I’m late to the game, but lately I’ve been finding myself spending hours just looking (and shopping) at Etsy.com at all the ingenius, fun and clever handmade treasures over there.    Just search the words “recycled” and THOUSANDS of pages come up.   One brilliant idea after another, I thought I’d share some of my favorite picks and link back to the artists so they can get some Daily Danny attention and hopefully some sales!

First up: this Lego journal.   As a child, I played with Legos and and now my nephew has been obsessed with them as well.  It’s nice to see a non-electronic toy stands up to the test of time and I think this quick and easy upcycling project is a brilliant and fun one. \

From the designer “MoonLightBindery“: 

New for valentine’s Day! The covers of this fun book are made out of two upcycled 2.5″ x 5″ (8×16 peg in geek speak) rectangular LEGO® base plates with a heart. The paper is 70 lb. white 100% recycled paper suitable for writing or drawing. There are 6 signatures with 8 pages a signature for a total of 48 pages (or 96 if you count front and back sides.) Also included are 15 flat LEGO® pieces so you can create the cover of your choice AND a LEGO® separator so you won’t break a nail moving the pieces around! This is the FUN part – go minimalist with theplain cover or add some color with the pieces.

Another heart.   Maybe I’m on a Valentine’s Day kick, here?     This one is made entirely out of intricately placed zippers into a clay base.  It’s a pin, but I think it could be used for a myriad of things.    Designer BOGATE says:

Using vintage and recycled zippers, this brooch is made by gluing sections of zippers onto a polymer clay base. The different colors of both the zipper and the teeth provide contrast and texture and a decorative pattern is achieved by shaping the rows of teeth into different shapes. I made this brooch with the thought of love and Valentines Day. It only contains zippers in shades of reds and pinks.Rather than just gluing a pin finding to the back of the brooch, you will see that an additional layer of polymer clay has been baked over the pin finding. No need to worry that the glue won’t hold – a pet peeve of mine. This pin has been made with exquisite attention to detail and excellent workmanship.The brooch comes packaged nicely in a stylish black/grey pinstripe box. Keeps it safe in transit and makes it really easy to give as a gift.The last three pictures are representational only to show you the back, the size of the pin and what the gift box looks like.The heart is approximately 1 1/4″

This totally reminds me of a project I did here when I took old crayons, melted them, and turned them into marbelized butterfly crayons.  Except this Etsy artist —in my opinion— did a much nicer, cleaner, more fun job by turning them into numbers.

From artist IvyLaneDesigns:

In keeping with the recycled/upcycled theme, we offer an educational set of ten (10) handmade number crayons. The perfect size (appx. 1.2″ x 1.6″) for little hands. It is never too early to teach our children about helping the environment.
 

This one, folks, is something I’m thinking about buying.    It’s a handcrafted mobile using Belgian Ale bottle glass as the stained glass.   Artist “WesternArtGlass” says:

Made to order…allow about a week for the customary quaffing and obligatory mando-mayhem in the background, before the official send-out!

Reclaimed empty amber ale bottle bottoms from Belgium: Chimay Premiere, Trappistes Rochefort 8, and Tripel Karmeliet (similar bottoms may be substituted by availability). The glass is wrapped in lead and soldered to copper rods, and connected with rings and swivels.

Etsy is lots of fun and a great alternative to find gifts, home accessories, jewelry and much more at affordable prices, all supporting artisans and crafts folks around the country and a great source to find something original and one-of-a-kind.

I bet I could find hundreds of things I love on the site, but for now, these four are speaking to me.  Have you bought or sold anything on there?   Or more importantly: have I bought anything from you?  (A few dozen of you should speak up!).

Tags: Etsy, Finds

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 1:41 am and is filed under shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.