Easy UPcycled Clock

Speaking honestly, I'm not a big fan of  the whole concept of "time." It seems like there is never enough of it in one day, you feel guilty if you waste it or don't get enough done in a certain amount of it. It forces us to rush around when we need to be somewhere, and it is seemingly a source of anxiety and panic more often than not. Heavy stuff, I know right :) I truly wish we never had to know the time! LIKE, NO JOKE, but we do. We all need to know the time and have some legitimate time telling object in our homes in this world (I suppose lol). Everything is intertwined with "time," in some silly way or another. You can't just show up to work any time you please or leave any time you want. Or if you favorite show comes on at 9 you'll miss it if you don't know the time. We are told from a young age to spend our time wisely, make thee most of our time, cherish the time we've shared with those near and dear to our hearts, that we can't go back in time, don't be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that time is precious among many other time related tidbits of life insight. I guess, time diminishes some confusion and chaos in this complicated world, yet, creates other kinds of chaos like rushing about to be on time or the frequent confusion felt by the unsureness of the time in which we are suppose to be somewhere important and if we don't know that specific time, we panic. I guess you could say, time is not my favorite concept lol. I'd much rather mosey places leisurely like when the sun peaks at a certain point in the sky (and ban the whole concept of working when the moon is out, no one should have to be up before the sun, just saying lol) than feel time induced panic when I know I'm suppose to be somewhere important by such and such specific designated times. Sorry for the rant, JUST GETTING THAT OFF MY CHEST :) I know, Ain't nobody got time for that and I shouldn't be wasting your valuable time with my jargon  ;) 

So let's talk about up-cycling, recycling, and repurposing. It's truly awesome (unlike time lol) and it can be super fun, rewarding, and rarely panic inducing. To transform something that might have ended up in the trash into a lovely little treasure is not only good for all Earth's inhabitants, it makes us feel a sense of pride when it goes from blahness to beautiful. It is an art in itself to see the weird potential of random, rundown, everyday items as something other than what easily meets the eye and further, transform those average objects into unique, thrifty lil' masterpieces of sorts. Not only is it good for the environment and good for the wallet, it's pretty sweet for the soul!

I've been feeling pretty blah about this basic, worn down time telling device on my wall for quite some TIME now. Yeah, it served its purpose, but it was cracked and a lot bit whack. I believe it was my Grandma's kitchen clock at some point (no offense G-Ma) but it was most definitely not my style. I wouldn't have paid 10 dollars for that plain Jane time contraption unless it was the only time telling device left on Earth; it truly had NO CHARACTER, and was the definition of true blah designs! It def didn't tie into my eccentric, funky, eclectic decor lol. So, I started thinking how could I revive this old beast without just chucking it into the trash or without spending any extra cash?!? I looked around at random objects in my domain and I scrolled Pinterest for some nifty ideas, and OF COURSE, there was no shortage of funky clock inspiration! I so love Pinterest, and all the lovely, creative concoctions people come up with! I especially adore, the Eco-friendly, Upcycled and Recycled masterpieces these glorious geniuses make out of everyday objects or things that would be laying in landfills if not otherwise repurposed. Anyhow, after brainstorming and scouring my house staring at random objects and snooping around the Internet, I decided to turn an old piece of funky, vibrant, wall art, gifted to me many moons ago from my older brother, into my new clock! It was perfecto' and a really fun way to revive both of these old pieces without spending a single penny. Thrifty and Nifty folks <3  It even makes checking the time a little bit funner and that's a mega plus in my book!

Poor ol' clock has had a rough time :)

I started by carefully taking apart the old plastic clock, removing the tiny screws in the back, and removing the membrane or mechanical mechanisms that hold the "time."

