Now Available: "Cool Green Stuff!"

Yipeee! My pre-ordered copy of Cool Green Stuff from Amazon arrived today! This is a really cool little book. It's the perfect little size and with large, full-color photos on every page, it's interesting enough to live on your coffee table and frequently be picked up. If you'd like to get one, you'd better order asap or find it in a bookstore, as according to Amazon's site today, they only have 4 left in stock.

Anyway, be sure to check out the front section on fashion, which is where you will find a page featuring Junk Mail Gems' hand-rolled paper beads! Click here to check out our recently expanded selection of loose beads, as well as ready-to-wear necklaces, earrings and bracelets!

Junk Mail Gems Featured in New Green Book

I keep forgetting to post about this but finally getting around to it! Junk Mail Gems is going to be one of the many cool green products featured in this new book, Cool Green Stuff, available in the US at the end of the month! I've already pre-ordered mine on Amazon....check it out here!

The book will be published in Australia and New Zealand under the name "Cool Hunting:Green" as well!

"PRE-Cycle" Your Computer Printouts!

Ever print an email or something off a website, and get that wasted last page that has like 2 words on it? One thing I do to try to avoid this is to click the "from __ to __" option in my printer dialog box instead of the default "print all pages," and start with 1 to 1 or whatever I think it will take to get what I actually need printed. This helps avoid getting that last page with nothing but "page 2 of 2" and the web url on it. But, sometimes it still does happen.

What I've been doing lately is cutting up my printer mistakes, old mapquest routes, etc and use the backs for notes, phone messages, & shopping lists. The backs of the paper is perfectly good for these little notes, and it enables you to get another use out of this paper before you drop it in the trash, or hopefully, your recycle bin!






Now you can store your own recycled note paper with this cool storage box, just added to the Junk Mail Gems collection! This box is designed to hold scratch paper the size of a letter sized sheet (8.5" x 11") cut into fourths. The box is hand woven entirely out of 7 recycled junk mail catalog pages and is available now on JunkMailGems.com for $15.

Recycled Magazine Stuff

Check out this cool mirror from Urban Outfitters, trimmed with recycled magazines! ($52) Be sure to check out the close-up view (click "more pictures") on their site to see the detail in the individual rolls...pretty time consuming! (although I'm not sure if they are hand made?)


They also have a picture frame for $16.00 made in the same way:

Ugly Dresser : AFTER

And you all thought I couldn't do it. Here it is, the completely re-finished ugly garage dresser turned nursery dresser! I spent a day sanding and painting the wood, pounding a few loose nails back into place, and replacing all the drawer bottoms and back before painting it. It took some time to get it cleaned up, pry off the warped and water damaged fiberboard back and drawer bottoms, and remove 10 knobs, but soon after it really began to change dramatically with paint. I really didn't expect it to get done in only one day so it was a nice surprise.

The dresser was free, I paid about $6 for some board that I had cut up at Home Depot to fit in the drawer bottoms and back, and I spent about $3 to replace the rusty metal feet on the bottom with new plastic feet. The paint colors I already had from painting the walls. Not a bad deal for a piece of "garbage" that was on it's way to the curb!

I did splurge on the 10 drawer pulls, purchased from Cool Knobs and Pulls online, at $4.95 a piece. But, this I think really makes it, for the bug themed room I've got going. Plus, I still paid way less than I would buying something new that would not work nearly as perfect in the room.

So, there you have it...even a water damaged, warped, oil stained dresser can be transformed and used again. I haven't surprised my doubting relatives with it yet...I'm banking on the fact that they probably don't read my blog. Next time my parents are over, I'll see if they recognize it.

Alright, enough of my crazy personal projects...I'll try to find something more interesting for my next post! ;-)

Ugly Dresser: BEFORE

Okay, I have one more ugly furniture makeover in progress to share. This is the dresser I mentioned in the "Ugly Lamp: before" posting from last month...I tried to sell it in my garage sale for my dad for $5 and it would not sell. It's no wonder I guess...it's been in his garage or shed as long as I can remember and is very beat up. The paint is chipped, the drawers are filthy, the back panel is water damaged, and the drawer bottoms are warped and stained.

When I first saw this I said, "I could almost re-paint that for the nursery!" My parents groaned, "no way, not once you open a drawer..." and my husband's reaction was "we aren't putting that thing in the nursery, it's garbage!" Well, I took that as a challenge I simply could not resist.

I spent the afternoon today, my first day off from face painting in 11 days, transforming this dresser. It's literally done now, except that I am waiting for the arrival of some bug themed drawer pulls I ordered online today. I will post a photo of the new and improved dresser once I get the drawer pulls to top it off, so stay tuned!

Recycled Bag Placemats

Check out these cool mats made from recycled bags, available through Ten Thousand Villages. Visit their site for more cool stuff and more info on the group of artisans who hand crochete these mats! They also have some really neat mats and coasters made from recycled newspapers.