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• Olga Road – New leather jackets made from old, out-of-date thrift-store leather items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

I have recently fallen in love with vinegar.

The vinegar in my cupboard :)

If you spend any time on green- or sustainable-living blogs (as I do in copious amounts), there is no doubt that you’ve come across information on the (literally) hundreds of uses of white vinegar. I was dubious but decided to give some of the suggestions a try… and now I am obsessed. Obsessed!!

In the last couple of days, I have seen vinegar outperform more expensive and toxic alternatives, and seen it do things I never knew were possible! I cannot wait to see how many applications I can find for vinegar in the long run :D

This weekend, I used white vinegar to:

• Deodorize a Trash Can – In this case, vinegar did what soap could not – remove a foul odor lingering in a plastic trash can. I just filled the bin with water, added a little vinegar, let it soak overnight, then rinsed. No odor! It also, without effort, removed the stickers that were permanently adhered to the bottom of the can :)
• Clean Stainless Steel -  the outside of my Berkey water filter is shiny, polished stainless steel and it is always smudged with fingerprints and watermarks. All my soaps leave a film on the surface, but not water and vinegar! I mixed water and vinegar (equal parts each) in a spray bottle and spritzed some on the metal, then wiped. Voila! Sparkling clean.
• Perk Up Leafy Greens – The lettuce in my fridge is getting a little old and wilted – enough so that I had none to put on my sandwich this afternoon. So I soaked a few leaves in cold water with less than 1 Tbsp of vinegar for about five minutes and the lettuce was like new! Fresh lettuce! And it didn’t taste or smell like vinegar at all.

Also,  in the health and hygiene category, I’ve found that vinegar can:

• Deodorize Your Body – As some of you may know, I am currently experimenting with wearing no deodorant/antiperspirant. Most of the time, there is absolutely no adverse smell at all (yay!) but when I work up a sweat, things get pretty stinky pretty fast. Yesterday, I was beginning to stink and Cory and I were heading to a restaurant for dinner, so I sprayed both of my armpits with vinegar and (despite smelling like a salad for a few minutes) the odor completely disappeared! [The vinegar smell evaporates and disappears once its dry.]
• Boost Your Health – Because of the numerous health benefits, last night Cory drank an 8-oz glass of water with 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar and 1 tsp honey and this morning he reported that he felt great. When I asked him for details, he just said that he felt “way better.” Yay! [My suspicion is that his pH levels have normalized. - People who eat lots of meat and dairy experience acidic bodies, and apple cider vinegar helps to alkalize your blood and therefore balance pH. Also, it helps detoxify your organs, specifically the liver and kidneys, which would make anyone feel better!]

My little vinegar water spritzer (1:1 vinegar to water)

Here are some articles I’ve recently read about the uses of vinegar, in case you’re curious about how you might use vinegar in your home.

• 254 Uses for Vinegar… and Counting by Paul at WiseBread
• 131 Uses for Vinegar (nicely broken down by usage category)
• 20 Unusual Uses for Vinegar by Stephanie of EcoSalon
• 23 Ingenious Uses for White Vinegar from Care2.com

Happy vinegar adventures to you all!

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Tags: cleaning, frugality, green living, health, links

This is so poetic and beautiful — people planting seeds of surviving Hibaku trees (A-bombed trees) from Japan all over the world. [Planting seeds for peace from trees that survived where our grandfathers dropped bombs.]

Think about it.

Check out more at the official blog & website.

Thank you, Uisce, for sending this to me! She said:

Today I came across a blog with a beautiful message that I thought you would appreciate. The blog is called Tree Project [...] it is run by a man called Hiroshi Sunairi. He gives people all over the world seeds from the trees that are still alive from the Hiroshima bombing. The people then grow the seeds themselves and he keeps track of the plants. I also came across his flikr page where he has hundreds of photos of people from all over the world [and] plants that they have grown from the seeds he mailed them.

Go check it out for yourself!

