While my current workspace is full of books, tools, fabric, etc. and other fun things, I always like having flowers or plants nearby. So a couple days ago I thought I’d revisit an inexpensive DIY project from when I was a graduate student living in (expensive) London a couple years ago.

To give my standard graduate dorm room a bit of character, I whipped up this flower vase with stencilled cozy made from a water bottle rescued from the recycling bin. After a trip to the Columbia Road Flower Market, my workspace definitely looked more inviting.

Here’s the instructions.

Workspace Decor: Stencilled Flower Vase From Recycled Materials

Materials
- empty water bottle (any size will do)
- scrap fabric
- sponge brush/paintbrush
- paint
- scissors
- thread + needle
- permanent marker
- clear adhesive paper
- Exacto knife (optional)

1. Take an empty water bottle. Determine how high you want your vase to be. Use a permanent market to draw a line around the top of the bottle.

2. Cut off the top of the bottle along the line you just drew. Use scissors or an Exacto knife. Trim if necessary.

3. Cut a piece of scrap fabric that will fit around your bottle. Trim its width if necessary, keeping in mind the size of your stencil.

4. Create a stencil for the cozy/cover: draw an image using a permanent marker on clear adhesive paper. Cut out the negative (make sure you save any parts cut on the inside). Here I drew some buildings and cut out the little window parts as well.

5. Adhere your stencil to the fabric.

6. Using a spongebrush, dab at your stencil with your paint of choice. Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies of the stencil.

7.  Wait for the stencil to dry (use a hair dryer to speed things up). Pull off the adhesive to reveal your image. Do any touch-ups using a paintbrush.

8. Fold over 3/4″ at top of your fabric and iron it down. Repeat for the bottom of your fabric.

9. Sew the ends of your fabric together. Add stitching embellishments (I stitched in clouds using blue thread and added a dashed sewing line at the top of the cover/cozy using black thread).

10. Pull cover/cozy over the water bottle.

11. Pop your flowers in and it’s ready to go! The vase currently sits on top of my desk.

Also, below is another source of inspiration.  Orca Design presents the Façade Vase, which encourages you to recycle a water bottle into a vase, using their thick wool cozy.

If you’re visiting via a CBC shoutout on Ottawa Morning, c/o of Amrita Singh’s Frugalista series, or via a Radio-Canada mention on Divine Tentations c/o Mélissa Proulx, then welcome to the blog!

A little context for those of you visiting for the first time: Kite-making was the project of the month for the August installment of Spins & Needles in Toronto, and was a featured workshop at the Ottawa Folk Festival this month. Click here to find out more about Spins & Needles, a creative night out based in Ottawa.

You can also check out the full picture set on the blog Flickr page.

So here we go:

DIY PROJECT: KITE-MAKING USING RECYCLED MATERIALS

Materials:

• Thin wood dowel x 2 pieces (I got a 1/4″ long thin dowel at Home Depot and broke it in half)
  –> alternatives include barbecue skewers or any slightly bendable wood
• Scissors
• Masking Tape
• String
• Popsicle Stick
• Ruler
• Plastic bag (I used a colourful plastic bag from a local toy store hanging around the house)
  –> alternatives include a garbarge bag or newspaper or shower vinyl on which you can decorate with paint or permanent marker

Create Your Frame

1. Take one of your wood dowels and place it across your second dowel. Place it slightly higher the the mid-point (so that the diamond shape will be more top heavy).

2. Use tape to secure the two dowels. The vertical dowel is your spine and the horizontal dowel is your spar.

Cut Out Your Sail and Attach the Frame

3. Cut your plastic bag first down the sides.

4. Place your frame on top of your bag and cut from the point of the spine to the spar to create your diamond sail. Trim as necessary. Make sure the sides are not too jagged. After the diamond sail has been cut out, flip the sail to the back side.

