Upcycled Wool Dryer Balls

This is my next project!!! 100% Wool sweaters destined for the dyer. These seem to be the next big thing and I am not about to pay $20 for 3 balls. But I must confess the whole deconstruction of the sweater is very time consuming and yes it is worth it to me. I just love the idea of reusing an item and giving it a whole new life. I will be posting detailed DIY instructions to let you know how many balls I get from one sweater and what my finished project looks like. Until then happy upcycling your own projects!!



Instructions
So I got 6 balls from this project!!
I used this website for my project - I just didn't use the roving.

http://greeneyed.com/2010/10/diy-dryer-balls/

Thank you!!

Yarn Wreath

What You Need:
1. Straw Wreath
2. Yarn
3. Felt or silk flowers would also work - You could use anything to your hearts desire
4. Ribbon, Material strips, Lace - anything to hang the wreath with

This was my first attempt at making a yarn wreath. Some of the things on this are upcycled and you could do the whole thing as an upcycle project. I had to purchase some of the items. The wreath is a straw wreath that I had from other projects I have attempted and never finished. For the flowers I used felt, I have a ton of this - stacks of it like construction paper. You never know when the kids need a craft or school project. I purchased the yarn and the felt letters.

You can use glue, but I just started wrapping tucking the end in as I went. It takes awhile and my arms did cramp. But I found my rhythm and an extra set of hands helps definitely. I didn't try to make the yarn line up straight, I just went for it and I like the way it looked in the end.

I used yarn from Walmart in mustard yellow. I just love this color and I really like the way it looks with Red and Pink. It really makes the color pop.

To make the flowers you can use any material. You just need to cut a circle and at any point start cutting it around and around into one strip with a small circle left at the end to glue. Starting at the end without the circle start wrapping it around as tight or as loose as you want. Secure it with glue on the circle.

Using ribbon you could wrap it all the way around or like I did. You could also use a smaller width and wrap it around for contrasting color with the yellow. Let you imagination run wild. This is one of those projects you could do anything. Happy Crafting!!

Best Banana Cake

So today I made a banana cake. You might be saying how is this related to upcycling.......
Well I used the old brown bananas that my kids did not eat :)

This is the recipe I used. Thank you food.com!!!
http://www.food.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-67256

I made a few changes to the recipe.
1. I added 1 box of instant vanilla pudding
2. I did 1 cup sugar and 1 1/8 cup brown sugar
3. I added 1 teaspoon lemon zest
4. I made chocolate cream cheese frosting .... yummy.

This cake is so yummy, yummy, yummy.

Upcycled Book Art

Here is how I started. I have a ton of books. I love to read -- thanks to digital I know have thousands in one device. What to do with all of those old books--this is my first idea. I covered old canvas paintings I had stored (I didn't really like the painting I did on them). I used Acrylic medium and "glued" the strips over the surface of the canvas -- including the sides.

After they dried. I did two coats of clear gesso.

Now only my imagination and some paint can lead me to the final product.
More to come..........

New Projects

Well it was a great day!!! I found out that Home Depot has a scrap pile of wood for sale -- .51 cents each. I got so many great pieces. I made my first batch of paper. I have started my first piece of art with the use of old books. I also did my first fusing of plastic bags. It was actually very easy and I think I am going to use it to make a book cover for the paper I made.

It was a very great day!!!


Here is the pic of my first round at paper making.....