Host Your Own Craft Night!

(My latest creation shared with our crafty gang)

In 2014, I had a plan to bring some amazing ladies together to craft once a week.

My initial idea was simply to give a bunch of friends a place to go away from home to share something we all enjoyed,  It was a roaring success! Over a year later, we are 10 members strong, have our own inside jokes and are planning our second crafty weekend away.

Our merry band of ladies is a mixed bunch of crafters of different occupations, tastes and skills. Meeting with them is always fun and inspiring. I would encourage anyone looking to be more creative to get some friends together and start your own craft night.

Amazing double knit hat by our resident knitting superstar Edith Arel (totally reversible with the reverse of this pattern on the inside)

Where to start?

Start small, friends will invite others and you could soon have a crowd on your hands.

Use technology to organize. Using social networking is a great way to invite people, let others know about time and location changes and who is coming along.

Benefits of starting your own Craft Night

Fight off those winter blues -  When snow is thick on the ground, having a weekly outing to look forward to is sure to keep your spirits up. Even for those who tend to hibernate when the temperatures drop.

Increased productivity - Regular meets help keep you on track, with each person eager to show off their latest completed project. No one wants to be left behind on a never ending project.

Sharing skills and Ideas - New crafts, new techniques or just a different way of approaching a project. Sharing with a group is a valuable resource for fresh ideas.

Recycling your supplies - Passing on unwanted or unused supplies to friends is both thrifty and friendly. Save money and help out your friends by having a swap bin at meets.

With so many reasons to meet up with friends, there's never been a better excuse to get out in your community and spread some crafty love.

Stay crafty Edmonton.

Emma (Volunteer)
x



Homegrown Reuser: Jan Przysiezniak

There are a LOT of creative reusers in the Edmonton community and in Alberta! So I decided to profile a few of them for the Reuse-it Edmonton blog to learn their tips and tricks for reusing. First up is Jan Przysiezniak, who runs JellyParrot Trashcrafts. You might recognize him from his booth at the Old Strathcona Farmer's Market.

Who are you?

I'm Jan Przysiezniak. I run JellyParrot Trashcrafts. I make useful things (notebooks, belts, etc.) out of repurposed things (used paper, bicycle tires, etc.). I studied to be a scientist (neurobiology) but didn't want to write for a living. I've always had an interest in do-it-yourself recycling. Now it's how I make my living. My schooling and obsessive nature help with understanding of and working on details to make a sellable product. I sell my work at the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market. I do some yard work in the summer, for extra cash and to get outside.

I also make things like pedal-powered devices, lamps from found objects and bicycle parts, person-sized sculptures from bike parts, bags from truck tie-down straps, shower curtain rings from bicycle spokes, stringed instruments from found lumber, flutes from found electrical conduit, furniture and yard equipment from found lumber, etc.

I live in Edmonton, in the Bonnie Doon neighbourhood, in a shared rental townhouse. I don't own or drive a car. I cycle, walk, bus. I help people fix their bicycles at Edmonton Bicycle Commuters, on Monday nights. I'm vegetarian. I play recorder. I refuse to be part of the rat race. I like my frugal living.

What materials do you use and where do you get them?

I make journals from this:

- One-side-good paper, donated, or scavenged from recycling dumpsters.

- Vinyl records and their cardboard sleeves, donated.

- Miscellaneous boxboard and flat things for making journal covers, scavenged from my home recycling box or elsewhere.

- Clothes hangers, donated by my neighbourhood dry-cleaner (TODD cleaners).

- White glue, bought.

The belts contain this:

- Scrapped bicycle tires from Edmonton Bicycle Commuters (EBC) community bike shops, United Cycle, Velocity Cycle.

- Scrapped bicycle frame tubing, bottom-bracket lock rings, headset spacers, fender struts from EBC.

- Stainless steel nuts and bolts bought from Edmonton Nut & Bolt.

- Tremclad clear lacquer bought from Home Depot.

- Time on the bench grinder at EBC, in exchange for some volunteer work and the occasional new grindstone.

For other projects, I use the few scraps I've accumulated at home, or go looking for materials when I have a specific project in mind. Sometimes I find that it takes less time to make a part than to go out to buy it.

What is your favourite piece of work you have done and why?

My favourite piece was the most functional:

In 2012 I helped Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton (OFRE) upgrage their hand-cranked apple crusher so it could be pedal-driven. Now it just races through bags and bags of apples. Ninety percent of the materials for the upgrade were reused/repurposed.

What inspired you to do this?

My inspiration was the need for OFRE to speed up their fruit processing.

Do you have any tips/ inspiring words to share to newbie reusers?

Reusers are already inspired.

What are your goals for the future, both work wise and life?

Keep doing what I'm doing, but more, and less boring.

Play more music.

Cycle out of town more often.

Keep living slow and never get sucked into the rat race.

