Throwback Thursday: What makes a holiday keepsake?

Every Christmas season, a very special tradition unfolds in my parents’ living room. Once the tree has been set up and strung with lights, my mother brings out the “Keepsakes” ornament box.

One by one, she removes her favourite tree decorations. There is nothing elegant about these items. They are not colour coordinated or branded with the name of a television lifestyle guru like the fancy decorations that will fill in the extra spaces later.

No, these ornaments are made from styrofoam, toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, toothpicks, fabric scraps and finger paint.

It isn’t the ornaments themselves that make this part of my parents’ holiday so special. It is the memories they carry, which are revisited every single year:

• “Oh, Jim [my brother] made this one. He was only 5 or 6. So this ornament is 50 years old.”
• “I think this was Derek’s [my oldest nephew]. Yes, that’s right. He made this in Sunday school.”
•  “When did we have pink egg cartons? I don’t remember that. Beth [my sister] did these ones. She was so proud of them.”

And it isn’t only my mother who benefits. When I walk around my parents’ Christmas tree, I am transported back to happy hours spent with friends, classmates or my family—covered in glue and glitter and delighted with my own creativity, and gleeful at the thought of presenting my creations to my mom and dad.

Simple Christmas pleasures to cherish year after year.

If you would like to craft some keepsakes with the children in your life this holiday season, you will find all the bits and pieces you need at The Reuse Centre.

Happy Holidays!

Reuse Centre Holiday Tree Silent Auction!

Trees displayed at the Reuse Centre

Reuse Centre Volunteers making decorations

Beginning December 2, the City of Edmonton Reuse Centre will be hosting a silent auction to raise funds for Santas Anonymous! We will be auctioning off 4 beautiful, fully decorated trees!

Our talented Reuse Centre Volunteers got together, armed to the teeth with items from the Reuse Centre, and spent an afternoon decorating the lovely trees. Look how they turned out!

See one you would like to take home? Fill out a Bid Form at the front desk at the Reuse Centre. You'll fill out your name, contact information, and your tree (or trees!) of choice. There are four trees available. Minimum bid is $10.



Last day to bid is Saturday, December 13th. Highest bidders will be contacted on December 15th to make their donation to Santas Anonymous and to pick up their lovely, new tree!


Stop by in the next week and check out our beautiful trees! Make your bid to support Santas Anonymous!

November Reuse-it item: Wire Hangers

Got lots of metal hangers? Well the following blog post will take you through several reusing ideas including a yard project, some easy Christmas accents, a gorilla and creative household art. Share your ideas below, we would love to hear them!

RuthAnn

One of my fondest memories of my childhood is receiving custom-made, hand-wrapped wire hangers from my dad’s cousins. I still have them and I still love them. The woven covering over the wire prevents clothes from sliding off and is gentle on more delicate fabrics. The Crafty Gardener’s how-to creates a very similar finished product.

But there are so many other ways to repurpose wire hangers into other things, like this great candy wreath idea from livecrafteat.com (left) Visit the website for step-by-step pictorial instructions.

I’m also pretty impressed by this dining room pendant light fixture made out of wire hangers (bottom right), from Miriam Zink Product Design. It’s certainly creative!

Lana 

Winter's only just started,and I'm already dreaming about summer and being back in the garden.  Upcycled Design Lab keeps me busy and hopeful with their Upcycled Wire Hanger Garden Edging project.  A cage version should work wonders for my tomatoes and peonies.

Tamara

The holidays are fast approaching! I have found that my favourite kind of Christmas decorations are the ones that are homemade. Here is a great project to try with wire hangers; twist wire hangers together to make a Christmas tree shape, and thread a strand of lights or garland through them. Not only does it create a nice home for all those extra wire hangers that you don't use anymore, but it looks awesome and is super festive!

Sarah

I have several cheap, misshapen wire hangers at home - you know, the kind that bend way too easily from the weight of heavy coats? I think that the very thing that makes them terrible hangers will make them great for re-purposing into wall art! Check out Beth's Lemonade for instructions.

