January Swap: Upcycling into the New Year

I had never heard of the term "Upcycle" until watching the Nate Berkus Show one day. It's the reusing of items by not just turning them into something else, but by making something so that it is even better than what it was originally! That's what our swap will involve for January. If you can made a garden related item, that is even better but not required. It can be something decorative or personal with a garden theme; it does not have to be "plantable" or something that goes in the garden.

Some obvious things:
Using old gift wrap, stationery, or pages from old seed catalogs to make seed packets.
Coming up with a way to recycle something in order to make plant markers.
Old wine bottles turned into candle holders or part of a bottle tree.
A chipped or broken plate turned into a mosaic feature
I saw a pin (jewelry) made from the pull tabs from soda cans with something added in the center and an added pin back.
How about an old CD or DVD painted in some way and being reused so it can be hung outdoors to scare away critters or simply be a sun catcher or wind spinner?
I also saw some ideas where old pages from a book had been rolled and made into a wreath or some other decoration for the door.

Take a look by searching online under "Upcycle" and you will see many, many things that would not be hard to make --- or simply be creative and think of your own idea.

You have until January 12th to sign up. You can begin making your item at any time after you decide to do this - you do not have to wait for your partner to be assigned. Mail out will be by Jan. 20th. Join in by posting here if you want to participate. I would love it if anyone who has the capability will take a picture of what they receive so we can get some ideas. If that isn't possible, at least give us a good description. Nothing needs to be expensive. Remember that we are the simple swap! However, send something that if it were to be received by you, you would be happy to get it. Please include delivery confirmation when you mail.

This is just for fun, but please humor me. I suspect everyone has a special event that took place in January at some point in your life. Just to see what is special about January, when you sign up tell about at least one special January day. Here are mine: my younger daughter was born in January and my older daughter got married in January. (That daughter is actually the second one in the family to have a January wedding - my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a January wedding, too. Brrr--- too cold for me, I did not choose winter for my wedding - alhtough I must admit the weather here in SC was nice for my daughter's wedding.)

Best wishes to all for a safe and Happy New Year!

Jeanne

January is a really slow month in our family. Only 1 birthday- my BIL. He was born exactly 8 months before my oldest son. So my kids have an uncle that is the same age as they are! The boys have a lot of fun with that when they go out. They are both turning 16 this year (yikes!) and everyone mistakes them for brothers. They love telling everyone..."no, he's my UNCLE/NEPHEW!" LoL!

Along with the special event of my birthday this month, my oldest daughter will celebrate her 23 birthday on the 5th.

The most recent event just ended today when we arrived home from South Carolina. We went to visit our son and dil for the New Year. I couldn't believe I was looking at flowers at the Lowe's there. I felt like a kid in a candy shop totally drooling looking at those pansies dreaming of the day I can garden again. I was wearing flip flops yesterday. Isn't that great!!! It was a great trip and I just loved sitting out in the sun and listening to the birds and the frogs. Unfortunately, the trip home found us in several snowfalls including one where we saw several vehicles off the road.

On our way home, we had lunch at a MacDonald's in West Virginia. Unknown to me, I dropped my phone while in a stall in the bathroom and when I realized it was missing, I found only the back part of the protective case I had on it. Someone picked up the phone and kept it. We tried calling it several times but no one picked up and eventually they must have turned it off because it started going straight to voice mail. It wasn't any special phone so I have no idea why they didn't turn it in. We had the restriction on it within 20 minutes so it is no good to them. My son just got a new phone so I was able to get my number to his old phone. I was just frustrated that someone would do that.

Hope everyone's year is off to a great start. I need to find an idea for this swap. It sounds like fun.

Margo

I've been MIA mostly because my Mother-in-law suffered from a massive stroke the week before Thanksgiving. She has made progress, but will need to be in a nursing home for the rest of her life. I really didn't want to put a downer on everyone's holidays.

Business has been off. Dh & I run a small environmental business. We have been awarded several contracts, but they haven't kicked in yet. I hope they will soon. I think once the work comes from the contracts we'll be ok. So things have been tight but not desperate (the joys of owning a business!)

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

A January memory? I'm in upstate NY, so I usually try and blot out January. LOL! The only thing I can think of is the one year I was still picking broccoli in the garden on January 6th. Maybe I haven't lived long enough yet to have a good memory of January. LOL!

Hope everyone is doing well!

We have two new members to welcome to the group:
Corrine (Corrine1) and Nina (Beautifulreddahlias).
Welcome and we are so glad you are interested in our group. Let us know if you want to sign up for the January swap.

