I needed a small net to skim leaves off of my small bog pond. And being the frugal, recycling, do-it-myself fan that I am, I came up with a way to make my own. And it’s made using materials on hand, so I didn’t have spend the money on a new product or use the gas to go find it. And for this particular item – handmade was fine.

	Materials: Wire clothes hanger or lighter gauge wire, gauze, netting or a pair of pantyhose, needle, thread or embroidery thread and some sort of handle – use a chopstick, old paint brush handle, or something like that. And a smooth glass or jar to use as a form for the wire ring.
	1. Cut a length of wire. Enough to wrap around your form and extra that will wrap around your handle to secure them together. Wrap around the form. With pliers, grab firmly the wire and twist together until the wire is tight against the form. Give it 3 or 4 good twists.
	2. Slide it off of the form – this is why we don’t use something that may have a lip or edge to it.
	3. Wrap the short end around the tip of your handle. Be careful not to disturb your perfect circle.
	4. With one hand firmly hold the handle with pliers. With the other hand start wrapping the long end of the wire down the handle. I ended up using a second pair of pliers and twisted my hands opposite of each other to make it really tight.
	5. Cut a piece of pantyhose or netting. Doesn’t have to be perfect, just bigger than your circle, we’ll trim it later. 6. Cut a length of embroidery thread and thread your needle. Thread it through the net and tie half a knot in 4 places just to get it positioned and started. Trim off some of the excess net.
	7. Then start looping your needle and thread around the wire, starting at the twisted wire end. When you reach the end, tie it off firmly and remove or trim the first 4 threads. I found it easier to sew with the net on top of the wire, spreading the net tight between 2 fingers (and sewing between them) spacing the loops about a quarter inch apart.Pull tight as you go and pull out the “tie-down” threads as you go. When you get to the end, tie the end threads together and trim some more of the net.

And there you have it. Works great and my fish don’t mind that its not super beautiful – they just are thankful that the leaves are picked up and not decaying at the bottom of their pond.

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Shown here displayed in guest bath on a black salad plate and “served” with home made soap. 1. Wash and dry the shirt. I used a cotton thermal under shirt. 2. Lay flat and cut several 6″ or 8″ squares. You can measure with a ruler and mark it or cut a square piece of card stock and use as a template. No need to be completely perfect – t-shirt material curls a bit on the edges when cut and it won’t fray either! 3. Store them in a small basket or decorative bowl by your bathroom sink and use them to wash your makeup off at the end of the day. They wring out easily, dry easily and since you have so many, you use a clean one every day. Which many experts agree that this is a good thing for the health of your face because of bacteria build up in regular wash cloths.

4. If you want to get fancy – sew 2 pieces together on 3 sides and turn inside out. Here I used 2 of the pieces that had the hem of the shirt on one side.

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Metal punching or tin punching is a practice that has been used for generations by metal smiths. You can easily create your own metal punched craft by hammering a nail into a can – with a little time and recycled metal cans you will have a beautiful lantern to enjoy. All your friends are going to want one!

Materials: Metal cans, hammer, strong nails (a couple of sizes if desired), pliers, wire, tea lights or candles.

1. Collect a variety of sizes of empty metal cans. Smooth sides are preferable. Wash them and remove any labels. If there are any sharp edges around the rim, use some needle nose pliers to flatten edges or file them down with a metal file.

2. We are going to punch holes in the cans with a nail or awl – but we don’t want to smash the can in the process. So, here is a fun part – fill the cans with water and set level in a freezer and wait until they freeze solid.

3. Designs: While you are waiting for it to freeze, come up with some designs. Research old fashioned tin punching folk art for ideas or come up with your own theme.

You can draw right on the can with a marker or crayon before you freeze the can. Or cut a piece of paper to fit around the can and draw on that. Then tape it to the can to start punching holes thorough the design. Or if you are a really free spirit – just start punching holes. It’s still going to look cool with candle light shining out of haphazard holes!

4. Punching: If you have more than one can, punch one at a time, leaving the rest in the freezer until you are ready for them. Put the can on a firm surface, firmly hold a very strong nail against the design and give it a couple of taps  with the hammer until it pierces the can. Move the nail and repeat. Regular metal cans pierce very easily, just a couple of taps will make a hole.  Experiment with different sized nails for large and small holes.

Punch 2 or 3 holes evenly spaced around the top of the can if you would like to put wire through it to create a holder. This is really cool to hang from a shepherds hook or tree limbs.

5. After you’ve completed your design, set cans in sink and allow the ice to melt. Dry them, put a tea lite or candle inside, wait for the evening to roll around so you can sit and enjoy your handiwork.

Optional: Spray paint inside and out with rust-oleum. Use nail polish and draw some funky designs, or use stencils and spray paint decorations.  I also like to leave the cans natural and let them rust outdoors. Rust has its own kind of beauty.

Notes: I made some designs on the computer and cut them out. I taped them on but with the condensation on the cold can, they didn’t stick too well. I sat on the floor and placed the can on a cushy throw rug to keep the can steady while I hammered. The starburst or freeform design was just pierced without any pre-design.

