Clever Ways to Reuse Old Plastic Cards

When I lived in Toronto, I had a stack of old plastic transit passes in a rainbow of colours that I knew I had to craft something with. At first, I couldn't decide exactly what I'd make, but I knew that it would be a mosaic of some sort, so I cut up all my cards of different colours into tiny squares and thought about covering a table top in the pieces.

Eventually, I decided to to make the mosaic about, a sort of nostalgic nod to my time in Toronto, entitled "The Heart of Toronto", partially for the heart shape of the map and for the fact that I picked the centre part of the map to cut the heart from.



I really love how it turned out and I should really get it framed one of these days!

A friend shared her stack of TTC cards awhile back on Facebook wondering what to do with them, and I suggested my mosaic table idea as well as a few others.  I figured I'd share some more ideas here in case any of you have a stack of plastic cards that  you want to use for something, and hopefully to get myself motivated to use up all the little squares of cut up plastic cards that are lurking in my craft stash.

Other Ways to Reuse Plastic Cards 

I love the idea of making guitar picks out of old cards using a handy guitar pick punch

This mirror frame mosaic turned out really great as well - it would definitely make looking at yourself fun!

Artist Thomas McKean made an entire amazing exhibit of art pieces using old Metro cards...totally amazing. Click through the link to see more of the pieces from the exhibit.

I also enjoyed this idea to make an ear bud holder out of an old credit card-mine are always getting hopelessly tangled in my giant purse.

Hope these ideas helped you use up some of your stash of plastic cards! If you've seen any other awesome ideas for reusing plastic cards, please leave me a link in the comments!

♥ Craftzilla  

Etsy Craft Party 2013

The thing about school and moving and having a craft room that currently resembles a box storage warehouse basically translates into a reality where I haven't done any knitting, sewing or any kind of crafty thing in over a month. To previous versions of myself, this is almost unfathomable, as my knitting needles were usually permanently attached to my hands.

In fact, I even know the last time I made anything -- it was at a fairly impromptu Etsy Craft Party that I put together for the Guelph Etsy Team in late June at the Boathouse in Guelph, which is a tea room (you may remember our trip there on Mother's Day with my mom and sister)  and ice cream place.


A few ladies who sell on Etsy, as well as a few of  my crafty friends came to craft and enjoy some ice cream, and a wonderful time was had by all!

Although I'm not in the picture above, you can see my last crafting above--the blue knitting in the bottom left. I actually couldn't even find much to bring that day, since we were moving the next week and most things were packed, but I got a few plain squares knitted, maybe for a future scrappy blanket. It was a lovely day though, and the huge ice cream I got was a great way to beat the felt like 40 degrees in the shade heat.

I made some progress on unpacking some of the boxes and bags in my craft room on the weekend though, so hoping I'll find all the supplies and space I need soon to get back to some knitting and playing with my new sewing machine!

♥ Craftzilla

Be my Crafty Valentine

When the amazing and crafty Mel from Needle and Nest posted a version of that status that has been making its way around the internet, promising crafty goodness to the first 5 commenters,  I knew my time to comment had finally come!

So here's me holding up my end of the bargain:

The first 5 people to comment on this post will earn the dubious (amazing? once in a lifetime?) honour of becoming "my  crafty valentine" and can expect a handmade gift from me  showing up in their mailbox sometime this year!

What you need to do:
- Leave me a comment below with your name and email address
- Post a similar offer on your blog, Facebook or Twitter (if you're not overly crafty, the gift doesn't have to be handmade -- I'll leave that up to you)
- Wait for crafty things to arrive in your mailbox!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

♥ Craftzilla

DIY Love: Rag Rugs

As we continue to get our apartment set up , I've been looking around for some fun DIY's to make our little house a bit cozier and personalized. Now that we have hardwood floors again, I've fixated on making some cute rag rugsfor each side of our bed to keep our toes warm when winter comes. This may also be related to my current re-reading of the Anne of Green Gable series, where they constantly seem to mention rag rugs and cozy winters by a fireplace, but who's to say?  Here are a few options I'm thinking of trying, once I gather together some pretty rags /fabrics to make my rugs out of.

Crocheted Rug

I can do basic crochet, which would seem to suggest that I could probably make this crocheted rag rug, although I'm guessing that it would be a bit of a pain to hold once it got to a certain size. I do really like the way this kind of rug looks though.

Braided Rugs

I also really like how this braided rag rug looks, aside from the fact that sewing the whole thing together might take a bit more time than I'm wanting to invest, 

I also like this rectangular braided rag rug, although I don't think the construction of it makes it very sturdy. If I could figure out another way to construct it that was easy and didn't involve glue, I might consider making a rug this way.

Friendship Bracelet Style Chevron Rug

Given that I'm skilled in the art of friendship bracelet making, this friendship bracelet style chevron rag rug seems right up my alley. I love the chevron too, as well as the rectangular shape, which might work better for beside my bed than a round rug. 

