Eco Friendly and Recycled Inspiration

What can I make from items I already have on hand? Can I put something together that doesn’t require me having to go buy anything new? That’s always my first question when I start a new project, be it an item for my shop, a gift for someone special or a project around the house.

This month I created two purses from old fabric pieces and  zippers & buttons I already had on hand. For my upcoming mini-market, I needed some packaging for small items , so I made some origami boxes from magazines I intended to recycle.

My two nieces both have birthdays this month, so I created numerous fabric flower hairclips (all of them from various remnants and vintage buttons) a few of which one niece will receive. My other niece wanted a tote bag for schoolbooks. I had her look through my fabric remnants and the old jeans I recycle and I patched together what she chose into a tote bag I’d love to use myself. I even used an old belt for the handles (post pics later -haven’t had the party yet).

Even my husband got on board last week, he built a new step for our shed from some wood we got off a scrap pile over a year ago. He even painted the step with leftover house paint. I’m always pleased when we can make something new and beautiful from stuff we already own.  

Jetson’s Halloween Costumes

I’ve been making Halloween costumes my whole life. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, probably cause I loved playing dress-ups as a kid. My mom made our costumes when we were little (wish I still had some of those vintage patterns). So having a handmade costume is always preferable to me.

It wasn’t easy trying to decide a best or favorite costume for this blog carnival. I just went though my Halloween photo album and picked one that I enjoyed creating.  It was 1989, so the old scanned photo here isn’t the best. I decided my hubby and I would be George & Jane Jetson. Their clothing wasn’t so hard to design, I even got the rings around the wrists and ankles, and used wire to make the skirt hem flare out. The hair was the hard part.  Since the photo was taken at night it’s very difficult to see, but I ended up getting some cheap wigs and trying to style Georges in that flat swirl across the top and Janes with those winged curls along the sides. I wasn’t perfectly successful with those, but it was better than our real hair.

Our Handmade Wedding

Our wedding was a small family affair in our own back yard. With the help of friends and family, we made most everything for our wedding. We wrote our own vows and we created & printed our own invitations. I restored my grandmothers 1920’s wedding dress (it had major damage to the silk fabric) and my mother helped me sew the rest of the clothes for the wedding party. My sisters & sisters-in-law helped make the bouquets and decorations for the house. Most of our friends pitched in making the food for the reception. It was a lovely intimate wedding, and it sure doesn’t seem like that long ago for us to have celebrated our 20^th Wedding Anniversary just a few weeks ago.

Summer Flowers

This summer I was inspired to finally work on some fabric flowers. I’ve started with some from vintage fabric scraps I’ve had since the 70’s and old buttons. I intend to use them for hair accessories and to decorated some purses & wristlets. Soon I will also try some other flower patterns using knit strips.

4th of July Weekend

Here in America it’s time to celebrate Independence Day. I love fireworks, the louder the better. We get to watch them on the beach each year.

(One of BaubCat's creative photos)

So celebrate your independence from commercial goods and check out some patriotic themed items from our EtsyBloggers Team.



2nd Chance Treasures

 Projects by Jane

Create a Thought

Wish I Could Hang Out in Grandpa’s Shed

My choice for this month’s Blog Carnival theme is to talk about my grandfather.
He was a craftsman. He made his living as a house painter, a skill he passed down. My siblings and I always pitched in when the house needed painting, and I still don’t hesitate to pick up a bucket of paint & brush today. But in addition to his profession, my grandpa was a woodworker. He built all the oak kitchen cabinets in my childhood home and he handcrafted many small household items. Not only did he cut & assemble the pieces, he also did his own decorative painting. I believe my mother still has a cutting board in the shape of a pig. I’m not totally sure, but I believe he used mostly hand tools, don’t remember him using power tools.

Grandma & Grandpa

I’m sure grandpa could have produced lots of items for an etsy shop, but I doubt he would have embraced computers. So much of their home was very old technology, from the ringer washer that grandma used to their telephone (which is probably the oldest style phone I ever used).  But using those old-fashioned hand techniques is what makes the new craft movement exciting to me.

While taking the photos, I noticed inside his intials and 1958 or 1968 

so this may be the same age as me

When you walked out onto my grandparents’ small back porch, you first overlooked his huge vegetable garden. He tended it meticulously & as small children we were banded from playing around in it. Behind the garden was his huge shed, which extended almost of the width of the yard. As small kids we were also forbidden to go into the shed because of the dangerous tools, but as we grew older, only my brothers were permitted inside. The only times I remember seeing the inside was when grandma would send us out to retrieve him & then we got to poke our heads inside. It was filled with all kinds of tools, hardware and furniture needing repair. I always longed to be inside. But when I was around 9, we moved out of state, so there were few opportunities after that. My younger brother did spent one summer there and he built an end table with grandpa. 

