Love 2 Upcycle: Upcyclers

Showing posts with label Upcyclers. Show all posts

October 9, 2013

Wednesday's Welcome!

It's been a long time since we've brought you daily posts on our blog~ a huge thanks to Bee from The Wooden Bee and Tricia from Upcycled Stuff for keeping us going even as intermittent as we've been! Without them, we may have fallen to the wayside like so many other blogs. I have had one tough year, and I don't know what I would have done without them and the other team leaders on Etsy I have come to love and count on. They, too, have had their own tough and busy times and have managed to still keep us posted with contest results, articles, discussion threads, tweets, Facebook posts, treasuries and our weekly Linky Parties. They have taught me the meaning of the word TEAM.

That said, I hope with our upcoming third anniversary on November 8th, we can start a new wave of consistent activity in our upcycling movement with new and exciting things to put us back on track. We are looking for more contributors to our blog, social networks and Etsy discussion threads, as well as developing new features and, ultimately, a new website with more to offer everyone. So with that said~ here is the first!

Wednesday's Welcome!

Each week we will feature three new Upcyclers~ either from our team on Etsy, our Twitter followers or our fans on Facebook. Whichever venue we find each week's featured upcycling artists, writers or companies, we promise to bring you something awesome and interesting every Wednesday. All we ask is that you welcome them by checking out their shops, pages, websites, blogs, etc. Whether you tweet, share, tumble, stumble, pin, comment or purchase~ show your Love 2 Upcycle by supporting your fellow Upcyclers!

But don't think we are going to neglect our dedicated and long time Upcyclers, we've got plans for you, too! We will sponsor new contests and giveaways, revamp our Blogs 2 Love and share more DIY ideas, tutorials, and links to the most innovative sites we can find so we can inspire you to keep upcycling and living a sustainable lifestyle. Our world is rapidly changing it's attitude toward what we do and it's up to us to show everyone it's not a trend~ it's a necessity. We all must face the need to adapt to the demand for accountability for how we use the resources of our world and to be responsible inhabitants of not just this planet, but the universe. The beauty of the internet and social networking is the opportunity it affords us to reach out globally to spread the word with an impact.

But we need your help. No one can do it alone, we have to do it together.

Our thanks again to all of you and~ Welcome to this week's new Upcyclers...

The first is a new member of Upcyclers on Etsy. Why this one? You are going to love how they describe upcycling. I could not have said it better myself...

Studio ABCD

A graduate from National Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore, India, and a student of architecture, Raahul Khadaliya has immersed himself in a sustainable lifestyle that is emulated in his innovative, yet traditionally based products. Using a handmade, eco-friendly method of block printing firmly routed in his culture, he creates brightly colorful and artistic gift wrap from discarded newspaper, as well as other products. Yet, even more beautiful is how he describes why and what he does:

"It is high time now to link things we have used, to the things we will use, and this link between the two holds a promise to a sustainable possibility for future. We know the grave possible problems in times to come, and its ironic that we don’t do much to help the situation. The solution is as simple as rethinking the complete design process incorporating ideologies like cradle to cradle design into both minor and major systems of creation. The need of the hour is to justify the energy, raw materials, human resources and other natural energy that are used in creation of a product and question ourselves each time we discard any thing we use.

To expect a third party to save the environment is passé, when everyone of us can help the cause by re-using things of daily requirements…" ~Visit his shop and profile to read more of his philosophies. He also illustrates his idealogy and method in an amazing infograph on his website.

B - Reloved

Our next Welcome is to another new member on Etsy~

"If the only thing that can not be recycled is wasted time, I thought I might as well put my time and any God given talent I have into making things beautiful by using the power of Recycle. Mission: To bring a creative approach to recycling."

We, in all honesty, prefer to call Christa Behen's approach to the art of recycling~ upcycling, but we also know that many still are more familiar with the term recycling. No matter, it's beautiful!

A hearty welcome also to a new fan on Facebook~ Redeemed, a Museum/Art Gallery in Sharon Pennsylvania, held it's Grand Opening on September 28th! This shop looks amazing, I wish I could take a trip north just to see all the wonderful upcycled treasures it holds! Stop by if you are in the area, or give them a 'Like' and a Welcome on Facebook!

We hope you've enjoyed meeting these three new Upcyclers! I can't wait to Welcome more of you next week!

;) Cat

September 12, 2013

The UncommonGoods Upcycle Design Challenge!

Our team has been invited to participate in the 2013 UncommonGoods Upcycle Design Challenge! The grand prize is $500.00 and there are no entry fees! Here are the basics straight from the UncommonGoods website:

GRAND PRIZE: $500 and an UncommonGoods vendor agreement.

