Welle Designs: Turning Vintage Finds into New Treasures

I am in the process of sharing what I saw at this year's Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, and for today's vendor highlight I would like to share the work of Lauren & Lori Welle of Welle Designs.

I've seen these cool bowls before made from old records, and they had a fun selection of them at a great price.  My mom bought a couple as Christmas gifts.

I've always loved these cool ticket bowls too!! Wouldn't they look great filled with popcorn on movie night?

I just recently shared some message boards made from vintage trays, and they had some as well that had ribbons to hang on the walls (Above). I really like this cute and simple idea of the "message block," shown above in front of the tray.  The little block of wood has chalkboard paint on the front, and a hole drilled in the top to place a piece of chalk!  Love it!

As you can see by the little hand in this picture, Sammy was drawn to this cute record clock with game pieces and a bingo card in the center.  "No touching, Sammy!!"

I really liked this tray on display, covered with bottle caps and a thick, clear resin, which Lori described as "just an experiment."  Sometimes the one-off, experimental items really get a lot of attention.  It reminded me of my last year at the Craftstravaganza when I had a couple junk mail decoupaged TV trays out for display purposes.  They weren't even for sale but people were very interested in them!

If you'd like to see more of Welle Design's work or contact them to purchase, be sure to check out their website!

XO Handworks: Custom Recycled Pendants, Pins, Magnets & More!

I am still in the process of sharing what I saw at this year's Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, and for today's vendor highlight I would like to share the work of XO Handworks of Osseo, MN.

 I was really drawn in by this great display of jewelry made from recycled maps.  They have buttons, pendants, keychains, you name it.  I love how they displayed the soldered map pendants on a board with the map behind it, so you can find the location you want.  This is such a neat gift idea for someone who wants to show off their home state, country, favorite vacation spot, hometown, or whatever! Be sure to check out their beautiful creations here! They also have some really great items made from Scrabble tiles, bottle caps, and more!

A while back I used to sell pocket mirrors and buttons made from recycled maps, which were really fun.  I'm still hoping to offer more recycled map items in my shop in the future...once I get some better button making equipment that produces less duds!

DIY Retro Clock Bottlecap Magnets

I just love these magnets for two reasons.

1) They are made from recycled bottle caps (and you all know how much I like to recycle!)
2) They feature graphics inspired by some awesome classic clock designs that I have always wanted to purchase but cannot afford.

Check out the great tutorial on How About Orange for complete step-by-step instructions, as well as the downloadable graphics!

Man, I have a gigantic bin full of bottle caps just SCREAMING to be used for this project, not to mention a stack of artwork from my kiddo to display.  Now I can have little reminders on the frig of the clocks I'd love to purchase some day when I strike it rich! (after we sell our house and I can start hanging art on the frig again, of course!)

(via Cut Out & Keep)

DIY Message Center

I'm finally back in my studio after a busy 10 days of face painting (my other business besides Junk Mail Gems) at a city festival and county fair! I recently received a new issue of Family Fun magazine and found another really fun project idea for turning an old cookie sheet, soup can, and bottle caps into a very cool message center! I'm definitely going to have to try this one. Maybe I can use some junk mail instead of the contact paper. I do already have a pencil cup on my desk that is a soup can wrapped in woven junk mail, so that would already go!

Just a couple cool things

Here are just a couple cool pieces of recycled eye candy for you from a couple of my favorite links:

Check out this cool collar made of the hooks on clothes hangers:


More cool art made from bottle & can tops:

Bottle Cap Mania!

Okay, I told you I'd give you something more fun with visuals after that boring wordy, picture-less posting I just did. I have a huge pile of bottle caps that I've been collecting from my relatives. I have one idea for something I want to make and add to my "Junk Drawer Gems" section of my site but I'll let you know when I've tried it... For now check out this cool bag made out of bottle caps!


While we're on the subject of bottle caps, here are some cool bottle cap magnets.
Here are some fishing lures made out of bottle caps,
bottle cap earrings on etsy,
some amazing artwork made out of recycled bottle caps,
even more cool artwork out of bottle caps,
some super awesome bottle cap beads,

Now this is interesting...this bowl is made out of the clear plastic piece inside of plastic bottle caps! Very creative to think of pulling this little piece of a little piece out and making it the focus of this cool bowl!!



Okay, I could go on and on with all the cool stuff you can make out of bottle caps, but my adorable little munchkin is waking up from his nap so gotta go! Hope you all have a great weekend!