How to Reuse it Creatively » Fantastic Finds

Fantastic Finds Friday: Ruffles

Lauren — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:44:14 +0000

I am not the greatest at keeping up with the trends, but I will say I have noticed a great deal of blog posts and websites dedicating tutorials and space to ruffles. I have no problem with this because I love ruffles. I have a ruffled dress and a ruffled skirt on my things to do list that seems to continuously grow on a daily basis. Anyway, back to ruffles.

I thought I would share my fun and fantastic finds that involve the lovelyness that is ruffles:

kojodesigns gives us a funky ruffled pillow!

Midwest Magnolia shows us how to fancy up an everyday towel.

As if baby girls aren’t already cute enough, imagine adding ruffles! Homestitched will show you how.

Add ruffles into your home decor with WhipperBerry’s Spring Wreath

Here is another ruffled pillow kojodesigns!

Why not add a little ruffle flair to your tshirt? Thanks Bromeliad!

If I missed any, do let me know!

Fantastic Finds Fridays- Sunshine I am in love with the sun. I love the...

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Fantastic Finds Fridays- Sunshine

Lauren — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:01:44 +0000

I am in love with the sun. I love the way it feels when it hits my face. I love when it sneaks through my bedroom window in the morning to say hello. I love when it sets down at night and gives off hints of red, purple and pink just so I have something to look at out my window. This week I wanted to share some sunshine with you all. So, behold! Stuff that inspires me that I am making the grand assumption was inspired by the sun and its shine.

1. kojodesigns

2. Intimate Weddings

3. shannon makes stuff

4. versus

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Fantastic Finds Friday: Amazing Transformations

Lauren — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:44:34 +0000

I have always been a fan of Before and After photos. They are so inspiring and give me a ton of ideas for when I have some space in my house to work with. My list of upcycling projects is growing quickly.

Here are some awesome Tranformation upcycling posts I found this week.

The first is such wonderful work by Infarrantly Creative. An old tube television and its cabinet into a new blue shelving unit. The craftsmanship is amazing.

Before

After

So cool!

How about a new way to use an old quilt that is full of sentimental value? Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made has posted a beautiful tutorial on how to turn a piece of quilt fabric into a necklace. I love the idea of having something with so many memories around your neck and so close to your heart.

There are a great deal of tutorials for upcycling Altoids which makes me happy. I think my favorite is the mini tool box. It is just so cute! This awesome idea comes from AlphaMom.

Design Sponge has a whole section on their blog dedicated to Before & After projects. I love what they did with light fixtures! Check out this after shot. They turned them into new and super unique flower vases.

Before After!!!

Speaking of lights, here’s a beautiful way to upcycle wine bottles. Thanks to Green Your Decor for posting this image!

So, check around your home, you may have some old tired befores that would make excellent AFTERS!

Send photos my way if you want to share your Before and After stories! Send them to info (at) how to reuse it creatively. com

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Fantastic Finds Friday – Ice Cream, potato chips, and soup cans.

Lauren — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:09:17 +0000

Make your own Ice Cream Pops! Oh my gosh, these look so VERY delicious. The hardest part will be waiting for the ice cream to firm up around the stick.

MMMM….and then there’s Maple Ice Cream! with candied walnuts.

How about reusing some potato chip bags to make a book cover?

If Audrey Hepburn were a dog (thanks automatism!)

Tamar Hogendorff makes some really cool stuff. It feels natural and cartoonish at the same time. How is that possible?

Save your large tin cans and reuse them as overhead lights! Check out ReadyMade and get inspired.

Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend. I will be catching up on laundry and hopefully sewing some new purses and things.

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Fantastic Finds Fridays: Upcycled Skirts.

Lauren — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:18:47 +0000

As far as I am concerned, summer = skirts. I love wearing skirts. Especially soft, cuddly and poofy skirts. Since I am teaching myself to sew upcycled clothing, I wanted to check out my predecessors on the Internet. Skirts seem to be one of the most popular type of clothing to upcycle, so I found some great pieces to inspire me to get to work!

Enjoy the imagery!

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Fantastic Finds Fridays: Upcycled Tshirts.

Lauren — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:11:36 +0000

I am a clothes makin’ newbie and hope to have a wonderful new product line to show off by the end of the year. Until that happens, I am in search of inspiration from my fellow upcyclers out there. This week I concentrated on googling “upcycled T shirts” and “shirts made from recycled material” to see what I could round up for a nice picture post.

Here are some of my favorite upcycled t shirts from other upcyclers around the globe.

During my scavenger hunt I also found a cool new website! Teecylce.org

Think recycling for awesome t-shirts. The founders of the company find cool shirts tucked away at yard sales and thrift shops and sell them online. They donate $1 from each purchase to support the River Revitalization Foundation. I love this idea. Now, as a consumer, you can make a conscious choice to by used! And this guy and gal will do the preliminary shopping for you. Great idea.

