry into this month's challenge. Beautiful and realistic for every day wear.  I really loved this piece.

Second Place


Cork Tree Recycled Journal by PrairiePeasant

Prairie Peasant sells ecofriendly journals, cards, and envelopes on Etsy.  I love how cleverly Laura used thrifted cork placemats to create the cover! And the tree is just the perfect touch! 
See, I told you it was hard to pick! ;)


And she didn't win anything, but I have to give a shout out to Sweet Someday!
I like how Sarah shared her success and failure in her cork blog post. Her idea to adjust the color of her wine corks was really cool!


You can see ALL the amazing cork entries on our challenge's Pinterest board!



March's challenge is starting soon! Team members can look for Endure Designs medium selection on our discussion board.


Thanks, Bee



January 7, 2013

December's Creativity Challenge Results

December wrapped up a wonderful year of upcycled challenges!  Each month a selected Upcyclers shop chose an upcycled medium and asked participants to create something unique with it.

For December Stephanie from, Our Childrens Earth, selected old sweaters for a medium. She is pretty handy at upcycling sweaters in her shop as well!
We had an assortment of entries and Stephanie had a hard time choosing the winners!

Congratulations to this month's winners...

First place went to...




Second place went to...



All entries were pinned to our special Pinterest board!

The Wooden Bee will be selecting a medium and hosting the first 2013 Team Creativity Challenge. 
Look for details soon!

November 3, 2012

Upcyclers Creativity Challenge October Results: Jeans!



October was an exciting month for our monthly Upcyclers Creativity Challenge! Endure Designs selected DENIM JEANS for the medium and we had a TON of entries!!!

This left Karen, from Endure Designs, a difficult task to pick only two from such an amazing list!

The entries include:
Skirts
Greeting Cards
Gift Tags
Christmas Stockings
Necklaces
Heart Brooches
Zelda Pouches
Bow Brooches
Fingerless Gloves
Coiled Hot Pads
Tote Bag
Cuff Bracelet
Coiled Mat
Handbag
Bohemian Jeans
Hip Bag Belt Loop Pouch
Fringe Scarf Wrap
Bracelet
Backpack
Lunch Bag
Patchwork Quilt
Wrist Cuff
Earrings
and a Patriotic Vest

Amazing how many different items were created from upcycling old jeans! ALL entries can be found on our Creativity Challenge Pinterest Board.

And the First Place Winner is:


Adding to favorites...



Second Place Winner is:



Congratulations! Winners will have a featured badge on the front page of our blog for the entire month.

Thank you Endure Designs for hosting this giveaway.
Check out this Upcyclers shop for handmade burlap banners, upcycled steampunk clothing and more eco-friendly creations. This was Karen's entry:



Upcyclers shops should check out November's challenge, Luci from Idle Hands Yarn Supply has just selected a medium!

Happy Upcycling!

Thanks, Bee
The Wooden Bee

October 2, 2012

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


September 4, 2012

August Results for Upcyclers Creativity Challenge



Our challenge for August was to upcycle beauty product packaging. Most of us have mountains of grooming aids in eye-catching containers that end up in the trash. Why not find ways to make something beautiful out of what keeps us beautiful?

We had enthusiastic responses that brought in great ideas.

My three favorites were:


Rinnovato's shampoo bottle vase...

more photos available: Rinnovato's Facebook album.


La Gagiandra's apple ornament from a toothpaste tube...

 
 


Fairy Tale Fiber's belt buckle from a make-up compact...

 


Honorable mentions to


Sweet Someday's shipping station from hair product and pill bottles...

See her blog post for more details!
 

The Salvaged Edge's tribal pendant...



Rinnovato's second shampoo bottle...
 

See how Rinnovato did it here. AND she even used her leftover scraps to make earrings!

At my end, I upcycled a brooch and created embroidery hoop art with Vitamin C face capsules: www.scrollwork.blogspot.com



Bravo, everyone!


Marie from Swoosh by Scrollwork



All entries were pinned to our challenge's Pinterest board.


Be sure to check out our September Creativity Challenge that is going on! Luci from Idle Hands Supply selected old t-shirts for the medium! Good Luck!

August 3, 2012

July's Upcyclers Creativity Contest


This month's creativity challenge centered around a seemingly innocuous house construction element. I issued the following challenge to teamupcyclers:


"The challenge for this month is a drain spout. I bought one to redo my gutters and then (after spray painting it) discovered where I could get affordable rain chains. Now I have a 12' drain spout and nothing to do with it. To make this easier I will take entries consisting of any metal construction waste that is generally pipe shaped. Cans will not be accepted, although a stovepipe would."


Well, I had exactly one idea with what to do with it. But I was impressed by the ingenuity and talent of my fellow teammates. 

