How to Reuse a Pillowcase to make a Placemat:

1. Fold your pillowcase in half. Cut along the folded edge to create two pieces.

2. Fold the cut edge of the material and iron to create a crease. Sew crease closed.

3. Pick a fabric that looks good with your placemat. Cut out words, shapes, images, and decorate your placemat.

4. Repeat the process with the other half and you will have two new placemats!

So, there you have it. An old pillowcase upcycled into a new funky placemat! Makes the dinner table fun, doesn’t it?

Happy Upcycling!

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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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Robin contacted me a few weeks ago and was interested in my puffy green purse. She offered to make me earrings if I would be willing to trade.

I thought, what the heck, I love earrings! So, we exchanged addresses and traded handmade crafts. I am telling you, this is a really fun way to get new stuff! And, you don’t even have to shop for it; it comes straight to your mailbox. Here is an example of one of Divine Depth Design’s earrings to give you an idea of how happy my ears are going to be.

So the next time you are oogling something handmade, try trading for it if you don’t have the cash on hand. I bet most artists would go for it. I would totally trade again.

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My Dad would be so proud.

Since I was about 12 years old my dad has been trying to get me to wear deodorant instead of antiperspirant. He is not a fan of the aluminum in the antiperspirant. I would always try the weird smelling deodorants, but it wouldn’t last long. I was a teenager and sweat a lot! I was self-conscious. And, while the deodorant made sure I didn’t smell, it sure did not make sure I didn’t sweat! And, we all know I am a sweaty girl. Just read my post here about upcycling a shirt that has armpit stains.

The older I get the less I seem to care about pit stains. And, I have a goal to be as chemical-free as possible. My science geek husband likes to remind me that pretty much everything is a chemical; WE are chemicals. So, let me clarify. What I mean to say is unnecessary chemicals. If I can keep myself smelling fresh without any extras, why not do it?

Consider this the experimentation process. I am starting with Tom’s brand. It has lavender in it (my favorite!). We will see how long this one lasts.

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Sharing means caring. Be cool like my bro and send them off to friends after you are done reading them.  Then they can send them to their friends and then so on and so forth.

Make more paper. If the sun would ever come out in the Bay Area this summer, I would be making piles of new paper in my backyard.  Alas, the fog has taken over, so I will have to wait.  If you are feeling the heat of the sun in your neighborhood, shred those old rags and make some new handmade paper!  I will give credit where credit is due.  I was first inspired to make paper by this Instructables tutorial.

Decorate photo albums. When I was younger my friends and I used to cut old magazines apart and tape cool quotes and images we found to shoe boxes and plain photo albums to hold all of our keepsakes and memories.  I still have them!

Keep Wet Shoes in Shape. If you have to run in the rain and you come home with soggy shoes, stuff them with magazines so they keep their shape as they dry.  Magazines make cheap shoe and boot trees.

Never buy gift wrap again! Save those magazines for Christmas time or a birthday party or whatever and wrap your gifts in them.  A cheap and fun alternative.  You can also shred the pages to use as filler for a gift bag or box.

Make a dozen. The next time you think of buying your sweet someone a dozen roses, make them instead!

Here is a wonderfully easy to follow tutorial for one version of a magazine flower done by alamodestuff

And here another version of a paper flower

Save a place for everybody. How about turning old magazines into placemats for your next themed party?  I just got the idea while I was blazing through my Entertainment Weekly magazine.  James bond is on this week’s cover.  Just cut out your favorite images, take an old manila folder (or something sturdy), glue the images on top, and there you go!

Make some accesories. You can turn old magazines into beads to make necklaces, earrings and bracelets.  I think I just figured out what you can make all, or atleast most, of your friends for the Holidays!

I found a great tutorial from Sweet Tea Please from making a bead bracelet.

Hold some stuff. Make a bowl out of your pile of magazines.  Found a tutorial on IndiePublic.com

Make Art! I recently discovered artist Derek Gores and his magazine art.

There you have it, the Top Ten Reuses for Magazines.  The great thing about magazines is that there are so many more uses for them.  Make a flower vase, a card, decorate a wall, a photo frame, a mirror frame.  What do you do with your old magazines?

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I am a really big fan of both homonogous and dangle earrings.  For this week I thought I would experiment making some dangle earrings.  The main ingredient for this lovely new accessory is an old silk tie.  The best part is that these earrings are super light weight!

How to Reuse a Silk Tie to Make Earrings:

1.  Cut about a 2 inch section from the silk tie.  Take out the insides.

2.  Cut the 2 inch piece at the seams to create 2 rectangles of fabric.

3.  Fold the fabric in half, right side to right side.  Use a hot iron to create a crease.

4.  Sew the two sides of the fabric.

5.  Fold the fabric inside out.  You will have one side that is still open.  Carefully fold the fabric in on itself and sew the sew shut.  For more info on this step check out step two of my tutorial on a silk tie necklace.

