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

eco crafting: Wine Cork Magnets

 

How to Make Wine Cork Magnets
 

Materials needed:

Oak Wine Corks

Drill

Glue

Magnets

 

This is a messy project because of the cork that will be removed with the drill, so I would definitely cover an area, or do this project outside. Let’s get started…

 

 

First decide which side of your oak cork you would like to be the front of the magnet. You will drill a hole for the magnet on the opposite side. The size of the drill bit doesn’t really matter (unless it is bigger than your magnet). You are going to use the drill to dig out a shallow hole the size of the magnet.

 

 

Don’t worry the holes don’t have to be perfectly circular or anything special. As you dig out the cork with the drill you can stop and check to see if the magnet is fitting. You want the magnet to fit in flush with the cork. If you drill or dig too deeply into the cork, don’t worry either, that’s what the glue is for. I use both sides of an old paint brush to help get extra pieces of cork out of the way as I’m drilling.
 

Magnets

 

 

There are several magnets you can use. I selected Neodymium Rare Earth Magnets, size 3/8 x 1/16. I purchased a set from a cute little Etsy shop. Each little magnet can pull a little over 2 pounds and holds down several sheets of paper . What is important in magnet selection, is that they are stronger enough to hold what you would like, and small enough to fit nicely into your cork.
 

Glue

 

Now, we are ready to glue. I would recommend an industrial strength glue, like E-6000. It dries clear and is strong enough to hold the magnet to the cork while it is in use. I also like it because E-6000 is waterproof, non-flammable and washes off my hands easily. Just fill the drilled hole with glue and place the magnet in the center. If some glue oozes out or gets on the magnet, don’t worry it will peel off the metal when it is dry.

 

It is important to note here that the magnets will attract to each other while you are doing this project. Once glue has entered the picture, I would keep the corks with magnets drying in them, far away from other corks with magnets drying in them! I used some wood molding sticks to separate them, but you can use plates, cups, anything that would help separate the corks while keeping them face down (magnet up) to dry. E-6000 recommends you let the glue dry 24-72 hours. I found after 24 hours all was dry and ready for use.

 

 

This project allows you to showcase special wine corks. Like corks that are from a rare bottle of wine on a special anniversary, or unique corks that have pretty markings. I like to use oak wine corks that have natural wine staining on the ends.
 

 

Happy Wine Corking!

 

 

Check out my blog for more wine cork ideas, uses, and tutorials!

 

Thanks, Bee

The Wooden Bee

 

Upcycled Crafting: Part 3 of 5

Did you know that March 2012 is National Craft Month?! Well I've been telling you every Thursday all month long. :) Team Upcyclers has been celebrating the wonderful world of crafting by bringing you an entire month of Upcycled Craft Supplies! Each Thursday we've highlighted our Etsy shops that provide UPCYCLED crafting supplies.

The best part, each featured shop is providing our readers with... exclusive sales and coupons!!!

Here are this week's THREE upcycled handmade crafters and their awesome coupons!

Thoughtful Rose Supply

"I craft exclusively with recycled materials. My mission at Thoughtful Rose Supply is to enable and inspire other crafters to use recycled materials as well!"
Sharon, Thoughtful Rose Supply

I found this well said statement in Sharon's profile, along with an exquisite collection of beautifully photographed recycled yarn. Sharon upcycles cashmere, silk, wool, and other materials from discarded sweaters into recycled yarns.
  

Like this pretty Spring Green Cashmere Recycled Yarn


Or this Heathered Coral Pink Cotton Cashmere Blend Recycled Yarn

I loved this Caramel Brown Recycled Wool Yarn!

Thoughtful Rose Supply SALE:

Enter coupon code ETSYUPCYCLERS15 at checkout for 15% off your supply order! This exclusive offer is good for this month only! Follow Sharon on her amazing blog, which is full of sustainable conscious crafting!

The Wooden Bee

So I couldn't pass up an opportunity to promote upcycled crafting. Our business model is vital to this wonderful hobby.  We offer an array of upcycled craft materials, like both natural and colored corks.

Or our reclaimed cabinet doors, they offer a great canvas for all sorts of art and crafting.