Also, someone named Andrea contacted me by e-mail about membership and I tried to e-mail her back and the e-mail bounced back to me saying it couldn't go through, so Andrea please try again and if you sent the e-mail through GardenWeb the first time, just try sending it directly to me.

Melissa, you did great to already complete your "Upcycle" - all I have done so far is look at ideas on the internet.

booberry, I'm sorry to hear about your business slow down and your MIL's health problems.

Margo, sorry to hear about your cell phone. I hardly ever carry mine when I walk the dog, but I did once when my husband was out of town in December and the darn thing fell out of my pocket and I was out searching with a flashlight when it was nearly dark. I found it in a hay field so I was lucky... talk about looking for a needle in a haystack. I thought my dog might notice it and stop to smell it - she seems to want to look at everything else - but she walked right by it so it was me who found it and I felt very lucky I did. That was the end of carrying it in my jacket pocket! I know - totally different circumstances - but I sure did panic when I got home and realized it wasn't in my pocket so I know how you felt.

Okay, that's all for now. It is turning cold here in SC. We had our heat and air-conditioning serviced today and now it isn't working right so we have to get the technician back out here. I told him I smelled something upstairs that smelled like something was burning before he left the first time, but he didn't check it out. Guess that's when the issue started. Can't win; can we?

I'll be back to check on swaps and interesting things about January tomorrow. Have a great night, everyone!

Jeanne

I will not be able to participate this month. I have a LOT going on this month - new business starting up, existing business still going, home school.. so so much! lol But I'll be peeking in and saying hi from time to time.

Hugs to you all!
~Wendy

To introduce myself: I only recently consider myself a gardener because I actually tend the plants putting them in the right place & maintaining them though I've planted for years. I have more time for gardening with our kids nearly grown and a chronic illness that provides the perfect excuse to read on the job so to speak. My hubby is a great garden laborer & photographer who loves me more than the garden, which always works to my advantage! We live in a clearing in the woods at a camp & conference center where we we enjoy organic edibles, fragrant, foliage, & flowers along with our kids' small 4-H animals that provide garden manures. We've lived at camp for nearly all of our married life, so in addition to our own gardens I have a mission to update & add year-round color to our building entrances. Western WA state has a mild climate that is rainy most of the year except for summer drought mid July - Sept, so though we don't need to water most of the year we do irrigate our summer edibles.

I like the Upcycling challenge, so I'm jumping in with both feet to join this swap.

Thanks for welcoming me into this fun group,
Corrine

Corrine

Remember to sign up by Jan. 12th and mail out by Jan. 20th.
So far we have:
Jeanne (sandlapper_rose)
Corrine (Corrine1)
Nina (beautifulreddahlia)
Melissa (hazelnutbunny)
Margo (smitties)
...and hopefully Shirley (sjc48) if she can get her computer problems squared away. Shirley, I can imagine how frustrated you are!

I wasn't quite sure if you want to sign up or just stopped in to post, xiangirl, so just let me know. Obviously we would love to have you join in. Anyone else? If I missed you from the list above, just chime in again. There has been a lot going on here with my horse being so sick.

I did get a chance to browse at some upcycling ideas and I think the hard part will be deciding which one(s) to make for my partner!

I will send out a new membership list before you need to mail since we have two new members - and very happy to have both of you join in!

Jeanne

Can you put me down as Lurking for this one. I'm in 2 other kinda large swaps this month and have a whole lot of pta stuff just piling up to do.

Hope to catch you next month. :)
vina

Just wondering to make sure I do it right.

Corrine

Have a great day. It's time to finish packing up the last of my Christmas things today and to get the house cleaned up really well, too.

Jeanne

Heidi, not sure if your above comment was questioning the box you did for the last swap so I wanted to assure you that you did a fine job. You sent a great box that met all the criteria for the swap and it was sent in a timely manner as well so no worries. I enjoyed receiving it as did the birds. LOL Have fun.

Margo

Now we have:
Jeanne (sandlapper_rose)
Corrine (Corrine1)
Nina (beautifulreddahlia)
Melissa (hazelnutbunny)
Margo (smitties)
Heidi (xiangirl)
...and hopefully Shirley (sjc48)

There are still a few more days to sign up if anyone else is interested. Even if you don't want to swap this month, stop in and say hello.

Jeanne

The last day to sign up for the Jan. swap is Jan. 12th so let me hear from you if any more members want to join in.