Never retire.

Help save the world from humans, for future humans.

Where can we find you?

I sell my work at the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market, every Saturday, 8am-3pm.

I have no web site, but I can be reached at jellyparrot@hotmail.com

- Michelle (volunteer)

Easter Bonnet Reuse Party!!

The Reuse Centre Blogger Team has wanted to do another crafting challenge for a while now, and we were racking our brains trying to come up with a great project. Some of us fondly recalled making Easter bonnets as children in school, out of paper plates and scraps of construction paper.

So we had our challenge! The idea to make fashionable and delightful Easter themed bonnets from items on the Reuse Centre acceptable items list was too good to resist! We set a date and met for a dessert potluck and crafting party.

The creative juices were flowing

We had two rules: all the items had to be on the Reuse Centre list, and we had 10 minutes to pick out our materials. Our material gathering was a bit frantic, but luckily we had stomachs filled of delicious, sugary treats to fuel our artistic endeavors.

Maybe we were so frantic BECAUSE of the sugary treats?

We came up with an eclectic array of items including ribbon, lace, baskets, paper towel rolls, bird figurines, tissue paper, beads, buttons and much more! A lot of these items are things you can find around the house too.  

Baskets, aluminum pie plates and paper plates were used as a base and then the sky was the limit with decorations.

Michelle working on the base of her bonnet

The results were fantastics! Lana went haute couture with book pages.

Lana's bonnet set to appear on Spring 2015 runways

Sarah wondered what Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy would like, so went with an 19^th century bonnet style, using ribbons and lace.

Sarah modelling a bonnet inspired by the novel Pride and Prejudice 

Michelle designed a top hat style bonnet out of paper towel rolls and a paper plate, decorated with construction and tissue paper for Kate Middleton to wear to her next royal function.

Michelle asked: Kate Middleton, will you wear this Reuse Centre inspired Easter bonnet?

The rest of us created our bonnets with more eggs, pom poms and strategically placed birds. We went with the idea that "more is better." What's a good Easter bonnet without a little silliness? Modern bonnet design is definitely lacking in birds! 

Nichole models her creative Easter bonnet, a definite asset to her Easter day outfit!

Tamare added lace as a nice touch

Hayley had only one rule: the more rubber ducks the better

Group shot!

Which one is your favourite? Vote on our Facebook page and in the comment section below! 

Easter bonnets are an easy and fun activity to do with anyone, and you can make them easily with items from around your home. So get Easter-bonneting and share your creative results on our Facebook page or below!

March Reuse-it item - Greeting Cards

We all have greeting cards around the home. Here are some easy, functional ideas compiled by our blogger team to give them a second life!

Lana

Move over little blue box! With their bright colours, glitter, and patterns, pretty greeting cards can be made into functional and impressive, one-of-a-kind origami boxes for your small treasures. This video shows you how to make a masu "measuring" box (with lid) starting with two squares http://make-origami.com/masu-box/   The card may be a little bit harder to fold, but the box you get will also be a lot more sturdy. A touch of glue helps to finish it.

The Origami Resource Centre has even more designs. Hint: lighter weight paper is better suited for more complicated designs.

Sarah

I make gift tags out of most of the greeting cards I get. I cut the front image up with fancy-edged scissors or into funky shapes, and punch a hole so I can string ribbon or yarn through to attach the tag. Since most people don't write on the inside of the card's cover, the backs of my new gift tags are blank and ready for me to write a new message.

Nichole

I've learned some really great ways to reuse old greeting cards, but the idea that I loved the most was turning them into festive paper lanterns! Four complementary cards and a bit of matching thread, and you've got yourself a pretty luminary to celebrate any occasion special to you and yours. 

RuthAnn

When I was little, my mother taught me to save the fronts of old Christmas cards to repurpose as gift tags the next year—something I still do. Now, though, there are so many wonderful ways to take greeting card recycling to the next level:

Canning Jar Toppers: As someone who makes a lot of jam and gives a lot of it away as gifts, I think this is a cute and quick way to jazz up the jars. Again, would be great with any kinds of cards.

Mini Album: This would be a wonderful way to collect all the cards from a wedding or a significant anniversary or birthday—and (bonus) it re-uses a discarded book as well.

Mallory

Now that it's time to start thinking about spring cleaning, here's a great project that will help you find a place for all of those greeting cards that you've acquired over the holidays! All you need is your old cards, a stencil, and some creativity. This butterfly theme picture is a perfect addition to your spring decor!

Tamara

Greeting cards are one of my favourite items! I love to send and receive cards because they're always messages of positivity and love. I actually have saved most of the ones I have received and thus have accumulated a huge number of them. I picked a few colourful ones that were given to me at various stages of my life and attached them to a piece of twine with clothes pins, and then I looped the twine over my curtains so it frames them nicely. I love that it adds a homey, sentimental touch to my place. Another idea I recently came across is to make bookmarks out of old cards! This website provides some quick and easy DIY instructions.