Our bulletin board, trivet and coaster kits offer an eco-friendly frame box for saving & designing wine corks.

The Wooden Bee SALE:

Enter coupon code CRAFT2012 at checkout for 12% off your supply order! This exclusive offer is good for this month only! Follow the wood, and other upcycled materials, on our blog!

gr3een

We love this fun eco-friendly shop!  Annette, from gr3een, does a fabulous job creating and collection upcycled, eco-friendly items.

Soda Can Pop Tabs are a popular craft supply in this shop! 

And how beautiful are these chocolate brown recycled gift tags?!

This green shop even offers eco-friendly sea shells for crafting,

like these Shark Eye Shells!

gr3een SALE

Enter coupon code UPCYCLERS32012 at checkout for 10% off your supply order! This exclusive offer is good for this month only! Follow gr3een on Facebook for tons of environmentally conscious status updates!!! 

We hope you enjoy these unique upcycled crafters and their special sales! Check out all our team's craft sales this month HERE!

Happy Upcycled Crafting!

Bee
The Wooden Bee

Weekly Giveaway: Yellow Trailer!

After a bit of a hiatus, and after the hullabaloo of our Countdown to Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza, we are excited to get back to our Weekly Giveaways for the New Year! We have several lined up already, but welcome all of you to sponsor a Giveaway in 2012~ especially since we are averaging over 5000 views a month on our blog~ Love 2 Upcycle!

A while back, Mary from Yellow Trailer sponsored a giveaway for us with one of her custom typewriter key pendants. Now she is, once again, generously offering another unique, upcycled piece of jewelry to our fans! This time it is made from a chardonnay wine cork and elements from a coffee can of nuts, bolts and screws that she had in her garage!

I asked Mary for an update on her shop, named for the little 'Yellow Trailer' that hauls her goods to markets and fairs, and life in general~

Mary chose her path as an artist and jewelry designer when, after 20 years, her position was eliminated because of downsizing. She also discovered a passion for antiquing and vintage treasures which she resells in an antique booth and also at fairs. Mary told me she loves being an Etsy seller because it provides an outlet for all the creative juices flowing through her head! She's quick to say though that if you want to have a successful shop you have to work at it since "nothing comes from nothing. If you just sit on your fanny and watch time go by, you'll grow 'old' in a hurry!" When asked if she had any advice for others leaving lifelong jobs or retiring, she replied, "You've worked hard all your life, now it's time to do what you love. Find the joy in what you do, otherwise it's not worth the time!"

And that's what Mary has done~ her favorite thing about creating jewelry is seeing the joy and happiness on others' faces when they find one of her pieces and make it their own. Her Etsy shop works hand in hand with the one on one connection she gets selling at the local farmers market, since many will browse for her latest items online as well!

Mary's latest passion is for wine cork jewelry~ she discovered the beauty of wine corks while taking an Italian cooking class! Her latest creation was for the chef who taught that class, and whose favorite wine happened to be Savigny, for which Mary combined the cork from a bottle and sterling silver to create a necklace and earring set. The chef had also previously purchased several pieces from Mary for her employees! She loves working with the corks, since they make such lightweight jewelry and are easy to work with.

Custom Cork Necklace & Jewelry Set

Custom Cork Jewelry

Suncatcher

Canned Sunshine in Canning Jars

Pet Collar Charm

We know you'll love getting to know Mary~ and be sure to remember that she'd love to create something special just for you! And now for the Giveaway!

Entering our Weekly Giveaways is easy! Here's how:


First, be sure you are a follower of this blog, Love 2 Upcycle~ not a follower? Just look to the left and click. Voila! You are a follower. But you haven't entered yet.

Now, you can choose 4 of the following ways to enter, up to 4 times!
 
1. Check out Yellow Trailer and favorite the shop!
2. Add Mary to your circle!
3. Tell us here in a comment about your favorite item!
4. Tweet or share this Giveaway!
5. Pin one your favorite items from Yellow Trailer to Pinterest!
 
Remember, only 4 entries count, and each one must be left in a separate comment! If you don't have an email listed on your bio, leave it here in one of your comments. Deadline to enter is Midnight, January 18th!
Winner will be randomly drawn using Random.org's generator. 

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!