Upcycling Book
Well, I just got a finished, bound, full-color copy of my new book Upcycling: Create Beautiful Things with the Stuff You Already Have and I have to pinch myself if it’s actually here.
To go from having an idea one rainy day 16 months ago, to book proposal, to sitting in conference rooms of numerous publishers, to coming up with the projects, to making them, to the photo shoot and manuscript writing process, to the promotion and planning, to actually holding the book…you think I gave birth to a baby. For real.
One of my favorite projects in the book is taking a dozen old leather belts—I bought these at my local Goodwill store—and simply stitching them together with hemp twine to make a leather door mat. All you need are the belts, a hole cutter (from the craft store) and some hemp twine and a needle. That’s it.
I call this my “Eat, Pray, Love’ blanket: it’s silk scarves I found at a local Tibetan store (or you can use your own collection of silk or woolen scarves) stitched together to make a colorful throw.
And one of my FAVORITES: A shadowbox frame from Michaels, painted white, and filled with 500 or so wine corks as an eco-friendly, very cushy bath mat. No glue, no fuss… just the tension of the corks is enough to keep it full and taut.
There are about 100 projects in the book and I hope you’ll pick it up on August 20th when it goes on sale. We shot a HUGE 8-page story for Everyday with Rachael Ray featuring the book and some of the projects coming out in the September issue, so be sure to check that out if you want a really great sneak peek.
You can also pre-order at Amazon of course, too. I’d appreciate it if you did!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to get the book, on my way to pre-order!
Congrats on your new book. I am looking forward to reading it. I love the mat made from leather belts. I have another idea for those leather belts, but I lack the expertise to execute my idea. How about making a luggage rack from leather belts and a directors chair? Also, I love the campaign stool from Pottery Barn. How about weaving the leather belts in a basketweave to the directors chair?
Just a thought,
Mary
I’m a new reader to your blog, but so far I’m really impressed!! The cork bathmat is really neat, though I’m wondering where non-wine drinkers (like myself) should find 500 corks. *^_^*
This may sound a little creepy, but do you have any suggestions on what to make with glass vials? I’m a insulin-dependent diabetic, and one day I decided to peel off the label and cap from an empty vial, just to see what it looked like. Surprisingly it’s actually quite pretty, I just don’t know what to do with them. (And I get about 2 more each month.) Any ideas?
Congratulations on your book! I absolutely LOVE the cork bath mat idea. I’m thinking a quick way to build up the 500-cork collection would be to check in with the local wine shop and see when they host tastings and find out if you can pick up the corks after. An eco-friendly catering company might also put corks aside. Other than that….friends might be thoughtful enough to help with the endeavor!