Trash to treasure swap idea

[Reese52 (Charisse)]

Here are a few ideas I took from other artists on this board:

Junk Jewelry Assemblage Heart

[IMG_3586] I’ve been meaning to try this technique for quite a while, and have been collecting broken jewelry and cheap jewelry from garage sales with that goal in mind. For some reason, I decided I needed to sew all the jewelry in place instead of gluing it. It made the process 10x longer & harder! Still, it was fun and I’ll likely try it again sometime. I tried to stick mostly to gold metals & thread, to better coordinate with the frame, which was a hand-me-down. Accented with mainly reds …

Realistic Teabag Bookmark

My swap partner finally received this and I have been eagerly wanting to share this to the general threads. It was originally for a favorite tea swap, but I ran out of time and used it for the other swap I signed up for at the same time. Thankfully, the other swap required you to finish the craft prior to signing up. Anyway, I was glad to be able to use it for this one and first time I have tried this. Glad it turned out ok. Tutorial link below. I made some changes to my liking and didn’t exact…

Upcycled flannel shirt with printed fabric applique

I am a little rusty with the posting here so bear with me. I was doing a challenge where the topic was bird houses. I always break the rulz so I went on a train thought and ended up with Smokey the Bear saving birds houses by stopping forest fires. [IMG_20240113_193948772-EDIT] The image was printed on fabric with an inkjet printer then heat set. I added a braided sisal frame because… well because why not? [IMG_20240113_194017829] The collar got a bit of miniature pom pom trim. Because…

Upcycled Sweater

Remade a sweater from the thrift shop into a few things (fingerless mitts, a vest and two stocking Christmas ornaments). There are a couple scraps left that would make sweet lavender sachets for the spring, too. The original sweater felt too claustrophobic with the tightness and wool. [image] sleeves and I had a lot of fun choosing what to do with it!

An Upcycled Book Bag

I love books. And I love making things with upcycled fabric. Then I had a brilliant thought: why not combine the two? And thus this book bag was created! Made entirely of upcycled fabrics and ribbon, some markers and beads for the little spider, “Harry”, this bag which I named “The Eliza” is meant for bookworms…and cottagecore lovers. The little spider web is made from cheesecloth and the handles were created from recycled fabric I braided together. [Book Bag] [IMG_44791]

Upcycled Paper Dolls

I’ve been getting super annoyed at how much packaging we end up throwing away, just from food and necessities, so this week, I decided to take part of a box to make a couple little paper dolls. [IMG_8412] First was this orange cat. [IMG_8599] I just freehanded the body parts in weird abstract shapes, painted them in with some gesso, and then colored with gouache and drew on some details with a dip pen and India ink. (Sorry I didn’t get many in-progress photos) [IMG_8600] [IMG_8597] I h…

Upcycled work pants to purse

Must find a purpose for 5 discarded pairs of husband’s work pants. New, these pants are black with black stitching, now they are grey and grey. Turn them inside out and they are black with bright white stitching. I used the bottom of the legs for the bag then cut off the inside seams to add contrast to the handles. I removed the waist band then cut and repositioned so the brand logo button and original buttonhole could be used to close the bag. I replaced black stitching with bright white thread…

There are numerous upcycled projects here and I just searched the key word “upcycled” and listed a few.