6.  Pick a button and center it on your new silk tie square piece.  Starting from the back sew your button to the fabric.  Make sure to leave extra thread at the end so you can attach your earring hook.

7.  Attach your earring to the hook.

YAY!  You now have a new pair of earrings.  I think these work as dressed up or casual earrings.  They are fun, simple and unique!

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I don’t really know what to tile this post, but basically I have had a nice and sturdy pink box for years that has been holding all of my important stuff.  It broke the other day; the glue got old and the top portion of the box fell off.  Instead of gluing it back to the box I decided to upcycle it and make it into a purse.

This is probably the most impractical purse I have ever made!

Here is my tutorial on how to take broken stuff and turn it into a new purse:

1.  Fold your cardboard piece in half.  This will become the main part of your purse.  “Open” your purse as far as you would like it to go and measure the triangle it makes on either side.

2.  Pick fabric for the side of your purse and draw 4 triangles that will become the two sides to your purse.

3.  Place 2 of the cut triangles right side to right side and sew along the edges.  Keep one of the corners open enough so that you can turn the whole thing inside out and pull all of the fabric through.

4.  When you have flipped your triangle fabric so that the right side is out; fold the open edges in on themselves and sew along the edges of your triangle again.  Repeat for the other 2 triangles.  Fold each sewn triangle in half and iron a crease down the center.

5.  Pick fabric for the inside of your purse.  Measure so that it is 1/2 to an inch larger on all sides of your main cardboard piece.  Fold the excess fabric and iron a crease.

6.  With a hot glue gun, glue the inside fabric to your cardboard piece.

7.  Next glue half of the triangle to the edge of the inside of your purse.  Fold the fabric in half, put hot glue on the opposite side and then press the other side of the purse into the folded triangle.  Hold the purse closed for about a minute.  Repeat with the other side of the purse.

8.  Pick a handle and attach!

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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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In February of this year, Dutch designers SpaceOperaForm used the technology behind fabric softener sheets/dryer sheets for an art installation.  When a person would walk through two sheets they would react to that person’s presence because of the static electricity.  Those large scale dryer sheets created a beautiful experience for viewers.

Dryer sheets seem to have endless possibilities.  I have collected 10 amazing ways to REUSE a dryer sheet.  Yes, this is AFTER you have used it to soften your clothes and get rid of that annoying static cling.  Amazing!

From www.apartmenttherapy.com

*When you are baking bread and you spill a little flour, reuse an old dryer sheet to clean up your mess.

*If you are like me and love to buy old books at random book stores, then you will love this one.  Stick your new old smelling books, stick them in a plastic bag that seals with some used dryer sheets and leave them there for a few days.  They will come out smelling fresh and new.

*Keep mice from coming into your house by stuffing any open spaces in your walls with used dryer sheets.  Mice will steer clear of chewing through them.

*If you have flyaway hairs, wipe them down with a dryer sheet and watch your hair relax.

*If your scissors feel a little dull wipe the blades down with a dryer sheet to make them smooth and sharp.

From http://blog.thereusesite.com

*Keep your luggage smelling fresh.  Just toss a few dryer sheets in when you pack.

*If you suffer from smelly feet and, therefore, smelly shoes them stuff them with a dryer sheet.

*Keep a dryer sheet at the bottom of your trash can (before your stick your bag in) t keep the odor from your trash filling up your house.

From Reader’s Digest

*Wipe your shower doors down with a dryer sheet to get rid of soap scum.

*If you just baked some lasagna and have some of it burned into your casserole pan, no worries.  Just fill the dish with hot water and stick a dryer sheet in the water.  Let it do its thing overnight.  The dish will be easy to clean in the morning.

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Here is how to reuse a necktie and tshirt to make a necktie necklace:

1.  Place the neck tie around your neck and pin it wear your clasp/button will go on the front.  Cut out any excess tie material from the center.  For my tie I cut 14 inches from each end and left the rest for another project.

2.  Sew each open side closed; then sew them together.

3.  To make a tshirt flower:

a.  Cut tshirt fabric into different sized circles.

b.  Use a needle and thread and sew around the edge of the circle.

c.  Pull the thread so the fabric bunches up togehter.

d.  To secure your new flower put the needle and thread through the center a few times.  Then, put your needle underneath the thread that is at the center of your flower.  Don’t pull it all the way through; just enough to create a loop.  Put your needle through that loop 2 times and then pull tight.

4.  Design your tie.  Use a button as your necklace clasp.

5.  Sew your flowers, buttons, button holes and whatever else you want on to your new necktie necklace.

I changed my design at the last minute….

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