Point the opening of the can away from you – some of the ice chipped off and flew out sometimes. If your design is taking a long time to punch holes in – return the can to the freezer if the ice is getting melted too quickly.

Add some beads and bells using light weight wire. This wire is 16 gauge – that’s thinner and more bendable than a wire clothes hanger.

These are “common bright” nails. If you have to purchase nails, try visiting one of the smaller hardware stores like a True Value. You won’t have to buy a whole box of nails – you can just buy a few and the service is always friendly and helpful.

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Paint thinner is reusable! Pour some in a jar and clean your brush off in there – when you are finished, put a lid on the jar and let it sit. The paint will separate and you can gently pour the cleaner thinner into another jar. Reserve this for the next time you have to clean brushes. But best not to use this leftover for thinning paint.

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Another rusty metal facelift. This time it is an old rusty heavy metal hardware box I found. This was nice heavy metal and the rust was only surface rust. It only took a good rub down with steel wool. 

 I covered the old leather handle with painters tape and sprayed it with my favorite fast drying  Rust-oleum Professional Primer. Spraying inside and out. Using a primer gives added protection for the rust as well as enabling the final paint color to be bright.

Since this has an inside tray, I chose 2 contrasting colors. And alternated the colors when spraying the stencil flower designs. To protect the surrounding area of the box, I taped a stencil to a piece of lightweight cardboard, trimming a hole out for the stencil to show through. I sprayed a very light coating of spray adhesive on the back of the stencil too. I wore a latex glove on the hand that held down the stencil so I could hold it real steady while I sprayed and not have to worry about painting my hands.

It is such a heavy box, it’s hard to imagine it was used for portable hardware. I think I’ll use it for my beading hardware and accessories.

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I love maps! When I was a kid I remember my mom had a subscription to National Geographic and they always had some kind of map stuffed inside the magazine. Whether it be prehistoric land mass changes or modern day Australia – they were beautiful and 2 sided.

Our city has a local recycle drop off for newspapers, magazines and cardboard. The last time I was there I discovered someone had dumped a pile of old Geographics. I did what any map loving, dumpster diving, recycling fanatic would do – I grabbed them all. They were pristine. I gathered all the maps that could be found. Saved a few issues for the pictures for collage projects and donated the rest to my favorite thrift store that carries books and magazines.

Recycle maps by using them for:

• wrapping paper
• make envelopes
• school book covers
• wallpaper a wall
• shelving paper
• blank journal covers
• origami
• collage – see map art by Matthew Cusik

Don’t throw out your old maps. If you can’t use them, offer them up on your local Freecycle group – artists love them! Here are some crafts I created:

A map glued to a large soup can. The can was sprayed painted inside with bronze colored Rust-oelum. I used coordinating color nail polish to trim the top edge and wrapped/glued the top edge with natural colored hemp.

The spiral bound journal has laminated maps for the front and back cover. Blank copy paper inside. The box was made by glueing (spray adhesive) a map to a box lid.

Save maps, make stuff, have fun.

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A nice Saturday project. I took it apart and scrubbed it down with some steel wool and a wire brush. Also washed parts of it with  CLR, washed it and let it dry. 

I sprayed it with a coat of Rust-oleum Professional Primer. I used the grey primer, very fast drying! Using a primer gives added protection for the rust as well as enabling the final color to be as brilliant as possible. Then I chose a sharp contrast of Chinese Red Rust-oleum and Black to finish it off. Oooh, just like a little red wagon!

I’d like to add a nicer piece of wood some time, but for now a coat of polyurethane on some sanded plywood works for right now. I’m using it next to my painting easel – paint can be stored in the desk while palette and brushes sit unencumbered on the top. The once forlorn desk seems very happy now! Is there something you’ve found that needs a face lift? Reclaiming old rusty stuff is easy and fun!

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I first saw a how-to on recycled sweater hats on CraftStylish.com

If you have a sweater that you shrunk in the wash – this is a fun project to recycle that sweater!

Dog Sweater – another recycle sweater project!

more to come on this how-to

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Kids love drawstring bags – I make them for my nephews – they hold their Gameboys, marbles, crayons and other treasures in them. They are always nice for traveling to hold your jewelry or toiletries. I just made several of them for Christmas gifts. Quick and easy – the sky is the limit on your creativity – fabrics, cord, added accessories….

I found these $8 silver plated ornaments at Hobby Lobby for half off ($4 each). The box they were in had the price printed right on it and I tried to use an Exacto blade to slice neatly around the price – but it looked tacky.

Step 6: Pick your drawstrings and thread through bag. Drawstring bags will work with only one string treaded through, but it is much nicer to take the extra effort to make a double drawstring bag.

Cut 2 for each bag, whatever length you want. Here, they are cut almost double the width of my bag.


Thread each ribbon through opposite sides. (The bag should be turned inside out now, but I still have them right sides together just for ease of seeing how the ribbon is threaded through.) If you make a lot of bags or things that need elastic to thread through – this flexible plastic “needle” is a nifty tool. Or else attach a large safety pin to the end of the ribbon and push the pin through the holes to thread the ribbon through.

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