Love 2 DIY on the Weekend: Summer Projects!

Summer is great for sun and fun, but it's also the best time of the year to get your DIY on! Here are tons of different projects you can tackle every weekend this Summer!

Repair the World~ DIY Summer - Eco-Friendly Projects for Everyone

30 Days of Easy Summer DIY with Bob Vila

Great Ideas~ 22 Summer Decoration, DIY and Inspiration Projects!

33 DIY Ways to Have the Best Summer Ever from BuzzFeed

15 Outdoor DIY Projects for Summer from Arpartment Therapy

DIY Fun Summer Projects On Pinterest from Christina Tran

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Christmas Centerpieces!

The first impression your Holiday dining table makes is usually based on the centerpiece and then your settings. This year, why not bring some fresh and eco friendly style and sparkle to the table? Here's some of my favorite finds on Pinterest and even if some may not use all upcycled, recycled or reused materials you can certainly put your own creative spin on these ideas.

For example, try using some mismatched stacked dishware and cups with packages wrapped with leftover wrapping and ribbons and some clippings from your tree...

Even old spaghetti jars would be perfect for this~ Use pines or twigs from the yard to make it more wintery and Christmas fabric and ribbon! Maybe even a candy cane or two...

This one was designed for a wedding but would be perfect for the holidays! Use painted tin cans or old pots for the base, rocks in the base will hold the little tree or use a branch from your tree. You can sprinkle the snow on it or try using mini garlands of tiny beads.

White paint poured and swirled into used wine bottles are perfect upcycled vases for sprigs of any twigs or greenery or go with the silver or white theme.

Here's another idea for those old spaghetti or mason jars~

I love this upcycled coffee pot centerpiece!

And don't forget the little ones~ this one is perfect for the children's table!

No matter what style your looking for to dress your table in~ be sure to make it GREEN this year! The simpler the design the easier it is but even fancy, intricate centerpieces can be made from upcycled materials!

Enjoy your weekend DIY'ing!
;) Cat

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

To Pin or Not to Pin?

Do you use Pinterest? Millions do, and not just to pin items of interest~ the original concept behind the site. Companies and organizations are using Pinterest for marketing, including us! We have not been on Pinterest long and already have over 200 followers~ but some of our boards have twice that many followers! Etsy jumped on board (no pun intended) by adding a pin button to all listings~ and most bloggers have a pin button as well. You can also install a Pin It button to your toolbar enabling you to pin any image from the page you're on to a board.

There's a bit of finesse and courtesy involved with Pinterest, as with any social networking media. You don't want to spam or over promote your own products, and you shouldn't mass follow~ Pinterest won't let you anyway, it's against their Terms of Use policies. But used wisely, it is now one of the most effective marketing tools currently available! Here are a few infographics, ironically found on Pinterest, that will shed a little light on the statistics and impact it can have.

So there you have a small sample of the infographics out there about Pinterest~ believe me there are many more, as well as tutorials, guides and statistical analyses. If you're on Pinterest, I hope this encourages you to utilize the network for more than its addictive fun. If you're not~ here's a couple more links (look closely, this article already has several!) that will help get you started! But be careful, what you've heard is true~ it's highly addictive!

Pinterest 101- A Tutorial

Getting Likes & Comments on Your Pinterest Boards

One last note~ if you need an invite, just send us an email to teamupcyclers@gmail.com and we'll invite you!

I'm off to Pin!

;) Cat

Style Report: Eco-Chic & Upcycled Fashions for Mom!

Here's some of the trends we predict for summer~ eco-chic, light, breezy, fun and flirty! Best of all~ Upcycled!

All of these items can be purchased on Etsy right now! Just click on a collection and it will take you to Polyvore.com where each item will click back to the original listing on Etsy! Have fun shopping for mom (or for yourself, lol!) and check back with us soon for another Style Report from Upcyclers!

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?

Upcyclers UPDATE!

Since April is winding down, so quickly I might add, it's a great opportunity to announce some of our terrific news so far this year!