I am off to experiment with making some t-shirts from recycled materials!

Thanks to the following websites and blogs for providing such inspiring work!

http://www.glampyre.com

http://www.recycledlovelies.com

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net

http://rarebirdfinds.typepad.com

http://www.craftstylish.com

http://blogs.babble.com

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Fantastic Finds Fridays: Upcycled Headband.

Lauren — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:11:26 +0000

Wow! There are so many materials that one can use to make an upcycled headband! From t-shirts to measuring tape to bike tubes! I love the creativity that I have found this week while hunting down my favorite examples of headbands made from recycled materials. Way to go upcycling artists! Keep those creative juices flowing.

I love upcycling and recycling materials because it makes me feel like a kid again. The possibilities are endless.

***click on the images to visit the sites where I discovered these awesome headbands.***

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Fantastic Finds Fridays.

Lauren — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:25:36 +0000

This week I discovered that a brooch might be something I want to add to my wardrobe, I need to learn how to knit (or make a wind powered machine that’ll do it for me, and oil spills are something we need to work harder to prevent.

TUTORIALS

CraftZine.com has a great tutorial on how to make a Garden Tool Caddy. It can also be used as a knee protector when you are getting down and dirty in the garden!

Holidash.com shows us how to make a flower brooch for our wonderful mom’s just in time for Mother’s Day. I think this is a perfect example of a tutorial that can easily be transformed into a creative reuse project. Just use old scraps of fabric as petals and you’ll make a wonderfully colorful brooch.

FOOD

You would fill up an apartment quickly, but planetgreen.com says there are 66 things you can grow in containers! A great deal of them are goodies to eat. Yum.

NEWS

Deepwater Horizon oil spill clean up continues. Clean up could be a matter of weeks. Robots have been sent to try and plug the leak that is causing 42,000 gallons of oil to seep into the ocean daily. And, this week it stretched all the way to the Mississippi River.

What do you think is the most polluted city in the U.S.? See if you are right HERE.

AND THE COOLEST THING!!!

A wind powered knitting machine. Who thinks of this stuff? I love them (:

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Fantastic Finds Friday!

Lauren — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:37:21 +0000

I have been having a wonderful Earth Day Week watching wonderful promotions about taking care of the planet and awesome effort by people to make every small step they can to live more eco friendly.

My Finds:

My dear friend Amy over at dogwood & poppy has made an amazingly detailed tutorial on How to Make an Upcycled Jewelry Display Board and has posted it on cosaverde.com’s blog.

Home Depot has an amazing Do It Yourself section on their website. I recently discovered their Eco Options Category and found a tutorial on How to Make Eco Friendly Pillows.

The Hostess with the Mostess has come up with some really great recycled and upcycled Mother’s Day Party decoration ideas.

Whales are awesome right down to their poo.

Growing food for fuel may not be the right direction, says Science Daily.

Gotta love those RedHeads! ban.do has a new black label and the models all have red hair! As a member of the redhead club, I just had to include it. (:

If I missed anything let me know.

Happy Earth Day week. Have a great weekend. I am off to the studio to come up with a new tutorial for Monday!

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Fantastic Finds Friday!

Lauren — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:10:45 +0000

I am always on the hunt for new websites, blogs, communities, projects, etc. that have to do with the upcycling phenomenom. This week our lovely Internet taught me how to reuse a stamp, help Haiti, and garden like a guerrilla!

Tutorials/Creative Reuse Ideas

Great little quick and easy tutorial from CraftGossip.com on turning a Stamp into a Photo Holder.

I love this little quick tutorial from CraftingAGreenerWorld.com – Painting with Natural Materials. Nice texture, less waste!
A simple straw wrapper rose can really change a person’s day for the better!
ZakkaLife shows us how a doodle a day (in your upcycled notebook) keeps those creative juices flowin’.

Apparently you can make a boombox out of anything! Blankanvas shows us one from recycled candy wrappers. Cute AND it works!

For the Greater Good

Ruby Sprengle is reusing plastic bags to help the homeless in Haiti.

The Environment

I can never seem to get enough of Guerrilla Gardening. Found out from Webecoist.com that there is a vending machine that spits out seeds now that has been added to the cause.

Art

WOW! A rug made out of cigarettes? Sounds gross, but looks amazing. Nicely done Jesús “Bubu” Negrón.

Food

FarmGal seems to be the place to be for any tips and guides for canning fruits and vegetables.

News

U.S. is leading the cause to end Whale Hunting.

I know there is so much more out there that was left undiscovered, but there is only so much time a girl can spend on the web.

Add any finds from this week that I missed and you think I would like.

Thanks!

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