Upcycle Living

Merry Christmas! Haven't been active lately due to living situation, which is why there's no Christmas tree this year ☹️ However a friend's Facebook post caught my eye and cheered me up. She found an old "Congkak" (a Malay traditional wooden game) someone threw away, and turned it into a beautiful candle stand centrepiece for Christmas. So I've asked her permission to share the recycling joy here: Photos courtesy of Miss Liew Siew Eng.

In the past, we had some disposable napkin rings made out of old Christmas cards. Then I made some permanent ones using remaining beads from my handbag project . These were made in 2009, and I'm still using them for special occasions. I've tried a very simple and basic weaving pattern, and it took me less than 3 hours to complete this set of 4. And I managed to use up all but 2 of the turquoise beads from the handbag project . The white beads are leftover from the beaded bracelet . For weaving instruction please see handmade beaded handbag . They've been put into good use since: Boxing day Dinner 2018 Boxing day Dinner 2018

Since the last bunch of beaded napkin rings , I've gone a little obsessed with napkin rings and have made another set with different coloured beads and design. I managed to make 5 with the leftover beads from making my choker necklace and a beaded belt. I think they look really good with my mostly white table setting and crockeries. Unlike the turquoise napkin rings , these ones have a slightly more complicated design so it took me almost 2 evenings to complete. Here is the step-by-step process in illustration: 1. I use a 0.35 nylon fishing thread (that's what I have in my drawer), but you can use a thinner one as the napkin rings are only small. I measure it to about 1.1m for each napkin ring. It's always best to use 1 whole thread for each, to save rejoining work halfway through. Start with the beads in the middle of the thread and criss-cross to make shapes: 2. Here's to complete the first circle and move on to the next row (then repeat for t...

We made a Christmas tree with some tinsels and a broken tripod in both 2015 and 2016 , with a little change in the trimmings. But the tripod has finally given way to even more wear and tear over time and humidity - all the plastic parts are falling off. It's time to have a renewed theme for our Christmas tree this year! After a few nights thinking over it and several sketches later, I've decided to make use of an existing hook on the wall and make a tree hanging down from it, and wrapping a table lamp within. I found a cardboard lid for an A4 paper box that's been tossed in the office (so that it can get one more use before going for its recycle round), and cut holes around it: Putting it through the table lamp that will be the light source: Then I tied 2 separate loops using some ribbons (out of my craft box collection) through the tree top star and hang it onto the hook: What I did next is just to poke each strip of tinsel through 2 h...

Our old Christmas wreath made from old mince pie boxes has way passed its sell-by date, so it's time to have a new one made. This new one can't be easier; I found an old wire in the tool box (probably taken out from an old hanger) and bent it into a circle, with both ends twisted into small loop then tied with a bendable twist tie wire. I then twirled a strip of old silver tinsel (found in the box with old Christmas decoration) around the wire, secured by twisting the ends together. Finally slapped on a decorative bell and ribbon - again, from the Christmas decor box. Not a single penny was spent. Not even an inch of cello tape. Welcome to the first day of Advent!

Since the broken tripod from making last year's tinsel tree is still here, I thought I'd cut myself some slack this year and redo the same thing but with a little tweaking here and there. Start the long tinsel on the top with a knot then twirl it around the tripod until it's all covered up. Tie the end to one of the tripod legs to secure it. Connect all the tinsels together to make a really long one This time I first wrap up the tripod with some red net fabric we saved from a gift hamper. This way the tinsel holds better in place when twirled around the frame. And the angel lights are placed first so that the wire is not visible over the tree.

Angel lights are placed inside of the tree for a softer feel The bad news is, our tripod was broken (the top bit - heaven knows when and how that happened). The good news is, I can now use it for something else with no guilt (especially to all the photography enthusiasts out there) - as a base for our 2015 DIY Christmas tree! DIY Christmas tree from a broken tripod and some Christmas tinsel This has got to be the easiest-to-assemble Christmas tree to date. All I did was set the tripod up to the height I want, then tie the strips of Christmas tinsel around it. Everything can be packed away easily and reused for next Christmas. The wired ribbon has been used a few times on the 2012 Christmas tree on the wall , the 2010 CD Christmas tree , and our very first DIY Christmas tree in 2008 .

