Wordless Wednesday

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

Today is Friday, so it's time for another great recycled find! This week's find is this beautiful

Vintage Memories Mosaic Mirror

by artfulaccents on Etsy who is based in Michigan. Here is what the seller has to say about this item:

"Every time you look at this beautiful mosaic mirror, you will see something different in its collection of vintage broken china, buttons, jewelry, glass tiles, a key, a spoon, and pieces of a miniature tea set.

The pieces of china are among the most beautiful in my collection. Included are some pieces of china with reproductions of paintings from Fragonard, one of my favorite artists of the 18th Century.

Overall dimensions are 11" wide x 12 1/2"high.

This has to be the prettiest mosaic I have ever seen and so uniquely created with recycled "stuff"!

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

Today's Fabulous Friday Recycled Find is this colorful bracelet made by GoGoGirlz on Etsy and based out of College Station Texas.

This bracelet is made from soda and energy drink can tabs and even the flowers are made from aluminum cans. I have seen stuff made from cans before but this is by far the most colorful and interesting piece I've seen in awhile.
Here is what GoGoGirlz has to say about the item:

"This bright and colorful trashion fashion bracelet is made from recycled energy and soda drink can tabs.

The eco-friendly, 4-layered flower is made from pink, yellow and orange cans. The bottom flower is backed with foam for strength and comfort. The chain is made from can tabs woven together with flexible, colored wire. It measures approximately 8.25 inches and fastens with a lobster clasp. If you have a larger wrist, this is the bracelet for you! Custom sizes and colors can be created at your request. Convo us.

This unique, attention-getting bracelet will turn heads and get you wonderful compliments".

This bracelet is $15.00 with free shipping. Awesome deal for such a unique piece of art/jewelry.

Besides this awesome colorful bracelet, GoGoGirls also offers a selection of other interesting goodies made from recycled items such as book marks, earrings, hair clips, scrapbook embellishments and pendants. Also offered in the shop are beaded bracelets and other jewelry. (I love the cowgirl bling!)

This shop is on my favorites!

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Special

I am having a sale in my shop on Artfire! Save 30% on orders over $15.00. Hurry, sale ends October 18!

Visit BottleCapsGalore's Studio

SAVE 30.00 % On Order Total (orders above $15.00)

Use Coupon Code:

BL230

during checkout.

Hand Knit

Wordless Wednesday

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

Today's Fabulous Friday Recycled find is an Upcycled Capri Sun Wallet

How cool is this? My daughter drinks Capri Sun like there is no tomorrow and it never dawned on me that the pouches could be made into something else. I stumbled upon the creator of this wallet, You've Been Upcycled on Facebook and knew that I wanted to feature one of her creations for today's feature.

Here is what the seller had to say:
"I love this wallet - it's small & fits right into your pocket!

Has pockets for 2 cards & some cash, or 3 cards & some cash (depending on how much cash you have of course).

Would also fit business cards..."

Belts made from Capri Sun pouches are also available as well as bowls made from records and even a cuff bracelet also made from a record.

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday

Today is Tuesday,so here are my ten random thoughts for today!

1. I finally finished and posted my new tutorial yesterday. Yay! One more thing to cross off of my "to do" list.

2. I have to glue on about 280 bails for a custom order today.

3. Trying to get a consignment package put together today.

4. I have to take photos of some new things I want to post in my shop.

5. I just found out that Patrick Swayze passed away yesterday. Sad. RIP Patrick.

6. I am hungry, so what should I have for breakfast? I think I'll make some oatmeal.

7. I need to do laundry today. Kiddo needs clothes for school.

8. The weather here in Tucson has cooled somewhat. Only 89 now instead of 105. LOL

9. I secretly want to move to California. Oops, it's not a secret anymore...

10. Hope all that has read this far has a wonderful happy and productive day. :)

DIY Bottle Cap Magnet Tutorial

Here is another tutorial brought to you by me! Enjoy!

Bottle Cap Magnet Tutorial

by Carol Bryce

Here is an easy inexpensive DIY project. These make great gifts and are good sellers at craft shows.

This is what you will need to do this project:

New or recycled bottle caps

A one inch circle collage of pictures of your choice

Photo paper or card stock

One inch circle punch

Scissors

Glue stick-I use Aileene's Tacky Glue Stick

E-6000 or other strong holding glue

Glaze sealer-I use 3D Crystal Lacquer

Neodymium(rare earth) magnets size of your choice

All of the above

items are available to purchase on Etsy.com. You can get Aileene's glue sticks, E-6000 glue and the circle punch at a craft store such as Michaels.

