Monday's Makeover: Bring a little Summer Inside!

Here's a few ways to 'lighten' up your indoors and brighten things up!

Try tossing this fresh linen pillow from bylina onto a chair for a cozy look!

Have your own 'butterfly garden' on your wall~ Abounding Treasures creates these 3D collages!

A rag rug from Deb's Crochet is perfect for that cottage chic look~

Or this one from Sally Rags~ 'Welcome Sunshine!'

And denim blue coasters from Sunflowers by Design for your iced lemonade or tea? These are even big enough for mason jars!

And you can get the mason jars from Sparkklejar!

So give one of your rooms a Summer makeover for those rainy days when you need to provide your own sunshine indoors! You'll find lots more upcycled accessories from Upcyclers, on Etsy! Take a look at our galleries to find more ideas!

Love 2 DIY on the Weekend: Summer Projects!

Is your backyard ready for summer? Long sunny days that lead into cool moonlit evenings require a place to enjoy them and with the price of gas, it might be best to do that at home. Create your own little paradise with a few DIY upcycling projects that just might inspire you to come up with some of your own!

Erik Anderson's Wine Bottle Tiki Torch Tutorial provides quick and easy steps to lighting up your patio, island style!

Or if you love the look of a string of lights, try this idea from Instructables.com to make Egg Carton Flower Lights...

Celebrating Flag Day? Having a Fourth of July Picnic? Here's an idea from Daily Danny to display your red, white and blue~ green style!

Love to birdwatch? Bring them to you by building eco-friendly birdhouses from upcycled materials~ scrap wood, large plastic bottles or birdbaths from old terra cotta pots and saucers you might have on hand. Wenona Napolitano offers her own ideas and links to others on Crafting a Green World.

How about a potting bench made from an old fireplace mantle and a table? The Upcycler created one for his backyard that has a charming rustic look with lots of character...

Celebrate the best part of summer by nurturing your home and your spirit~ Being able to say 'I made it myself' and then sit back and enjoy what you created, is food for the soul!

Weekly Giveaway: Pine Branch Designs

Our sponsor this week is Cindy from Pine Branch Designs, a mountain girl from Western North Carolina where lots of pine trees grow! But first let's announce last week's winner~

#9~  The Wooden Bee! Congrats and Enjoy, Bee! You are in for a treat with this hot/cold cherry pit pack, it's like an organic at-home spa treatment to take your stress away! Thanks so much to all of you that entered and to Andrea from Saved by Grace Designs for sponsoring last week's Giveaway, YAY! And don't worry if you didn't win this 'Cheery Pack', Andrea has more and and you can purchase them in a variety of colorful patterns. Just browse her shop where you'll find other beautiful upcycled creations too! Andrea likes to blog, too~ Follow her at Whispers in the Silence...





Now back to this week's Giveaway!

Cindy enjoys the tranquil setting of her home in the mountains of North Carolina, where she has been teaching children with special needs for 16 years and counting! And she has more wonderful children to offer her tender loving care~ several grandchildren! Perhaps Cindy will inspire some of these young minds to follow her path and help our planet by upcycling waste materials into wonderful treasures like the ones she sells. Inspired by elements in nature- gardens, the forest, waterfalls, ice crystals...each item she creates is one-of-a-kind, unique and beautiful- earrings, bracelets, necklaces, watches, spa soap dishes, frames, beaded bookmarks and ornaments~ rustic animal prints, adorable snowman, primitive pumpkins, and zany reindeer! And upon request, each gift can be sent with an ORIGAMI GIFT POUCH made from renewed materials~ old magazines, calendars, wrapping paper and catalogs, her husband cuts and folds each one by hand!

Cindy would love to help you extend the life of your handmade and store bought soaps with natural cedar or pine soap dishes. The design of these soap dishes help absorb water and promote quick drying. They are GREAT in the shower! They are also useful for drying sponges at the kitchen sink or airing out steel wool. You can win a set of 6 of these natural soap dishes in your choice of pine, cedar or a combination of three of each from Pine Branch Designs this week by just browsing, sharing, tweeting or subscribing to her "tiny" newsletter!

It's easy to enter!

Just browse, follow, tweet and share~ Here are the details:

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!

You can submit up to four entries, each must be entered HERE in a separate comment.

1. Browse Cindy's shop, Pine Branch Designs, and tell us which item was your favorite.

2. 'Favorite' and 'Like' her shop on Etsy, Pine Branch Designs. 

3.  Subscribe to Cindy's "tiny" newsletter or follow her on her Facebook page.

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, June 15th at midnight.

The WINNER will be randomly drawn and announced with our next giveaway~ Thursday, June 16th.

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!

