Thing-a-day.com

Well, it’s the last day and my last post so I decided to end it with another gift card holder adorned with three sparrows circling.  I choose the design because I wanted to do something with sparrows, but I wanted to do something different.  They’re circling because they’re imitating the famous recycling symbol with the three arrows.  They’re also a symbol of all that I’ve learned from thing-a-day, the most important lesson for me being the reuse of existing materials to create something brand new and seeking out already recycled materials for craft.  For example, the back of the gift card holder is made of ecospun felt made from recycled plastic bottles. I never would have noticed or sought out using this type of material had it not been for my experiences this month and the other posts from others who’ve crafted with recycled materials. I’m inspired and viewing the world with new eyes. As I look at something I might have simply tossed away, my mind flurries with ideas of ways to reuse it.

Thing-a-day changed my life for the better. I’m glad I got to experience it with all of you. I’ve learned so much everyday. So many posts, so many ideas, and everyone is inspiring

I’m even planning on opening a shop on etsy in late March. Hope to see more of you there.

I think I was looking at Craft’s blog when I stumbled upon a great tutorial on how to make beads from recycled newspaper. Today I decided to give that tutorial a try and I’m partially through the process. The beads take several days to dry so it’ll be a while before I can paint them, hopefully by the 29th! Yikes! Anyway, I boiled the water with the newspapers inside and waited for about an hour and then rolled the beads, which took about twenty minutes or so.

While I waited I made some more shrinky dinks:

a black cat with big yellow eyes (in honor of my ever-so-curious feline companion Phoebe who modeled for me), an owl and a friendly heart.

Today I took the gift card holder to a whole other level and made one out of vinyl I got out of the remnants pile at a fabric store I frequent and lined it with material from a thrift store shirt I found a few weeks ago and wanted to reuse the fabric for something.  I’m beginning to see this as a stepping stone to making an eventual wallet. 

Next time I make one with vinyl, I’ll find a different type of stitch because the blanket stitch doesn’t really work well with this kind of fabric.  I might also round the corners or fold the material inward for a much cleaner look.  But, hey, it’s all a learning process and this was fun! 

I had attempted to make a realistic stuffed animal bird, but while trying to cut out a pattern for it I came to the conclusion that this was waaaay above my skill level and would take longer than an hour to make.  After skulking, I worked on a variation of an old standby, the gift card holder.  Instead of using felt, I used pieces from a paper bag I had from the grocery store.  The idea came to me when I remembered a conversation I had with Adam the other day about making a little curve in the opening to make it easier to remove the gift card/business card and when I noticed the paperbag already had that kind of curve, I just incorporated that into my design,  I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to sew on paper, especially a paper bag, but it was super easy.  Now after making it, I can easily see this as a great craft idea for a rubber stamper.

My daughter and I made a pair of tin-can stilts so that she could play with them the way Ramona Quimby does in one of the Beverly Cleary books.  It was quick and fun and now she has a new toy…that’s loud.

What can you do with recycled drink tops some yarn and wire? Well, lots of things probably but I made these silly little flowers. Perfect to brighten up your desk and they never need watering so you can’t kill them.

I used a recycled soap dispenser that lost it’s spout for the vase.

And a closer version…

Today’s project — recycling. I had a sweater that I loved. Unfortunately, it loved coffee stains, and so our love had to end. Seemed wasteful to just toss it, so… voila! A recycled sweater hat for Mag. I even made a fancy flower on top — fancy because it has pink sequins (recycled from another old sweater) masquerading as the middle of the flower.

Day 4. Done and done.

Take a couple old postcards and recycle them!  Maybe they’re from an ex-friend.  No need to chuck ‘m … FIX ‘m.

I painted over the B side w/ white acrylic paint.  Shoulda gone w/ gesso as the acrylic is not totally opaque.

After the acrylic dries, I went over w/ concentrated watercolor.  The sepia-looking color is actually a really old Dr. Martin’s Scarlet (5A) that has … er … “turned.”

Filled out with some cool-colored Sharpies™, custom postcard postage (that’s clearly a bit old) and addressed (parts obscured for privacy) and it’s ready to post.

That’s it.  Cheers!