When I made the Mini Cardboard Tabletop Christmas Tree , I thought I was going to settle for just that. After all, we are packing up for the move; it's going to be a sad little Christmas. And as I was taking down all the 3M hooks here and there to leave the landlord a clean wall, these little 3M wonders gave me an idea. Well you see, I've bought stashed away quite a bit of the replacement 3M stickers for more than a year now; and they don't work well after hibernating in a shoebox, in a damp house in a humid country for that long. Now they will have the opportunity to shine (literally) before they announce retirement. So all together, 8 used and reused 3M wire hooks, 8 not-working-so-well 3M removable stickers, 1 good old reliable Christmas wired ribbon, angel lights from 2010 Christmas , an empty wall with a strategically existed wall lamp and power point, and under 10 minutes of my life; made us our simplest Christmas tree to date. It would also fit really w...

This Christmas is going to be a quiet one for us as we are in the midst of moving, so a big(ish) tree like previous years is just impractical. But not having a tree at all would make it even sadder. And the solution is: a tiny, mini, tabletop cardboard Christmas tree!  The making is pretty simple: View larger image in new tab or window 1. Material: some patterned or printed cardboard (old Christmas cards, Christmas merchandise packaging, etc), I cut these from last year's Christmas crackers packaging box. 2. Cut them into equal sizes: 2 per tree. 3. Take 2 and stick them together, back to back using double sided tape. 4. Make sure they are adhered nicely together, trim away any jutting out edges. 5. Cut each piece into 2 equal pieces. 6&7. Using a pencil, trace the outline of a simple pine tree onto each piece with a cut out shape prepared ahead (it can also be just a simple triangle). 8. Place 2 half-tree shapes together and secure with cellotape al...

A friend of mine is volunteering at The Heavenly Gift for Community at Heart , a non-profit organisation, to help raise funds for underprivileged children in Malaysia to grant their little Christmas wishes. The event is held at Tropicana City Mall which is in my area, so I went personally for a little donation and to see if there's anything I can help (keep them accompanied and look helpful as I'm really not a very good salesperson lol). They have a free gift wrapping service counter next to the donation table so I thought I could at least help doing some gift wrapping. Then we realised that people aren't really aware of the free service because there isn't any signage apart from one bunting standee. So I offered to make them some signboards. This one here is for the booth top. Apart from the words being printed from my own home-use black-and-white laser printer, everything is taken from existing material in my craft box: the old textured paper it is...

Forget about what my Christmas tree is going to be this year, here is something I have to share with everyone passionate in reducing material consumption. I was at Jaya One today and was as usual annoyed by their never ending building work going on, making my walk to the supermarket really unpleasant. However, their humble yet refreshing Christmas tree next to the Info Counter has made my day. Open in new tab or window to view larger image. Angel with smiley face drawn on cut out cardboard It is small - under 6', and made out of used egg crates held up by rustic wood! Hanging on the tree are little angels with wings made from fan-fold recycled paper (old magazine pages, used wrapping paper, etc) and halos made from twist tie wires (probably from bread packaging), and smiley faces drawn on cut out cardboard! It is not grand like most of the big shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya, but it doesn't look pathetic like many either. And I think that the ...

It's that time of the year again - you're right - time to get busy preparing for Christmas! And what can be more fun than getting the tree up? As usual, the rules here is to have nothing (or very little) bought. Everything must be old, used, or recycled. We had a great success last year with our CD Christmas tree , and the CDs were then stored away for their future use in God-knows-what; maybe rebuild the same tree, who knows? But this year we're going to be away for the holiday so we'll just have something really simple and doesn't require much work. As I was going through my craft boxes, I found this stack of beautiful glossy cardboard that used to be the body of some Christmas crackers we used last year (yes I actually saved those bits). Was initially thinking of making some party crowns for my nieces, but then it strikes me that I can use them to make a Christmas tree. It's really simple; each card has a die-cut slit and slot mechanism, that made ...