Roll your own and save the planet

Since Earth Day 2010 is today,  April 22nd, I thought it would be fun to do a recycle/reuse project here on the blog.

Lots of people call it “upcycling” when you repurpose otherwise discardable materials into something useful; and as a frequent hoarder <ahem> rescuer-of-landfill-bound items, this is music to my ears. I pretty much say “don’t throw that away, I can use it later” about 10 times a day. Just ask my mother…

Anyway, enough about me and my tendencies…Many of you will probably be familiar with recycled rolled magazine housewares, such as frames and bowls and coasters, and the above frame is just exactly that. It is made from rolled strips of a mail-order catalog that we were no longer using. Even if you take yourself off of every mail list there is, you’ll usually end up with at least a few leftover magazines or catalogs at some point. Glossy ads in the Sunday paper will count in this category too. So, when you feel like getting rid of some excess paper, but you want to keep it out of the landfill, this project is for you. Please click the link for the tutorial. Thanks all and happy Earth Day!

Victorian Lace necklace

One of the things I love most about crafting is the ability to get a lot from a little. A few supplies, a few dollars, a few spare moments that you manage to sneak in some creative time…I also love a good fake-out. Just so you know, the blue “stones” in the necklace above are not stones or glass at all. Just plastic!

To read more about the supplies and the method used for the project above, please continue after the jump. Hope everyone’s been having a nice Spring!

Quick and Dirty – and Tasty – Easter project

Easter is now upon us, and I confess it kind of snuck up on me this year. I really wanted to put a crafty foot forward on this lovely spring occasion, but it’s already the big day, and there is still  SO much to do…

So while driving home from the grocery store yesterday (which was MOBBED thankyouverymuch), I had a thought. [cue the Windows 7 commercial version of me here]: A quick and dirty Easter project for us crafty last-minute-Annies! (and Alfreds if you’re reading this guys)

Chocolate egg nests!

I figure that these would make good cake or cupcake toppers, or a nice little item to put on each guest’s plate before Easter dinner. You could even put people’s names on little cards and stick them in the nests for assigned-seating occasions. For the tutorial, please continue after the jump. Happy Easter everyone!