Make it Monday USA Tshirt and Fairy House

I am late, again, even later than last week. I did do these on Monday, just couldn't get time to post about it. The fairy house, is an upcycled plastic popcorn container. I bought that container on purpose because the plastic was so hard, and I knew I would make it into a fairy house, or a garden solar light. See my store for all the details.

 Second is a hand painted USA/patriotic God Bless the USA tshirt, youth size large. Great for back to school. Also see in my Etsy store for all the details.

 I am unsure what I will be doing for this next Monday, but it will probably be Art, lol.

Upcycle Old or Broken Jewelry

One of the things I love to do, is to take broken or old jewelry and upcycle it into new and beautiful jewelry. I am always looking for tutorials, and ideas to do this. Below is a video with ideas for purse bling using broken jewelry. Check it out!

 

Reclaimed Sapphire Gemstone Ring, and Glass With Painted Pictures Upcycle Recycle Projects

If you follow this blog, then you know that I love to paint. I love to paint on objects, more than paper, or canvas. Last Fall I created a beautiful Turkey abstract painting. I had it available for sale, but it didn't sell. It is not easy to sell art, lol. Anyways I came across these large pickle jars, and decided to use a new technique to affix the paintings to the jar, rather than painting directly on the jar. I have done three, so far, of the really big ones. They can be used as a hurricane lamp, with a candle, solar light, or flameless candle. But, also can be a vase, storage container, or cookie jar. Unique and beautiful table decor, or gift idea.

One of the other things I like to reclaim, recycle, and upcycle, is broken jewelry. I hate to throw away broken jewelry, especially when it is nice jewelry. Using a technique I discovered on my own, from tinkering with it, I created the lovely pinky ring below that features a real sapphire gemstone, and one point diamond from a broken necklace, that is now a wire wrapped ring. If you love handmade, unique, beautiful jewelry, I recommend you check this ring out.

 To see both items, visit my Etsy shop, by clicking the highlighted link, or you can always click my sidebar widget. You can always search for my shop, by using the hashtag #missy69 

Check out my weekly link up party, in the post below.  It is free to join, renews weekly, and a great way to build back links to your handmade goods. 

Upcycled/Recycled Ice Coffee Jars Into Witch and Warlock Gothic Wine Glasses Halloween Party Bride and Groom

These are iced coffee glass bottles that have been cleaned, sterilized, had all the sticker glue removed, and then hand painted on. These are a witch and a warlock hat, for a Halloween party bride and groom, or those who love a non traditional gothic Halloween wedding. Just add a fancy straw and make a toast. They are painted in acrylics, and then sealed for durability. Visit my Etsy store, to purchase, make a custom order request, or check out all my awesome items.

Make A Bracelet With Soda Tabs

Ok, I got sidetracked last week, and forgot to share more cool ways to recylce or upcycle items into jewelry, or other crafts. Below, is a tutorial on how to make a beautiful bracelet using soda tabs. I actually am going to do this, not exactly the one shown, but I love this idea. If you wire wrap, like me, well am learning, and you love cuff bracelets, then you know making the cuff out of wire can be a challenge, and a pain. So, I was thinking soda tabs might be a clever way around that problem. I probably won't video tape myself doing it, but I will share when I get around to it. I did a lot of crocheting last week, and I so loved the diaper cake, that I have started another one, a red and black one. Plus, I still have to finish the bathroom set I started, only the toilet cover is done. I found some very nice traditional jewelry settings on Etsy, that are on my list to get, and I just finished painting a garden Angel. I think I need to add something to it, or change something, before I share her. I was very pleased with how it came out though. Be sure, and visit my Etsy store too. I offer free USA shipping everyday, all year, and layaway if you need it.

I Am Trying Not To Be Creative

This is way too hard, for me.  I have so many ideas that I want to work on.  I did get a bunch of my pendants turned into necklaces, sold a pair of heart earrings on Ebay, and created the item below. I am always trying to think of ways to upcycle, recycle or reuse items.  I have painted garden solar lights, made candy jars, and other cool items.  Well, I had an idea to make a cat cave.  While I was thinking about it, I wanted something that would stay somewhat stiff, so kitty could come and go as it wanted.  Then, I realized by laundry soap jug was a nice big size.  I made the black and white cocoon to go around the soap jug, and you see the results.  I don't have a real cat, lol.  These would be great for any cat, kitten, puppy, or as an outside shelter for stray cats to keep warm and safe.  I am currently making a red one, with white ruffle trim, so it will look like a flower cave.  Check it out in my Etsy store. 