Phew! Now all I have to do is get some rags together, pick a style and get making!


♥ Craftzilla 

Get Involved with ApoCALypse - Knit Along with Us

I wanted to let all you knitting fans out there that I have three  posts up on the ApoCALypse Craftalong blog  this week on one of my favourite topics, knitting! This week I'm talking about knitting needles, in particular:

1)  how to pick and choose the right needles for you, 
2)  how to pick the right type of knitting needle for your project and
3)  one on how to figure out what size those mystery needles are  and hhow to convert needles from other countries to the size you need for a pattern (particularly focused on Canadian, British and US sizes)

We're ramping up for the first of many awesome craft-alongs, starting with a knit-a-long that is beginning in June. In order to get ready, Kelly from Living Apockylypse and Margot from Newfoundlander at Heart and I are posting some fun posts about knitting, such as a how to choose the right knitting needles for your project, the right needles for you, how to pick the right type of yarn and weight of yarn for your project.

Our projects include a spiffy needle roll, market tote and infinity cowl, as well as a few other fun projects.

For updates and to get involved, you can follow @apockycal on Twitter, hop on over to the ApoCALypse blog to sign up to be a participant and visit us on our Ravelry group page!

♥Craftzilla

Guest Posts, Crafty Reveals and Blog Positivity Week

Just popping in here to share a few exciting things that are going on!

Guest Post Today on Living Apockylypse- Sweet Potato Sushi DIY

Today I'm guest posting as a part of Kelly from Living Apockylypse's Blog party in celebration of her one year blogging anniversary! Check out my Sushi DIY as well as some other awesome DIYs, giveaways and amazing posts today on her blog!

Exciting Crafty Announcement 

Also of exciting note, is the fun and fabulous announcement that Kelly also made as a part of her blog party- her, myself and Margot from Newfoundlander at Heart have banded together and come up with a new crafty community project, called the ApoCALypse (CAL for Craft-a-long) where we connect crafters in working on crafty projects together. Our first set of projects will be knitting related, but there will be other projects of a crafty nature in the future. For more information on how to get involved, check out the ApoCALypse blog , Flickr Group or join the ApoCALypse group on Ravelry.

Blog Positivity Week on After Nine to Five's Blog 

And last but not least, Ashley from After Nine to Five is spending next week (March 19 to 25th) on her blog having a Blog Positivity Week to celebrate the positive aspects of the blogging community and for all of us to celebrate all the good parts that blogging brings to our lives. If you want to get involved, check out the information page here to sign up and get involved!

I hope all of you are having an awesome St Patrick's Day!

A Room of One's Own

I was thinking about this quote today, as I packed up the last of my stuff in my studio space and moved it back over to my apartment. Having a studio for awhile was great, but given my recent job troubles, it was a luxury that I could no longer afford.  I'm a little bit bummed that I don't have my own little space to escape to anymore, where I can leave out all my sewing projects and tackle whatever one I want to at my leisure, but I guess there's something to be said for getting to do my sewing at home too, especially in the winter when I'm largely hermiting about here, cuddled in blankies. So I'll just have to create my room of my own inside another room for now, and dream of having my own space again someday.

But I think what I need more than anything is a goal or aspiration to work towards, and I think having all my supplies accessible (well once I organize them) should be pretty inspiring, or at least, a change of pace for me. Given that a move is being contemplated for September, I am going to need to reduce a lot of this fabric anyways, so here are some new goals for myself that I dreamed up today that I'll hopefully be able to stick to:

1) Sew for at least one hour five days a week
2) Finish at least one project fully every week (which can include finishing up old projects)
3) Catch up on some of the tutorials in Claire from Polka Dot Pretties Learn to Sew series! Learning to sew projects are always the best for stash busting!

I could probably go on, but  I think I'll leave it at that for now and see how I do!

Do any of you sew in a small space? I'd love to hear about any ideas or posts you've done about organizing all your sewing stuff!

♥ Craftzilla

Craft Swap Fun

I've participated in a few craft swaps lately, and I thought I'd share some of the fun!

Here's a recent gift I sent off to a swap partner in British Columbia for a handmade gift exchange. I'm still waiting for mine to get here!



These flower brooches will be appearing in my Etsy Shop soon too! They're super fun to make and pretty darn cute (if I do say so myself!)



I also participated in a craft swap in person with some other crafters in town that was a lot of fun! I swapped a bunch of things, and got some awesome Christmas gifts for my family.

Here are some of the tables set up-hats made out of recycled materials, from Noggins hats 



I swapped for a monster hat for my sister, as well as for a hat or two for myself!



Fancy soaps!



And here are all of my wares I set out...I realized how many finished things I have lying about that I need to post on Etsy!





