Upcycle Living

The virus is showing no sign of retiring, which means, we need more reusable face masks to go around. They are especially useful for when we just need to go out to sort something out in the garden or just to receive something from the delivery guy. Can you imagine wearing a disposable face mask just for that few minutes or so then dispose of it? By the time this pandemic is over (if that's ever going to happen), we will have another pandemic of trash mountains made out of disposable face masks! This has been put aside for quite a while now as I have been rather busy for the past few months and had not much of a DIY motivation, plus, I couldn't find any suitable material such as a good, used fabric. However, while going through the chest drawers, a used pillow case caught my eye. It's tough enough, it's cotton, and it's grey - just great for the design I had in mind - an embroidered Batman logo 😁 The good news is, the old embroidery frame that has been in the family...

During these movement-controlled days, besides worrying about the shortage of surgical masks, the accumulating disposal of the one-time use masks is also a concern - not to mention the money we would have to keep spending on buying them. As I have more than usual free time on my hands, there is really no excuse why I shouldn't look into learning to make some washable reusable face masks for ourselves. After studying the structures of the existing surgical masks and what other people have shared online, I have made a few for the people around me. What I have done is to add a pocket to some, in order to slot in a filter pad if needs be. Another add-on feature is the adjustable clip-on straps so that there is no need for elastics bands over the ears. The main reason for this is that the elastic bands would dig in to the back of the ears and could be painful over time. Secondly, I am making all these with existing materials I can find in the house, and I just do not have them at hand. ...

When I arrived at the airport last June, I realised that the rubber grip on both my luggage handles had broken into pieces - disintegrated - literally! I ended up tying my scarf (I happened to be wearing one for the travel) around one just so that I could carry it without hurting my hand. I (and the luggage bag) survived the 3 weeks. This is mainly due to it being left in the spare room for the previous 2 years (that was how long I went without a holiday), and exposed to the very hot morning sun for hours on a daily basis. The cheapskate that I am, throwing the bag away is definitely not an option, let alone a Hush Puppies! It was the first time ever in my life that I bought such a high end luggage - for my kind of standard - and obviously, when it was on a really great deal. Being a 5-year-old luggage, it still is working really well except for the broken rubber grips. So the next option is to get them repaired, or at least just the handles replaced. I found a bag repair cent...

Ang Pao envelopes  a.k.a. the red packets , a must have's for Lunar New Year but also a thing that will become clutter over time. We can never get the right amount of a certain design, and we'll often be left with too many unused/odd ones. Although I've handmade some this year but there is still a stack too many from previous years and some of them have specific year or zodiac design on which can't be used for the following year. Growing up, we used to lots of fun making little lanterns with old red packets as festive decoration, and I think it's time to relive that sentiment. Instead of the usual squarish designs, this is one in a spheric form, using just 1 basic modular shape: Cut red packets (ang pao packets) into equal circles (about 8cm diameter) and draw an equal triangle on the reverse side. Fold on the triangle outlines, then glue the shapes together to get these: The 2 round shapes are for the top and the bottom, whilst the long strip goe...

Walking through the Lunar New Year decorations in the shopping mall yesterday, reminded me that we'll need to get hold of some Ang Pow packets (little red envelopes for new year money). We usually get them free with purchase from departmental stores and supermarkets, but you'll often end up with too many or too few of certain designs/sizes. I'm not entirely keen on making unnecessary purchases just for those red packets, let alone advertising for corporations who are already making money out of us. That's when these pretty backing papers springs to mind: I got these lovey looking backing papers from the Diamond Jubilee issue of Crafts Beautiful (UK magazine). One of the many perks of buying crafts magazines is the little craft-making tools or craft materials that came with the magazines. But the downside is: they can become a clutter too. I had used them to wrap quite a few presents and made a couple of gift bags; yet several years on I'm still having p...

A new addition has just been added to our home for old and forgotten possessions, after having a few tweaks here and there. Meet our new shopping bag: But If I don't tell, I don't believe that anyone would've guessed its previous life, would you? Here's a little hint: the material is rain/water proof, and heat resistant to some extent; and is very light. That's right, it used to be my favourite umbrella which was crippled by the crazy wind in Nottingham during my last visit in June (2017). I always have this strange sentiment towards umbrellas, and I get really attached when I find one with prints that I really love (which is often not easy). Most of the time, when one breaks, it's the metal frame that's gone and the fabric is often still intact. And me being me, I absolutely hate to throw it away knowing that it could become something useful, somehow. Of course, there had been numerous deceased brollies in my life but never knew what to do ...

Was tidying up my work/craft table today and found something I made a few months ago - a tea cozy! I remember spending quite a few days stitching away and bled numerous time, thankfully not staining the fabric. I must've gotten busy or distracted by something else (which happens a lot) and totally forgot about it. I'd always love looking at tea cozies as they could come in so many interesting patterns and designs. Surely we can just buy one from the shops, but since I've got quite a bit of fabric scraps lying around it's always better to make full use of them. If you haven't already noticed, this is the same fabric I used for making the access tag holder . I've finally finished off what's left. This was a relatively more complicated sewing project, as I haven't any tea cozy lying around to make reference off. All I did was guessing the structure from pictures I've seen, and put my logical sense to use. Here's what the insi...

In life you often come across things that you love so much you hang on to it whatsoever. I had a short checkered skirt that was altered from a long skirt because it was stained by some green paint, which I had worn from mid 90's till 2009, when I noticed a hole on the back of it. I had no idea how it got there but it is definitely not mendable. I was devastated as it was one of my favourites, and I certainly can't make it any shorter! Last worn on 3 April 2009, Lee on Solent Stubborn as I am, I refused to throw it away just yet. So I decided to make a bag out of it. The actual process of making it was not that long, but it was the waiting for the right material to come along. My sister passed me some old straps she took from her old ripped travel bags so I used some to make the straps, as well as the horizontal line pattern by the straps. The bottom piping was made by wrapping fabric from an old t-shirt (that was waiting to become a cleaning cloth) around an old cord...

Although I make a point to tell all my friends not to give me any presents to avoid unwanted gifts and excessive gift wrapping, I still get nicely wrapped gifts from time to time. When I do I will unwrap them very carefully and keep almost everything - from the gift wrapper, greeting cards to the ribbons and trimmings - and reuse them whenever I can. This month I happen to have some gifts to give away, so I've recycled these wrappers and cards. The purple patterned wrapper in the foreground is from a Christmas present I received in 2008. The white tissue wrapper in the background came from a clothing packaging. The dark pink tissue wrapper underneath is from another gift I received some years ago (which will be used for wrapping the other present) . The gift cards are cut out from old birthday cards. The ribbons are taken from an old top I dismantled. Nothing is new here except for what's wrapped inside, which is the most important thing. But I think they still lo...

Took less than 5 minutes, this is probably the fastest project to date. No one would've guessed its past life if I don't tell. This was the pair of Nine West shoes I bought at a really great promotion price. Loved them, worn them to death - literally.  But I'm not quite ready to part with them completely yet, and the decorative jewels still look good. So before I binned the shoes, I removed the shoe jewellery from both shoes and turned them into pendants. Yes I now have 2 Nine West - so to say - pendants, and why not?