Flowerpot scarecrow

Today I helped to make a flowerpot scarecrow.  It took 3 hours but was great fun to do!

 

UPDATE:  We won first prize in the group category.  All the hard work was worth it!

How to upcycle reclaimed needlepoint

Last time I went up to London I did my usual walk around Liberty as their Christmas stuff is just amazing.  Unfortunately most of the prices are out of my range but it is lovely to look at all the crafty-type makes.  It is a pity that they don't do as much fabric and haberdashery now as they used to but I suppose they have to stock what sells.
It is always interesting to look at the 'vintage' room where they are selling clothes that I was wearing in the 1960s and 70s, although they are probably much higher quality brands than I could afford then.  There are some lovely evening dresses that would be wonderful to have for that special occasion.
There are always some unusual and quirky items, especially in the furniture.  I was greatly amused to see old furniture which had been renovated and recovered in old 'reclaimed' needlepoint tapestries, which were in lovely bright condition and well cleaned.  One was an vintage metal dentist chair, which was covered in brightly coloured scenes of thatched cottages and wheat fields or similar.  Other similar unusually shaped furniture or metal objects had been reupholstered in the same way.  It seemed that the idea was to put together two disparate items, the object and the bright needlework, to make a statement. 
I am not sure what my point is really, I am just a bit bemused.  I suspect if we were clearing out an elderly relative's home the old furniture and needlepoint would have been put in the skip, even though we know that many hours of work went into the stitching.  Someone is able to see past this.   I hope they sell.  I hope that someone will give my old needlepoint a new lease of life and that the Liberty buyer is around to rummage through my skip.

Upcycle, reuse and recycle packaging materials

I have a small business which uses quite a lot of packaging materials for posting parcels.  When I am busy I am posting several packages a day, perhaps up to eight a day in the run up to Christmas.  Add in ebay sales and I use a lot of packaging/envelopes/Jiffy bags etc.
For the business I tend to use new materials, and find ebay is a good source for plastic bags, and I scour the internet for good deals on Jiffy bags.  Ebay is a bit more flexible as it is quite usual to reuse and recycle good quality packaging materials, and as you know I am always trying to reuse as much as I can, both to save resources and to save money.  This is even more important now that I try to offer my ebay items with free P&P, and postage rates are due to increase hugely at the end of the month.
This is a list of materials that I save for recycling:

Plastic bags for immediate packaging
The plastic envelopes that greetings cards come in
Tiny plastic bags that hold spare buttons on new garments
My son is an IT technician and saves me lots of plastic bags that electrical components come in
The outer bags used for catalogues that come through the post
The air cushioning plastic strip that comes eg with Amazon parcels which I cut into bags

Outer packaging
Thank you Amazon for using lots of that brown paper strip to cushion inside boxes.  This is invaluable.  It can be used as brown paper to make parcels.  I cut it into smaller pieces, double layer, and run some seams down the side with my sewing machine to make envelopes.

(Incidentally, although off topic I can't resist adding this link on how to make storage baskets with it).
Corrugated card which is cut to sandwich items eg knitting needles
Most Jiffy bags can be reused
Plastic sacs received in the post are turned inside out and reused

Postage
I am brilliant at sandwiching stuff tightly so that it can be posted as Large not Packet - this saves a lot of money
Superdrug sometimes sell stamps at a discount - it is worth stocking up
And although too late for this year it is worth stocking up on 1st class/2nd class stamps at the old rate

I promise that this is the end of my recycling blogging, I will get back to knitting next time.

www.bitstobuy.co.uk

Re-use, re-cycle, up-cycle or just save the world

I was brought up in the years of austerity just after the war, in a family without a lot of spare cash.  It was drummed into us at an early age that nothing was to be wasted, and to some extent this is ingrained into me still.  I hate to see waste in any form, and really dislike throwing anything away that can be reused.  Then it was to do with saving money, although now it would be called saving the world.  I strongly believe that the earth's resources are finite, and that we should all be thinking about reusing as much as we can.

Some things I remember from my childhood:

Never leave a light on when out of a room
Be sparing with hot water - we were allowed one pint jug full to rinse when washing hair
Reuse waxed paper from cereal boxes to wrap packed lunches
Wear jumpers to bed in winter
Unwrap Christmas presents carefully and fold paper to use next year
Burn as much rubbish as possible on the open fire
Shut doors to keep in heat in winter (hands up if you can remember huddling next to the open fire and getting blotchy marks on your legs and a frozen back!)
Hand down clothes (I was the youngest girl of three so certainly knew what that meant!)
Hand knit and sew as many clothes as possible
Re-use fabric from old clothes to make new garments, and unravel jumpers to reknit the yarn
Shop at jumble sales

I am sure there are many more.  We never actually used newspaper in the loo but I remember going to play with friends nearby who did!

We re-use and re-cycle as much as we can now without especially thinking about it.  Although we are not fanatical about it here are a few of the things we do:

Used stamps are taken to Oxfam
Plastic milk bottle caps go to the playgroup
Unwanted DVDs and CDs are hung up to deter birds on the allotment
Old video tape is used to tie up plants on the allotment
Shredded paper is composted
Fizzy drinks bottles are cut down and used as mini greenhouses on new plants
Small plastic bottles like Yakult size are used to top canes
Old spectacles go to Specsavers for renovation and passing on
I collect buttons from old clothes
Junk mail/letters or paper printed on one side goes through the printer again for non important printing
I refill printer cartridges with ink (tip, unless you want black fingernails for weeks use plastic gloves)
Yoghurt pots are used for mixing filler/paint etc when decorating
Old carpet goes onto the allotment for paths or on areas to clear weeds
Old hand knit jumpers are unravelled and the yarn reused (I wind it round plastic bottles, dunk in water with a bit of detergent in and dry, to take out the kinks)
Plastic plant pots are saved for plant sales
Broken terracota pots are used for crocks in pots
Plastic carrier bags (we get them occasionally even when using our own bags!) are used to hold rubbish for the dustbin
Clothes go into clothes banks (whatever happened to jumble sales, they don't seem to exist in our area any more?)
A couple of old bikes have gone to a chap nearby who renovates them and they are sent to Africa (he doesn't seem to have a weblink but I see there are several similar schemes online)
Old pallets have been used to make a compost bin
Screws, nuts and bolts are saved for reuse
Margarine containers are cut into strips to make plant labels
Many many things such as packing materials can be used in craft activities with children

We have an excellent kerbside collection which takes all the usual things such as glass, paper etc.
In our area there is a thriving Freecycle scheme, and any unwanted item listed there is snapped up by someone who would like it.
This site tells you how to recycle anything!

I had intended to write a post about how I recycle packing materials, but got carried away.  That can be for next time.

www.bitstobuy.co.uk