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 …

Welcome Morgan of King Soleil! Enjoy her free step-by-step tutorial for making an Upcycled Crochet Rug. Thank you Morgan! Step-by-Step Upcycled Crochet Rug Tutorial There is something so completely satisfying when you are able to create a piece for your home that is functional, cozy, and perfectly your style. All the more rewarding when you are eco-friendly, making the world a greener place, and adding that handmade flair to your everyday. I am thrilled to be a guest blogger at Upcycle Magazine, a site utterly devoted …

Welcome guest author Elizabeth Smyth of Precision Paragon. Thank you Elizabeth! Shining a New Light on Old Things – Upcycled Lighting Fixtures After a holiday filled with too many cookies, a flourishing display of crisply wrapped boxes tied with ribbons and bows and twenty four hour light spectacles showing in the front yard, the new year is a welcomed time to detox from our wasteful, albeit festive, ways. In the spirit of the New Year and our intentions to do better, the trend of upcycling has been bestowed upon …

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 …

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 …

I love this cool project for an upcycled tray. I also love the name of Kellie’s blog: My So Called Green Life. I adored Jordan Catalano in my youth. It’s that time of the year! Check out this upcycled gift guide. Hello! This blog is my new best friend!

Go check out the True Sustainability online community and forum. Good stuff! Are restroom hand dryers really the greener choice? See what they Badly Stuffed Animal has to say about it. Time to start your holiday crafts. Here is a tutorial for an elegant wreath made from upcycled fabric. Go to Infarrantly Creative.

Tam over at Sew Dang Cute Crafts hosted an upcycle contest on her blog this week. Voting is over but you can check out all of the awesome projects here! KnoWaste. A UK company has started the first recycling program that we know of for recycling diapers or nappies. Love it! Have a green Halloween! Read some of Kristina’s ideas complete with some for upcycling. Click here.