Round-Up // Happy Earth Day!

Tomorrow is Earth Day, so I thought I'd round-up a few of my favorite upcycle projects. To be honest, some of my favorite projects stem from repurposing trash-- That doesn't sound very glamorous but, to tell you the truth, you don't always need to go to the store to find your creativity.

Even with these upcycle projects, I always find myself wanting to do more-- Not just for the environment, but for my family's overall health. Lately I've been trying to "green" some of my daily chores. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing what has worked well (and what hasn't).

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Make // Egg Carton Flower Frame

A couple of weeks ago I transformed some egg cartons into roses. Sound strange? They actually turned out pretty cool-- Go check it out here.

After tossing around a few ideas, I decided to display them on a framed mirror that I picked up a few years ago. I wasn't enamored with the frame's original color (black) or odd shape, but I knew it had potential.

The mirror can easily be removed, which makes this project extra versatile. Here are a few ideas that come to mind… 1) hang as a decorative mirror;  2) or a wreath; 3) or perhaps a flowered tray.

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Upcycle // Egg Carton Succulent

Like many before me, I love succulents. They are pretty, unique and, if you forget to water them… no big deal!

It's usually the silvery, flower-like echeveria imbricata (aka hens and chicks) that most people get     excited about… especially brides and bloggers. We have these guys and their cousin, agaves, planted throughout our backyard and they do really well in our mild, drought-like, Mediterranean climate.

HOWEVER, they like to be outdoors and once you bring them inside they turn into a spindly, sad looking mess. I've tried putting them in our sunny west-facing window with the rest of my succulents and they just don't do well. They won't die overnight, but eventually… It.Will.Happen.

Since I have an abundance of egg cartons and, with Earth Day coming up in April, I thought I'd try my hand at making a flower-like succulent out of a plain ol' egg carton. It's not easy copying Mother Nature, but I figure a handmade version is better than killing off another one of her offspring. ;)

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Upcycle // Papier Mache Roses from an Egg Carton

I'm craving flowers. Which can only mean one thing… Spring is almost here. Next week, March 20th!! With the kids' schedules and my own responsibilities, I haven't had much down time lately. I'm definitely someone who needs some quiet time in order to function properly and it just hasn't been happening lately. So, after several weeks of feeling uninspired and burnt-out, when a little free time presented itself, I knew it was time to remedy the situation. For me, the remedy usually means "creative therapy" --  Forget all the other stuff for a bit and create something.

On Monday morning at 8:00 sharp, right as the kids were being carted off to school by my hubby, I pulled out some supplies and got to work. I didn't feel like waiting for the stores to open, so I dug into a bag of recyclables that I've been saving for a future project. Since Earth Day is next month, what better time to start an upcycle project.

At first,  I didn't have a clear plan, but I did know that I wanted a hands-on project that is easy to make, uses recyclable materials, and breathes a little Spring into our home. I think these egg carton roses hit all the marks.

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Year in Review // 2013 Most Popular Posts

Why hello there! How was your week? I feel like I was in some sort of time warp and can't account for the last several days. It was Christmas, I blinked, and now we're 2 days into 2014. Whooosh! Crazy how that happens.

Whether you're working or taking time off, I hope that the past week has been a good one. We enjoyed some much needed down time at our place in San Diego. It was nice to unplug for a bit and reflect upon the year gone by.

I always like reading "year in review" posts, so here's ours.

bliss bloom blog's top posts of 2013

#1 milk jug votives

I guess you guys like upcycle/recycle projects? This was a fun one and I'm now dreaming up earth day projects for 2014.

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Upcycle // Cool Jar Series - Part III

Jars, bottles and other recyclables... I have a ton of them and I'm determined to do something with them. So far, some have become colorful translucent vases, others have become photo votives and now I'm down to a bunch of glass spice jars.

I rescued these cute little jars back in January when we were purging my in-laws storage unit. They were still wrapped in their original packaging and had been in storage for over 30 years.  I think they were waiting for me.  :)

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Upcycle // Cool Jars Series - Part II

It's time to do something with all those jars and bottles that you've been saving for the odd project or two. For the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to come up with some new ways to beautify old glass vessels (in this case, former salsa jars). For my first project, I experimented with alcohol inks. This time I decided to try my hand at printing on tissue paper to create these translucent photo vases. 

I used flowers, but I think these would also turn out great with family, pet or cute animal photos. 

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Upcycle // Cool Jar Series - Part I

My stash of recyclable jars and bottles has grown out of control. It's time to do something with them!! After sorting through and discarding many in the recycle bin, I thought I would try to make something decorative with the remainder. I love to try out new techniques and new-to-me products, and these free vessels are the perfect guinea pigs.