First and foremost~ We now have over 2000 members on our Etsy team of Upcyclers! That is the foundation of our entire effort and most important aspect of what we do. We upcycle and sell on Etsy. Our mission of course is to further the upcycling movement around the planet and support the concept of handmade, vintage and small, enterprised-based businesses. Yes, we use a worldwide venue like Etsy, and some of us use others as well like Artfire, Bonanza, Meylah and many others, but the concept is still to support artists and home based businesses. We are so proud of our members, they work tirelessly to spread the word about upcycling, our team, environmental awareness, charitable efforts and to present themselves as a united community of Upcyclers!

Go Green!

Our fanbase is huge! Thanks to you, our readers, we are rocking the Social Media networks with over 1500 fans on Facebook, but that said, we have the potential to reach over 500,000 of your friends also! There's close to 1500 of you that follow our tweets, too. We have over 700 followers on our blog, but we also have over 8000 views each month on our blog! Now we even have a Pinterest account and everyday at least a dozen new followers there too. We also publish a paper now via Paper.Li and even that fanbase is growing by leaps and bounds.

We've added to our staff! You can check them out on our 'Take Me To Your Leaders' page and get to know them by checking out their links. It's a 'page in progress' like our staff, so keep checking back for more info and additions! So far we've added Stephanie, Marcy and Luci, all enthusiastic members dedicated to taking Upcyclers to the next level!

What does all this mean? Besides the fact that we feel sooooo loved, lol! It means that upcycling is here to stay. It's not a trend. It's a necessity. And we are doing our part: members, fans, readers, tweeters, pinners, you name it. We are doing it! And all of us should be proud of it.

Upcycled Valentines Ideas

Since I have an ever growing love for Pinterest, I wanted to share these upcycled Valentines ideas found pinned to my Pinterest boards. Like the above Upcycled Heart Paper Garland, which can be made from newspapers or old book pages.

Or these leftover paint swatches and some stamps make fun Valentines cards.

Broken crayons? Don't throw them away. Pop them in the oven for 15 minutes at 230 degrees and you'll have these adorable Valentines creations.

Recycled Egg Carton Art.

Upcycle your old photos into this adorable heart garland.

Here's a few upcycled creations found in our Upcyclers Etsy shops as well:  

Upcycled LOVE Burlap Banner by enduredesigns

I Love Him, I Love Him Not - Recycled B-Lights Soy Wax Candles by EcoImbiber

Heart Recycled Paper Note Cards by sparklytrash

Romantic Gift Box made from upcycled silk threads by brizel4TheAnimals

Upcycled Heart Embellishments by ITSYOURCOUNTRY

Search on Etsy teamupcyclers love or teamupcyclers valentines for more wonderful handmade and upcycled creations!

Wishing you an eco-friendly Valentines Day,
Bee
The Wooden Bee
www.thewoodenbee.com

Upcycled Gift Wrap Ideas

The upcoming holiday frenzy will be here soon. What are you or your shop doing to get ready? Here at the Wooden Bee, we offer free gift wrap for the holiday season, and I'm in the process of getting my wrapping materials ready.  Of course our sustainable shop only offers upcycled, recycled free gift wrapping!  Last year we had brown recycled craft paper hand stamped with red and green bumble bees and upcycled ribbon bows. :)
While doing some research for this year's eco-friendly gift wrap, I found some great ideas, and wanted to share them with my Upcycling friends!  Most of my ideas can also be found on my Pinterest account, where I found some of them. I also tried to link the images to their clever tutorials when they were available.

Recycled craft paper, brown recycled shipping paper, brown paper grocery bags, and newspaper seem to be popular staples in eco-friendly gift wrap ideas.  Here are several ways to decorate the eco-friendly papers:

 

I found the above idea on Pinterest and then realized it was from one of our Upcyclers shops! We're everywhere. Yay!

Here are some other clever ways of wrapping your gifts, from wrapping a gift with a gift, to using maps, music sheets and discarded vintage materials.

 

And one more... whatever ecofriendly gift wrapping you use, save your strap pieces and run them through a shredder. They will make lovely stuffing for your gifts, can be used in the place of tissue paper, or used as shipping materials for your packages and orders.

Happy Upcycling...Christmas is only 50 days from now! ;)

~Bee

www.thewoodebee.com

inspired to recycle wood