5. Turn your sail over so that the wrong side faces you. Tape each end of the to the sail dowel using 2” pieces of masking tape: lay 1” on the front side of your sail, then wrap remaining 1” tape over tip of stick and onto opposite side of the sail. Do this for each dowel.

(Tip: when you first cut your bag, don’t cut across the bottom part of your bag so you can maximize the length of the bag and to ensure it will fit your kite frame. Plus if you have enough left over you can use it for the tail or make another kite.)

Prepare 2 Bowstring Tape Mounting Tabs

6. Cut one 4” piece of masking tape. Place toothpick about 1″ down from top on sticky side.

7. Wrap the 1” over the toothpick to create a doubled tab. There should be a remaining 1-2″ of single-layered tape.

8. Use another toothpick to poke a hole through the tape below the toothpick.

9. Snap ends off toothpick that are not wrapped in tape.

10. Stick one tab on the front of the sail at one end of the spar. Secure with more tape if necessary.

11. Repeat to create second tab and stick on other end of spar.

Create the Horizontal Bowstring

12. Cut a piece of string about 5″ longer than the length of your spar.

13. Tie one end through the tape tab.

14. Pull carefully across sail to create a slight curve and tie it securely to opposite tape tab. When bowed properly, distance should be approximately 2-3″ from center of string to point where sticks cross. If your stick cracks or breaks as you start to bend it, some masking tape wrapped around the sticks should help put it back together.

15. Cut any excess string.

Create Vertical Bridle String

16. Turn your kite on to its front. Find the mid-point between the top of the kite and where the dowels cross.

17. Using a toothpick, poke two holes on either side of the spine.

18. Then poke two holes 3-4” up from the bottom of your kite.

19. Cut a string about 5” longer than your spine.

20. Tie one end of the string through the two holes (doesn’t matter which hole it is) at top of kite. Make sure the string comes back up through the front of the kite AND that the string goes over the spine when it is pulled through the second hole.

21. Pull string across front of kite. Tie other end of string through two holes at other end of kite. Again, make sure the string comes back up through the front of the kite AND that the string goes over the spine when it is pulled through the second hole.

The bridle you have just created will not be taut but loose (this will allow your kite to be more flexible in the wind).

Attach Fly Line to Kite

22. Create a bridle loop: Cut a piece of string about 8” long. Fold it in half and tie a knot to create a loop (overhand knot).

23. Attach loop onto bridle string by placing bridle on top of loop and then pulling ends of loop through itself.

24. Cut at least 30 feet or more of string and wind onto hobby stick.

25. Attach fly line to bridle loop with 2 overhand knots.

Create and Attach the Tail

26. Cut out strips of the remaining part of your plastic bag.
–> alternative: If there’s not enough, use another plastic bag or tie ribbons around string for a bowed tail.

27. Tape end of strips to end of kite.

Front View

Whew! You’re done! Now go fly a kite.

Hope you find this project as much fun as I did – I have become a kite convert!

The video that inspired me was this one on Activity TV. You’ll find lots of other kite ideas on that site.

Image From CyclinginOttawa

A Night of Turning Junk Into Funk

This Tuesday March 31st will be a day in history.

A day where you’re swept off your feet.
A day where you’re awe struck.
A day where you turn Junk to Funk.

This month Otesha’s volunteer night will be a creative night of construction!

We’ll be getting together to learn about the behind the scenes of the Otesha Book- how it was made, who wrote it, and why it remains as such a powerful tool in promoting environmental change. And then, we’ll learn how to do it ourselves…

Come join us at the Otesha house for an evening of crafty videos demonstrating Junk to Funk ideas, and a talk about how recycled goods can be recreated into brand new things!

The excitement will begin at 7pm
The address is 72 Riverdale Drive (click here for directions!)
The date is Tuesday March 31st

RSVP to carla@otesha.ca and remember to bring your craftastic ideas to share!
—-

Also, here’s their how-to on making a soft cover book out of recycled materials.