I then, measured the pictures width and length with a basic ruler, located the center, and marked it lightly with a dot (in pencil). There, I drilled a basic hole and put those mechanisms removed from the old clock into the hole drilled in the center, similarly, to the way they were in the basic old blah clock. (I believe the hour hand goes on the bottom, then minute hand, and then seconds hand lastly, just in case you get fumbled up when taking it apart ;) I applied 2 long pieces of clear masking tape to the back to secure the mechanism in place, but if you prefer, use super glue, or whatever works for you best! (It is completely secure with the tape and won't be visible when on the wall, and it will also be easier for me to remove if I want to in the future or if the ol' beast fizzles out on me and needs replacing)

Next, I thought of how I wanted to display the numbers. Honestly, lovely penmanship is not my forte and I don't own stencils to to make nice legible anythings lol, SO, I decided to go through a few old magazines and look for numbers or relevant words or symbols that I could decoupage onto my clocks surface for easier reference of time. (I didn't want to have to decipher the time for my dude every time he tried to read my clock, ain't nobody got time for that lol) Though... you could do a wide variety of things to represent the numbers that flows with your decor or personal taste. You could print some neat #'s off the internet, paint Roman Numerals on, use random objects like buttons or seashells or really, whatever your heart desires!

I cut a few numbers and phrases out of an old magazine, laid them out on the pictures surface and played around with location and such. Obviously, you want the time hands to fall fairly near the true time so your not panicking or creating chaos with your up-cycled clock lol! I also didn't want to completely clutter up the picture with numbers so I choose to leave a few off here and there, but you can still easily tell what time it is and it serves its' main purpose, while not being too cookie cutter blah :)

Mix a little water into some some basic white glue with a small, funky paint brush (you just made Mod Podge for half the price) and put a thin layer underneath where you want each number to be. Just make sure it is a nice and thin layer so you don't get that crusty effect (icks). Place the relevant number back on the glue in its predesignated area and cover it again with another thin layer or two of the watered down glue/MOD PODGE. Repeat until all the desired numbers are glued on and in the desired locations with a few thin layers of the Mod Podge on top of each #. THEN... allow the little beaut to air dry and put it back up on your wall so you won't run late for any important dates!

Shazam! You just totally up-cycled a blah clock that was destined for the trash in the near future into a fun whala wall clock, all while doing something nice for the planet and all your fellow creatures! Bravo, my fellow thrifty tree huggers and may time treat you kindly ;)

Sorry for the funky lighting, but I was working on this project in the evening, but hopefully, you still get the drift!

P.S. Here's a few more fun, crafty up-cycled inspirations to get your thrifty DIY juices flowing:

http://coolmaterial.com/home/palletart-clock/

http://refurbished-ideas.com/unique-diy-wall-clocks/

http://mydesiredhome.com/40-diy-driftwood-inspiration-ideas/

http://www.hometalk.com/5623161/how-to-make-a-t-shirt-pillowutm_source=original&utm_medium=pinterest&utm_campaign=featured&crlt.pid=camp.Jxltv5uihKYU

http://rooflab.blogspot.gr/2013/02/15-kitchen-ideas-with-vintage-touch.html

isn't that cute!

Easy DIY Pet Presents

I absolutely adore Christmas!!! Honestly.... I'm like an overgrown child on Christmas morning. At 5 in the morn, I've been ready to Rock n'Roll for hours (probably didn't even sleep a solid wink, super stoked, not even joking :) eager to see what little treasures await me under the sparkly Christmas tree. Even more so than the anticipation of what I may have been given, I'm super eager and excited to see the looks on the faces of those that I have gifts to give. Half the time, I tend to be so pumped to give these heartfelt gifts that I'm unable to make it to Christmas Day before giving the ones I hold dearest the gifts that I've gotten for them. Their' excitement makes me extremely excited! However, this tendency can get rather costly at times because than I feel I need to get them at least something else to open on that actual day lol (vicious cycle). Though I'm a thrifty gal, I'm also a giving gal, and this season is ALL ABOUT GIVING gifts from the heart (at least in my book). Not just material items wrapped in shiny paper, but charitable contributions, recognition of the disadvantaged populations in society that are overlooked much of the year, warm embraces, giving or donating to those less fortunate, showing our furry friends extra love, or even just simple kind gestures like smiling at someone who might look a bit blue and lending a hand to a stranger in need.

