the ReFab Diaries

Whew. Ok. "Negative" week has literally tuckered me out. But I did it. Actually stuck to the theme ... launched my first giveaway (go enter!) and published two tutorials. Unlike the earrings (for which I was able to draw inspiration) this necklace came about through trial and error. I'm not saying there's nothing else out there like it. But if there is, I haven't seen it.  So without further ado, here's how to make one:

Since I am a little sentimental (!), I've kept things like old (love) letters and negatives. There's some rationalizing I could do about the former. But negatives? Am I really going to print those pics again?  While I do like that I'm old enough to actually have negatives lying around, I'm definitely very much in love with my digital camera! Perhaps I appreciate it more because I do remember the way things used to be? Because I once spent time/energy/money developing pictures in a darkroom so I have some perspective on that artistic process and appreciate it. But I also know what it's like to waste a lot of money getting film developed, only to be very disappointed with the pictures. Soooo, I was staring at a pile of negatives last week, wondering what I could do with them.  Did a little searching around the intergoogle... and here's the result!  (tutorial after the jump). 

Suze Orman says chop up your credit cards ... or freeze them or something.  But neither credit cards nor gift cards are recyclable (take that, Suze!). Some retailers do sell a bioplastic gift card that degrades in about 40 days (read more here) but for the most part, we pop the PVC suckers in the trash. I get particularly annoyed with online-only retailers like Amazon. They ship out actual plastic cards (I get one every time I cash out my credit card points - irony of ironies) ... even though the only valuable thing on the card is its "code". Then what? I think we should actively craft with them.That's what. So here are some ideas.  

I love Anthropologie - the store designs and overall aesthetic of the buyers.  I don't love the non-sale prices.  And I don't love the political leanings of the man atop the brand (which includes Free People and Urban Outfitters). I own clearance items purchased with gift cards.  More than anything, I get a kick out of "athro-hacking" or "anthro-morphing", if you will.  If I can be inspired by (i.e. steal) their ideas and make it myself (or anthro-morph something thrifted), I will.

I'm turning the lense on two of my repurposes today.  In case you can't tell, I'm unabashedly sentimental about "stuff".  If it means something to me, I try hard to find a way to keep it around. But I don't hoard (much) - I've moved enough times in my life to be very very scared of my potential inner hoarder.  And, I really like my stuff to have a purpose - not hide in a drawer.  

Towel #1:  One of my oldest friends gave me a hand-painted tea towel / pot-holder gift set about 12 years ago. I love the colors and its Cape Town origins. Ultimately I didn't use it much in the kitchen because all that bright white wouldn't stand a chance. But I hung on to it. When I got a new sewing machine a couple of years ago, I wanted a simple cover and found the tea-towel idea via Martha.  My towel wasn't quite big enough, so I cut it in half and added a strip of bright cotton across the top.  I cut the painted cherries out of the pot holder and appliqued them to the plain side of the cover.  And voila.

Towel #2: When my gran moved from her little flat into a nursing home, my mom selected a few of her things to store for me.  Including a set of 2 thin, oddly sized towels from the 50s.  The fact that my grandmother still had these towels in the 90s tells me something about my genetic predisposition!  I loved the orange detail on them but could never figure out how to use them (odd size).  Then, on a whim some time last year, I chopped one up and turned it into a smock/apron.  Because when I cook, I seem to need to wash and dry my hands 15 times.  I added bright orange ribbon, some hand-sewn detail on the pockets... and now it hangs in the kitchen, actually getting its delicate 1950's hands dirty. 

"Mielie" is, officially, the Afrikaans word for corn/maize.  But it's also the word all South Africans use for corn (and its by-products), no matter what language they happen to speak. Now, "Mielie" is a small business after my own heart. Employing over 50 artists the mission is "to design and produce innovative, export-quality hand-crafted products using reclaimed materials - with the aim of creating employment and restoring dignity and financial independence to South Africans".  The Mielie Peeps work out of their homes, sell across the planet, share a community garden and create the most amazing things using strips of t-shirt fabric!!

The items pictured here are the tip of the Mielie-berg.  I cannot begin to capture the variety and creativity of these folks.  Wanna learn to weave like a Mielie Peep?  Follow the links to the two free tutorials... after the jump.