Jeanne

Secondly, I think I will go ahead and participate in this swap, it looks like it will be a lot of fun = )

Jeanne, great idea and thanks for hosting!

Annie

Signed up:
Jeanne (sandlapper_rose)
Corrine (Corrine1)
Nina (beautifulreddahlia)
Melissa (hazelnutbunny)
Margo (smitties)
Heidi (xiangirl)
Shirley (sjc48)
Robert (rqeversole)
Annie (canyonwind)

After I wrote the follow up the other day I thought that I might have been giving the impression that you needed to send a lot for this swap! I hope that wasn't how you read it. One thing is fine. Several little things are fine. If you send what was in the guidelines for the swap and you read about someone sending 9 or 10 items, do not feel bad! I can assure you there are some people who send way beyond in every swap they do and they do it for their own reasons, but I do not want anyone to feel like their box wasn't good enough or the recipient to feel short changed if the box arrives with one thoughtful item.
I can't stress enough that these swaps are to be simple - inexpensive, good for the environment, friendly to the earth, etc. and certainly not stressful for those of us who participate.
I haven't even decided from the many choices what I will make for this swap. It may be something that doesn't turn our as pretty as the picture I will look at for instructions or inspiration, but I will have fun trying to make it. I hope it will bring a smile to the face of the recipient. That's all that we ask when you try something new like this.
Yes, sending an "upcycle" is a bit more of a challenge mentally than sending out some seed packets, but I thought it was a good thing to try for the New Year. Keep a smile on your face in trying this endeavor. Please don't stress and thanks to all who joined in!

Jeanne

I have collected some ideas & not all are things I've done before. I don't want to give away the surprise of the gift, but am willing to share ideas. Many of my ideas are practical because that's just how I roll especially for gardening. Some are lovely & might be more suitable as a gift, but still be useful.

Corrine

A very Happy Birthday to smitties (Margo)!
Have a wonderful day.

I am going to send out the revised membership list to the members by e-mail. Shirley usually does this so I hope I get it to everyone okay. If not, get in touch with me and I will make sure to send it again.

Jeanne

I'm glad we're doing it now in January. I found a great quote last summer, "I sleep in the house, but live in the garden." That's definitely me when the weather warms up!

Here are 2 ideas for old shower curtains in case you have critters outside this winter or haul garden products in your car trunk. Not all gardeners drive a truck, right? They're not necessarily upcycle ideas better than original purpose, but reuse.

1. Use your old shower curtains & rings strung on rope hung across the top to close up raised rabbit, chicken or duck pens/cages during cold or windy weather. Our kids built these raised pens for their 4-H show poultry to keep them in smaller breeding groups & out of the dirt.

One is green & the other opaque kept closed with clothespins. Since they're not air tight the animals still get air & the wind escapes, but doesn't blow right through.

To the right of the red chicken coop are the raised pens with the shower curtains just to the left of the large tree trunk. To the right of the trunk is a rabbit hutch. Inside the hutch on top of the cage is a layer of burlap bags to trap some warm air & in really cold weather we pull some of them down as a flap across the front, too. The burlap bags are gathered free from a coffee roaster & if kept dry last forever. If used in paths or as top layer of mulch during our rainy season they last about 6 months.

2. The other use for those shower curtains is to fold in 1/2 then line the trunk of your car to help keep the carpet clean & dry. Wipes up or shakes out easily when you return home with garden goodies or wet ski boots from a day on the mountain.

Corrine

Margo

Here is the list of who you will send to for this swap.
You are receiving from someone different so don't let that confuse you. With an odd number of people signed up, it doesn't work out to have you send and receive from the same partner. Can't wait to see what is sent. I am finally working on my "upcycles" - it took me a long time to decide which ones to make.

Jeanne sends to Corrine
Corrine sends to Melissa
Melissa sends to Nina
Nina sends to Margo
Margo sends to Annie
Annie sends to Shirley
Shirley sends to Robert
Robert sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Jeanne

Have fun with this and mail your packages by the 20th. If your item can ship in a padded envelope or flat rate envelope, that is fine. Just remember to put a delivery confirmation on the package.

Any questions, just ask!
Jeanne

Yes, hawks do have to eat. We had one pick a dove from under our bird feeder some years ago. He feasted on our back deck. Fun to see but icky to clean up. A unique experience for sure.

I still need to refill my finch feeders since the high winds knocked one down and emptied the other. I had just filled them both too. Thistle is not a cheap seed so I wasn't happy. Have to go get some more.

