Recycle, eh

I'm excited to let you know that our popular workshops are coming in late September. Right now I'm working hard on ideas and gathering materials that will be used. The theme, as in all our workshops is recycle, reuse, repurpose, reinvent. Cardboard, plastic containers and bottles, magazines, junk mail, paperbacks, fabric scraps, corks are only some of the materials we'll be upcycling in new and exciting ways. Our in-house style guru will also be on hand to show you ways how to use your creations to decorate your home or turn into lovely gifts. 

Absolutely no skills are necessary and the emphasis will be on having fun and creating something to take away with you! Best of all, most of our upcycling workshops are kid-friendly so if you are looking for an activity for yours, register for one of our courses.

Stay tuned for more information as to what we’re planning including our exciting 'mystery' workshops!

My Ottawa Citizen Father's Day article is out and you can view it here. I loved making the above tray and have another version in the article. To make the one shown, I downloaded a copyright free poster and then had it enlarged it at a copy centre to fit the tray, glued to the bottom of the tray, slapped on clear matte contact paper to protect it and, voila, all done!  Enjoy!

I recently had an article published in the Ottawa Citizen for a few DIY Mom's Day gift ideas and I've had quite a few friends ask me how I made a cupcake topper that was featured. For a how-to tutorial, go to my other blog. The topper images were copied from vintage dress patterns and are double-sided.

I also posted a simpler cupcake/cake topper tutorial earlier that kids can make. No scanning, printing, or photocopying required! For that tutorial, go here.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning out the cupboards lately and came across a pile of cereal boxes and leftover wrapping paper so I thought I would see what I could find to reuse or upcycle these two items for Mother's Day. If you and the kids are still stuck for ideas, here are a few I found to recycle those empty cereal boxes and wrapping paper (or any kind of paper you have on hand). Any of these projects would be perfect for Mom and can be made without breaking the bank (she doesn't have to know about the recycling bit). All of these were designed and made by some very talented gals. Your Mom is sure to love any one of these.

Cereal Box Mini Notebooks

From Natalie over at Crème de la craft, here’s a easy-to-make, eco-friendly idea that kids can make (with a little help from an adult) for Mom made from (ta-dah!) empty cereal boxes. For complete (and easy-to-follow) instructions, go here.

Mini Magazine Notebook DIY

On the other hand, Else and Emma at their A Beautiful Mess blog recycle magazines into covers for cute little notebooks. They show you how here.

No-sew Desk Organizer

If you’re looking to help Mom bet more organized, here’s a project from Katy, at The Non Consumer Advocate, also made from recycling cereal boxes, and left-over wrapping paper. Here's where to go for instructions.

Cereal Box Drawer Organizer

Jen at I Heart Organizing has another version of a DIY cereal box organizer also reusing cereal boxes and various types of paper (use your own leftover wrapping paper instead of buying any paper stock). Here are her instructions.

Over at my Why wait for life blog, I have a link to our lady Martha's kids's crafts for Mothers Day, which shows you how to use kids' artwork to decorate Mom's store-bought gifts. 

Note: For any of these projects, a responsible adult needs to be supervising the little ones.

If you're still looking for ideas to make for Mom on her special day (Sunday, May 12th this year), head over to my Why wait for life blog where I've even managed to make a couple of things myself. Don't you just love this bird feeder from The Natural Wedding blog? A perfect way to repurpose something we no longer use (although tea is making a fast comeback here in Ottawa).