Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Make a Gift for DAD!

What's better?

Another tie?

Or a handmade gift?

You know Upcyclers is all about handmade, so I'm sure you also know we recommend making something for Dad! Here's some great ideas I found that can get the kids' creative juices going and make Dad smile on his special day!

Mustache Mug Tutorial from The Tortoise and the Hare

Repurposed Tree Branch Tutorial from TRAASH!

The Mother Huddle.com

DIY Coasters from BHG.com

Office Organizer from BHG.com

Altoid's Tin Tool Box

Father's Day Trophies from smART Class

So there you go, lots of ways to let Dad know he's King for a Day~ Now go get your DIY on and Enjoy your Weekend!

;) Cat

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: Spring Garden Projects

Happy Spring!  This is the most fabulous season of the year, don't you think?  Well, certainly members of Team Upcyclers have caught a bit of the Spring fever and it shows in their recent blog posts, like this upcycled twig vase from TheWoodenBee:

Flower Vase Made from a Tin Can and Twigs

Swing by Bee's gardening blog to see how you can use a spent tin can and a few twigs to make your own.

And for those of you aching for Spring to arrive but sadly live where the flowers haven't yet started to bloom, how about crafting this fabulous scrap fabric flower from VickyMeyersCreations:

Scrap Fabric Flower

Besides a bit of scrap fabric, this easy peasy flower also uses a plastic washer and a button.  That's it!

So what Spring projects are you working on this weekend?

Happy DIYing! from Tricia at Upcycled Stuff

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ The Everything Soap Blog!

You know how much I love telling you about FREE stuff on Fridays? Well, last Friday, Courtney from The Everything Soap Blog shared a free recipe for a "Luxury Cold Process Shampoo Bar"!

Here's Courtney's original post from her blog:

Luxury Cold Process Shampoo Bar Recipe

This is one of my absolute favorite luxury shampoo bar base recipes. To it, you can add any colors and essential oils you think you would like. I call the base my “Avocado Shea” base. It’s pretty much a staple in my solid shampoo line. You’ll find variations that I create all the time.

I always like to create my own recipes. This is a very unique 100% luxury base. Every single additive serves the purpose of moisturizing and adding luster to dull locks. Please remember that I’m sharing this recipe for personal use only.

Ingredients by Weight
16 ounces avocado oil
11 ounces unrefined shea butter
8.25 ounces cocoa butter
8.25 ounces castor oil
5.5 ounces sweet almond oil
4 ounces jojoba oil
2 ounces olive oil
6.789 ounces Sodium Hydroxide
18.15 ounces aloe vera liquid

Optional
Any colorants you’d like to add
Up to 9 tablespoons essential oils - any blend you want

Mix Temp: 110 degrees
Rest Time Before Cutting: 3 days
Cure Time: 8 weeks

This recipe is going to create a solid shampoo bar batch of approximately 80 ounces [5 pounds].

If You’re New - A Newbie Guide

Safety
Please use all safety precaution. Making solid shampoo bars can be insanely dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Never work around pets or kids, work in a well-ventilated area. In fact, the first few hundred times you create a solid shampoo, work outside just to be safe. Always where a protective apron, gloves and eye gear. Always have all of your ingredients pre-measured and ready to go. Take your time. Be careful. Never reuse your hardware for cooking. Set them in a special area and only use them for creating cold process products in the future.

Hardware [besides all the safety gear]
Large glass measuring cup that handles high temperatures
5 pound cold process flexible soap Mold
Large sauce pan
2 candy thermometers

Directions
In a large sauce pot, bring the avocado oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, castor oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and olive oil to 110 degrees, and hold it there.

In a separate measuring cup filled with your sodium hydroxide, slowly and carefully add your aloe vera liquid. Keep your face away from the mixture and don’t breathe in the puff of smoke it makes. Slowly and carefully stir and let it sit, stir a little more and repeat until the mixture comes down to 110 degrees.

Take both of your mixtures that are holding a steady 110 degrees, and VERY carefully add the sodium hydroxide mixture to the oils. Using a stick blender, carefully blend until the mixture becomes trace.

What is Trace: Trace is when the soap mixture is thickened. You should be able to stir and see the stir marks for a few seconds before they blend back into the mixture.

If you’re adding any essential oils or colorants, add them now.

Pour gently into your mold. Wrap your little baby in towels and place in a dark place that isn’t too warm, or too cold and that isn’t too humid. You want it to cool down nice and slow. Leave it alone, AND DON’T PEEK AT ALL, for three days. I know…it will make you crazy. Just forget about it.

After three days, carefully pop your soap loaf out of the mold and cut into slices. It will look and feel like a fresh cheese. Nice and easy to handle. Don’t handle it with your hands. Use gloves and all of your safety gear. Set the slices on a wire rack in a not to cold, not to warm, dark place. You’re going to let them cure for 8 weeks before using them, turning them every week.

Check Out the Milk & Honey Naturals Solid Shampoo Line

Main Website // Etsy

You can also check out Courtney's recent Guest Room Makeover Project she finished recently!

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend~ Upcycling Holiday Ideas!

We told you it's beginning to look like an Upcycled Christmas last week~ Here's some ideas for you to make yourself and bring some upcycled Christmas decorations into the picture!

