New Earring Holders Using Re-purposed, Up-cycled Graters a Work In Progress

These graters have outlived their usefulness as such, but I hate to throw anything away, especially a vintage treasure. They were used for at least 60 years by the same person, and don't really grate well. Why not turn them into  fun and funky earring hangers, trees, holders, whatever you want to call them. I still have a few finishing touches for them, and will post later.

Broken China Jewelry Pendants

 There are such nice people here in Wallowa County! I happened to post some broken china pendants I've created on my Mother's Dream blog, and on Facebook, and a sweet lady asked me if I wanted some pieces she found in her backyard while digging out sage brush. Score! It was with great trepidation that I took hammer to china.

 Thankfully I got a few useable pieces for jewelry. The scraps will be used for mosaics so all is not lost. I haven't finished grinding the edges on all the pieces I did get, and I still need to drill holes and seal the edges, but here are a few of the pendants I'm getting from pieces parts my friend gave me, as well as some from some of my own dishes that have taken a hit, literally.

No, I don't just randomly break my dishes, but if they become too chipped or cracked, then they are fair game. Sometime in August, when I'm back in Oregon we are going to dig out more sagebrush and see what's in the stash. I was told that the area my friend is cleaning out used to be a local dump for these sorts of things, from a business that used to be around back in the day. There's also bottles and such to unearth. Who knows, we may find some real treasures that are worth something! I'm hoping, for her sake that is true!

A Walk Down Memory Lane - Up-cycled Bleach Bottle Tote

 I have been wanting to do this since I took up crocheting again while watching TV with the folks at night. When I was about 12 or 13, Teri you might remember this, Mom taught a couple of 4-H classes in Joseph, Oregon.

 One of them was using bleach bottles to make totes out of. I couldn't remember how we did them exactly, as far as the stitching count, but I worked it out to where the top is not larger than the bottom in width. After I cut the top off as high as I could go, there's an actual ridge in the bottle you can use as a guide. Scissors work great after getting the hole started, I punched holes around the top edge, leaving about a quarter of an inch border on top. I then did a single crochet stitch in each hole, alternating between one and two stitches per hole. At the end of each row I slip stitched into the first stitch of each row and chained 2 for HDC and 3 for DC stitches, which I alternated rows of.  There's no hard and fast rule on how many rows to make, you decide how you want the tote to look.

I then made a crocheted draw string handle to match as I didn't have ribbon or fabric available. I also added the large crocheted flower and leaves. Can you see the possibilities with this idea? Next time you are thinking of tossing out a laundry detergent or bleach bottle, even a large juice bottle, why not give this a try.