RUNNERS UP: All runner-ups will receive a critique of their work from the guest judges, and UncommonGoods' marketing team will provide tips for marketing and growing their businesses. Additionally, UncommonGoods' buyers will review each entrant's full portfolio and may consider adding the work submitted to the UncommonGoods website in the future.

DEADLINE: September 30, 2013 at 11:59 PM ET

WHAT CAN I SUBMIT? We want to see anything and everything - from handbags to kitchen tools, from gadgets to wall art. As long as your design has an upcycling story, we want to see it!

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN "UNCOMMON" ARTIST? Your design should be expressive, it should tell a compelling story, and it should highlight your individuality.

WHAT KINDS OF MATERIAL CAN I USE? We accept all sorts of materials as long as they are safe and animal-friendly-so no lead, leather, feathers, or pearls. We love unique materials, especially those that tell an interesting story, so don't forget to share your medium's tale with us in your product description.

WHAT DO I SUBMIT? We will need your contact info, product info, photos and an optional video. You can share 1 to 5 images through the entry portal with the choice to feature a single item or a collection. We judge each item individually, but would love to see your body of work. If you would like us to view more than five images, please provide us with a website or portfolio link. You can find the entry form located on the bottom of this page.

GOT A QUESTION? Browse through the rules, or send an email to upcycling-contest@uncommongoods.com. Please fill out your contact info completely before you upload your images. Remeber to double-check the email address entered to ensure that it's valid.

So there you have it! You can find out more about UncommonGoods on their website. I know our team has tons of fantastic submissions to offer, let's show them what Upcyclers can do!

Good Luck, Everyone~ and we promise to keep you posted on the results!

August 17, 2013

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ with Upcycled Stuff!

Sometimes you just have to hit a 'typo' to find a treasure on the internet!!

I was on YouTube looking for some upcycling videos to post on our Facebook page and I tried typing in upcycled and didn't come up with much. So I tried upcycled stuff. Only I forgot the space!

Well, there was Tricia and her 'Upcycled Stuff'!

But when I had tried that in the past, I never saw her. But I had typed the space between upcycled and stuff. And no Tricia.

What's my point?

I am always boggled by search engines. They skip the most relevant results and give you random stuff sometimes that is so irrelevant!

Lesson learned? Try some quirky search tags, try eliminating the space, sometimes you even have to tell Google to shut up and listen, that what you typed is what you wanted and no, you didn't mean something else! Upcycled has been considered misspelled every time I enter it anywhere, but one day, they might just recognize the term. In the meantime, keep searching for jewels like Tricia's Upcycled Stuff (without the space for now) DIY Videos.

Which by the way was the real point of this post!

Here's some of her most popular ones, the number of views range but I came up with about 100,000 views on her various tutes before I stopped counting!

Who knew we had a 'DIY Diva' in our midst? I have been so grateful to Tricia for all her hard work on our Linky Parties, and now I am also grateful to have someone so motivated and creative on our team! I admire her drive and dedication, without her (and Bee) we would have had a pretty boring blog these past months due to my absence for family reasons.

So here's a shout out to you, Tricia, our resident blog extraordinaire and 'YouTube' star!!! Keep reaching for the moon!

August 14, 2013

Domino's National Upcycling Collaboration

We are always pushing the team concept as part of our mission to spread upcycling through our strength in numbers~ but occasionally it is the outstanding singular effort of one member that demands our recognition and gratitude for the individual's achievements.

Liz Ohsiek deserves that and more~ And we are so incredibly proud to call her a member of Upcyclers!

Domino's recently changed their marketing strategy including a newly designed logo~ and in an effort to reduce waste decided to UPCYCLE their stock bearing the previous logo. Liz told us all about it in a recent blog post:

"I don’t usually like to talk about myself. At least not important stuff. I’ll bore my friends with the minutia of life (what I had for breakfast, what craft my kids are working on, how many loads of laundry I folded, blah blah blah) but when it comes to my own shop and business, I don’t typically share. Maybe I just don’t think anyone really cares — and I don’t like to sound braggy (especially when I don’t have tons of faith in myself). I know, I have issues.

BUT – right now, I want to tell you about a really exciting project that I’m participating in. I’m going to toot my own horn for a minute. Ah-OOO-gah!!

Several months ago, Domino’s Pizza contacted lil’ ol’ me (ME!!) to tell me about their Second Hand Logos project. They recently changed their logo, and rather than throw away all of the old ones, they’ve asked independent craftsmen and artists like me to upcycle the old stock into new creations. I am one of 10 artists nationwide to participate in this amazing initiative.

