The Mad Recyler has a Sign :)

Sorry for last week's hiatus from blogging.  I needed to take a break and center myself.  I did create some great stuff though to share through the coming week.  I have some new creations that I am very excited about!  First of all, I finally created a sign for "The Mad Recycler".  I actually recycled the "Springs n' Things" sign and created this one:

I printed out the Mad Hatter and cut him out with an exacto knife, than Mod Podged him to the board.  I then hand painted "The Mad Recycler - Handmade Bedspring Art" over the top of the image.  I think its looks great and I am very excited to use it at this Saturday, June 4th's craft show at the Massena Arena for the Massena Heritage Festival.

Last week I also dropped off a bunch of my wreaths at the Grassroots Co-op in Waddington so be sure to stop and check them out as well as other local food/art.

In Memory of my Dad

Today is my dad's funeral.  He passed away on May 22, 2011 at 1:37 AM and I was not allowed to be there, which has been very hard on me.  So I have been working through the grieving process by creating.   I started with a drawing of my dad, which is not perfect yet, definitely still a work in progress but I can see him in it.

 When my sister and I were young, we were told by our grandpa that people come back as butterflies.  So butterflies have always held a special place in our hearts.  This is why I created my sister and I matching butterfly cuffs.  Each cuff has a hand-painted recycled monarch butterfly and a gold butterfly.  The monarch represents our dad and the gold butterfly represents our grandpa.

On the inside I modge podged a paper that says "Love You Dad 5-22-11", so we will never forget.

This is the beautiful red maple we planted in memory of him:

Plum Crazy! Purple Rose Decoration Set

The poor BF has been forced to drink lots of Grape Soda so I can have the cans :).  I'm not sure he really minds though.  This is my first set of purple decorations and I love them, I hope you all do too!

Since this set is magnetic it is very easy to move them around to get a totally different look!

This decoration set will be at the Grassroots Co-op in Waddington NY for its opening on May 27th.  I am also going to try to have another set done for the Massena Heritage Festival Craft Show June 4th at the Massena Arena.  This is dependent on how much grape soda I can get the BF to drink between now and then :)

Wedding Wednesdays: Peppermint Pretty

For my wedding post this week, I have chosen Etsy seller Peppermint Pretty.  Peppermint Pretty specializes in custom vintage inspired wedding dresses, which are exactly my taste.  Check out some of my favorites:

Daisy Jane

Hello Dolly

Charlotte Sometimes

Such great inspiration and a totally unqiue gown.  I have certain wedding gowns I love, but what I love is uniqueness.  I think thats what makes the day truly special is if your wedding is different from anyone else.

Peppermint Pretty was just last week a Featured Seller on Etsy, check out the story! 

My First Silhouette Project - Recycled Welcome Magnets

The wonderful BF bought me a Silhouette Machine for my birthday.  I haven't blogged about it yet b/c I broke the blade (trying to cut soda can) that came with it and had to wait until I got a new one to post an actual project.  This is my first successful silhouette creation:

I used a font I already had on my computer.  All I had to do was properly space the letters so when it cut them into the scrapbook paper, I could still use my Fiskars 2-in Seal Punch to cut around them.  The silhouette cut beautifully, the best part is I can use both the outline of the letter and the actual cut out of the letter.  

After I created the seal punch letter, I then cut the same size seal out of a Velveeta Shells & Cheese box to use for the brown backgound.  They look wonderful and you would never know its a velveeta box.  I then just attached a magnet and they are complete!

I am going to be working on other sets, which I would love to do completely recycled letter magnets. I am hoping to use the funny pages from the newspaper as well as bright magazine pages.   

I will also be bringing bedspring wreaths, bedspring pumpkins, decoration sets and bedspring pumpkins to the Grassroots Co-op in Waddington, NY for their grand opening Saturday May 27th.  Buy local and support your local crafters and artists!

Enjoy!

What to do on a rainy spring weekend in Northern New York

This weekend was absolutely horrible.  It rained the ENTIRE weekend and is suppose to continue raining until next weekend!  At least I started weeding my flower beds friday night so they won't be a huge mess by the time I get back to them  Although most of my plants are quickly outgrowing the greenhouse and need to be outside.

This past weekend I had my little sister Saturday afternoon and what else is there to do on a rainy Saturday but bake cookies, play with Legos and watch a movie.

I found an old cookie press while cleaning out some boxes in my grandma's garage.  It had all the different shapes to make the different types of pressed cookies and worked awesome.   Larissa really enjoyed it!

After we were done baking, we watched the Care Bears movie which was one of my favorites.  The weather was so terrible, Annie didn't even want to go outside, so she cuddled up on the couch with Larissa!  

I hope everyone had a good weekend, I have some great projects to share this week!

Things that make me smile: Preserving Memories :)

As I've gotten older I realized I myself don't have many pictures of my family from when I was little.  My Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ted were always taking pictures so I went to their house last night and started scanning the pictures they had of us when we were younger.  I found some great ones and wanted to share with everyone, that digitizing your photos is an excellent idea.  I scanned the photos to my computer, backed them up to an external hard drive and plan on burning them to a DVD so they will never be lost!  Check out some of my favorites:

I believe I am about 4 in this picture.  I was a little fish :)

My older brother Jon and I on Easter

My grandpa and grandma 

My grandpa, my sister Jenn and I

My sister Jenn, the old english sheepdog Molly and I

Jon, Jenn and I on Christmas

My grandpa and brother Jon, playing wiffle ball.  I'm sure I was playing too!

We cannot forget about our best furry friends over the years, this was Molly an old english sheepdog at 4 months old on christmas.  I miss this dog everyday, she was my best friend!

