Friday's Upcycled Finds: Earrings!

I'm always buying earrings, I love earrings! They are really the only jewelry I wear on a consistent basis. I have some necklaces and bracelets that I wear now and then but I almost always have earrings on unless I'm at home or at work. I have a large collection of earrings, some upcycled, some not. I was checking out earrings on Etsy the other day and decided to make this weeks Upcycled Friday's Finds all about the earrings.

 Making new jewelry out of old jewelry can create some stunning pieces. I especially like these! I can picture myself wearing these with a special dress to the symphony the next time I go. (I just won tickets! Woo Hoo) Sea Shell Creations is full of wonderful jewelry, much of it is upcycled.

I've seen other bottle cap earrings, and even have a pair, but I really like the way she has added the tiny hoops with beads on the bottom to make these a little more unique. These earrings and other bottle cap earrings can be found at BLWworld, as well as other upcycled items.









East Street Tins had so many beautiful earrings made from old tins I had a hard time choosing the ones I wanted to show here. I finally settled on this pair because I love the flowers on them. I have a lot of blue in my wardrobe and these would go nicely with a few of my outfits.





The ocean helps us with our recycling by taking broken glass and softening it's edges, buffing it and turning it into beautiful shapes, then tossing it up on the beach for people to find and turn into wonderful jewelry. Mermaid Tears Sea Glass has  a shop full of wonderful things made from these wonderful finds!












This is the one I really love! Earrings out of zipper pulls?? Who would have thought it? But I like them, I really, really like them. Check out the other great jewelry at Totems by Sally, made out of all kinds of odds and ends!

Yikes!! My Craft Room!

The other day I came home for lunch and as I was looking through the freezer (it's got a good Energy Star rating and I keep it full) I heard the sound of water dripping. At first I couldn't find the source of it, then I noticed a bubble in my ceiling with water dripping down. That's where the Yikes! comes in.

It was dripping on the floor of the craft room so at first I thought my fabric was safe. I live on the first floor of a two family flat and my upstairs neighbors weren't home so all the knocking on the door I was doing wasn't accomplishing anything. I called my landlord and he said he's come right over (Bless you, Sean).

While I was waiting for him I was decided to check on the bags and boxes around the leak. I discovered that not only the ceiling was leaking but I had water coming through the walls and window casing. I ended up throwing out several bags of scraps that were not only wet but stunk! They just didn't seem worth trying to save.

My landlord was able to access the upstairs apartment and at first couldn't figure out where all the water was coming from. Then he realized that my neighbors had a window AC in the window where all the damage was coming from. Further investigation showed that the drain was clogged and the water was going into the window well and draining down into my apartment. He fixed the problem and then opened up all the bubbles where the water was in my ceiling and walls and that's where we are right now. It looks horrible but they he's going to let it dry out for a week or two and then repaint it.

Meanwhile, my craft room is a mess from having to pull everything away from the wall and the area where it was dripping. Oh well, I have the day off and my project for the day, I guess.

Friday's Finds: Upcycled Glass!

Sure glass bottles are recyclable and some other types of glass are as well, but some, like mirrors are not. Whether it is or not why upcycling works even better. Here are some awesome finds on Etsy of upcycled glass!

This beautiful Chrysanthemum drinking glass started out as a wine bottle! Summer  of PNGDesigns and her family hand cut and etch these beautiful glasses. Check out her shop to see the other wonderful designs.

I love this little wind chime/suncatcher! Made from a vintage cup and glass chimes it would go perfect in my kitchen window! You can find this and other items made from vintage glass at Heritage Dishes on Etsy.

Seven years bad luck? Not if you recycle the pieces. This wonderful whale made from broken mirror mosaics would look wonderful on your wall. Green and aqua whales can also be found at Salvaged Surf Designs on Etsy!

Not only is this twine dispenser useful, it's quite pretty as well! It wouldn't look out of place on a kitchen counter or a windowsill. You can find it on Treater Creek on Etsy along with lots of natural and nature inspired gift ideas!

Halloween Costume Patterns

As some of you may already know, as well as my Deb Upcycles Etsy shop, I also have two shops where I sell what I call Second Chance Craft Supplies. These are fabric, lace, kits, patterns and more that I find in various thrift shops, yard sales and such.

With Halloween coming up I thought  would feature some costume patterns that I've found.

This first one would be great for cosplay. It includes the top, corset and ruffled skirt. A pattern for the wings is not included.

The great thing about Halloween costumes is that you don't need to use new fabric for them. Use your imagination, old sheets (remember the ghosts) curtains, leftover fabric from other projects or just something found at a thrift shop can be used.  This pattern could give you all kinds of ideas!

And clowns?? Who can resist a clown? It's the perfect costume, lots of fun and not too scary.

Let's get creative and tell me what ideas you have for Halloween costumes, they don't need to start with a pattern but you can't use new items. Maybe we'll have a contest later for upcycled Halloween ideas. I'll have to think about that.

All of these patterns and more can be found at Deb's Patterns.

Turn an Old Shirt into a Knitting Bag

 This is a repost from 6 years ago, long before I started my Debupcycles shop, so you see, I've been doing this for a long time!

I bought this shirt for a dollar at my local thrift shop and then didn't like how it fit, there was also a tear in the back I hadn't noticed. Being somewhat frugal (OK, OK I'm cheap) I didn't want it to go to waste. The bag was quick to make, too. From start to finish, even stopping to take pictures, it only took me an hour.

First I cut across the shirt right under the sleeves. Then I cut a 2 inch strip off of both sides, these will be the handles. If your shirt is long sleeve and you want longer handles you can cut them out of the sleeves.
The hemmed edge will be the top of the bag so turn it around and cut a 2" square out of each of the bottom corners. If your shirt has a shaped hem you will have to cut it and turn over the edge for the top. If you quilt, I'm sure you can find a use for the 2 " squares as well as the rest of the leftover fabric.
Sew the button placket closed. Although I didn't have to, depending on your shirt you may have to remove the buttons. You can sew them back on if you want or replace them with some funky buttons from your button jar. (Everybody has a button jar don't they?) Then, with right sides together, sew down the sides and along the bottom with a 1/4" seam leaving the 2" square area open.
Holding the corners of the space you cut the 2" square from pull out so that side and bottom seam match-up. Sew this closed with a 1/4" seam. This will square off (actually it's a rectangle) the bottom of the bag.

Turn the strips for the handles so that right sides are together and sew a 1/4" seam along edges. Turn them right side out to attatch them to bag. You will need to use a ruler to measure an equal distance from each end to place the handles. You don't want them too close together or too wide apart, you'll just have to judge where you want to put them. Sew them to the bag with two lines of stitching at least 1/2" apart.
Here's the finished bag. (Disclaimer: Knitting needles are for display only, since I crochet) The size of your bag will vary depending on the size of the shirt you use. When I get around to it, I have a BBQ to go to right now, I'm going to take one of the buttons from the rest of the shirt and put it nearer the top just because I think it will look better.