At any rate, my first in person craft swap was a great success, and I hope to go to another one soon!

Have you ever gone to an craft swap in person or participated in one on-line? What was your experience with it? So far, mine have been pretty positive, especially since I love getting things in the mail.

♥ Craftzilla 

Things I made and Saw: Hodge Podge

Just a quick pop in to share some of the things I've been up to this week. Working on some more phone cases--these should be finished and listed this week in the shop, hopefully along with some other things I've been working on

 

The demolition continues next door--it's sort of neat to see a cross section of the building




Delivered a necklace to it's new home



We got lots of snow here the other day--snow on trees looks so neat to me. We finally got a video of Jesse romping about in the snow as well, making doggy snow angels:P



We got a Munchkin Cthulhu expansion recently - I can't decide whether this one or the original is more fun



Finishing up a hat for a bloggy friend, Julie from Tri-ing to be Althletic...almost done!



♥ Craftzilla

Craft Hope : Craftivism and Project 16: Beanies and Tote Bags for Kids with Cancer

Have you heard of Craft Hope? I've written about my involvement in some of their previous projects making  a quilt  here and fun bracelets here, but thought I'd let you know about their latest project, and hopefully inspire you to participate!


Project 16: The Littlest Warriors 

The latest project is calling for knit beanies/hats (sized from babies to teenagers) and tote bags filled with fun things such as small toys and colouring books to send on to kids who are currently battling cancer. Inspired by 41/2 year old Pierce, the song of a friend of Jade who runs Craft Hope who is fighting a battle with leukemia, this project is easy to do, can be done by yourself and in a group, and will definitely help touch the lives of kids like Pierce who could use some brightness and cheer.

I thought I'd collect a few ideas for totes and hats to get you (and myself) started!
(click the images to go to the tutorials)

This tote would be perfect for stashing some crayons and a colouring book:

Source: mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Totes made of tshirts would be fun and functional

Source: moredesignplease.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Felt or fleece bags would be really soft and customizable with shapes and animals for younger kids

Source: marthastewart.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Easy knit hat for kids

Source: petitepurls.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Aborable hat--love the bow!

Source: fiberflux.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Easy hat for older kids

Source: store.cocoknits.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

For more information, check out the Craft Hope Facebook page.

♥ Craftzilla 

And Now for a little Sharing: Christmas Crafts

Now that Christmas is over, and things are back to some semblance of normal, I figured I'd share a few of the Christmas crafts I made for people this year.

My sister left on Christmas Eve to go to Australia for 3 weeks with her husband and his family, and requested a headband that was like the flower and feather pin I made her for her wedding, but in more fun colours. I used this tutorial for the felt flowers, and ended up with this fancy headband.





This was actually a custom order, but got to my friend Sherri in time for Christmas, and she very much enjoyed it! I think I actually have enough fabric left for another tea cozy like this, so will be posting one in the Etsy shop soon!



On the failure side of things, I assembled all these reindeer I had kits for, and then did not at all figure out what to do with them. So eighteen reindeer have just been sitting on the windowsill and falling on the heads of anyone who attempts to sit on the couch. Fail.



There are a few other gifts that I forgot to take pictures of (my lovely dad will be taking some for me)  and some that I just haven't gotten around to taking photos of yet,  so I will share those too when I have them! In conclusion though, as usual, I need to start Christmas gift making MUCH earlier than I usually do, and even more so this year with school and exams going on.  So I resolute now, anyway :) I'll definitely be getting back into the blogging swing of things too--I've missed all of you, and hope you all had a great holiday!

♥ Craftzilla

Crafty and Cooking to do list

I finally finished up my exams and papers for the semester last night (yay!), so now that I'm full of freedom, I'm mildly freaking out about how messy my apartment is and how many Christmas gifts I have yet to start and make. So I figured I'd get a bit organized in terms of my craftiness and Christmas baking that I want to do in the next few days at least, and gather some tutorials for things I want to make all in one place.

I really want to make this lipgloss--and hoepfully not explode a glass jar like the LAST time I made lipgloss!

Source: pulchritudefest.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

I want to try out a metal chocolate mold pan I thrifted, and I think one of these recipes will be just the ticket!

Source: framed-mylifeonepictureatatime.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

The icing on these ones is pretty fun!

Source: our-everyday-art.com via Gillian on Pinterest

These look amazing--wonder if I can put this inside a molded chocolate?

Source: bbcgoodfood.com via Gillian on Pinterest

The idea of cheesecakes in chocolate size form is pretty darn awesome also!

Source: roxanagreengirl.com via Gillian on Pinterest

There may also be some sugar cookie making and Christmas movie watching to try to get into the Christmas spirit a bit.

Source: peppermintplum.blogspot.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Source: motherthyme.com via Gillian on Pinterest

What are you cooking up this holiday season?

♥ Craftzilla