The collage sheets that I will use with this tutorial are

courtesy of Magpie Mine. She has a wonderful selection of collage sheets in various sizes for different projects.

Links to the collages that I am using: Retro 50's Designs and Birds, Squirrels n Swirls Collage Sheet

Now that you have all of your supplies, it's time to make your magnets! For this tutorial, I will make 4 magnets.

First you will need to print your collage. I would recommend printing on soft gloss photo paper(you can get it at Target) or use 90-110 lb white card stock(you can get it at any office supply store) if you are printing at home. You can also have your collages printed at any office supply store, however I do not recommend drug store or self service printing. It has been my experience that the colors fade with time with these printers. Set your printer for whatever size your collage is-most are 8x10- and print. If you have a collage of circles that happen to be 2”, you can set your printer to print at 5x7 instead of 8x10 to have the circles turn out to 1”. Select the circle you want to use and punch it out with your circle punch.

Next apply some of your glue stick on the back of the circle, a little heavier at the outer edges of the circle. Place the circle on the inside of a bottle cap and press down the circle with the end of the glue stick body. This will help it stick. Let the glue dry for about 15 mins.

The next step is to apply the glaze. This will seal the circle inside the bottle cap and give it a nice shine.

Place the tip of the bottle at the edge of the circle and go around the circle with gentle pressure, making sure the glaze goes between the circle and the sides of the bottle cap. Next fill in the rest of the circle going from side to side using gentle squeezing pressure on the bottle. Do not

apply the glaze in a circular motion as this creates air bubbles. If air bubbles do form, just pop the

m with the tip of the bottle or with a push pin or a toothpick. Let the glaze dry for at least 8 hours.

After the glaze is dry, just glue on your neodymium magnet to the back with E-6000 or other super glue.

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

This week's Fabulous Friday Find is an adorable Scandinavian style dress and sunhat made with a recycled vintage tablecloth.

This can be found on Etsy in a lovely shop based out of Sweden, KajaDesign
Here is what the seller had to say about the dress:

"This is a dress from what I like to refer to as my "Table cloth collection". Vintage fabric, mostly from the 60's and 70's. Very retro and very eco friendly!

This one has some of our most beloved summer flowers, so I combined it with lavender blue lining and a matching seam binding.

The pattern is my own and has a very good fit, and is superpractical. Especially for small children, since you don't have to pull it over the head. Just slip it over the bottom and button it up over the shoulders. Perfect over a tee or a onesie!

This is a complete set with a sunhat. This model was very popular in the 50's here in Scandivia. It is tied under the cheek and has two holes, which was used to pull out the pony tails or pig tails through for older children."

I am always amazed at what I find when looking for recycled items. The possibilities are endless. This is one more item that will not be in a landfill for a very long time.

Ten on Tuesday

Musings from the passenger side of a semi...

1. I've been out of the loop for a couple of weeks, was tagging along with bf in his big ole truck to California and back. Let me just say that I have a lot more respect for truckers than I used to. It's a tough job.

2. There's no way in hell that I could drive a vehicle that huge and still have my nerves intact.

3. I encountered a few female truckers along the way. I admire their bravery.

4. Grape processing plants and beer making plants STINK!! We went to a grape processing plant in Fresno that literally smelled like vomit. I'm not sure how to describe the beer plant smell in Van Nuys. Had a cornish smell. The plant in Irwindale didn't smell too bad, but it was obvious that they made beer!!

5. Truck stops charge a lot for their stuff. 10 bucks for a shower. Really? At that price the shower should include more than the soap dispenser on the wall and a towel. One truck stop in Ontario was going to charge to park the truck. Come on.

6. Found out that GPS can go nuts if the signal is weak. I have GPS navagation on my phone. One day a couple of weeks ago we were on the way back from Fresno looking for a truck stop, so I plugged it into the navagation and the thing went beserk and took us into the middle of an orchard. It was screaming at us to turn right, but right was into a grove of trees. Interesting. So we had to turn the semi around and go back on the highway all along the GPS was screaming at us that we were off track. No silly GPS, YOU are off track. The truck stop ended up being at the next exit about 5 miles down the road. We are still laughing about it.

7. Hey Sprint...put up a couple more towers in the San Joaquin Valley, will ya?

8. Finally found a place hotter than Tucson. The desert in California was murder. The thermometer on the truck dashboard said 120. I seriously believe it. We got out of the truck at a truck stop right before we got to the Arizona border and I thought I was going to melt before I got inside.