Emma

Blog, the little blue room, has a cute and creative idea for reusing cards: mini baskets! Although not designed for cards, large (6x6") cards would work with this tutorial. Perfect for individual Easter table decorations. 

This is a beautiful idea from Dutch Sisters for turning your favourite cards into seasonal art work.

New Years Resolution update 2014 to 2015

Soooo we're in March now, the month by which most New Years resolutions have been forgotten about, or all momentum....... has...... finally.............. fizzled......... out.

Are you 10lbs lighter? and how's that marathon training coming along?  In 2014 I set my sites a little less lofty than peak physical fitness, I wanted to master the art of knitting, for it was an exotic and mysterious craft that had so far escaped me.

Of course I had learnt once upon a time, at the hands of my very patient grandmother, sadly the inevitable happened, my square ended up a holey triangle, and a sulky 7yr old vowed never to pick up sticks again.

Cue motherhood and a need for some crafty relaxation, maybe 2014 was the year it finally clicked?

Well something stuck, a very basic (possibly a child's knitting book ssshhhhh) was able to turn this reformed knitting offender into a Zen knitter. Of course I still lose my cool when I drop a stitch, I'm definitely no Saint, but I'm loving Knitting and it's now my go to craft.

2014 was a long year of knitting, moss stitch, ribbing, a blur of clicking needles until I reached (my) holy grail of knitting techniques, cables.

I felt so confident with my knitting that anyone even remotely interested in a handmade gift received some sort of Cabled accessory for Christmas 2014.

2015 has me trying larger projects and a beautiful mitred square blanket is on my sticks at the moment, I even have some goals to sell some of my knit accessories and possibly tackle an undiscovered 'holey' realm of Knitting, after all my 7yr old self is never repressed for too long ;)


Keep it crafty Edmonton

Emma (Volunteer)
x

Reuse Crafting Book Review: Mixed Media Revolution

Artists and crafters are known for their resourcefulness and abilities to see things in different ways.  A blank piece of paper?  Millions of possibilities!  But what of started projects that don't quite look right?  Or a piece you're unhappy with but can't bear to throw away?

Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson's Mixed Media Revolution: Creative Ideas for Reusing Your Art might have the answer for you: reuse and transform it into mixed media art.

Mixed media art is, loosely, art created using a mixture of different materials. 

Page by page, the two authors walk through different mixed media projects and techniques exploring a piece of art that needs a bit of je ne sais quoi or using the "waste" generated from one piece for another.

In the project "Instant Gratification" the paper towel used to clean off paint brushes gets a new life as collage paper. In "A New Weave" two pieces of art are cut into strips and woven together to form the base of something new. 

The book is a great at providing ideas and exercises to work through creative road blocks.  Not all the projects and ideas are completely reuse, and some may require some products and tools beyond the elementary craft set.  But as someone new to mixed media, this is a pretty good introduction (with room to grow) to what the authors call the original "green art" where "nothing goes to waste."  My collections of found objects and ephemera have a new purpose! 

Have you tried creating mixed media art with your Reuse Centre finds? Share your stories below!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Lana (Volunteer)

February - Reuse-it item: Milk Bottle Caps

There are a variety of fun, creative ways to reuse milk bottle caps. Here are some ideas that our bloggers have come up with. Add your own ideas in our comment section below!

Sarah
This DIY checker set uses lids all of the same colour and puts stickers on them to make two teams, but milk jug lids come in so many fun colours that no decoration is needed. This got me thinking that you could also use milk jug lids as replacement tokens in all kinds of games. Lost a checker piece from an otherwise full set? Substitute a milk jug lid. Not enough poker chips? Milk jug lid. Tiny top hat from your Monopoly game went missing? You guessed it: milk jug lid!

Mallory

As someone with an abundance of lamps without lampshades, finding this little project was almost an act of divine intervention! All you need is milk bottle lids, a needle with some string, and something circular (maybe an old coat hanger bent into a circle?). You can get as creative as you like with different colours hung in patterns or some spray paint for a nice uniform look for a truly personalized work of art and household practicality!

Tamara

Do you like putting up lots of photos, postcards, coupons, etc. on your fridge? A fun way to brighten up the outside of your fridge is to make magnets with plastic milk bottle lids! Just save those lids, wash 'em, buy some magnets and use a glue gun to stick them on!

Another cute idea? Write notes on the lids and pop them in your children's lunch boxes so they'll receive a cheerful message when they eat their lunch at school :)

Lana

This watering can made from a pierced milk jug lid and milk jug is ridiculously simple and also brilliant.  No more uncontrolled glugs from the water bottle for my plants!  Soon they will be showered with gentle droplets. 

Tutorial at A Journey To A Dream 

- Reuse Centre Volunteers