Margo

Corrine

Shirley/Jeanne......I did NOT receive the revised FOTESS membership list. Please resend when you get a chance....no rush!

No snow in our neck of the woods....NO, I am not trying to rub it in. We have been having a very warm January. I wish it would snow...LOL!! It would be a nice change. It just does not seem right to be running around in shorts in January. They are calling for some rain....probably just a sprinkle...but that is OK with me.

Happy Sunday!!

Annie

Here's a mid summer photo that my son took.

Some snow overnight & more throughout the day, but it's melting some because it's 33 degrees. Now & then the half dollar sized flakes pile up a bit.

When we came home from church we walked around off leash with our little black pom who loves the snow. I made an itsy snowball & tossed at my hubby who just smiled. Pulled a wheelbarrow load of large branches off a back bed where a fir tree limb fell yesterday. Our son removed the limb because it also hit a duck pen, but left the branches because it was still gusty out. The duck was fine :o)

If the snow picks up & stays around we'll go inner tubing tonight as the guest groups will be gone & no cars on the roads here at camp.

Margo

I took some pictures of what's coming, Jeanne. If you want a surprise...don't look at the link. I made some plant stakes and I put them in a flower pot to take a photo so the ends are brown. I'm sorry for that. Have fun with them, though.

I took plastic bottles, cut them into butterflies and swans. Then I sprayed them with spray paint. I taped them to wooden skewers. (Wood breaks down into soil faster than metal). Can be used as decorations or to mark rows of beans or a single flower. Can write on them with a sharpie pen. You get to play with them in the house until the summer when it gets warm!

My grandmother moved to assisted living a year ago and she had a drawer full of beautiful tea towels to use "some day". Enjoy today! Use it now!
Heidi

Now I am starting to wonder what the February Swap will entail... I sure am having fun with the FOTESS swaps! I'm sure what is going out in the January Swap will have all of us intrigued.

Jeanne

Corrine, those are beautiful beds in your backyard! I don't do a lot with flowers just yet, but those make me wish I did.

Finally got all of the stakes and trellis string out of the vegetable garden so it can be plowed soon, so I am really starting to get the "fever" (though I still have at least 2 more months before I can start the spring garden). Sigh, how depressing...I just want to get some dirt In my fingers :-)

I did finally get Heidi's gift finished tonight, so I should have it packaged up and off to her within the next 2 days (they are still drying). I tried to keep it related to gardening, but still something unique and maybe something someone else didn't do already. I hope I did enough, especially since this is my first one, and I don't really know everyone yet!

Well, I'm off of here, I'll post the DC ASAP.

Robert

Your Upcycled ????????????? is on its way to you.
DC# 0310 2640 0000 1354 3464

In case you did not get my email, I did receive the updated FOTESS membership info. Thanks for resending Shirley!

I am so excited to see what everyone "upcycles". I have read so much about upcycling over the last several days. It truly is amazing what some people "upcycle". As well, this kind of swap forces one to get mentally creative...not a bad thing! It is good for the soul!!

Robert, welcome to FOTESS!!

Annie

Stay warm everyone, Margo

Jeanne sends to Corrine - Sent
Corrine sends to Melissa
Melissa sends to Nina - Sent
Nina sends to Margo
Margo sends to Annie
Annie sends to Shirley - Sent
Shirley sends to Robert - Sent
Robert sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Jeanne - Sent

Packages should be arriving soon! I hope everyone had fun making their item(s).
Jeanne

My package is on the way to Annie. DC #03113260000208040161

Snowing tonight and it's our first measurable snowfall. We might have up to 5 inches of snow so we will see what is looks like in the morning. I have to work 10-6 alone tomorrow and the owner is out of town so won't know if she would prefer I open late. We don't have a lot of business right now since it is basically off season for anything. Snow will make business even worse.

Good weekend to all. Smitties

Jeanne sends to Corrine - Sent
Corrine sends to Melissa
Melissa sends to Nina - Received
Nina sends to Margo - Sent
Margo sends to Annie - Sent
Annie sends to Shirley - Received
Shirley sends to Robert - Sent
Robert sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Jeanne - Received

Shirley really outdid herself! I feel like I should have made some more stuff for Heidi now! I will post pictures later, but basically here is the rundown:
-An up cycled jar with photos around the outside and it was turned into a change jar, labeled 'seed money'....very clever :-) inside were several varieties of flowers.
- 2 puzzles made from left over magnetic sheeting and her own beautiful photos!
-A magnetic white board made from magnetic sheeting and wallpaper samples.
-A magnetic pen holder made from left over wallpaper and a toilet paper tube, with 3 pens tucked away inside.

