I'm back...Catching Up!

It's been a little while since I've posted! My dad was diagnosed with a type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a week ago today, so I've been spending my free time visiting him in the hospital during his first round of chemo and doing little things to help out here and there. So, it was for good reason! Today the sun is shining as he heads home to continue the battle I'm confident he'll win!

Through the busy-ness of the past week, things have still been happening with Junk Mail Gems. I just recently received a copy of last fall's issue of Positive Thinking, which had a nice photo and mention of my wallets in their "Cool for School" spread. See below on the right side of the page...Thank you, Alina, for the mention!


I also was pleased to connect with the folks at Found Clothing, a fun blog dedicated to the cool clothing items and accessories rescued from the trash and the people who resurrect them! They posted a little interview with me last Sunday.

I've also been busy fulfilling a large order of my new Jumbo Magnets which will finally be going out tomorrow!



And, I got an email from the people at the Eclectic Products blog inviting me to share a project as a guest blogger using their cool EcoGlue, which I use when making my Junk Mail Gems products. So, watch for that...I'll be sure to post here too when it goes up so you can check it out!

Now to post some cool eco-friendly eye candy, here is one really cool project via the Eclectic Products blog that I thought you would like...a chandelier made out of recycled plastic spoons! I love this idea of making something so beautiful and timeless out of spoons that are used for only a few seconds to stir a coffee. I'm not sure I even want to know how many of these are being tossed out every second in our Starbucks-crazy culture...and along with just about every one of these spoons also go paper cups, cardboard wraps, sugar packets, napkins, and stir sticks...

Garage Sale Finds of the Week

It's that time of the week again...time to do my part to recycle used toys into "new" toys for my son! I found a lot of great items, both baby and household, but here are a couple more good toy finds of the day:

Fisher Price Little People Alphabet Learning Zoo...regular price $43.00...Garage sale price: $6.00! This is a cool little toy where you set the animal figure on it's corresponding letter, and depending on what you have it set on, it'll either play the animal's noise or say the letter.


Still collecting a stash of legos...this week it's the regular Legos (non-Duplo), and this nice pile...roughly $15.00 worth for $3.00!

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:

Garage Sale Find of the Week

Yesterday was Thursday, which in the summer is synonymous with "garage sale day" in the Junk Mail Gems studio. There were not a lot of sales around, being right up against a holiday weekend, but my little man and I headed out to hit just a few sales in our neighborhood.

In my opinion, purchasing used stuff is right up there with other green practices like purchasing cool gifts hand made out of recycled materials. Of course, there are certain things one may not want to buy used...underwear, toothbrushes, wedding dresses, you get the picture. There are also things that lose their value and functionality over time, and it's our job as creative people to find ways to repurpose these things. But Lego's are not one of them...they last forever and are a timeless toy!



Today's best find for the little guy was this big bag 'o Duplo Legos. I got all of these for $6. I think you'd be lucky to get like one Duplo animal or car for $6 new. They were trying to sell these for $12 along with an old, wood end table that had a lego base screwed to it. While I admired their nice DIY Lego table work, I didn't want another large piece of furniture, so they sold me just the legos for $6. I later found out it costs $15 just for one Duplo base...should've snapped that up and just removed the base!

The thing about Legos is they last forever, and old and new blocks still connect together beautifully. I have collected a pretty good stash of pieces already this summer for when Sammy gets bigger...both in Duplos and regular legos.

These Legos will outlive any video game system by decades, and will foster the kind of creativity I want to pass on to my son! In the meantime, I think I'll go build a house while he's still napping...

Recycled Cake Stands

Today I made a trip to my local Savers and picked up a few parts to try this cool recycled cake stand project that I posted on a few days ago. I had seen a very similar project originally on the DIY network and have been meaning to try it since! Here are the steps I took...

Step 1: Find some old plates, and something to use to add height (a vase, goblet, candlestick, teacup, etc) Here are the pieces I picked up at the thrift store...it cost me about $6 for all of these pieces. (Probably would be $1 if from a garage sale!)



Step 2: Squeeze some epoxy out of the tube onto some scrap cardboard or paper (or junk mail!)...make sure you get even amounts out of both tubes.



Step 3: Mix up the epoxy. Some people use popsicle sticks or tongue depressors for this. I like to use those wood skewers because they are smaller and it helps apply the glue more precisely.



Step 4: Spread epoxy on the bottom of whatever you are using for the stand. In this case I'm using a goblet.



Step 5: Stick the goblet (or candlestick, or vase, etc) on the bottom of the plate. Make sure it is centered. It's better to glue in this orientation than to put the plate on top of the goblet, to avoid glue dripping down your stand.



Step 6: Wait for the epoxy to set and turn it over! The length of setting time depends on the kind of epoxy you use. I usually get the quick setting 5-minute stuff because I little patience for things like drying glue and paint!



Step 7: Bake a cake and serve it in style on your one-of-a-kind cake stand! Don't put the stand in the dishwasher though...hand washing is best.

Here's the other one I made; I think I like this one the best:





Okay, so I photoshopped the cake on. But, in all fairness, it IS a photo of a cake that I made. ;-) These work great not only for cakes, but cupcakes, brownies, cookies, doughnuts, and any other treat you can pile on!

You can also use these as pillar candle stands in between dessert serving duties:

Belt chair

Check out the awesome chair made out of woven fabric belts. This looks like it would be really fun repurpose-ing project...all thrift stores have that aisle of out-of-date belts and old chairs! Yet another project to add to my list. Visit the artist's site here! Found via Design Milk.

Amazing Paper Art

It is really amazing what a creative person can do with something as simple as a single piece of paper. While I sell my products made with junk mail, I've also been exploring what kinds of frame-able art I can do with it as well. I did a posting a while back with some amazing work done just with cardboard, and thought this was a nice version of work done just with paper.

You may have seen this in a chain email stating it was part of a contest at an art museum in DC (where the name of the museum is misspelled even), but the emails are bogus...it is all work done by one artist, Peter Callesen. Check out his amazing work! I thought I'd give credit where credit was due, rather than passing on the made up email!


While you're at it, check out some of these other amazing paper artists:
Jen Stark's amazing and colorful card stock sculptures
Laura Cooperman's super intricate work
Su Blackwell's clever and creative cut book art, &
Javan Ivy's incredible paper animation!
Know of some more? Leave a comment!