Emma

Amazing Scottish Artist David Mach uses metal hangers for enormous sculptures that are worked around plastic moulds which are then removed, I can't seem to copy a picture from his site, I understand why they would protect the images but they are huge and breathtaking, ranging from this Gorilla to a depiction of Christ's crucifixion.

- Reuse Centre Blogger Team (Staff and Volunteers)

Throwback Thursday - RuthAnn's Curtain Gown

Medieval dress, made entirely
from thrifted curtains!

My inaugural Throwback Thursday post is a special Halloween treat. One of my all-time favourite upcycling/creative reuse projects is this medieval gown—made entirely from thrift store curtains.

A few of my friends and I had been invited to a banquet with a medieval theme. We knew we’d need costumes, or “garb,” but none of us had the money for the appropriate rich, heavy fabrics. Almost immediately we turned our attention to thrift stores and charity shops.

Shawl from a recycled tablecloth

People very often donate drapes and other home furnishings when they redecorate, but it isn’t always easy to use those items for their original purpose in your own home. Sometimes they are the wrong size or shape, or it may be that the patterns and colours are just out of date. But they can be absolutely fantastic for other uses, such as costumes.

The teal and gold brocade curtains I found were perfect for my costume. Even the lining was used for the lining of the dress and the sleeves. As my friends and I searched through donated items for the other things we’d need (trims and cording and ribbon), I found two bonus items: The quilted gold piece in the centre of the dress bodice is actually an old armrest cover and the shawl is just a recycled tablecloth.

Centre bodice gold piece used to be an old
armrest cover!

So when you’re planning for dressing up in your fancy or spooky best, don’t forget to reuse!

- RuthAnn (Volunteer)

September Reuse-It Item: Trophies

When customers first learn we take trophies, they are always thrilled. Nobody likes to throw out a reminder of an important moment or great achievement, but what do you do when your shelves get cluttered with awards?

If you're not ready to part with your trophies, but hate all that extra dusting they create, we have some great ideas for you. It's time to turn those old awards into something new and functional!

Michelle

Using old trophies and a bit of spray paint, repurpose those old trophies into flower pots in 5 easy steps! 

This would be a lovely idea for small herbs and plants.

Get the tutorial here.

Emma


My favourite idea would be to soak up the last of the Summer sun by getting out in the back yard and making a fairground style ring toss game for kids. Get some Hula hoops, line up the trophies in a giant size, bowling pin triangle formation and see who wins!

The heavy marble or concrete bases also make great pattern weights for sewing!

If you're feeling more ambitious, I came across this amazing arbor made of 300 trophies on Green Eco Services' Top 12 Ways to Recycle Trophies

Sarah

I love these display stands made from old trophies! They would be great for themed birthday parties, Oscars or award show parties, or season-end celebrations for any kind of team.

Check out the tutorial at Just Something I Made to learn how to make these cute cupcake stands from trophies and pie tins.

You could also make a really cute display shelf for a themed room if you used something a little sturdier than pie tins, like wood or plexiglass.

Tamara

Do you have items that are sitting gathering dust but you can never seem to allow yourself to discard because they carry some sentimental value with them? Perhaps yours or your children's old trophies is an example of such an item. Here's a great idea of what to do with them: turn the tops of them into a unique coat rack! How cool does this look?

See the tutorial on Design Sponge.

Do you have an interesting and innovative way to reuse old trophies? Share with us in the comments below!

August Reuse-It Item: Paint Swatches

Anyone who's ever done a big painting project knows that it's easy to accumulate a ton of those paper swatches, fast! Ecru vs. Eggshell, and oh, this brand's Forest Green looks just a tad darker than that brand's Evergreen. Whether your project is big or small, it's important to get the colour just right, so those little swatches come in handy! There's no denying that they're useful, but what do you do with them after you've made your choices?

If you're like many Edmontonians, you bring them to the Reuse Centre! This month, our blog team has put together a list of our favourite ways to reuse paint swatches.

Michelle

Paint Swatch Collage

Using cut out circles of paint swatches, create a stunning effect of ombre colors. I have also seen triangle cut outs attached side by side.

Don’t forget to frame your art work!

Sarah

I always have a book on the go, (sometimes two or three at a time!) but I don't actually own any bookmarks. I resort to using receipts, scrap pieces of paper, and the torn-off ends of opened mail.

