I’ve become really obsessed with the ideas of upcycling and repurposing lately. Two incredibly awesome ideas that both mean relatively the same thing: making something old into something new. It’s great for the planet! :D

Upcycling

Upcycling is basically the process of taking old, unused or unloved things and turning them into something completely new. For example, when I made a quilt out of all my old jeans, I was upcycling :)

Some awesome upcycling stores I’ve found:

• Olga Road – New leather jackets made from old, out-of-date thrift-store leather items
• Freitag – making used truck tarps, bicycle tires and seatbelts into awesome messenger bags and loads of other items
• Etsy! – Etsy stores have a massive number of upcycled products that are just amazing! Some of my favorite are spoon rings and these rugs made from plastic grocery bags! And check out this rug made of vintage clothing. Love it!

Repurposing

Whereas upcycling is the process of turning something old or useless into something completely different and new, repurposing is the process of making something old or broken into something similar that is useful and purposeful again. For example, if I rescued an old, ugly lamp and then sanded and painted it and made a new lampshade, I would be reporposing that lamp. Many websites also call this recycling although it’s not, really.

Two awesome repurposing blogs I’m following:

• My Repurposed Life – This lady buys old furniture for less than $5 and makes it into new and beautiful things!
• Studs and Pearls – This creative blog by a 20-something in NYC is all about making your own clothes and jewelry by repurposing thrift store clothing – and she has great taste and ingenuity :)

Given my interest in do-it-yourself projects, frugality, and hand-making things, I guess I naturally would think these are awesome ideas!

I hope over the years, we’ll continue to see more people choosing to recycle, upcycle and repurpose old throw-away thrift store items. I know I will — saving both the landfills from the eventual trash and myself from consuming overpriced new things that I don’t need!

What might you upcycle or reporpose?
Time to be creative!!

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Tags: creativity, fashion, links, repurposing, upcycling

Can you believe that before yesterday, I had never known how to make a paper snowflake? I know! It’s tragic. I can’t believe how easy they are.

After stumbling on this how-to for 5-pointed paper snowflakes, I decided I had to make one… several ;) I wish I was one of those people who had origami paper stashed away for just these situations, but as it is, I used sheets of scratch paper. I folded the pieces of paper in half diagonally and cut off the excess to make square papers.

After making some 5-pointed snowflakes, I had to then try 8-pointed folding — the easy 2nd-grade version where you just fold the (square) paper in half diagonally 4 times, always the same direction, then cut.

I love them! They just make me so happy :)

Snowflakes for 2012

Happy January!

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Tags: creativity, photos of me, tidbits

Following this week’s sewing theme, this evening I set to work on creating my first sloper!

Jason came over and helped me get down all my measurements properly — thank goodness he did too, because it seems there are many more tricky measurements to take than I had initially anticipated! Center back to shoulder point and shoulder to shoulder proved especially difficult to measure.

With all the numbers taken down and double-checked (and corrected :P), I’m finally able to draft fitted slopers for myself!

For my first, I started with the bodice-front sloper. It took me only about an hour to make, and that was really only because of a grave mistake I made with the dart on my first attempt. All in all, the process was pretty painless, though not without a few bumps along the way :)

I still have to draft the bodice-back sloper and then cut both the front and back out on muslin (or in my case, some vile blue cotton cloth I have from a quilt I made in 2000). I need to fit these first trials on to my body (another Jason visit, I expect) and correct the slopers where necessary… then repeat the process. THEN I will have fitted bodice-front and -back slopers for myself.

I am so proud! Maddie seems to like it too.

This process is so fulfilling — learning and creating, math and design… my brain is happily full :)

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Tags: art, creativity, fashion, maddie, sewing

Pinning the hem for maxi dress #1

In the last couple of weeks, I have read two amazing books on patternmaking. I went into reading these books thinking I could improve my understanding of darts and seams for shaping — but I’ve learned more than I could have ever imagined!

The first book I read was Make Your Own Dress Patterns by Adele Margolis, a really simple and easy book on how to do anything you want to do with cloth. If you’ve any idea how a clothing pattern works, this book will teach you wonders! The only thing lacking from this book is an explaination of how to make a sloper.

A sloper (in case you didn’t know :P) is the fitted base pattern that correctly fits the model for which you’re sewing (in my case, myself). A sloper is the base pattern you work with to create new patterns for literally anything. Adele’s book has you start with pre-made generalized slopers before modifying the patterns, which I was unsatisfied with.

Luckily, I had on hand How to Make Sewing Patterns by Donald McCunn (who also has some vaguely helpful videos on YouTube), and THIS book really taught me the last bits of patternmaking that I had never understood before… that is, how to make clothing from scratch. YES!

