Okay, so I’ve been asked not to share projects we’re doing for the new book Upcyling here on this blog, but to that I say… loophole!

This is a project in the book, so I wont share the tutorial how we made it.

But I love how you can go into the yard and find interesting botanicals—leaves, flowers, pine cones, moss—and find a unique and easy to preserve them for a collection at home.

Eh, give me a glass of wine and a laptop and maybe I’ll come back and post the tutorial, but in the meantime, maybe you guys can figure it out and share here in the comments section.   I’m on your side, trust me.

Last week, I had a group of stylists here from NYC working on my new book Upcycling by crafting, crafting and crafting away. I asked them if they ran across any old computer keyboards (or had one stashed in their closet at home) to bring it along with them.   I have become obsessed with trying to figure out a fun way to upcycle a keyboard.

Hmm…. ripping off some keys, and look what it spelled!   J-O-U-R-N-A-L.

Journal.    Where am I going with this…

Found myself a journal.

Now I’m thinking…. can I hotglue all the keys all over the front of the journal?

I shall share this result with you soon.

Made myself some sauteed chickpeas this afternoon for lunch and as I was rinsing out the can for the recycling bin, I decided I would have some fun and see if I could upcycle it into something fun.

I rooted around the craft room and saw some shells I collected on a previous trip to Florida, the glue gun and a little bit of powdered plaster leftover from a project from last week.    I felt like I was doing the crafting version of trying to cook a meal with leftovers, but in this case, who knew if the results would be good or not?

I mixed some of the plaster powder with water and poured it all over the outside of the can.   Noticing that the seashells were kinda lost under the plaster, I took my fingers and just wiped off the excess plaster on the shells. Looking better!

Eh.   Not sure about this.  I think I need to play around with this idea and maybe adjust the plaster, but I’m not totally disappointed.   I think if it were filled with white flowers, it could kinda work.  

Off to eat my lunch…. quick and easy upcycling!

On the side wall between the kitchen and laundry room, I decided to install some DIY shelves on the wall.

It’s a fallen branch cut up into a few pieces with raw wood “shelves” screwed right into the branches.  It’s kinda of an optical illusion because it looks like the shelves are part of the branches, but in reality it’s all several pieces all puzzled back together right on the wall.

The question is: should I paint the raw wood shelves or should I leave it raw?

Normally, I’d paint it a light shade of gray or cream if there were any other kind of shelf, but looking at the collection of raw wood items and natural wood bark, I’m leaning towards leaving it as is.

Thoughts?

There’s a very good chance that many of you reading Daily Danny just hate your showerhead.  Maybe it’s old.   Maybe it’s clogged with hard water mineral build-up.   Maybe it just, well, sucks.

My good friends at Kohler want to give (3) Daily Danny readers a chance to win their brand-new Kohler Flipshide Hand Shower.  If you can’t afford a bathroom makeover or renovation, one of the easiest and most economical ways to upgrade a bathroom is to swap out the old water-wasting showerhead for a new one with unique bells and whistles to start your day off the right way!

I love Kohler products and the company because they have a long-standing commitment to water conservation with a whole variety of WaterSense and water-efficient products for both the bathroom and kitchen.   

The Flipside showerhead features four totally unique experiences all in one showerhead:

• Koverage: traditional everyday shower spray
• Kotton: a downpour of water that feels dense, soft and enveloping
• Komotion:an exhilerating drenching spray
• Kurrent: invigorating massage spray for aching muscles.

Tell me why you need a new Kohler Fliprside Handshower.   If you’re following me on twitter @dannyjseo, you can enter twice!  Three lucky Daily Danny readers will win! 

Good luck!