All in all, a very awesome package! Thank you so much Shirley!!

All the Best,
Robert

I hope it arrived NOT BROKEN!!! The mosaic pieces are NOT paper. The blue is from a very damaged soup mug and the red is from a broken coaster. I glued the pieces on, grouted it and then sealed it. The cannister...I was taking a painting class and they were dumping them out as there were cracks. I rescued a few of them. Unfortunatley, I did NOT take a picture. Maybe one of you buddies can take a picture and post it.

Shirley...chuckle...chuckle..I to have a very blue kitchen accented in red. I must confess, I was rather selfish when it came to the color choices, as I had no idea your kitchen was blue.

Robert, very clever upcycles from Shirley. She is very creative!

Jeanne, so enjoyed this "Upcycling" swap.

Happy Saturday!

Annie

She had in the box a square cigar box she decorated and decoupaged. Very pretty and useful. She also made a bracelet and I will try to describe it. It is about an inch wide. The outside is denim and it is lined with a pretty flowered fabric. That is also decoupaged and then hand painted with colors that match the inside fabric. She really did a nice job on both. In the box were several seed packages which none are duplicates of what I have in my garden so will be planting them this spring.

Thanks Nina for a great upcycling package and thanks Jeanne for hosting such a great swap. It is fun hearing of all the great upcycling ideas.

Margo

What a storm we've had here since Wednesday! We had some snow on the weekend & it was cute and all. The forecasters warned that we had several weather systems coming our way with some punch, but I had no idea what was in store when I went to bed Wednesday night.

When things return to normal I'll have pictures to tell the story. For now, we're on generator power & internet was just restored this afternoon and I'm tapping away on my son's laptop making more typos than I want to admit. There's no way I can figure out how to get the SD card to load here for posting pics & he's gone over to my dad's to help out there.

The heavy snow was lovely on Tuesday night into Wednesday, but the ice storm that followed caused widespread tree damage to our entire camp & surrounding area. We were awakened at 2am to snapping sounds as 25' sections of treetops snapped and fell to the ground knocking down other trees or limbs on the way. Snap, snap, snap... all morning, day, night, & into Friday afternoon. I held my breath as I'd hear the snap & wait for the boom of the landing tree trunk or limb praying all the while that it wouldn't hit us in our beds in the night. Two nights of restless sleeping with all those popping sounds and last night was only windy, so not as many fallen trees & limbs. I hope to sleep better tonight as it's calm now. We have a lot of work ahead just to be able to walk or drive around at camp, but I'm thankful that all of our backyard animals made it through safely & we didn't have major structure damage here. Only fences, chicken coop runs, cold greenhouse roof, raspberry trellis, rain barrel, etc. to repair. Some camp buildings and volunteer staff RVs have damage. Our roads are down to one lane until we can get equipment to help move the trees properly. Live power lines are crisscrossed across the main road in & out of camp, so the mail has not been delivered, though our UPS driver drove right over them. I'm not, but my family is working hard to try to get the camp cleaned up enough for guest groups to come stay as well as the high school that leases some buildings here and our before/after school school-age daycare to open on Monday morning if at all possible. The power crews have said they'll work here on Sunday & Monday, so the road is closed until then. We're across the creek from the main camp and our power comes from the nearby neighborhood with underground lines, so we have no idea how long of an outage is ahead. Main things are restored first & since hundreds of thousands are without power we're not going to be a high priority like public schools, stores, etc.

The package for Melissa is taped up tightly & waiting to be taken to the post office for delivery confirmation when I can get out. I was so anxious to get it packed up the other day I forgot to take a photo, so hopefully Melissa will post one. I used a lot of imagination to make everything practical & usable for the garden and/or gardener. Especially, since hazelnutbunny has a lot going on in her family with a baby on the way and other children I wanted to help make her gardening work a little easier! I can't help you care for those chillins' or carry that growing baby, but I did what I could to send you a helping hand and a smile, too!

I would have posted earlier, but we've been without service since the storm. I sure hope my package from Jeanne waits at the post office alright. I can't wait for the debris, ice, & snow to be out of the way for the mail carrier to come again!

Corrine

Don't worry about getting a package out to me, just concentrate on doing what you need to do right now, OK?
I will love whatever you send, whenever it gets here. :)

Corrine

Margo sent.....

*6 small (1 1/2 inch) seedling pots made from papertowel/toilet paper rolls....these are great as they can be planted directly in to the ground. Great idea...I will be making these!