Two Solar Powered Garden Fairy Houses From Wine Bottles

I love to paint on things, other than just painting paper, or canvas. Wood is my favorite. Glass is not one of my favorites, but it is a challenge every time. My mom had been saving a ton of wine bottles. She loves to paint on glass, and was planning on painting these. But, she got so many she just did not know what to do with them. Some have been sitting in my garage, for quite some time, then you brought more, lol. A few years ago, I painted a bunch of them, and they are garden watering bottles. You just fill them, invert them, and stick them into the ground near the plant. It works wonderful, and now I have so many plants, I need to make more.  The paint is all still there, even after three years, just not as bright from the harsh sun.   But, I got this other idea first. I bought one Solar powered light, that is small, for like garden use. Then I took two of the large bottles, made sure the solar light would slide down into the bottle, and then painted the bottles. Originally my intention was that they would look like a lighthouse. Which they do. But, then I remembered we live in a state where we get frequent harsh storms, with strong winds, so I figured I better put it into the ground just a little bit. So, I dug a small hole, and put it in there, and filled the dirt around it. Voila, now it doesn't look so much like a lighthouse, but more like a Fairy House. So, that is what I will call them. The red and white one, does not have a solar light yet, but I will get it this week. I am going to take a picture after it gets dark, to see what it looks like. I am going to put these all around my gardens, and maybe save some electricity too, when we have night get togethers. I will be listing these in my Etsy store, as made to order only. You can pick how you want them, but I have to say they take a full day from start to finish, and several layers of paint, and sealer. They would be great for a night wedding, or party. If you were real clever you could probably even hang them from a tree with sturdy wire or rope.

We Made Shrinky Dinks!

Caitlin and I decided to try and make our own Shrinky Dinks. Why? Well I want to paint on something that I can insert into resin with ease. So, I was browsing around the Bing search engine and found that you can make Shrinky Dinks using recycled plastic. You can find the full instructions both on Ehow and Instructables. One website said use #5 plastic and one said #6. Well I had no idea what they were talking about, but apparently all plastics have a triangle on them, and in the triangle is a number. I have no idea what a Pepsi bottle is because I could not read the number. We had no #6 at all, we had a lot of ones, a two and a bunch of fives. The #1's definitely seemed too flimsy. The 2 was a bit stiff, but was a nice green color. I was going to try it but I decided to recycle that bottle into a new watering can. So we had a Pepsi bottle with no recognizable number and some 5's. So, we removed the labels, cleaned and dried, and then cut off small oval pieces of plastic. The Pepsi bottle I carved out the whole center, leaving the top and bottom intact, and made it into a new bird feeder for the smaller birds. So, then using glitter, some permanent marker, and acrylic paint we painted on the pieces of plastic. Caitlin painted on the #5 a dog face. I painted on the Pepsi bottle plastic a heart and a bear holding a heart. Caitlin also painted on the Pepsi plastic, but she covered the whole piece of plastic with paint. She made an ocean and a horse on grass. Then we put them on aluminum foil and set them in the 200 degree oven. The Pepsi plastic shrunk immediately and I mean immediately. Caitlin's were towards the back and immediately folded into something unusable. My two were towards the front and I could salvage the bear, the heart I am still not sure if I can use it.  I trimmed up the Teddy Bear, image not shown, and I hope I can use it.   The #5, the one that was recommended did not shrink at all. We even left it in longer and it did absolutely nothing at all. So, if I can find #6 plastic I may try this again. Painting on plastic is smooth and nice, nicer than glass in the texture. But, I will also be trying translucent photo paper to paint on in small pieces. I can paint on my acrylic paper, but it is not translucent and I really want translucent. So, my experiments continue. I do not like painting on the resin itself, at all.

Day 10 of #30DOC Butterfly Feeders

Today is day 10 of the 30 Days of Creativity Challenge, and Caitlin and I made a butterfly feeder using a painted recycled sauce jar. This is actually a project for our Earth Kids group, but I wanted to test one first to see how it worked. First the jar was already painted by myself. Then I had to figure out how to hang it. I think in the end I decided a bracket of some sort will work best. But, instead I crocheted a pretty purple hanger. You can see in theory it should work. But, once you add the sugar water it is just too heavy to be held up. Anyway after some thinking I used an old Ticki Torch that is just the shell left over. I put the jar in the Tiki Holder and then using my crocheted holder used that to get the pieces of wood to embrace and hold the butterfly feeder in place. This will suffice for now, until I get a proper bracket. We tried the feeder with the rotten fruit in a pan. That didn't work. The birds and squirrels thought it was theirs. And they just knocked it all over and made a big mess. Then I saw a website where they said to use an old jar. If you paint the jar pretty with bright colors it will help attract the butterflies and humming birds. Then use a nail to put a hole in the top. Then cut a sponge into very thin strips. Put as many of the sponge strips as you can into the hole, making a seal. Then dissolve one part sugar to two parts water and put it in the jar. Hang it upside down and wait for the butterflies and humming birds to visit. At first it dripped very fast and I thought oh no it will be gone in an hour. But, it slowed right down after the sponges were saturated. I was able to fit three sponges into the nail hole. I was going to paint today, something purple, but never did get to it.