I plan to make albums for my siblings, as well as other family members so I am going to upload the pictures to Shutterfly and have prints made!

Wedding Wednesdays: Fascinators

After watching brief portions of the royal wedding (all I cared about seeing was her dress and the amazing hats worn by the guests) I have since fallen in love with headpieces.  I am not sure I could ever pull one off, but it never hurts to dream right.  I am the maid of honor in a long-time friends wedding next June and her request was for everyone to wear hats!  Of course I will be making my own, so I need a little inspiration from Etsy, check out my findings:

Large Honeysuckle Fuschia Double Feather Flower Headpiece by CorrineONeill

Fascinator that Fascinates with Drama by handrecraftedjewelry

Summer rose garden fascinator by hapitat

**Sigh** I love birdcage veils, but for the bachelorette party....

Ruby Red Glitter Mini Burlesque Crown by janinebasil

Fall in love with your own fascinators on Etsy!

New Recycled Cuff Bracelets

I received a custom order from a friend, she wanted a yellow and orange bracelet which is so far out of my color schemes I have been creating but turned out beautifully.  The large yellow rose is a recycled soda can and the large white/orange rose was a vintage brooch I found at a flea market. 

Another turquoise creation: 

My new favorite quote which I'm going to try to incorporate into a bracelet, so be on the look out for it :).  

Vinyl Wall Decal by wordybirdstudios

I have some other new items to showcase throughout the week, but didn't get to take many photos last night as I was installing my little dog Bubba's in ground radio fence from PetSafe.  Installation took a long time but bubba has probably a little over and acre to play in.  He is currently terrified of the fence :(, which is really hard for me, but this is for the best so he doesn't get hit by a car.  I will be sure to update you on the process.  

My geeky side has also come out this week.  I am going to try to fix my iPhone 3G I ran over with my car. It needs a new LCD, glass and touch screen digitizer.  Hopefully I can manage to change all of this myself.  Wish me luck!

Playing in the mud and a spring surprise!

This past weekend, I had my little sister over for the day.  We went for a walk in the woods, saw a big grass snake, caught some tadpoles and made some scrap fabric rosettes.  All and all it was a really fun, busy weekend.  Here are some photos:

In the beginning, Larissa was a little weary about walking in the mud, by the end she was jumping in it!

Annie likes mud too!  Unfortunately there are no photos of Bubba, can't seem to get him to hold still long enough for a picture!

I snapped this photo yesterday while working in my flower beds.  I didn't plant these beautiful little violets here, they must have reseeded themselves from my planters I had on the porch last year.  They are quickly taking over around my hydrangeas.  Such happy little flowers :).  

Happy Weekend! Splash Page and New Shop Item - Jack Daniel's Cuff

My techy side has been at work lately creating a splash page for my blog/shop.  For those of you that don't know, a splash page is a web page with all of the links to get to the blog, shop, facebook, twitter and anything else you want to post.  Basically it brings everything together in one easy to find location.  So bookmark the page for the most up to date news about The Mad Recycler.

www.themadrecycler.biz

I also wanted to announce that that Jack Daniel's Cuff has been added to my etsy shop, for all of you that loved it, you can now have one of your own.  It is made entirely of recycled materials.  The aluminum cuff is lined with black leather, one size fits most and very comfortable to wear.  Check it out!

Recycled Jack Daniel's Cuff by The Mad Recycler  aka springsnthings - $15.00

Recycled Plastic Bottle Flowers :)

I have been trying to figure out how to make flowers out of plastic bottles for weeks now.  I have cut them up, melted them, put them in the oven and had no success until I started looking at the bottoms of the bottles which are already kind of star shaped, So I cut one from a 2 liter soda bottle apart and cut each little section into a pointy petal.  To create the leaf, I just cut a leaf shape out of a peice of the rest of the bottle that was already curled slightly.  For the small pink flower I did the same with a water bottle and then flipped the bottle over and pushed the petals out.  I think they are adorable.  A little paint applied kind of sloppy completes them.  I think a nice wreath of plastic sunflowers may be on its way!

Wedding Wednesdays: Seed Bombs - an eco-friendly wedding favor

Seed bombs started with the idea of Guerilla Gardening, which is planting items in vacant lots or dirty areas to promote natural beauty.   The item used to plant these sparse areas had to be portable, easy to grow and basically only needs water, and that is how the seed bomb was born.  Seed bombs are classically thrown over fences or walls into empty lots.  Imagine a couple of these in a little muslin or paper bag, stamped with your wedding info. Too Cute!  Even a person without a green thumb can grow these!

Seed Bombs by PulpArt (another New Yorker)

If you are feeling brave and would like to try to make some yourself (I have not tried this yet, but hope to soon).  Check out these great tutorials, LA Times and Instructables.  Make sure you choose seeds that are native to your area as well as easy to grow!

The Mad Recycler turns 27! Want to have a tea party? Thank you Miriam!

Today is my 27th Birthday and so far I am having a wonderful birthday.  I had a show at the Canton Middle School on Saturday that was a lot of fun and got to meet some great people.    Yesterday I had the exciting news of being in both the Watertown Times and Ogdensburg Journal for my recycling creations.  I also got some of my birthday presents a little early :).  The BF couldn't resist giving me his and it is amazing, but I won't be sharing it until tomorrow as I am still learning how to use it.

Last night, I got a gift from my dear friend, blog reader, and supporter, Miriam.  I had posted a blog a long way back now about Alice in Wonderland China.  Miriam got me the tiered snack tray and the small espresso/tea set.  I am totally in love with them.  I want to have a tea party just so I can use them!

It is even more whimsical than in the photos!  I absolutely love it!