So now I know how to make slopers for my body for ANYTHING! I am so thrilled! I’m slowly working my way through my wardrobe now, altering and fixing and creating new things. I’m still in the altering phase, but I should be done in a week or two, at which point I’ll begin creating drastically new clothing from older garments that I never wear anymore :D

Today I altered two of my older maxi dresses. I used to be a fan of these long dresses when I was heavier, but now I think they make me look too blob-like — I needed definition at the waist and a shorter skirt to show off my legs :) I shortened both dresses by 16-20” and took extra care to match seam lines, grain, and to make new darts and gathers where necessary. I’m so proud!

New dress, 20'' shorter and with a new waist sash :)

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Tags: art, book reviews, books, creativity, dresses, fashion, making clothing, patternmaking, projects, sewing

For how I make these collages, see the post Anatomy of a Text Collage.

Deeply Desaturated Photo of "Cory Is..." Collage

Sometimes when I look at the big picture of all the projects I want to accomplish and art I want to create, I get overwhelmed and discouraged. It’s in those moments that I feel like I’ll never get anything done. But I know that the only way to accomplish anything is to go about it in small, consistent, measured steps…  because they really do add up! So I try and knock out tiny to-dos for each of my projects as often as possible — read: as often as I have the time and energy — so that I always feel like I’m managing to get at least something done :P

That said, I spent a few hours this evening today working on another collage. Hooray! I’m currently collecting words and phrases for three more collages (for the First Collection/see #2 of 5) and recently all the September issues of Elle, Vogue, Bazaar, and W arrived, so it’s a prime time to be collaging in my house :)

Since everything I’m creating right now is in the works, I thought I’d post the collage Cory Is… here. This collage is the first piece for the First Collection (above: edited photo, below: more accurate to true color).

CLICK TO ENLARGE -- 11'' x 15.5'' :: One of Five :: First Collection

<3

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Tags: art, collages, cory, creativity, projects

This is the second book I’ve ever designed professionally and I’m so proud of it :P

CLICK THE IMAGES to see them full-size <3

The book's cover right now. (Click image to enlarge.)

Right now I’m designing a book entitled Carryover Techniques in Articulation and Phonological Therapy. This is the second book I’ve designed, and the first one where I’ve been given full license to do whatever I want to do (for the author’s — my mom’s — approval). I’m really very proud of what I’ve done so far. For my part, the book layout got off to a very slow start but I’m finally able to say that I’m steaming along smoothly with the design :)

Keep reading…

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Tags: art, book design, creativity, work

Every year or so, I go through one of these periods where my brain jumps into overdrive and hundreds of ideas come to me out of nowhere. I have an outpouring of creativity across the board – web design, book design, language, filming, photography, music, clothing design, off-gridding my life… my brain feels like it weighs 20 pounds right now. This is where I get all my plans for my future, and decide who I want to be and what I want to do in my life, and it’s when I get the majority of my ideas that I later turn into projects for the next year or two (or ten) of my life.

Although it’s an overwhelmingly exciting time, whenever I go through a round of this I tend to become very introverted. I get lost in my thoughts frequently. I find it difficult to speak in full sentences for too long a time because my brain is constantly bubbling over, waiting for me to sit down alone and think about all these other ideas it’s just come up with. It’s maddening and thrilling all at once :P

Like I said, I become introverted and really just want to be left alone to my thoughts. I also feel a heavy sense of overwhelm — like I’m never going to be able to realize half of these dreams and ambitions. My poor closest friends and Cory… it’s not like I’m in a cave hiding away from people, I’m just generally less cheery and disinclined to engage in small talk, period. I just want to be in quiet so I can think…

The huge upside is that because I go through these unintentional waves of high brain activity (what else does one call it?), I can live the life of an artist and spend my time creating these ideas I have. The huge downside is that I have a lot of trouble sleeping while it’s going on.

The last time this happened to me it was fall, 2008, and I had a million ideas about weight loss and self-love and I really started to pour my heart into teaching on YouTube (as opposed to solely vlogging with me-updates) — but I also didn’t sleep for almost a month. I mean, I slept, but not much and sporadically. Usually I can sleep 9-10 hours per night without a problem, but during these times I sleep 3-6 hours a night and I’m usually up once during the night at least :/

I’m so excited about all the ideas I’m having for my life, and for you all, and for Cory and me!… but I’m also exhausted with it. I hope I sleep deep tonight x__x

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Tags: creativity, deep thought, inspiration, mindset, self-improvement