Recycled

T-Shirt Bunting

With three growing kids, we collect a lot of t-shirts. Some of them end up in quilts, others I give to Good Will. I save many, though, because they are un-hand-me-downable. T-shirts from school walk-athons, soccer teams, variety shows…the ones that no one else would wear. The ones I use for projects!

Here’s what you need to make this bunting:

T-shirts {cut into 4 x 5 1/2″ pieces}

Twill tape in two colors {4 yard pieces}

Rotary cutter + board {or good fabric scissors}

Pins

Sewing Machine

For this bunting, I wanted a Spring color theme. I chose blues and light grays. I cut out about 50 pieces, but only ended up using 21. I laid them out on the table and arranged them in a random order. Then I carefully pinned each piece between the two different colored twill tapes. Using a wide zig-zag stitch, I ran the bunting through the sewing machine. Voila! I would say this project was very easy. You need the right supplies (a rotary cutter really helps, and also a sewing machine), but it is not difficult at all.

I love the end result. It is playful and colorful and I bet you will see it in future photos…lurking in the background. Start saving those t-shirts!

24 Apr 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Decorate, DIY, Featured, My Home, Recycled Tags: bunting, t-shirt bunting, t-shirts

Monster Patches

One of the very first things I pinned on Pinterest when I joined was this image of a monster patch. It’s from a Dutch blog, and I thought (and still think) that it was brilliant! I wish I had thought of that. Marieke inspired me to finally, once and for all, start mending those jeans. For tweens, patches are not cool at all. Luckily, my girls gave me the thumbs up on these.

Marieke’s tutorial is in Dutch, but her pictures are pretty good at showing you the steps. Just trim the hole so that there are no frayed edges. Next, cut a colored piece of fabric twice as big as the hole. I used some old t-shirts thinking that the stretchiness would work well on the knees. Then I cut out teeth from white felt. The trickiest part was getting my hand inside those skinny little jeggings. After pinning the fabric to the jeans (and stabbing myself, like, 100 times), I used some embroidery floss and a large needle to hand sew around the mouth. I went around twice for stability. Lastly, I made two little eyes. I definitely like Marieke’s eyes better, but I ran out of patience. And also, I was bleeding from all of my puncture wounds.

Sometimes, it feels good to just get something done. Cross it off the list. Thank you for the inspiration, Marieke!

17 Apr 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Create, DIY, Featured, Recycled Tags: knee patches, monster patches, patches

Silk Dyed Eggs

I saw these on someone’s blog recently, or maybe it was Pinterest? The internet is a fascinating place but it sometimes turns my mind into a warped speed slide show. (Hence my one word resolution which is staring me in the face right now.) Ok, so this idea has been around for a while but is a new discovery for me. I bought a kit on Etsy which arrived just in time for the weekend. I made these with my daughter and it was equal parts frustrating and amazing! Here are some tips if you want to make these yourself.

Silk Tie Eggs // Art Bar

First of all, I forgot to read the directions and I hard boiled all my eggs. With this method, you actually have to use raw eggs because you hard boil after they are wrapped. Duh! (for me, not you – because you’re smarter). Secondly, the scraps from Etsy were just a teensy bit too small. We had trouble wrapping them around the eggs. We ended up doing each egg as a team. One person would hold the scraps in place while the other wrapped with the white scrap. It then took two people to twist tie. In the future, I think I will just go to the thrift shop and get some old ties to cut up myself so that I can use bigger scraps. Oh, and one more thing…the tie scraps looked sort of dark and dull to me. But afterwards, they transfer onto the egg much lighter and they really do look so beautiful! We used both white and brown eggs.

Silk Tie Eggs // Art Bar

I really love these eggs. The best part was that I didn’t have to take out any dyes! No dyed hands, no mess to clean up for a change. Give it a try!

{Ages 8 and up with a parent just because of frustration factor.}

25 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, DIY, Featured, Products, Recycled, Science Tags: Easter eggs, eggs, silk tie dye

Cardboard Creations // MacBook

My middle daughter is in love with technology. She is ten now, but this love of all things electronic started long ago. I dug up this photo of her from when she was about four years old. I remember this day – her dad and I decided that she needed a day out with just us. We gave her options: movie, lunch, skating, dog park. She chose to go to the Apple store. We tried to talk her out of it, but then we decided there was no point in that. She would be happy there and that’s all we wanted.

