I recently completed a flurry of art projects. After congratulating myself on my productivity, I turned around to look look at my home studio, and wondered, "Who made this huge mess?
Now, this is not a space for news or politics, but it is a space to talk about art. Art heals and soothes. Art is therapeutic. Art is meditative. So that is why I'm in my studio making collage art.
Recently I have been upcycling burlap coffee bean bags into café curtains for my kitchen. (Get it? Café curtains?)
Today I'm sharing a little project from Kristen Robinson for making sweet bag for your jewelry or to hold a special little gift. Kristen makes these bags out of wool felt or linen; you can use purchased felt or make it even more personal by upcycling a wool sweater into felt or upcycling your fabric scraps of choice.
After literally tripping over my stash of fabrics, papers, and found objects recently, I am on a mission to downsize. And so I'm looking for ways to use and re-use items I already have, upcycling them into art or useful objects.
In this free eBook, Upcycled Art: 4 Free Tutorials on Upcycling Ideas and Creating Recycled Art, we offer you recycled art projects that help you winnow down your collection of found objects—and make room for new ones!
If you follow this blog, then you know I have an abundance of denim pockets culled from my husband's jeans, and I'm always looking for fabric art projects to make with them. One of my favorite denim recycling projects was this Patched Pocket Panel that combines art with storage.
Ever since I made a murder of fancy felt crow softies from Kelli Nina Perkins's pattern several years ago, I've been looking for other easy art doll patterns to make using my fabric scraps.
With any luck, I'll be able to persuade my husband that some of his wool sweaters are too worn even for working around the house. Then I can turn them into felt for fabric art.
A few years back I picked up a vintage metal shelving/cabinet at a yard sale. I love the glass doors and the fact that I can post notes to myself on it with magnets. Hubby dutifully hung it on my art studio wall and it stored fabrics and supplies for a couple of years.
My husband wears jeans every day for work, and he goes through them at an alarming rate. Several years ago I started saving the pockets for future upcycling into fabric art. Now I have a stack of pockets waiting in search of a project.
A couple of weekends ago I spent the better part of two days sorting through the stuff in my home studio. By Sunday evening I emerged with a feeling of accomplishment: everything within the room had been sorted and stored in categories and I had two worktables cleared and ready for action.
My husband and I have been going through our closets and basement boxes to determine what is useful, what is trash, and what is "junque." The useful stuff we'll keep, give, or sell; the trash we'll toss (or recycle) and the junque we want to upcycle into recycled art projects.
When you're an artist you want to announce it to the world. So why not make art to wear? In this free eBook Making Art to Wear: 5 Free Mixed-Media Designs for Wearable Art and Steampunk Jewelry, we'll show you how to make mixed-media jewelry and art to wear on your head, wrist, neck, and ears.
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