It was a tough choice. I was torn my favorite two. Sarah Kristen of SweetSomeday had the distinct advantage of creating wind chimes (which I love!) and so prevailed with her entry of her pipe wind chimes pictured here:


You can see her whole project from design to construction on her blog and here are a few items you can find at her shop:


The runner up was the intrepid M. Basile, Who created this beautiful pencil/ flower holder from an elbow piece of a drain pipe:

You can see her other work at her facebook page

Other honorable mentions include our own Wooden Bee who created aluminum candle holders

Marie took a different tact and used metal construction debris to create these personalized copper pendants.

All items entries can be found on our Upcyclers Creative Challenge Pinterest Board!

Congratulations to everyone and their creativity! Join us next month by following the next creativity challenge here.

Nikki


July 29, 2011

Weekly Giveaway: triSERIFtops!

Congrats to our follower: Silver~ the fifth entry in our giveaway last week from Good Memories Cafe! She'll be decorating her garden with her unique, upcycled mini totem from Elizabeth, who created it and sponsored the giveaway. Thank you so much to both of them and all who entered!

Jessie Katz, from triSERIFtops is this week's sponsor and her whimsically designed cards will put a smile on your face and the person you send them too! Designed to be versatile and economic, her 'checkbox' cards are also eco-friendly~ printed on 100% recycled paper using non-polluting renewable electricity.











Jessie Katz is also the owner of DESIGNosaurus~ where she creates and sells her gift card earrings as seen on the Today Show during Earth Week, 2011. She was a Top Ten finalist in the Art of ReUse Contest that focused on upcycled products. We are proud to call her a member of Upcyclers, our Etsy team of artists who Love 2 Upcycle! All of Jessie's jewelry is made from recycled and reclaimed materials, including plastic gift and credit cards, vintage and broken jewelry, scrap wood and more.

Although a full time freelance graphic designer, Jessie still finds time to learn more about design and typography and work on her own personal projects. She sells hand drawn colorful cards, original drawings and quality prints in triSERIFtops. Custom prints of her hand drawn alphabet designs are all available in her Alphabet Poster Series.








Jessie is giving away a set of four greeting cards, including three of her checkbox cards and the 'Congrats' card pictured above! And it's easy to enter~

First you must be a follower of Love 2 Upcycle to enter~ not a follower? Just look to the right and click on the 'Follow' button!

Then you can submit up to 4 entries, each must be entered HERE in a separate comment.


1. Browse and Favorite triSERIFtops and tell us here which shop item was your favorite.

2. Become a follower of her blog:  DESIGNosaurus~ Art, Craft & Graphic Design for tutorials, crafter profiles, inspiration and works in progress.

3.  Like Jessie's page: DESIGNosaurus (Jessie Katz) on Facebook or follow her tweets @ triSERIFtops.
4. 'Tweet' or 'Like' this Giveaway using our Like or Tweet button or Share a link to our Giveaway on your Facebook fan page.


Deadline to enter is Wednesday, August 3rd at midnight.
The WINNER will be randomly drawn and announced with our next giveaway~ Thursday, August 4th.

Good Luck!
 

Would you like to Sponsor a Giveaway on Love 2 Upcycle? You don't have to be a member of Upcyclers to be a sponsor, all Etsy sellers of upcycled or eco-friendly products are welcome! But of course, we'd love for you to join the team!

January 17, 2011

300+ Love 2 Upcycle~ That's a Whole Lotta LOVE!

Over 300 
PopTopLady
Artists have joined Upcyclers,
our Etsy team of artists who Love 2 Upcycle!
An amazing feat to accomplish in just over two months...

We have welcomed some of the earliest sellers of upcycled products on Etsy, like Pop Top Lady, one of the first to sell crocheted pop top creations. Another new member, OhNoUDidn't! Designs has been creating original recycled snack wrapper fashions since 2004, and now sells on Etsy.


Proudly diverse, our members create products from every material you can imagine! And for everyone also: men, women, children, pets! Then there's products for your home, garden, vehicle, patio, office... All with one common thread: Reducing waste. We have shop owners who have just opened as well, some who have just discovered their talents, self-taught and driven by their dreams. Others have been selling on Etsy since the beginning. Some of our artists have been schooled in the finest institutions, some have been taught or inspired by parents or relatives. And then there are those who, having had their own children, decided to instill a love for the planet, creativity and self-sustainability- or just wanted to be able to stay home with them!

Their stories are wonderful to read- little snippets of inspiration shared by a community of like-minded individuals who happened to find a niche for themselves with others who...
Love 2 Upcycle!




Sustainable Kids- Eco Warrior Polo




OhNoUDidn't! Designs




Igrek & Zed Dry Goods Co.




Recycled State by John Birdsong




Voight Metal - Robot Banks