At the Apple Store

Now she is ten. This winter, she had a sick (ish) day at home. I told her no computer/iPad/TV. By 9:05 she was bored, and that was fine by me. I don’t mind when my kids are bored because it actually forces them to use their imagination. She was dyyyyinnngggg without her iPad and could she pllllleeeeaaaaase use it for just 10 minutes. No, no, no. (You have to be strong with this one, she will wear you down). All that was left to do was craft! I had to laugh when she said she was going to make a laptop. After all these years, she still loves those keyboards. Steve Jobs would be proud.

She set herself up with supplies: cardboard box, glue, paint, string, sharpie. I helped her cut the initial shape of the laptop, but after that she did everything 100% on her own. She asked to borrow my keyboard, which I was working on at the time…of course. (Her little way of taking technology away from me.) And then she set about creating. I watched her looking back and forth, counting the keys, writing all of the symbols. She was in her flow!

Cardboard Creations // MacBook

Later on, we both got back on the real computer and found a photo for her screen. After she was finished, she made some tea and helped herself to some dipping cookies, and then she played on her laptop. (Like mother, like daughter). I love the One Direction photo she found and how she drew in little pink mustaches. Ha! That girl makes me laugh.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

12 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Eco Friendly, Featured, Recycled Tags: cardboard, recycled boxes

Valentines for the Class

The theme for our Valentine’s this year is quite obviously newspaper hearts. We have so many of them from our first project that we just keep using them. (I love when that happens.) I hope you are not sick of them!

These Valentines were made by my 10 year-old daughter for her 4th grade class. I bought some tattoos for her friends which seemed just right for her age group. I loved watching her make them. At first, she didn’t want to do it because…you know, boys and all. But then she literally did a who-cares shrug and spent an hour in complete focus. She forgot about gender and gave boys pink and girls blue without thinking. She came up with a system for stamping the names whereby she laid the letters out first to check its length before putting ink on paper. I love assembly line projects like this for that reason…it teaches them to think ahead, implement a multi-step process, and problem solve along the way.

Here’s what you need for this project (but of course you could make these just as cute by doing your own thing on the bags):

Paper bags, washi tape, newspaper hearts (or any hearts made by hand), heart stickers, alphabet rubber stamp set, ink pad, and tattoos (or any other trinket).

I realize there is a line between crafts and art…but I think these are works of art!

{Order those cute heart stickers and use them all year round.}

5 Feb 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Featured, Recycled, Stamping Tags: newspaper, Valentines

Valentines // Newspaper Heart Postcards

We used the newspaper from my son’s monster-ninja painting to make these hearts. I love painting over newspaper, it’s such a cool look. And also an excellent way to catch up on local news. (I didn’t know my friend became a real estate broker, for example.) Today, I am so happy to be sharing this post on Melanie’s killer blog, You Are My Fave. I hope you will click over and take a look!

C’mon, try it!

30 Jan 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Featured, Recycled Tags: hearts, newspaper, postcards, Valentines, watercolor

A Quilt for her 13th Birthday

My oldest turned 13 right before Christmas. I have been saving her old clothes since 1st grade for this very day! I made her a quilt a long time ago from her baby-to-kindergarten clothes, but that one was a small little doll quilt. This one was going to be big enough for her bed! She and I revisited these clothes right before I started to cut them up. She picked out the things that she remembered as her favorites, and we had a good chuckle over her early sense of style (let’s just say matching was not a priority). It’s amazing to see how her personality has developed through her outfits.

Born a collicky baby, she basically wore pajamas for a year. Hand-me-downs from my nephew put her in blue stripes for the next year. By the time she was two, she began making her own choices. She spent the next 5 years in dresses. Only dresses. Having missed that lesson on coordinating, her outfits were very eye-catching. Right around 2nd grade, dresses were out and pants were in. Jeans and t-shirts became the new uniform. Nowadays, it’s all labels. She and her friends are like Abercrombie clones. Though lately, there are days when she throws caution to the wind and pulls out her glitter tights and gold boots. I love seeing glimpses of what her teenage style will be. Maybe we’ll even share!