If you've been following this blog long enough, you've probably picked up that I love anything translucent-- gemstones, votives, stained glass... They just catch my eye-- I must've been a magpie in a former life.  :) Anyhow, when I stumbled upon alcohol ink and their translucent qualities, I knew that I had to try them out on glass.

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Make // Water Lilies

With Earth Day earlier this week, and since I had a lot of milk jugs leftover from these votives, I decided to try my hand at another "milk jug" project.

Water lilies are one of my favorite flowers; They're beautiful, vibrant and they grow in ponds. Awesome. My love for water lilies goes way back. My 14-year old self had a bedroom decorated with Monet's water lilies prints (I even had an impressionist water lilies bed spread!) and when I first traveled to France 15 years ago, visiting Monet's home and gardens was one of the highlights of the trip. It was at his home in Giverny that Monet maintained a beautiful water garden which inspired his famous Water Lilies (les nymphéas) series.

So with water lilies and dreams of outdoor dining on the brain, I decided to come up with a centerpiece for our patio table.

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Make // Milk Jug Votives

Since today is Earth Day, I thought I'd dig into our recycle bin and come up with an upcycle project. 

Most upcycle projects that I see are glass-- wine bottles, jars, even beer bottles. Not too many pretty projects with plastic milk gallon jugs though. I wonder why?  ;)  I guess they aren't the most exciting in their original form, but with their vellum-like quality, I thought they would be perfect for a votive project.

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bliss bloom blog // Favorite Projects

A compilation of some of my favorite projects...

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[Upcycle] Fabric Artichokes from Light Bulbs

The trendy folks at BuzzFeed asked me to create an upcycle project with old light bulbs. I have never done anything with light bulbs except stick them in a socket, but... I like a good challenge. So I said yes and here we are.

I've seen a ton of light bulbs upcycled into vases, terrariums, even fish bowls (??)... all which involve cutting metal/glass and extracting the filament. I value my fingers (and eyeballs), and I wanted to be a little unique, so I went a different route. I did a quick Google check and I'm pretty sure there aren't any light bulb artichokes out there yet.

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[Make] Matryoshka Nesting Eggs // Part 2

So when we last left off, we had covered plastic eggs in pretty paper using the japanese washi technique. See Part 1 to find out how we got this far.

They're pretty on their own, but I think it's time to give them a little personality!

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[Make] Faux Bois Vases

A faux bois project has been on my to-do list for a while.  It fits with my decor and I like to bring in the look of the outdoors whenever I can.  With just a few materials, some of which you may already have on-hand, these faux bois vases can be created in an afternoon.

One of my favorite things about faux bois-- It's perfectly imperfect. The less straight and the less perfect the lines the better!

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[Make] Glass Bubble Vases

I like the idea of a bunch of small vases lined up on a window sill. However, the last thing I need is to be buying more "things", so I decided to use something that many of us already have on hand (probably sitting in a bin right now).

It is pretty and simple on its own...

Or it can be jazzed up a little...

You probably have guessed what I used for these little vases...

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[Make] Cork Pencil Holder... with shiny polka dots!

The first project of the New Year!  And of course it has something to do with organization. Just like the next person, I'm trying to start 2013 off on the right foot.  And that means cleaning up the chaos that is my desk. I'll share more about my desk reorg later, but here's one of the projects that I have been working on-- a little pencil holder that I whipped together using supplies that I already have on-hand. Another goal of mine this year... to shop my own craft supplies before heading to the store. I have a craft store addiction, so we'll see how well that goes.  :)

it's called a pencil cup... but where are the pencils? :)

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[Make] Thankful Leaves

While most bloggers have moved on to Christmas, I just put up my very simple Thanksgiving decorations.  I like to make things, but actually putting together a pleasing to the eye vignette is not my strong suit.... which is why I usually don't decorate for each season. Some day I'll figure it out!  :)

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[Make] Muslin Ornament

This Muslin Ornament is a simple and inexpensive way to upcycle an old, unwanted ornament.  I love the fluffy, deconstructed look and, since I have a ton of old ornaments to upcycle, I plan on covering my tree with a bunch of these.

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[Upcycle] Refreshed Fall Leaves

I have a couple of orange-leaved garlands that haven't come out to play for several years. I'm not a big fan of faux bright orange leaves so I decided to "refresh" them with some metallic paints-- copper and rust.

Here's what the leaves looked like before...

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[Make] Gilded Brown Paper Bag Pumpkin

When we last left off, I showed you how I made this brown paper bag pumpkin.  Now comes the fun part-- Adding some glimmer and shine to that plain ol' paper pumpkin!

I wanted my paper pumpkin to fit in with my pumpkin collection, so metallic paint to the rescue!

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