Category Archives: Recycled materials

Coffee Can Art Caddy

Posted in Kids, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

I couldn’t throw out these coffee cans. They have the silver bullet look of a vintage Airstream–and you know how I feel about gleaming old campers.

So I attached ribbon handles to make art caddies. Which sounds sweet but was actually a little violent–I pierced holes (vertically) in the sides by pounding on the end of a iron file with a hammer. Noisy and satisfying.

Threading and knotting the ribbon was the trickiest part. I folded the ribbon to thread through a 1/2 inch slot and used a lot of ribbon length to make a knot inside the can, trimming the extra after I made the knot. They work great for our art supplies, but I could picture them filled with plastic spoons and forks or napkins for outdoor summer meals & parties.

Alphabetical Bookcase

Posted in Home Design, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Embrace your inner librarian! Wear cat glasses and a lot of wool cardigans! Above all, alphabetize!

I painted this bookcase for a school library to (loosely) organize paperback picture books, but I think it would be fun to have in a kid’s room. I used precut cardboard stencils and leftover paint from other projects. The bookcase was leftover, too, and languishing in the basement. I set the bookcase on the ground for browsing, but I think the stencils would work well vertically, too.

  

A Cat Bed for Wonderpaws

Posted in Home Design, Recycled materials, Stuff to make by

Welcome, Captain Wonderpaws! This is our 3-month-old kitten, and no, I didn’t name him. (That would be my comic-loving, crimefighting kids.)

But I did make him some new digs! My husband jigsawed a piece out of a wine crate, and I painted the inside orange and sewed a little cushion (with fab fabric from Jessica Jone’s Outside Oslo collection). Despite his superhero name, Wonderpaw’s a shy guy, so this photo was the best I could do.

A red zipper! And a side view of the crate.

Fabric Easter Eggs

Posted in Holiday, Recycled materials, Sewing, Stuff to make by

These fabric eggs–ok, in this case, lumpen footballs–come from a pattern posted by retro mama. Mind you, her eggy creations aren’t in the least lumpen, and she seems to have mastered the ladder stitch (that maddening little stitch!).

(I like these house ornaments on retro mama, too. Could imagine making a more disheveled version myself.)

If you have some fabric scraps, leftover cotton or polyfill, this is a fun, quick project with an upside:  no endless egg salad.

Happy chocolate bunnies and matzo ball soup, everyone!

Petite purls!

Posted in Kids, Knitting, Recycled materials, Sewing, Stuff to make by

I am so excited to have discovered the lovely online magazine petite purls (thanks to the oliver + s blog). It is a treasure trove of free knitting patterns for kids with a few sewing patterns. Meg, I thought these mittens would be a great use for your upcycled sweaters. I made some felt mittens for Betty using a similar pattern that I painstakingly resized for her little hands from a pattern for adult fleece mittens. This pattern looks much easier! I might add a soft cotton lining if I made these in wool–just tuck the lining inside the mittens and bind the tops together. I love the ’70s style racing stripes.