(photo courtesy of photobucket.com)

One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE HOLIDAY FLICKS is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," by thee AHHHMAZING, Dr. Seuss. Among the many great lessons to be gathered from this seemingly simple children's story, is one of my absolute favorite Christmas quotes. After the Grinch has raided Whoville, stealing all the presents, trees, and other such material reflections of what Christmas represents, he still hears the Who's singing their little, cheerful Christmas tune from his cave while happily holding hands and dancing around the town tree. How could they still be happy, he had "stolen Christmas?!!" Finally, "Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, what if it doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?!" That quote has always resonated deeply with me. Though it is a seemingly simple statement, it is beautifully profound to me! Reminding us all that Christmas can't ever truly be "stolen," nor bought because Christmas isn't some super flashy, overly costly materialistic present to be had. It isn't a thing of fiscal value at all. It is an intangible spirit; an essence of peace, prosperity, heartfelt giving and goodwill on Earth that lives ONLY in our souls, no matter what size our bank accounts or budgets may be or how big our Christmas tree.

(via photobucket.com)

(pic courtesy of photobucket.com)

AnyWHO ;)    I've decided this year to take a different approach to the Holidays and give in a more environmentally-friendly way, trying my hand at some up-cycled gifts (or recycled materials given a new purpose). The way I see it, this ahhhmazing planet and it's majestic lands & creatures are a priceless gift in itself to be admired,valued and cherished, not only at Christmas, but all year long!  So instead of buying some cheap gift from a big box store that probably underpays and mistreats its' employees and most likely practices environmentally unfriendly affairs, I'm going to make some presents from my heart out of materials I have handy, from nature, or that would otherwise be considered trash! Plus, I recently heard that a certain CEO of one of these major box stores (not going name names ;) made $11,000 per hour, but didn't want to pay it's employees' $8.00, absurd huh!? I can't support that one bit and neither do my pets. These aren't super complicated fancy gadgets,  BUT MY PETS LOVE EM' ALL THE SAME!!! &&& I can almost assure 100% satisfaction on these handmade critter gift ideas, (no sweatshops or underpaid folks either) that will cost only moments of your time and mere pennies (if anything) to recreate (eat that big box stores, you'd spend more time in a checkout line than making these lol)! After extensive research (or experimentally teasing my furry family with their soon to be Christmas gifts) ;) Both my dogs and my 3 cats approve AND CANT WAIT TO GET THEM BACK (hehe)

this drives the cats bonkers (hehehe)

For my Feline Family Members, I made these rustic feather teasers out of a nice, fairly straight, sturdy stick from my yard (about 2ft long), some durable string (2ft worth), various beads (and a seashell with a hole) given to me Christmases ago, old broken costume jewelry, fake feathers (that cost like $2. for hundreds of them), and a dab of hot glittery glue:

(buttons, beads, seashells, old broken costume jewelry can all make for cute options to craft with)

The materials for one of the cat toys I made that I intend to gift to a fellow animal lover... if I can keep it away from my cats grubby paws, they've stolen it 3 times off my counter now lol

I simply tied a knot on the end of my hemp/string, then strung a few beads onto it. Once I had the pattern I liked, I triple knotted the other end of the string onto the stick as tightly as possible and further secured it with a dab of glue. I dabbed a bit of hot glue on the pointy tip of the feather and tucked into one of the smaller holed beads to secure it. 

by adding different types of materials like the seashell and silver star pendant, it creates a subtle noise factor (kinda like wind chimes when they clank into one another) when batted by the cat this drives them even more batty :) 

