I have been saving wine corks for a long time. Like, ever since I turned 21 and that was….well a long time ago. I have plans to do something really cool with them. There are lots of ideas out there and with spring hopefully coming soon, this birdhouse tutorial is perfect. Don’t have enough to make your own? Check out this cute cork birdhouse from Etsy. Happy Upcycling! Jill    

Upcycled soap? I know… I was slightly skeptical when this review first crossed my desk. Until that day, I had never considered upcycled soap. By the time, the package was 6 inches from my nose I had already started my conversion. Summit Soap smells FANTASTIC! The primary ingredient in this upcycled soap is cooking oil from Rocky Mountain, Colorado restaurants. The vegetable cooking oil is then purified and quality tested. The fabulous scent comes from fresh herbs and essential oils. I have used the soap for a week …

My seed catalogs came last week so it is officially time to start thinking about spring and spring gardening. My first spring product review is the Plantopia hanging basket.The basket is black and made in the USA from 100% recycled plastic. You know I like that! The Plantopia hanging basket takes the traditional hanging basket design and makes it better. In a typical hanging basket, you put your plantings in the top and hope the plants will trail off of the side. In this design, there are eight …

Enjoy our list of some of our favorite upcycled gifts. Adorable handmade slippers for children and adults made from upcycled wool. We wrote about Wooly Baby here. Beautiful and elegant upcycled jewelry from Love Honor Upcycle. Read all about it here. Upcycled T-shirt dresses from our friends at Brava Boutique. Check out the story behind the dresses and link to their Etsy store is here. Upcycled key jewelry. A truly unique gift from the Key of A. Read about it here. Trash to treasure …

How much good can one pair of shoes do? Well, a lot more than you would think. These durable sandals are good news times two. Each pair of Chipkos are 100% vegan and non toxic. The footbed is made from sustainable raffia and the soles are made from recycled rubber. So, they are manufactured in a way that is very environmentally friendly. That is not where the good news ends. For every purchase, Chipkos will adopt 100 square feet of rain forest for the protection and preservation of …

Oh my glory, you are going to love this tote bag from Migdalia. Made of upcycled fabric, it is beyond what you are going to come up with on your own crafting at the kitchen table. I will admit to you right now that I usually give the product review items back to Upcycle Magazine so that they can use them in a give-away for their fabulous readers. Well, don’t tell anyone but I am keeping this bag! My cell phone and wallet are inside and they …

Today, I am reviewing a spoon bracelet made by artist Dan Kemp of Dank Artistry. Vintage silverware is absolutely beautiful and Dan has used the variety and intricacy of design to his advantage to make some really unique pieces. I have seen spoon rings before but this is the first time I have seen a bracelet. The bracelet was smooth and comfortable to wear.I thought it might feel too heavy but it was a comfortable weight. Unknown to Dan, the review bracelet is the exact same pattern of …

Vintage Vinyl Journals are cool. I couldn’t really picture how journals made from vintage vinyl would look so I didn’t really know what to expect. The journal definitely exceeded my expectation. From the packaging to the retro looking label and logo, everything is well done and professional. My review journal was made from a Billy Joel album. The front of the album is the actual vinyl cut into a square and the back is the front of the album cover. The handcrafted journal contains 250 unlined acid-free …

We love these upcycled dog toys from The Smiling Frog Pets and so does our dog, Dixie. They are made with recycled denim complete with a cute sounding squeaker inside. Dixie loves soft toys. When we gave her this ball, she walked around the house crying and looking for a place to “hide” her new toy. Dogs are funny. After over two months of play, the ball is still in great shape and has held up well. The toys can be embroidered with up to four letters. They …

Meet artist and furniture maker Matt Johnson. We are very excited about Matt’s work. His upcycled furniture and accessories are different from many of the upcycled pieces we have seen. They are true pieces of art and style while still being created with things like carburetors, pistons and fire extinguishers. Matt grew up an upcycled life. His childhood home was an 1850’s textile mill that his parents turned into a self sustaining live/work house that ran on water power. It was complete with animals and vegetable gardens. Matt …