9. Speaking of heat, I was very surprised at how hot it was in the LA area last week. I was beginning to think that the Tucson heat followed me to LA.

10. What you've heard about California drivers is somewhat true. I was expecting the drivers and the traffic to be a lot worse, but it really wasn't bad. The highways were busy, but moving. But then again, I wasn't driving...

New tutorial in the works!

I am working on a new tutorial! I will be making one for bottle cap magnets using a collage from a seller who was offering them in exchange for tutorials. This will be a good one, so stay tuned!

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

There are a lot of great items that have been made from something that would have ended up in the trash. I have found most, if not all of them on Etsy. However, I recently discovered a great website(from the Etsy forums of course), Greenwala, which is a "green" social network. Here is a little blurb about them taken from the website: "Greenwala is a For Profit Philanthropic company focused on harnessing the power of a community to create opportunity for people to "Go Green" and improve their lives. We believe that every individual has the power to foster change and it is through that belief that we feel that the Greenwala community will be the destination for those wishing not to just Green their lives but to improve the lives of those around them."
Greenwala is currently running a few contests, one in particular that I love is a contest sponsored by HP which the entrants submit photos of things they have created from something that would have been thrown away. The person that gets the most votes for their creation will win an eco friendly laptop and printer. While it would be nice to win a new laptop as mine recently died and now renting one, I am not too lucky with contests but entered my recycled paper snowman ornaments anyways.
What I would like everyone to do that reads this is to vote not only for me but for at least 4 other entrants as well. It only takes a couple of seconds and you don't have to join the site to vote-that is as far as I know. All of the creations are fabulous and just think that stuff would have ended up in the trash. I love them all.

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, so here are my ten ramblings for today:

1. I will be offering advertising on my blog soon. I just need to figure out the details. Project Wonderful wasn't working for me.

2. I will also have my giveaway sometime soon, just too much going on right now to sit and plan it.

3. I am currently working on a large custom order which has been a lot of fun, yet challenging at the same time.

4. I am going to start making snowman ornaments soon. I have made them for the last couple of years from recycled paper-junk mail, school papers, receipts, etc. Those are fun to make too and it's less paper to end up in the landfills. Here's a link to some I sold last year: snowmen

5. BF is doing well after his transplant. Even got a new job. :)

6. As for me, still laid off but working two days a week instead of one. Broke as heck.

7. Can't wait for cooler weather. I don't recall sweating so much last summer. Hurry October! I never got around to inventing that seat cooler for my car. I think I need to invent a steering wheel cooler, too. LOL

8. Daughter started school Thursday. She likes the new school-so far...

9. My desk is looking pretty cluttered. Man I wish I had a craft room or my own house for that matter.

10. Hey, it may rain today. I just realized that it's cloudy outside. Woo hoo!

Fabulous Friday Recycled Find

Happy Friday everyone! This week went by really fast. This week I will feature one of my own recycled creations, so here we go:

This week's fabulous recycled find is a set of 4 magnets made with recycled bottlecaps featuring a recycle theme.
These were made by me with recycled bottle caps and the recycle theme fits the purpose of them perfectly. I glued a rare earth/neodymium magnet to the back for a super strong hold to a metal surface. These would look great on a refrigerator, file cabinet, school locker, or any other metal surface.
These can be found in my shop on ArtFire
along with a ring and a bracelet that were also made with recycled bottle caps.

Wordless Wednesday

Ten on Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, so here are my ten random ramblings for today:

1. My daughter goes back to school Thursday. She seems excited as she will now be in middle school and finally going to a new school.

2. Is it just me or do they go back earlier every year? and why are they starting on a Thursday?

3. It's been so freaking hot in Tucson this summer, so ready for it to be over already. Hurry October!!!!!!

4. Last night at around 8:30ish it was still 94 degrees. At 3:30 this am it was 84 and really sticky. ugh.

5. I am working on new listings/photos for my shops on Etsy and on Artfire. I have decided to move my bottle cap creations to Artfire and close my other Etsy shop.

6. Is it just me or is Artfire starting to have an increase in traffic? My views have increased a lot in the last couple of months.

7. I had almost equal number of shop hits Sunday for Etsy and Artfire shops. That amazed me. I really think that things are going to take off soon and give Etsy a run for their money.

8. I'm hungry. What's for breakfast?

9. I have a couple of errands to run today and then off to work this afternoon. yay.

10. I am working two days a week now instead one. This has been the worst summer of my life. I have had my hours cut since the end of May. Struggling for money for everything. Ah well, I am comforted by the fact that I am not alone. I am sure there are others in the same boat.