The project was unveiled on June 17, and since then there has been a bit of online buzz including a Yahoo! Finance article that used my photograph and mentioned my name. (You can check that out here. My 15 minutes of fame! There are also articles that use my product photos here, here and here).

Domino’s sent me some employee t-shirts, pizza boxes, and food wrappers all displaying the old logo. I made them into scarves, notebooks, and bowls."

Making Domino’s Scarves from old stock t-shirts

Pizza Box Notebooks

Paper Bowls

These items are available for purchase in Liz's Etsy shop! And you can see all of the talented artists and their creations at www.SecondHandLogos.com

It is fantastic to see the upcycling movement recognized by a global corporation like Domino's. Collaborative efforts like this inspire our team to continue creating art, crafts and practical goods from what the world once considered "TRASH"! Perhaps one day we will look back and wonder why we abandoned the centuries' old tradition of 'using it up and wearing it out' for what has become a largely, throwaway society. Until then, we thank Liz Ohsiek for dedicating her talent to Upcycling and for being a member of Upcyclers!

*Editor's Note~ Read Liz's opinion about "What is Upcycling?"

August 6, 2013

Guest Post~ Jane Koopman

Lessons Learned at the ROM

Recently, my husband and I visited the Royal Ontario Museum, commonly known as the ROM, in Toronto, Ontario. The ROM is an amazing place, full of natural specimens and cultural artifacts. You'd need a few weeks to fully explore the entire collection.

Because we only had a day, my husband and I decided to focus our attention on the museum's third floor, which features artifacts from many world cultures from prehistory to the 20th Century. As we strolled through the African baskets, eastern Buddhas, Egyptian cat mummies, Grecian pottery and Rococo furniture, I felt inspired and affirmed as an artist. Maybe that's obvious: a trite reaction. But there were two things in particular that I realized in a refreshing and uplifting way.

Greek pottery from the ROM's collection (photo from the ROM).

The first thing that struck me like a two-by-four was the fact that art, adornment and beauty have been a necessary part of culture from the beginning of time. As an artist/artisan, I sometimes wonder, "What's the point? Nobody really needs the stuff I create." These misgivings were clearly challenged by what I saw at the ROM. Through many ages of history, artists and craftspeople were highly esteemed in all cultures, and their work touched every aspect of life: birth, work, celebration and death. Artistic items like beads and jewelry were sometimes used as currency. Jewelry and decorative, artistic detail in clothing have been part of every world culture as soon as people could work metal and weave fabric. In other words, art has always been integral to life. In fact, without art, the ROM would have very few cultural artifacts, and we would know very little about the people who came before us.

The second affirmation I experienced during my visit to the ROM was that upcycling and repurposing are age old practices. People have always used the everyday objects around them to create art, clothing and jewelry. I saw jewelry made from the garbage and trifles of ages past: bone, seed pods, animal teeth, stones, scraps of leather and wood, tiny pieces of shell. Feathers, fur and hair were incorporated into art, masks and even weapons. I think it's only since industrialization that people have had the "luxury" to waste. We can learn a lot from the multitudes who lived before industrialization about finding practical and beautiful uses for scraps and shards. I've always thought of my efforts in upcycling as being mindful of the present and future, but now I see they're also deeply connected to the past.

The ROM's beautiful South Asian Gallery, with a stunning tapestry in the background (photo from the ROM).

July 27, 2013

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Is For the Birds!

If you love birds in your backyard habitat, we've got some way out and somewhat, wacky upcycled inspiration for some cool habitats for your winged visitors~ If you don't want to DIY, some of these birdhouses are available for sale in the artist's studio or online shop.


Brian Carlisle~ GadgetSponge.com

It's a Crazy Life...what craft is Sam working on now?


The Guilty Crafter~ confessions of a domestic Goddess wannabe


Upcycled Garden Style...a website from Gardens Inspired


April Crafternoon@ fdlpl.org


Tale of Twisted Fibers


Mama's Nook

EcoCycled

So look around your garage, basement or attic and turn an old treasure or tossed away article into an upcycled home for your feathered friends!

Have a fantastic weekend!
;) Cat

July 4, 2013

IT'S A RED, WHITE & BLUE UPCYCLED FOURTH!

We hope all of our Upcyclers' friends and members from the USA enjoy their
Fourth of July with their loved ones! Here's a tribute to the Red, White & Blue represented by handmade, upcycled products from our team!