That’s right, how to make a bowl from a barrel of monkeys. If you have some extra monkeys hanging around, you too could have this very bowl. I didn’t know I wanted a monkey bowl until I saw this picture and now I don’t know how I have made it this long without one. What am I going to do with mine? Keep bananas in it of course! Ginger over at Deep Fried Kudzu, has great step by step directions and pictures for making your very own …

You can make your own seedling pots using empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls. They are biodegradable and best of all, free! After a few warmer days in our part of the world, I am thinking spring. The seed catalogs arriving are only adding to my spring fever. I thought maybe I could get spring going a little faster if I started making my little seedling pots. Start with an empty tube. First, flatten the tube in one direction and crease the folds. Then flatten the …

Men’s dress shirts are a great source of upcycled fabric. My husband usually wears out the elbows in his shirt and the rest of the material is in great shape. I made this twirly skirt from two of his shirts. It is basically just three loops of fabric sewed together with an elastic waist. Pretty easy for a novice seamstress such as myself. To salvage the fabric, use either scissors or a rotary cutter and cut along the seams at the back and sides of the shirts. I was …

Your little artist will love having his own crayon roll. Each crayon has its own little pocket which makes for easy clean-up. The rolls are portable and can easily fit into a purse or diaper bag. They are hard to find in stores, especially ones as cute these, but you can make your own with just basic sewing skills. A few months ago I saved a stack of clothes from the trash. I was at my parent’s house and my mom was about to toss …

Look at this adorable Stick Horse! It is so cute and think of what a great toy it could be for either a girl or a boy. The really great thing about this horse is that it is made from an old pair of jeans. My new friend at ikat bag has a great tutorial to make one for your little cowgirl or boy here. She has a printable pattern and step by step instructions complete with pictures. If you do many crafts, you might already have most …

New crayons get all of the love. Who wants to color with broken old blunt crayons? Not my kids! Here is a fun project for upcycling all of those broken crayons. This works great on a very hot and sunny day but can also be done inside with the help of an oven. Start by sorting out a pile of broken crayons. You can either mix and match or keep in similar color families. I like monochromatic so we made our crayons out of the “red family.” …

Show your family and friends your love of upcycling by decorating your gifts with these upcycled magazine bows. Start with a thin magazine or catalog. The kind that has stables in the middle instead of a glue binding. You can make two or three bows from each magazine depending on the number of staples. Open the magazine to the center and cut a strip the width of the magazine with the staple in the middle. It should look like this: Using a pencil, curl each strip toward …