(the toy with the red feather uses a large red button w/ four holes, I chose to put 2 feathers in the holes and secure it w/hot sparkly glue, and I added an up-cycled bell from a funky old cat collar that was junk)

Psych and Jazzy approve (my pug Priscilla does not, however, like all the cat hype lol)

& For my Canine Crew, I made tug o' war toys out of an old towel and torn sheet.  My bulldog is particularly fond of tug o' war toys and he usually beats me lol (any old fabric would do such as knotted socks tied together or whatever, but consider the strength of your individual furry pal! My bulldog has fairly fierce jaws so a pretty t-shirt, lace or super flimsy material wouldn't hang long AT ALL! Though lovely until he slobbers it up, it wouldn't be practical lol),

Look at the mug/jaws on this dude :)

old towel + sheet braided and knotted = whala Eco-friendly tug o' war toy

 I simply cut the materials on the very end about 2 inches thick and pulled with moderate force to make strips of fabric. Then, I made a massive tight knot and braided the materials (3 strands at a time) to the desired thickness and length and secured the braid again with another massive, basic knot.
 

Hercules is happy with the tester toy made of an old funky fleece shirt

Don't mind the hubby's toes, he's not a sandals fella lol ;)

Well, I hope you avoid the big box stores this season as much as possible and try out one of these easy, environmentally friendly, DIY presents for your pet family member! If nothing else, I hope you are inspired to consider alternative routes to gift giving. I promise my Cat's and Bulldog's happy reactions to these homemade gifts were equal to, if not better than the overpriced gifts I have bought form stores in the past! Happy Holidays, I hope you find these DIY gift ideas helpful or inspiring :)

DIY Upcycled Kitty Cubicle

 I just turned the big 3..0.. on Wednesday (YIKES huh) No, but seriously I had a really nice Birthday and my future hubby got me some really awesome kitchen gadgets as well. Years ago, I'd have been highly offended by such gestures (inner feminist, ahem) but I really enjoy doing crafty "chick" stuff in the kitchen and around my house now. I had a former boyfriend buy me a blender for my birthday many years ago (17ish) and we'll just say the reception was not a warm fuzzy one ;) I was like what's next... a vacuum, what is this the 1930's?!? (lol) I find it SUPER COMICAL & WAY IRONIC, because I actually asked for a blender this year for my B-day, and I look forward to purchasing a new vacuum come tax time!!! Sorry (not sorry) EX (you know who you are) this wild child was just not ready to be tamed or ready for birthday blenders or the "girly" kitchen life then LOL! Anyways... I received a late B-day present via mail today, which happens to be a new set of 4 super cute soup bowls!

They are fiesty, but darling and they match my SW decor :)  (am I really saying this, I'd have slapped myself ten years ago for that very statement) WOW, how we change as time goes by, huh!??!

With these CRAZY changes, I've also become much more environmentally friendly and considerate of my carbon footprint on this lovely planet. That being said, I was sort of bummed when I opened this massive box FULL of packing peanuts (like aren't those things illegal now, seriously?!). To find four glorious, but nonetheless, small soup bowls in this HUGE box filled with those wretched packing peanuts made me a tad sad. With all this high tech stuff in the world, we still haven't discovered a more eco-friendly way of protecting soup bowls (banned packing peanuts, ELLO) and the like during shipping!?! SERIOUSLY, I haven't seen packing peanuts used for years!

I was able to fill 3 grocery sacks full of those lame things! I didn't have the heart to just go dumping them into the trash, so with my thrifty hippie wheels turning, I bagged them and decided to store them away for a future craft. Maybe fluff for a pet bed or a beanbag type chair, not quite sure yet, but I do know I wasn't about to throw them into the trash to go float around in the cosmos or rot in some hideous landfill. :/

As for the box, I had an immediate plan! It's almost Christmas (FYI) and you know who loves a good box??? CATS! Cats L.O.V.E. boxes. I've truly NEVER, met a cat that disliked a nice box lol. SERIOUSLY tho. If your cat is anti-box, you might want to seek medical attention because they are seriously ill! Why waste money buying your cat something it might not love, when a good box will be 99.9% effective in making them super happy this holiday season and chances are you have a nice box that needs a good home just laying about anyway?! As soon as I brought that over-sized, foam-filled box inside, my cats eyes lit up like it was already Christmas!

