For the past few weeks I have brought you a number of recycling or upcycling projects. I love upcycling because it is just fun..It allows me to hang on to those things which really have seen far better days, but which I cannot bring myself to bin. It is generally a thrifty option too,within reason. And it gives me the opportunity to customise an object according to my needs and preferences.The box frame noticeboard tutorial I shared a few weeks back, was originally bought on sale for a fraction of its usual price. I often buy frames cheaply from charity shops and give them a new lease of life by re-painting them in bright colours

Anything can be upcycled.. old furniture, clothes, shoes, bags, jeans…the list is  endless.. . Personally, I love the creative think-outside-the-box aspect of it.  An item can be upcycled  in the form of something different. A set of drawers from an old chest of drawers can be made into a display stands or shelves upon  a wall. I know someone who upcycles her toddler’s old dresses as lampshades. So, really, the only limit with upcycling is your imagination..

The following two projects are basically things which have been around the block a few times, and require only basic tools (craft knife, scissors, leather hole punch, needle and thread, some acrylic paint)

Hair-Clip

For this project I used the leather upper of an old pair of sandals. It is almost too simple really.

1. Cut the leather upper from the rest of the sandal, using a craft knife or a good pair of scissors. You might want to trim the piece of leather to a rectangle.         

  

          2. Using the leather hole punch, on its largest setting, punch a hole in either end of the piece of leather.

  

3. Stick a pencil in through the holes and you’re done. You might want to paint the pencil if you wish.
4.  

Embellished backpack

This project used an older backpack that my daughter did not want to get rid of. (it must be in the genes....lol) The flap was showing signs of wear, and had a large-ish stain. We needed an applique patch that would cover the stain without spoiling the bag’s appearance. 

Now, I don’t know about you…but I often find myself looking at the clothes that my children have outgrown with much more than a wistful eye.. they tend to have such lovely pictures printed/appliqued on them. I do donate quite a few clothes, especially since they usually are still in very good shape, but some pieces are just too pretty to give away. So I tend to squirrel them away for future use..

I had been holding onto an old pair of beautifully embroidered trousers for quite some time, and now it was time to use it.

Again, a laughably simple project. All it required was to sew the patch onto the flap of the backpack, and hey presto! it’s as good as new.. I did give the backpack a good wash before I actually started working on it.

To finish it off, I attached a few buttons that I had cut off from the same item of clothing as the embroidered patch.  But this is really optional. In fact, if you really don’t like sewing, you could use iron-on webbing to attach the fabric to your backpack.

Well, that's all for today, lovely people. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and it has sparked a few upcycling ideas of your own. If you have enjoyed this post, please leave a comment in the comments box at the end. And if you have any upcycling projects that you have made, please do share them here.

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