Thank you, again, Uisce — without you I would never have heard of this :)

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Tags: gardening, links, reviews

I collect music boxes, and so, for my birthday yesterday, my friend gave me a little mechanical music box set which can play any melody you punch into its papers. How cool is that?!

Birthday Presents :)

All afternoon, I’ve been thinking of which Imogen Heaps songs I really love the most, and the place my mind keeps jumping is to her latest album — a collection of live improvised songs that, since its release, I have not been able to stop listening to.

During Imogen’s most recent American tour for her album Ellipse, she created a new song at each concert, starting from a key and other various ideas suggested on-the-spot from the audience. Each piece that she recorded was then put up for sale after the concert, and all proceeds generated by that song went (and still go) to a fan-chosen charity local to the city where the song was made. As you can tell already, Imogen Heap is a genius and a dear :)

After wrapping up her tour last June with a concert in Santa Barbara, CA — which I was fortunate enough to go to! — Imogen cleaned up the charity tracks (removing conversation before and after, etc.) and released all the songs together as the 23-track masterpiece, Live Charity Improvs Album (US Tour 2010). What a lame title for the amazing music contained behind it :/

I am so blown away by this album, I’m having trouble putting it into words. Hearing her music – in its simplest form, in its creation, with the raw and unpolished feeling only live music can have – takes me to another place. The first time I listened through this album straight through, I equally cried and got up and danced and cheered several times over. I don’t know that even Imogen knows how brilliant she is, but she has changed my heart so many times for the better with her music. I sound like a gushing fool, but let me be one, then — I don’t care; her music is amazing.

There is one song in particular that I can’t get out of my head right now – track number 23 from the Santa Barbara concert I attended. It’s an incredible exploration of mood around one (rather upbeat) base melody. I think it’s brilliant:

Santa Barbara Improv for Notes for Notes

Track 5, “Philadelphia Improv for Tri-State Bird Rescue,” is so catchy and beautiful. I love how most of the piece is dancing around the resolution, but she constantly teases us.

Philadelphia Improv for Tri-State Bird Rescue

I think one of the most gorgeous and haunting pieces on the whole album is track 21, “Los Angeles Improv for Tree People” - it reminds me of Eric Whitacre in the beginning.

Los Angeles Improv for Tree People

I really could list all the tracks here, but that would be unfair to her and unfair to you! If you like what’s above, I really encourage you to get the whole album and experience it properly. I absolutely love all the tracks, especially numbers 11 and 17 as well. And all the proceeds go to charity! :)

I have 99 songs by Imogen in iTunes (not kidding), all of which take my spirit to another place and have special meaning for me. I don’t know which ones I’ll eventually choose; I have a feeling I’m going to need more than a day to decide on the first song…

(Imogen, you are beautiful, brilliant, and absolutely magnificent exactly as you are. Thank you for the music you give the world!

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Tags: imogen heap, links, music, reviews

This is an exciting change of pace :)

I’ve been wanting to start a personal blog for some time now, but have found myself held back for one reason or another – the primary excuse always being “there’s no time” because, indeed, I do keep myself busy! However, I feel the hour is right and so today I finally announce this blog! (See About Me for details.)

Here, I will post primarily the goings-on of my life in art and design and learning. I am a designer and artist by heart – as well as by profession – and most of my time is spent involved in some creative endeavor or another. Whenever I’m assembling a collage, taking photographs, designing clothing, decorating my apartment, designing a website, posting a video, etc. ad nauseum… I’ll be writing about it here. I will also probably divulge too much of my personal life and share a laugh or two with you :P

Tonight, Cory and I are going to watch the IMAX documentary on Beavers (yes, really) and then get to reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix because we’ve finally finished the fourth book! :D I’m reading them aloud to him after having read the series countless times to myself already.

Oh, and this story is totally awesome (although I think it’s a hoax – they’re still debating).

That’s all I got.

P.S. I was thinking of collecting all my past blogs in this database here – so that my old blogs on photography, personal finance, and weight loss could be collected here in the archives before this intro post. Thoughts?

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Tags: art, cory, harry potter, links, movies, photos of me