I really love this simple and cute idea for reusing paint swatches and personalizing them with permanent ink or paint. This a great all-ages craft and perfect for back-to-school.

Nichole

There are so many cool and beautiful ways that paint swatches can be repurposed that it makes me want to take a cloth bag to Home Depot and clean them out. For instance, while I've always thought that mosaics are an interesting way to tszuj up a table top, the idea of smashing up ceramics for it seemed messy and slightly dangerous. But this doesn't have to stop me anymore now that I've found this awesome idea for creating a mosaic look with paint swatches! Just secure the paint chips to the wood top and cover with a piece of glass, and you have a gorgeous work of art that you can tailor for any room.

Lana

While the pretty colours of paint swatches make them perfect to incorporate into parts of a scrapbook page or a handmade card, the paper is generally not acid-free or of archival quality.

"Hey Gorgeous", takes advantage of the perfectly matching colours and light weight to create a customized chandelier that's full of movement. Check out the tutorial here. The same technique can be used for a lampshade or a mobile.


Emma

Visit Poppytalk to see how this amazing feature wall was made over the course of a weekend!

Like cleaner lines and a little more order? Design Sponge also has a great example of a paint chip wall

Or if you don't have half of Home Depot's supply of paint chips, a handy dandy calendar, could totally be made from a Reuse Centre picture frame!

Visit DIY Projects for instructions on how to make this cute, custom calendar.

Do you have a great idea that we missed? Add your paint-swatch reuse ideas in the comments below!

Grand Opening Celebration!

The Reuse Centre recently celebrated its move to a bigger, better, brighter location! Our new location is at 6835 83rd Street, just off of Argyll Road. We opened our new doors in early July to record-breaking drop offs and donations. In July alone, Edmontonians donated 22.5 tonnes of reusable items! 

The doors have just been opened!

On July 22nd, we held our Grand Opening Celebration. People began lining up around 11:30 a.m. and from the moment we opened the doors, we had a full house. Over the course of the day, 1.9 tonnes of reusable material was donated, and 1.7 tonnes were purchased! We were thrilled to see that so many people had come to celebrate with us. There were many long-time customers and friends of the Reuse Centre, plus a whole lot of new faces. 

Ringing up some new customers

It was an amazing day, and we'd like to extend our thanks to all of the volunteers, customers, and City of Edmonton staff who've supported us and helped us make the Reuse Centre such a success. We could not have come this far or had such a fantastic event without your help.

Councillor Mike Nickel and WMS Branch Manger Leo Girard
weighing in some office supplies

We would also like to extend our thanks to Councillor Mike Nickel, who came along to celebrate with us. He took a turn in our drop off area, along with Waste Management Services Branch Manager, Leo Girard.

Councillor Nickel, Reuse Centre staffer Karen, and WMS
Branch Manager Leo Girard

Councillor Nickel went above and beyond the call of duty for Reuse Centre customers, bringing carts to them in the parking lot and also helping some to unload their vehicles.

He and Leo had a great time accepting donations, sorting through reusable items, and, of course, being bossed around by Reuse Centre Operator, Karen.

Reuse Crafter volunteer Andrea helps
a little customer get started

Throughout the day we had an amazing contingent of volunteers who helped make this event a success. They gave tours, greeted patrons at the door, answered questions in the volunteer room while they diligently sorted out donated items, and even ran our kids' crafting workshop.

Local duo Bardic Form provided live music throughout the whole event. Thank you for really livening up the atmosphere of our party!

Linda Bodo, upcycle artist extraordinaire, was on hand to teach an adult reuse workshop. She taught patrons how to make amazing bird feeders out of plastic cd cases. 

Linda also brought several examples of reuse projects that she has created. Visit her website, absolutebodo.com, for some amazing reuse tips and tricks, as well as fantastic project ideas. 

Linda Bodo's workshop gets
underway

Workshop participants making
birdfeeders

We were also thrilled to host some of Edmonton's local news crews. Check out these clips from Global and CBC news.

Thank you, Edmonton, for showing us such a warm welcome to our new location!

Please visit us soon, at 6835 83rd Street, just off of Argyll Road.