I’m an Upcycling Queen! I invite you mega-upcyclers to boast here about your prowess. (Why should guys be the only ones who brag about their abilities to . . . oh, oops, I’m not talking about recycling anymore. Sorry . . . )
To win the Upcycling Queen Award:
* Post an upcycling tip in the “Leave a Reply” box at the end of this page.
* Your tip must be original – – not something you heard/read elsewhere, but an idea of your own. Not to worry: I won’t check up on you. After all, if someone else thought it up, too—great minds think alike.
* Use as few or as many words as it takes to express your idea.
* No tip is too small to help avoid more landfill garbage!
* Awards end May 15, 2011.
Sharing your tip here helps protect Mama Gaia. Every entry wins bragging rights! A tip earns you the privilege of putting the following banner on your site, letting everyone know you’re an Upcycling Queen. Guys are welcome to post tips, as honorary queens! (If you’re into drag, you might be the best queen.)
After you post, I send you the code to have this banner on your blog or anywhere else on your site.
But wait, there’s more! If you post a tip, you could win a deer antler pendant. It has a Tree of Life rune carved in it. I commissioned it from the artisan Lupa. Winner is chosen by random draw.
To get your creativity flowing, here are two ideas of mine:
1) The saucers under potted plants—that catch the water running out the bottom of the pot—cost too much and always break. My homemade substitutes were ugly. E.g., a leftover yogurt container has commercial print all over it. Old dishes under my pots always clash. Then I cut off the bottom of a huge plastic bottle that white vinegar comes in (I buy it to clean house) = a lovely, simple printless saucer. Fancy, lah!
2) Mushrooms and other produce often come in rectangular plastic containers (without holes). They’re great for flower arrangements made in Oasis: After you soak and cut up your Oasis, put it in that container. Then put the container in a basket and start adding flowers to the Oasis.
Ok, what’s your tip? (Admit it: We queens love to gather to show off!) Add your email addy so I can send you the award. After you give your tip, win a second award: I’m doing this contest with sister royalty, the Leftover Queen; check out her contest to be recognized as a Queen again.
An Upcycling Queen needs no jewels. Stars in the sky adorn her crown, to bless her care of Mama Gaia and her finding beauty in what already is.
Winner announcement: Drum roll, please. AND THE WINNER of the pendant is: Tanya! Mother Earth won too, b/c of each and every upcycling tip you all gave here. On Her behalf, I thank everyone who entered. I hope to have another contest here soon.
Every year one of our christmas tree light garlands dies. Every year.
Well I hate tossing them but really what can you do with those?
This year I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I pulled those colorsfull lights and those little prickly ends off as well. I haven’t used the lights yet butI transformed the spicky bits into an awsome crown!
We were having a meanest of the mean party and I wanted to be the white witch, so I needed an icicle crown. What could have been cooler then making a crown out of Christmas lights for the Queen who banned Christmas?
For those of you that don’t want an icicle crown you can use those things as beads…
I LOVE crowns! Not just b/c I am the Upcycling Queen! I love adorning my head, I love adorning everyone’s head! I’ve even made floral wedding head-garlands for a few friends. Made a Brigid crown with lit candles in it, oh, on and on I’ve made crowns and head garlands. So, I adore you!
As a kid, I made little puppets out of toilet paper rolls. I don’t think anyone said anything about doing it, it just seemed natural to me and my sister. To this day, it’s hard for me to throw them away, because they were so useful as a kid. We also made the caps of toothpaste tubes, the pop-top ones, into little people. We called them handymen. We coloured them with markers. Boxes became houses for little creatures we made out of cardboard, like cats and skunks and things. My parents brought home washer and drier boxes for us to play with. We used markers to decorate the insides, making windows and such, making them into houses. A drawn phone on the side was great fun. “You don’t say! You don’t say!” “What he say?” “He didn’t say.
FFF,
~Muninn’s Kiss
Yay! I told u that u cld come up with a tip!
As I look around my house and see soooooooooooooo many items I have re-purposed, I don’t know where to begin.
I use pill bottles for everything after I remove to labels and wash them thoroughly…to store beads, craft items, homemade sewing kits for my purse, even herbs I’ve dried myself.
They hold quarters for the toll booth in the car and q-tips in my craft/office/laundry room.
I cut some of the softer white ones down to use for holding paint, glitter or glue.
The kids and I add felt, eyes and make crafty animals/people out of them and then store small toys in them too.
The larger bottles also make great lego or crayon holders, carrying just enough to take to a restaurant or doctors office.
I hope you like some of my ideas and I want to thank you for the neat giveaway.
P. S. I wanted to talk about all the things I do with my “odd” socks, but Tanya beat me too it. lol
I will add that they do make the best cat toys too and if you add some homegrown dried catnip to them or stuff them with saved crinkly cellophane paper or a small pill bottle filled with jingle bells they go nutso! I put they bells inside the pill bottle in case they tear open the toy…we don’t want them to get swallowed.
Welcome to my blog! Thanks!
Well, okay, it would be silly for me to win my own artwork back–but I wanted to play anyway 🙂
Pretty much any fabric that is too worn to wear (socks, shirts, sheets, etc.) gets repurposed into cleaning rags around here. And I save all my crafting scraps to make into pillow stuffing. I also made a plastic bag drying rack out of an old cooking oil bottle with a few dead ink pens stuck into the top of it.
Ways ta upcycle ol’ socks!
I must co~credit these to my dear friend Theresa 🙂 too. But as far as socks w/ holes in em goes either 1) cut up & make fantastical sock creatures! or 2) and this works best with longer style socks with fun patters :)….cut straight across just above ankle part & voila swakny baby/toddler leg warmers!
I wanna be an upcycling queen! Looking around as I sit at my desk, I see old scenic wall calendar pages I used to make a collage, and some lids from large liquid laundry detergent containers that have made great paint holders for my kids. Huzzah!
I do the same thing one of the people that commented on my post do – I save jars, from condiments and then use them when I make my own condiments. Also great for storing things for crafting, like beads, safety pins, etc.