How-To Tuesday: DIY Cupcake Stands!

Cost: About $2

What you need: plates,small vases, and a glue gun.

Tutorial: Last Train to Pooksville

Have a happy Tuesday! :)

How-To Tuesday: Ice Cream Stick Box

Everyone wants an excuse to eat popsicles. This cute DIY project is a great reason! I know, I'm just enabling you. Don't you love it? :P

All you need for this project are popsicle sticks and glue! Go to MaNiKa to view the tutorial.

In the mean time, start saving those popsicle sticks!



Mmmmm

How-to Tuesday:Alchemy Bookends

Who knew that you could turn a pile of plain ol' rocks into a pair beautiful gold bookends! This tutorial is brought to you by Design Sponge. 

Here's what you'll need for this project:

Supplies

• rocks of all different shapes and sizes (make sure to get several that are flat on two sides)
• metallic gold spray paint
• hot glue sticks
• industrial strength glue such as liquid nails #3 or E6000
• gold leaf adhesive and gold leaf
• weighted cardboard box (You can fill the box with books!)

Tools

• hot glue gun
• toothpicks
• old paint brush
• soft brush
• soap and dirty toothbrush

Click here to find the full instructions and soon you'll have this:

Turn into this!

Fashion DIY: Hawt Summer shoes

First up: Summer T-shirt Sandals





For this project you're need:
- flip flops (preferably used)
- scissors
- piece of chalk or marker 
- craft knife
- heavy duty waterproof glue
- recycled t-shirts
- screw driver
- flat butter knife or thin plastic ruler to stuff fabric into the soles. (Not shown)
- clamps (or heavy books)

Grab your stuff and head over to annekata for the full tutorial!

"Tyler," you may say, "I'm sorry but that looks like waay too much work. And I didn't happen to have any waterproof glue or clamps hanging around, sorry."

Ok, ok. It's alright dear reader. For the lazy (ahem sorry, "time conservative") of those among us I've provided a quicker solution:

Tackalicious shoes

For this DIY creation all you need is a couple of boxes of thumbtacks and a pair of cheap wedges from Walmart or Payless. Before you know it, you've paid only about $25 (maybe less) and have created a $150 pair of shoes eerily similar to "The Tick" by Jeffrey Campbell on Karmaloop.

Stick to it 'till the weekend and enjoy your Thursday, all!

How-To Tuesday: Alexander Wang Cage Dress

Inspiration

Results

What you need:

• 1 large T-shirt
• sharp scissors
• patience and sticktoitiveness!

The How-to: click here for the tutorial! :)

How-To Tuesday: Clothesline Caddy

Spotted at The Long Thread.

This cute little caddy is perfect for holding pens, pencils, knitting needles, crochet hooks...almost anything you need within arm's length!

Here's what you'll need:

• cans
• pliers
• clothesline [I'm curious about trying this with something different like yarn or fabric. hmmm...]
• glue gun and glue sticks
• scissors
• masking tape

You're dying to make one of your own by now, aren't you? Ok, well calm down! Actually, no...don't calm down. Hurry up and click here to find the full tutorial and use all of that crafty energy while you've still got it!

15 Ways to Look at an Altoid Tin

Do you love those "curiously strong" Altoid mints? Do you hate throwing away those tins, just knowing they have to be useful for something? Well you're lucky you found this blog post then! I promise you, you'll never see an Altoid tin as garbage again, but rather as...
1. A mini garden

2.  A watercolor box

3. A travel candle

4. A crayon holder

5. A mini tool box

6. first aid, sewing, and dental kits

7. A guitar

more uses for Altoid tins:

7. a mini time capsule

8. A business card holder

9-15. "Office: paper clips, thumb tacks, mechanical pencil leads and erasers 

Sewing: pin/needles, thimbles, pins, folding scissors, needle threader 
Knitting: small travel kit with a few stitch markers, a nail clippers for snipping threads, a short bit of pencil, retractable measuring tape, darning needle. 
Purse: nail clippers, lip balm, a couple of individually packaged wet naps. 
Jewelry: rings and earrings 
Bathroom: bobby pins, hair elastics, floss pics 
Camping/Hiking: matches, small first aid kit with a few band-aids and some wet naps" -damascusannie on Ravelry

These are all great both for saving money, and saving the evironment. They're also great for getting the creative juices flowing.

Have a great week everyone!

How-To Tuesday: Make Skirts out of Shirts!

Ruffle Skirt from 3 T-shirts 

 Skirt from Mens Button Down

Skirt From Too-Small Shirts 

Skirt from 2 T-shirts

30 Second Skirt 

Jumper Skirt

Happy How-To Tuesday! =)

10 Uses for old CDs and DVDs

Do you have a bunch of old CDs, DVDs, and CD-ROMs (remember the ones AOL used to send?) piled up in your house? Don't throw them away! Here are 10 (mostly) practical, green uses for those old CDs. 




1. Glue non-shiny sides together, and voila! You've got a coaster :)


2. Make a disco ball



Recycle Junk Cd's - Make A Disco Ball! - Watch today’s top amazing videos here


3. Make a clock.

4. Make a playing card holder 


5. Turn your CDs into a work of art by making a mosaic.


6. Make a pen holder.


7. Refrigerator Magnets - Cut a picture into a 2"- 3" circle and glue to center of the CD's shiny side. Attach a magnet strip to the back.


8. Make a wallpaper. (alternative: stick them directly to your wall, shiny side out. do this at your own risk of course.)

9. Make a lamp 


10. Cut them into rectangles, and place them on your bike spindle to use them as reflectors.

The Art of Upcycling

According to Wikipedia, Upcycling is "the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value."

So basically it means you take something you would normally throw away, and turn it into something new and useful.

Upcycling reduces the use of new resources, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and the amount of money spent on new materials. This makes it great both for the environment AND the economy.

Keep reading to find out where to buy upcycled items, and how to do some upcycling on your own!

Where to buy Upcylced Products

Ecoist.com - 

Handbags woven from recycled candy wrappers and soda can tabs

Upcycled Items on Etsy

Upcycled Bottle Dish by bentbottle

Poptab Bracelet by Jwhiz

Suit Coat Laptop Sleeve by SewMuchStyle

Plastic Bottle Bangle Braclet by Electric Penguin

Monopoly Game Board Purse by Treasures Renewed

Recolored Crayon Letters by TALKTAGZ

 Upcyled from broken crayons

Boxy Bag  by marymule

Made from Menswear Shirt

Decoupage Art Canister by EcoFriendly Freckles

DIY Upcycling - Upcycle it yourself!

How to make T-Shirt yarn

How-To Make a Laptop Cozy from an Old Sweater

T-shirt to Fringe Necklace

Briefcase to Fashion Backpack

Table Out of Magazines

(no cutting or gluing!)

Tape Cassette Purse

Hope everyone enjoyed this post, have a great week! :)