Upcycled Soda Bottle Penquins by Lucy from Craftberry Bush

Upcycled Christmas Tree Project from Mommy Labs

How about creating a tree from plastic bottles using an innovative kit from Design Pack Gallery~

Eco Friendly Christmas Wreath Ideas from Good Housekeeping

All Natural Fruit Ornaments from Good Housekeeping

Upcycled Cardboard Holiday Village Houses from even*cleveland

Upcycled Wine Cork Reindeer Ornament by Kim Bradley on Etsy

Upcycled Christmas Ornament Ideas on Pinterest

So look around you and see what you might be missing as potential craft materials~ Take on a DIY project this weekend and creatively reuse something --- UPCYCLE it into a cheery and festive Christmas decoration!

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~ It's Easy With Etsy!

Etsy makes it easy to do it yourself with craft kits and supplies galore! You can literally find thousands of items to use in your projects or buy a kit that has everything simplified for you. Here's just a few from our team and some other sellers who "Love 2 Upcycle" on Etsy!

Color Your Own Doll by Girl A GoGo Designs

Eco-Friendly Craft Bag by Katie Did Online

DIY Greeting Card Kit from Hoera

DIY Denim Ruffled Pillow Kit by State Of Muse

DIY Upcycled Wool Felt for Crafts by I dream in Green

DIY PDF for Upcycled Can Star by Lizard Skins

DIY Wine Cork Trivet Kit by The Wooden Bee

DIY Bunting Kit from Peony and Thistle

DIY Sew It Yourself Kit by Verabelle

DIY Mason Jar Floral Arrangement Lids by Treasure Again

Love 2 DIY~ Earth Day Edition!

Upcyclers believe EVERY day should be Earth Day~ and we try to practice sustainable lifestyles and craft methods that enforce that. We Love 2 DIY and we know our readers do to~ so this weekend we hope you'll try a project that involves upcycling a common object you might be thinking of tossing away! We've shared lots of project ideas on this blog which you can find in our archives or in our tag cloud. Today we'll share more, as well as a new Giveaway:
A handmade stamp by Terbear Collectibles that says 'Make Everyday Earth Day'! Perfect, right?

Terbear Collectibles Custom Stamp $16.99

But first we want to announce the winner of CHunks Of WOod's Giveaway! Who says number 13 is bad luck? It turned out very lucky for 'AlessandraVeg'! She's the winner of the Upcycled Reclaimed Wooden Earrings from Jason! Congrats, Alessandra~ and thanks again Jason for sponsoring our giveaway!

Don't Forget: Tomorrow is our Awesome 24 Hour Upcyclers Earth Day Sale~ be sure to stop by here for more details from Bee!

So now back to some DIY love! Stamping projects are hugely popular~ Terbear can tell you first hand with thousands of custom stamp sales, in fact they are the #1 seller of custom made rubber stamps according to EtsyWiki! So I was amazed that after we featured her PIF item recently as part of our T.G.I.Free series, she offered to sponsor our team with a giveaway~ talk about Paying It Forward! All you need for stamping projects is something to stamp on and stamps. Simple. Well, there's all kinds of companies out there selling fancy papers to stamp on, but Upcyclers love to find 'scrap' paper, junk mail and all kinds of other odd things to stamp on!

Like Paint Swatches!

& Recycled Cardboard!

On Brown Paper Bags~

and Vintage Newspaper!!

The list of 'throw-aways' you can stamp on goes on and on! So next time you think you have to have some expensive designer papers, think outside the box~ big box craft store, that is! Look around the house for old magazines, envelopes, old books and sheet music. Anything goes!

So now you've got some free paper you can use, you can afford some cool stamps, right? Especially since Terbear is offering an exclusive discount coupon code to our readers! Woohoo! Just use the code: love2upcycle for 10% off your purchase! Here's a peek at Terbear's rubber stamps from her Etsy shop! (Of course, I picked the Recycled Theme ones, lol!)

If you're like me, (addicted 2 stamps) you are so loving these~ and there's thousands more to choose from, not to mention the variations of custom made stamps you can order! But you can try to win the one we're giving away too! It's easy as can be to enter~

First be sure you are a follower of our blog~ But that doesn't count as an entry!

You can enter up to 4 times, but each entry must be left in a SEPARATE comment!
I wrote that really BIG cuz so many don't do that! boo. Also be sure to leave your email in at least one of your entries so we can contact you if you win. We promise not to bug you any other way, unless you sign up for email updates from our blog- hint, hint.

Okay, here's your choices:

1. Check out Terbear Collectibles on Etsy, favorite the shop and tell us here which stamp is your favorite!

2. Become a fan of Terbear Collectibles on Facebook!


3. Follow Terbear on Twitter @terbearco!


4. Pin an item from Terbear's shop on Pinterest!


5. Share this giveaway on Facebook or Tweet about it on Twitter~ we make that easy for you, just use our widgets above or below this article!

So that's it, just be sure to enter before Midnight on Sunday, April 29, 2012! And remember, four entries only, and each one in a separate comment.

Good Luck and Remember: 
Make Everyday Earth Day!