Email us at: teamupcyclers@gmail.com Tell us about the item for the giveaway and provide us with a link to your shop.

Meet & Greet: Celtic Steam

Genevieve's creations have elements of a medieval Celtic style, a feel of our industrial past, and a neo-Victorian decadence.

In her Etsy shop you will find a little of everything, and it's all recycle and upcycled objects. She works with yarn, silverware, acrylic, glass, gems, fabric, paper and junk.

Pendant made from a teaspoon

I asked Genevieve a few question about herself and her shop here is what she had to say:

Tell us a little about yourself and what you sell.
I've been crafting something as long as I can remember. My mother taught me to sew, knit, and craft in general...I owe her a lot. I'm a historian by day, so lost arts fascinate me most. I'm a mother of two boys. One of them I raised by myself until a few years ago. When I was 18 I worked in a factory, did very little crafting. I came to the conclusion my life had to change. I went to college, started sewing again, all while raising my son on my own. I wanted him to see me being true to myself, I couldn't tell him to follow his dreams if I didn't do the same. Having my own shop has always been one of my dreams, so selling on etsy allows me to have an online shop in an easy and inexpensive way.

Hair pin fork made from an up cycled hanger 

What is your favorite thing about creating?
For me the creative process is something that I need in my life. When I don't make jewelry, I make hats. When I don't make hats I sew. When I don't sew I write. If I am not creative in some way I fall into a depression. It's how I balance the stress in my life....at the end of the day I make something.

Broach made from a vintage table knife

Why did you decide to work with upcycled/recycled/repurposed/vintage materials?
There is a challenge in making something from old cast off items. When I'm done there is a patina of decadence and romance I think. There's also that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you save something from the land fill! I work with silverware because someone gave me a whole box of it. I'm working on a lot of fascinators because someone gave me a bag of ribbon. I'm about to start working with vinyl records, because they were given to me. People give me “junk” because they know I'll make something with it.

What is your favorite thing about running your etsy shop?
My favorite thing about having an etsy shop is being part of an online community of people that have the same thoughts and feelings about creativity. I love to see what other creative people do!

Fork ring with pearls and citrine

What inspires you to create/sell what you do?
My focus is always about using upcycled, sale, and donated stuff. For me there is a challenge in making beautiful things out of what you've got and what you can get.

Currently my sole online presence is at my etsy shop
www.celticsteam.etsy.com

Thanks Genevieve for sharing with us this week!

See you next week,
Valerie
Everyday Inspired

How~ Tuesday! A Tute from Eco Warrior!

  Just a little something different this Tuesday! Thought this would go perfectly with our Giveaway this week, since it involves cherry pits or pips as Laurette from Eco Warrior calls them! Be sure to enter the giveaway for the hot/cold "Cheery Pack" from Saved by Grace Designs before Midnight, June 8th!

 

 

Upcycle Jewellery tutorial~

from Eco Warrior:

         Make a bracelet from cherry

                     pip beads

You will need:
-Cherries
-Small drill bit, 1.5mm
-Elastic thread
-Needle
-Drill or a Dremel 
 
Fruit seeds and pips were used during the prehistory to make beads. They were probably the earliest kind of jewellery along with shells, feathers and bone. They are still used in country that have abundant supply's of lovely coloured seeds such as Brazil. Here in Europe, there are a few that can be used and cherry pips are easy to get hold of. For this tutorial I have used wild cherries, they are smaller and plentiful in the hedgerows in western France but you can use shop bought, the pips will be larger.

Cleaning the pips
Although wild cherries are bitter it is possible to cook them up with some sugar and eat them. Simmer slowly until the pulp comes off the pip. If you have shop bought or garden cherries then all you have to do is eat them and clean them inside your mouth.

Wash, scrub if necessary and dry, when they are dry rub them together to get rid of the bits of dried cherry that might be left. 

 

Drill a hole through the pip ( there is a natural dip at the top of the cherry so start here) The pip is hollow, drill through the first section and continue to the second bit do not apply too much pressure as it will slightly crack the outside of the pip.
String the pip beads on the elastic  thread. You could also make necklaces and earrings with the beads.

The darker cherry pip on this bracelet were found on the ground under the tree they seem to have been coloured by the rotting pulp.

The natural oils on the skin will in time give the bracelet a lovely patina.

Did you know that there has been a long tradition of making herbal tea from the cherry stems, it is used as a diuretic. Here is a link to a recipe.




A big thanks to Laurette for sharing this tutorial with us! Be sure to check out her shop on Etsy~ Becycle Trashion Jewellery! You love her upcycled jewelry! And be sure to check out her blog, Eco Warrior Jewellery, for more tutorials and posts about upcycling!