I love these photos that show her personality: Determined – Belting out Annie at age 4 / Protective – Hugging her baby sister / Playful – Discovering that her sister is now a friend / Helpful – Feeding the new baby (in her fave heart sweater) / Responsible – Always ready for a photo op (in her fave plaid skirt) / Funny – Goofing around with her little sister.

Being the oldest is not always an easy role. But she carries herself with grace and poise and has an inner strength that is enviable. She’s a special girl, what a privilege it has been to grow with her!

{Tender Threads quilts}

7 Jan 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Create, Eco Friendly, Featured, My Studio, Recycled Tags: quilt, recycled clothes, Tender Threads

Old Christmas Cards // Make a Book

I never feel right about throwing Christmas cards away. There is something about personal family photos that make it impossible to just put them in the trash (especially the awkward ones). A few years ago, I decided to bind them together with book rings and hang them up. On Christmas day, we love to flip through them and see how all of the kids have grown!

These are really simple to make, all you need is scissors, a hole punch, 2″ book rings, and some precious time.

Start by arranging them from smallest to biggest. Next, cut off any backs that don’t include photos. Sometimes, I will cut out the greeting and tape it to the back just so we remember ages and names. Next, punch two holes at the edge of the smallest card. Use this card as a template for all of the rest. Lastly, bind them together with the rings.

This project is so easy that I have now enlisted my kids to do it all for me! It’s great in many ways: They can see all of the photos of their friends, get to know some kids they’ve only heard about, punch holes, use the cool book rings mommy has been saving, and lastly…they can all fight about who does what!

Happy hole punching!

3 Jan 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, DIY, Easy, Eco Friendly, Featured, Recycled Tags: book rings, christmas cards, old cards

Owl Collage // Recycled

Sometimes I wonder who is having more fun making stuff…me or the kids? I love collage! Come to think of it, as a graphic designer and quilter, I am constantly collaging. And existentially speaking, isn’t life just one giant collage of accumulated experiences? Some pieces are way in the back, hard to make out, while others are the focal point – bright and clear. It’s all about layering.

This project has many steps, but don’t be turned off. Once you have accumulated all of your collage bits, and have cut out the owls, you’re home free.

Supplies:

Cardboard (I used cereal boxes)

Metallic Tempura Paint

Pencil and Scissors (for tracing and trimming owls)

Owl template

Collage bits (old painting, old holiday cards…)

Round labels (eyes)

Elmer’s glue

First, we painted the cardboard (painting on the dull inside of the cereal boxes, not the shiny outside, so the paint would absorb and dry faster). When dry, I traced the owls and cut them out. Next I used my paper cutter to cut the old paintings and cards into squares and strips. I cut triangles for noses, and we used round labels for the eyes. I had the kids glue on their collage bits first, then put the eyes and nose on top at the end.

The kids didn’t want to stop making these. In fact, we have left this project out for more than a week and they are still making collages!

I hope you jump in and try collaging. I swear it’s not only fun, but strangely cathartic (in an existential way ♡).

{Best for ages 5 and up. Using the paper cutter is for adults only.}

19 Nov 2012By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Eco Friendly, Featured, Recycled Tags: collage, owl collage, Recycled

Candy Wrapper Halloween Banner

It’s now 5 days until Halloween, and my kids are at their breaking point with me. I brought the Halloween boxes up two weeks ago but they are still sitting in the living room untouched. Until today that is! I found a ziploc bag full of candy wrappers and remembered that I had meant to make a candy wrapper banner last year. So, despite thoughts of cavities/promoting junk food running through my head, I made the banner. And whadyaknow? It’s pretty sweet.

It’s a multi-step process, but not hard. It took me about two hours from start to finish.

Materials:

String (I used Divine Twine, but black string would be better)

Large Needle

Colored paper (mine is from Staples)

Scissors, pencil, double-sided tape

Candy wrappers (I also threw in a few muffin papers for extra green)

To make the letters, I folded the paper lengthwise into three sections. This way, I knew the letters would be the same height. I drew the letters freehand and cut them out. I used double-sticky tape to attach the letters to the black paper. Next, I laid out the letters and the wrappers. Then I started from the end, and wove my needle in and out of each piece. I made sure to pull the first wrapper (which will actually be the wrapper at the end, to the furthest right) far, far down the thread so I had enough room to add everything.