*5 plant markers made from spoons. The spoons were hammered flat and then the names of the plants was stamped in to the round mouth portion of the spoon...TOMATO....GOURD...ZINNIA...BASIL...CONE (coneflower)
These are very cool...love them! I am curious what you used to put the letters on the spoons. More info please!!!!

*Seeds and more seeds....
Pear Shape Gourd
Baby Bottle Gourd
Echinacea Hot Papaya
Echinacea Double Decker
Coriander
Sweet Pea Astronaut Mix
Cinnamon Basil
Zinna Chippendale
Tomato Sweet 100

Now I have plant markers to go with my seeds!!!! Bravo!

*Kahlua Hazlenut coffee

What a wonderful package with fantastic ideas. Thank you so much!!!!

Annie

The lovely card depicts mice having tea in the garden of course and inside explained all about the gifts.

She made the tote bag out of sheets & I just love the delicate edging. Daisies have been my favorite flower since childhood. What a lovely way to repurpose fabric!

She created a wire hanger for the butterfly dangle leftover from a windchime no longer in use. I promptly hung it on my medicine cabinet in the bathroom so I'd see it often until I decided where to put it. There's so much tree debris outside it would be quickly lost in the garden.

She wrapped up a good amount of perfectly uniform window blind markers inside a homemade fabric bag tied with raffia & a silk flower. The ones I've cut have never looked so nice, so I'll save these for special container labels.

The paper seed envelopes were misprints she said, but look perfectly good to me & will make a great passalong.

The twix bar was just because & I'll save it for a special day when I need some yummy caramel & chocolate.

Thank you, Jeanne for such lovely upcycled gifts to cheer my week! I hung the bag on my behind the door rack in my bathroom & have smiled at it several times already today.

Corrine

Updating our list:
Jeanne sends to Corrine - Received
Corrine sends to Melissa - Sent
Melissa sends to Nina - Received
Nina sends to Margo - Received
Margo sends to Annie - Received
Annie sends to Shirley - Received
Shirley sends to Robert - Received
Robert sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Jeanne - Received

Good job on getting the packages out! We are well on our way to be completed for the month. Please post when the last few packages arrive.

Jeanne

When looking out my back windows I keep telling myself what I've read in one of garden writer, Marianne Binetti's books... The difference between an old gardener & a new gardener is this: a new gardener cries when a plant dies & an old gardener cheers because there's a spot for a new plant! I should be cheering, but I feel like crying sometimes when I look at the mess out there frozen in place. I'm sure once it melts more & is freed up to move off the gardens I'll know what was pierced by limbs & tree trunks, flattened, or just covered up. I'm so glad we were all safe inside our homes including our little dog inside with us and the chickens, ducks, rabbit, & doves outside in their pens with strong roofs. Everyone rode out the storm alright!

You can mark my package to Heidi as sent (mailed on Friday afternoon).

Robert

I just finished three swaps and all received the hand crafted spoon markers and I have received many inquiries as to how they are made. The following is a site where I found some for you guys to see what I am talking about. I love how they added the little plant stamps so will have to find out how they did that.

http://paperandplanes.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dsc07503.jpg

I used new spoons I got on sale but have made some for myself from spoons I found at the Goodwill. My husband used a rubber mallet to flatten the spoon. I then purchased a steel stamping letter/number set. I just line these up on the spoon one letter at a time and bang them with a regular hammer about 25 times to assure they indent the spoon. We used a work table my husband has and placed a large garden border brick on that to bang on. When flattening the spoon, places an old towel over it so as not to scratch it up.

http://stampingjewelrysupplies.com/images/letter_numbers/il_430xN.157647088.jpg

These are very easy to stamp and I enjoy doing it. I plan to make many more for my gardens as these will last forever.

Corinne, it is amazing to think what happened to that your beautiful gardens since the first pictures you posted. How powerful nature can be.

Margo

They're great. I love this idea. Anticipation was growing when you posted it had to dry. Now I know why.

Thank You!
Thank You!
Thank You!
Heidi

Jeanne sends to Corrine - Received
Corrine sends to Melissa - Sent
Melissa sends to Nina - Received
Nina sends to Margo - Received
Margo sends to Annie - Received
Annie sends to Shirley - Received
Shirley sends to Robert - Received
Robert sends to Heidi - Received
Heidi sends to Jeanne - Received

Robert

Even the card was upcycled! :)

Thank you, Corrine! These were all really neat ideas, and I can't wait to try them out!