Planting for Healthy Bees

Keep this in mind when planning your garden and landscaping.

Upcycled Pet Beds - Brand New Etsy Shop - Dizzypets

 Look what I found when I was cruising around Etsy today! Pet beds made from sweaters! Now there is some serious upcycling. They're all different of course, this is one of the great things about upcycling.

 This is a brand new Etsy shop called DizzyPets, she only opened three days ago so she doesn't have a whole lot in there yet but I think she's going to do well.

The beds are made out of old but carefully selected sweaters and stuffed with poly-fil.

 Fuuko could probably use one, since she's taken to sleeping in the one place I really don't want her to be.

But Horatio is the one really having problems. He seems to have outgrown his bed. You think he would like one?

Tweet this blog post for a chance to win my Birthday Contest! Check out this post for other ways to enter! Please leave a comment on the contest post if you do, not here. (You can still comment here of course)

Time for My Birthday Contest!

Last year I ran a contest all through the month of August for people to guess which day in August was my birthday. Since the answer is right out there for all to see now I can't exactly do that again.

So I was thinking about doing something a little different this time.

Gift Tie-Ons from Deb Upcycles

The prize will once again be a $20 gift certificate to any of my Etsy shops. I have three, Deb's Crafts for fabric and other sewing and craft supplies, Deb's Patterns for sewing patterns and craft books and of course Deb Upcycles for my handmade, upcycled crafts. If I get over 58 people entering (not 58 entries because there will be multiple ways to enter, but 58 different people) I will give away another $10 gift certificate.

Ways to enter will be changing through the month so keep coming back to see what you can do next for more entries:

Leave a separate comment in the comment section for each entry.

1 entry: Why 58 you say? I think it's pretty easy to figure out, so why don't we make that the first way to enter, just comment on the blog and tell me why 58. Just one "guess" per person.

5 entries: Blog about the contest of course!

1 entry per day:  Tweet about this contest: One tweet per day per person unless I change this, use #debupcycles.

Up to 3 entries:  Pin any item from Deb Upcycles to your Pinterest boards, leave the link to the pin in the comments.

2 Entries for the sewers (and even if you don't sew) What pattern from Deb's Patterns would you like to make for someone and who? Post the link to the pattern in comments.

Horatio the blind kitty may help me pick the winner, but then I might use a random number generator. I'm not sure yet.

Contest ends August 31, 2013 at midnight Central Time.

Upcycling Men's Shirts

Let's face it, except for Hawaiian shirts, (which make great pillow covers) and the ilk, mens' shirts can be pretty boring. I have a bunch of them and need to do something with them. Most of them are missing buttons or stained, pretty much unusable as shirts. I had bought them at a thrift shop steeply discounted, even by thrift shop terms, because nobody was buying them

 I was (and am still considering it) going to try to make a skirt out of a bunch of coordinated shirts. Then the idea struck me that I could use some of the scraps to make my Christmas Gift Tie-ons in the shape of a tree.  That wasn't going to use up very much and then it hit me. (It hurt, too).








I could cut out tree shapes and applique them onto the front and backs of other shirts and make these great looking pillow covers. They're not just for Christmas either, they can be used year round if you want!










I have a ton of other ideas, too. I'm working on some fish swimming across the pillow, flowers (I have one with tulips cut out) other tree "styles" and more. I'm also thinking of making some gift bags like these so I can use up some of the smaller pieces.

What else can I do with these shirts? What other applique shapes should I try? What else can I applique trees on? Leave comments below if you have any ideas!