 Grandpa, Mom & either my Sis or me

I was about 18 when that house was sold and didn’t have the means or place to store most of the wonderful goodies in the shed or house. Though I pursued so much sewing and crafting throughout my teens, it wasn’t until adulthood that I realized I had missed an opportunity to learn proper woodworking. I’m not one to have many regrets in life (I feel that all our ups & downs create the person that we are) but learning from grandpa is something I definitely wish I had taken advantage of as a child. I’d love to be exploring that shed right now!

Mother’s Day, Thank You for passing on the skills and talents

Where would I be without the knowledge, skills and artistic encouragement passed down from my mother and grandmother. As mentioned in my profile, both were responsible for teaching me to sew. Even though most women of their era were taught to sew, many did not take to it or enjoy it as they did.

My grandmother did quite a lot of hand sewing, embroidery and crochet. Here are some of the wonderful vintage linens of hers I still have. She used to embroider lots of pillowcases for us, and our doll beds too. She started me hand sewing doll clothes, possibly as young as five years old. She made lots of things without patterns at all.

My mother inherited quite a lot of skills from her mom and was a talented seamstress. She used to design her own clothes by modifying and combining patterns. She passed those skills on to me. She made quite a lot of clothes for all 5 of us kids. She also made curtains, toys and other stuff too. I can still remember the day she taught my sister & I how to use the sewing machine, helping us make curtains for our bedroom. Boy did we have a hard time mastering that foot pedal. I also remember some adorable pastel flannel polka dot PJ’s with reversible robes that she made my sister and I. We modeled them in a fashion show for what I believe was a sorority sisters event when I was maybe 3 and my sis 5. I may still have a scrap of that fabric. Here’s a lovely linen dress she made in the 50’s.

So a big THANKS to mom and grandma, and don’t forget to pass on your crafts to the next generation.

What’s in store for the New Year

What do I look forward/hope to accomplish this year?

Well item number one on my agenda is to renovate my kitchen. It’s needed it since we got this house, but we put it off to work on other rooms first. But the oven & dishwasher both croaked so now it needs to be done. Problem is I want the greenest items I can get and most of what I want isn’t easy to get locally in south Florida. I’m leery of ordering cabinets & countertops online without seeing them first. I’ve been researching and drawing layouts for months already, now I really need to move forward and start buying the stuff. I’m also having a tough time deciding on the flooring. The rest of the house has beautiful oak floors; right now the kitchen has horrid vinyl. I don’t want tile (too hard & cold) & laminate will just look cheap next to solid oak. Thought about bamboo, but I read that it dents easily, so not a good idea for our kitchen. Right now I’m leaning toward real linoleum, but again need to see real samples, so I can think up a pattern we’d like, we’d probably combine at least 2 colors. Major project that I’m already behind on….and after that I really need to find a real paying job, crafting & Etsy keep me out of trouble, but don’t really put food on the table. It’s already over 2 years since I had a full time job, need to start bring home some real bacon again. So where are all those green jobs I want?

Celebrating Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here. We usually have a huge family dinner here at our house because we have the biggest dining room. For a few years now, my husband has been making a Maple Brine Turkey (it marinates for 3 days) So Good...But our oven has croaked and we are in the beginning stages of planning a major renovation to the kitchen. We only have a microwave to cook in, so we’re still waiting for the rest of the family to make a plan. Perhaps we’ll go out for once. But I’m sure either way my hubby will still be baking the traditional pumpkin pie (from the Halloween jack-o-lantern) and his delicious cranberry pie. Guess his mothers traditional squash casserole will have to wait till xmas.

Photo credit also goes to my talented husband.

P.S. as requested, here's the Cranberry Pie Recipe:

1 double pie crust (Pillsbury crust is good, and easy. It’s found in the refrigerated section at the store, usually near the cans of crescent rolls and cookie dough.)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
12 oz. Cranberries (one bag, fresh or frozen*)
1 orange (about 1 Tbls. grated rind and ¼ cup juice)
½ cup golden raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg, (optional)
1 tablespoon water (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Fit one crust into pie plate. Mix sugar and flour and sprinkle ¼ cup of mixture evenly over bottom crust. Coarsely chop about half the cranberries. In a large mixing bowl, combine chopped berries, remaining whole berries, grated orange rind, orange juice, raisins, nuts, and butter. Mix thoroughly and pile mixture into pie plate. Sprinkle remaining sugar/flour mixture evenly over filling. Place top crust on pie and seal edges. If desired, brush the crust with a wash made by beating together the egg and water. Cut at least one vent hole near the center of the top crust. Place on a baking sheet in the center of the oven. Bake at 375 F for 50 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
*If using frozen cranberries, DO NOT thaw them. Use a food processor to chop them or leave them whole.