Picking Pride

My absolute favorite day of the year in Ludington is not July 4th, like the vast majority of people who live here, it's not Gus Macker, the annual outdoor basketball tournament on the beach...... No, my absolute favorite day of the year is the last Saturday of April, Ludington's annual Spring Clean Up.

I first learned of this local phenomenon last year, when the move from New York City was still very fresh. I was 7 months pregnant and out for my daily walk when I noticed obscene amounts of trash piled up all over town. Almost every house had a trash pile out front. I noticed people driving or walking around going from pile to pile, inspecting and selecting items to take. Trucks and vans packed with collected street trash. Ludington is a pretty quiet town, but on that day there were people all over the place... driving or walking. Kinda like an annual sidewalk sale, but nothing is for sale. It's all free... because it's all trash. My friend Jamie, who grew up in Ludington, told me the locals refer to this as, "Going picking."

I have never seen anything like it in my life.

This year, the day was marked on my calendar.

Good As New: Container Garden

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd round up a few of my favorite upcycled container garden ideas. The snow has almost melted away from the other day, now we're just waiting on some warmer, sandals and sunhats, move my seedlings outside, spend the day at the park type of weather.

Good As New: Surfboard

THE CARDBOARD from Scott Mac Donough on Vimeo.

Coming across a new innovator to me is kinda like finding five dollars in a pair of old jeans. I love to see people doing new and beautiful things.

I don't own a surfboard. Nor do I know how to surf. Since we're moving to Kansas, surfing as a hobby is kinda out of the question. For now at least. But even so, after watching this clip it made me think... what can I create today?

What can I do that will make all the difference?

Seed Start

Ever since I decided to create a traveling garden, I've been eager to get started, but after I read here that I needed to plant my seeds indoors 6 WEEKS IN ADVANCE, I freaked out. It hadn't even occurred to be to start early. I ran into the kitchen to count the aluminum cans, baby food jars, yogurt containers and egg cartons I had been saving for my seedlings. Then, I sifted through the recycling for containers for MORE containers that would also fit the bill.  I poured potting soil in what I had to work with and planted the seeds that afternoon.  Of course, it wasn't until after my minor panic attack that I did a quick search of the last frost date for my area and was relieved to find Ludington's isn't until May 6th. I'm starting my plant buddies right on time.

And so the growing begins...

So I Sew: Round 2

For Round 2 in my adventures of learning to sew, Jolene (the sewing machine) and I got into a fight. But don't worry, we made up after working out our differences.

After a little research online I found what appeared to be a simple sewing project on Prudent Baby of turning a baby onesie into a dress and decided to try it out. I went to the children's consignment shop in town and bought a handful of $.99 onsies in LBD's size.

But I liked my finds too much to practice on them, so I dug around for a couple hand-me-downs my sister-in-law gave me and paired those as best as I could with the fabric I had purchased at Goodwill a couple weeks ago.

Perfect springtime color combo, right?

Jolene didn't think so. She didn't agree one bit.

Thrifting

This weekend, I'm starting my quest in sewing and need some fabrics to practice on, so I went over to the Goodwill to see if they had anything I could work with.

Good As New: Suitcases

I never know what to do with some of the stuff I have laying around the house. Magazines a couple issues old, photocopied recipes, TO DO lists (the never ending TO DO lists!).  I don't use some of these items enough to be left out, so when I found a variety of retro suitcases used as storage I thought it was extremely cleaver . They're inexpensive when bought at a local thrift store, but can also be found for sale on Etsy and Ebay. I'm thinking of doing this with LBD's toys eventually, but here are a few other ideas that caught my eye:

An craft organizer or sewing kit...

Good As New: Wine Bottles

Not that you ever *need* an excuse to drink wine, but here are a few ideas I came across for re-purposing empty wine bottles into light fixtures. Will and I use to have quite the collection of empty wine bottles laying around the house pre-LBD. Love me a glass of chilled Sancerre in the park on a warm summer day.

We don't go through wine as quickly anymore, except on those rare occations, with a little help from visiting friends (you know who you are), we're back in the empty bottle business in no time.

Click the image for the "How To"....

Good As New: Tea Dresses

Naughty Shorts dresses are one of my many inspirations behind wanting to learn how to sew. Rebecca, the fabulous designer of Naughty Shorts, upcycles vintage fabrics, bedsheets, etc. to make one-of-a-kind, custom order tea dresses.

Look at all them perrdy colors!

Good As New: Greenhouse

I've been dreaming in green all week. And those dreams have been vacationing to these re-purposed greenhouses.

It snowed here in last night. No surprise.

As I lay in bed this morning, I was thinking how lovely it would be to get up, throw on sweats and a pair comfy boots, and go play in my greenhouse. Like visiting a morning in June any day of the year. (Hmmmm.... )

Is it spring yet?

Good As New: Serving Trays

The lease on our house is up in April, so we will be moving. Again. Which means no projects for me for awhile. But even though I don't have any future home improvement tasks, I'm always on the hunt for ideas when we eventually settle down in a home. I'm hoping this will be sooner rather than later, because my binders and web bookmarks are overcrowded as is, which is why they have a new residence on this blog.

Upcycled concepts especially catch my eye, so when I saw these vintage trays used as magnet boards or wall decor I thought they would make a great first addition to my new inspiration filing cabinet.

Old Soul

I am a lover of old things.

Old houses, old movies, old clothing, old furniture, old fabric, old books, etc. When Will and I moved into our charming Park Slope apartment together we didn't have a whole lot of furniture.  So, on a warm Saturday morning  I set out with a friend to the Brooklyn Flea Market to see if there were any good finds for cheap. What did I buy instead of purchasing something useful like an end table or a lamp? A 1913 Victor Victrola in good, working condition. Way, way better than a lamp in my opinion.



I'm a believer in buying old versus buying new. And buying old to create anew. "Upcycle" is word I've incorporated into my vocabulary recently. It is defined as the process in which something old or something that would ordinarily be thrown in the trash is converted into something of  better quality and value. Essentially, giving it a second  life.