So commenced the way effective and SUPER cheap KITTY CUBICLE aka cat tent!

I had recently seen on Pinterest a cat tent. I thought to myself well what a glorious, yet way simple idea! However, this method involved wire hangers, tools, and just much more work than really necessary for my furry rascals. My cats were ready to just chill in the new box as is, but the cat tent inspired me when I saw that large box to take it up just a notch, since it is Christmas time for humans and ANIMALS after all! Personally, I'm always looking for a simpler, yet effective way of doing things. Call it lazy, but I call it crazy to put anymore effort/work/time/stress/ resources or the like into something unless it truly generates a better outcome! Hence, the kitty cubicle was born. No fancy tools or deconstructing of hangers necessary, just a decent sized box, scissors &or strong tape, staples, a large T-Shirt, and a normal, box-loving cat :)

What you need:

~A cute, large T-Shirt (that you are ready to re-purpose and that can be feasibly stretched across the size of the box you choose)
~Scissors &or Heavy Duty Tape (like a masking or duct tape)
~A basic stapler and staples (a heavy duty staple gun would work too, just be cautious that kitty might get stabbed by the staples if they go to far through the box, so you might want to either bend those larger staples or just use a smaller stapler)

And a box big enough to comfortably fit a cat or 2 in it. (my cats will find a way to squish into a shoe box, but you want a bigger box for safety purposes, a nice cozy sized box lol)

Gather your gadgets and supplies ^. No need to gather the cats, if you build it they will come (lol). No, but seriously they will! My three cats were very involved and wanted to hangout in the cubicle while I was building it LOL! WIN, well for them at least. For those constructing, not so much, but I could tell it was going to be a smash hit right from the start :)

1st tape down or cut off the open ended box flaps to your soon to be entrance for the kitty cubicle.

Next, simply stretch the T-Shirt over the box and align the neck hole with the open end of the box. If the shirt has a design element you are particularly found of & (or a stain you don't) want visible, align it now before any staples are committed.

Next pull the sleeves as snug or tightly across the box as possible and apply a few staples to the very ends of the sleeve. Penetrating into the box to secure. Just a few staples per sleeve ought to do.

Then, stretch the open ends of the T-Shirt tightly across the closed bottom of the box and secure with staples. You want it to be stretched as tightly as absolutely possible when stapling to avoid floppy loose ends or sagging. When the T-Shirt can't stretch anymore without heavy tension, apply staples as close to the T-Shirts edges as possible! I also recommend stapling the T-Shirt in direct opposites. Meaning, Top-Bottom, Side-Side just like when folding wrapping paper on a present.

Pull the fabric as tightly as possible the entire time and only secure the very edges with as minimal staples as possible. Though it is just a box covered in a shirt(lol), you don't want it to look like you got into a staple shootout with it or be a complete eyesore laying around! Last, but not least, back away vurry slowly and watch the cats curiously creep toward the magical kitty cubicle lol! So easy, and WELL worth the 10 minutes labor, old T-Shirt, and the few staples needed to construct this little play palace! I hope your furry family members enjoy this little creation as much as mine do. Furthermore, you could lay an old pillowcase or such in the bottom for bedding or watch them get jiggy with it by sprinkling a little catnip inside! Cats Christmas present~check :)

~My Kitty Cubicle was (P)inspired by this neat Cat Tent Bed found at http://www.practicallyfunctional.com/diy-cat-tent-bed/#_a5y_p=2507733 go give it a glance for further inspiration of your own :)