Jars 3 – Easy Vase

Easter Vase with Open daffodils

An empty Jar is an easy vase that most people have on hand in an emergency, but it is easy to make your average jar look special for a special occasion. 

2015: The clothing challenge

So 2014 was a year for cutting back on my purchases in General and especially on clothing, so every purchase was carefully looked at to see if I really need it and most of the time, I didn’t. I am a keen Charity shop browser and even when I buy from retail shops, it tends to only be if it is on sale.

So for 2015 I looked at my wardrobe and decided that as I wasn’t a fashionista who needed the latest styles and designer labels, I probably wouldn’t need any more clothes this year.

So my Challenge for 2015 was not to buy any new clothes! 

Upcycling Durham, UK First meeting!

Our first Upcycling project

So after an interesting email sent around from one of the many mailing lists I am, a new group has been formed: An Upcycling one!   On Thursday the 15th of May at the Old Church in Sacriston we held our first meeting. This was a chance for us to get to know each other, see what everyone else was making from their unwanted stuff and be inspired by each other.

Makerfaire 2014

So this weekend was a fabulous 2 days at Makerfaire14 in Newcastle upon Tyne, this is the first time I have had a stall at one. I visited last year as a guest and really enjoyed it so this year I decided to go for it.

Record Bowl

Finished bowl

Records are a media type that has had a resurgence in recent years but not all music is created equally and many albums are not worth keeping to listen to. One of the easiest and quirkiest things that can be done with a record is make it into a bowl you keep in your living room as a point of interest.

T-shirt to vest top

Upcycling clothes is all about adapting them to fit your needs, to fit your body or someone else’s. An easy fix for a baggy T-shirt is to make it into a Vest top, this is especially good if it is the image on the T-shirt that you like.

Mini Herb Wall

Everyone likes a few fresh herbs, the ones that they use the most and the best way to use them is to have them on hand in your kitchen. Vertical gardens are also a huge thing but not everyone can dedicate an entire wall to keeping herbs. My smaller version can be made as large as you want, depending on the space you have and the amount herbs you want to keep.

Mini Herb Garden

Easy Bird feeder

We all like to help our animal friends when we can and a large part of the population put out bird food, especially during winter but this isn’t always a cheap option. Never mind the cost of the seed, or nuts, or fat balls the average bird feeder will set you back between £4 and £5 each, this is cheap and easy way to feed the birds and make something beautiful and unique for the garden.

Finished and in the garden, just waiting for the birds

Sweet Display

Bottles are a fabulous resource, I often use the top and main body of them as mini green houses for plants. This leaves me with lots of bases that normally just end up going in the recycling. I saw an image of a jewellery display made of the bottom of large bottles and liked the idea but didn’t need a jewellery stand at the time.
Instead when I started thinking about things I would like in my stall at makerfaire I thought about adapting the idea to hold sweets.

Finished, with ribbon trim

Multicoloured Lego crayons

Finished lego men and blocks in crayon

I have seen these before online and thought it was a great use for leftover bits if crayons. It is the disaster that befalls all young and old people and their box of crayons. At the beginning you have a perfect box of crayons in every Colour imaginable but slowly more and more break and get used until all that is left is lots of little broken bits.