Upcycling an Old Rocking Chair to Bench

Posted by on May 1, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 5 comments A while ago, I found this broken rocking chair at the curb and I knew it had potential. It’s been sitting in the garage for way too long and it was totally in my way so I decided to throw it away -tomorrow or so. And when I made that decision, I finally came up with the idea of turning it into a bench. I didn’t really have a plan, I rather went from one step to the next, hoping to...
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Upcycled Wine Bottles

Posted by on Apr 29, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 5 comments Today, I made something out of old wine bottles. Maybe someone else came up with this idea before me, but I think it’s a great and unique one. Earlier, I turned empty beer bottles (Shiner beer, yum!) into hanging vases -and someone came up with this before me, too, as I found out later! So here’s what I did… Recycle wine first (that’s the best part), then use the bottles...
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A Letter From My Chiropractor

Posted by on Apr 24, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Food, Ideas & Inspiration | 3 comments As I walked into my chiropractor’s office yesterday, I found this letter on all the chairs in the waiting (actually it’s the exercise) room. And if you have read my mission or know a little more about me, you know that his letter speaks to my heart! I asked him if I could quote him. It’s passionate, honest and straightforward. We need more people like Dr. Rick and I know there...
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How to Preserve Parsley

Posted by on Apr 22, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Food | 8 comments My herb garden is exploding! Help! Three years ago, my hubby and I built 3 vegetable beds -in fact he was, I was just watching. I decided to use one just for herbs. I got oregano, thyme, chives, parsley, mint, lavender, cilantro, chamomile, sage, rosemary, dill and onions & garlic (to keep mice and vampires away). It really has established itself very well but it’s getting a little too...
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We Don’t Need Earth Day

Posted by on Apr 18, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green | 1 comment Earth day is coming up this weekend and I actually couldn’t care less about it. Do we really need a theme or a specific day to celebrate earth? Common sense please! While on the one hand, it’s nice to raise some awareness to stop malicious destruction of our planet. Because it seems like the majority hasn’t heard how we (the ones on top of the food chain) kill our own and only...
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My Latest Upcycled Projects

Posted by on Mar 30, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 3 comments The last couple of days have been filled with picking up scrap wood at construction sites, building stuff, painting and getting ready for my next shows. I am so excited about all the cute stuff I made and that will (hopefully) find a new home this weekend. Here’s a slide show of some of the things I made this week from scrap to upcycled home...
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How to Save Money on Art Equipment

Posted by on Mar 28, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Some of you know that all my artwork is painted on all kinds of recycled materials and I am proving that it is not necessary to buy all this expensive equipment to make high quality art. Who says that you have to use artist linen from the art store? Who says that frames have to be built professionally and how does that look like? I paint with oil and I paint on anything I find. All I need to know...
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About Suburbia, My Undies & Saving Money

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Living & Design | 11 comments It’s this season again and my laundry can’t wait to smell the fresh spring air! If there’s one thing I really like about Texas, then it’s the short winters and the free clothes’ dryer. Even though we live in suburbia (which I can’t stand, I think I’ve said it before?! Counting the days to leave…) and there’s a homeowners’ association...
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Can I Call A Blog Post “Miscellaneous”?

Posted by on Feb 27, 2012 in Art, Art Marketing, Blog, Everything Green, Food, Ideas & Inspiration, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 1 comment It’s my blog, I can call it whatever I like! This is a little visual review of random things I did, that kept me busy in the last couple of weeks, days… Here’s a sneak-peak into the life of Franziska! Enjoy Can you change the color of your leather boots? Hell yes you can! Will they last? I don’t know but I painted my boots from purple to brown to glossy black: I made...
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Shameless Self-Promotion: Earth Pigments Promotes MOI

Posted by on Jan 21, 2012 in Art, Everything Green | 5 comments So did I mention that my artwork was promoted just recently by Earth Pigments? You all know that I am a natural tree-hugger and I do all I can to use products that are safe and environmentally friendly. Yes, this is my philosophy: be gentle with our home. As long as we have lungs, this is the only place we have. Many may not be aware of that but it’s the truth. I said it before: I...
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How To Stretch Artists’ Canvas

Posted by on Jul 3, 2011 in Art, Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 4 comments Before you start stretching canvas on a frame, you have to have a frame of course! Here’s a link to how I build my own frames. I usually use recycled wood from construction sites or other places (wherever I find leftovers..). The fabric I use is also recycled, any fabric I can find. The art supply industry makes us believe that only their expensive canvas should be used for oil paintings....
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How To Make Oil Paint From Pigments

Posted by on Apr 3, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments I use natural pigments from EarthPigments. Their variety is really nice and all pigments are non-toxic. On their website, they offer a lot of recipes for making artists’ paint, colored cement and any other paint for your home projects. For making oil paint you’ll need: 1. linseed oil 2. pigments 1. To start with, use very little of the pigment powder and make a well...
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How & Why To Use Pigments For Any Paint Project

Posted by on Mar 28, 2011 in Art, Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Today, I did my oil paint inventory and decided to order my color online. While I always love to support my local art store here in the Dallas area, I decided to study a little more about pigments which my store does not carry. You don’t have to be an artist to use paint, every one of us has used paint for inside and out house projects, walls, furniture, etc. But do you know the...
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How To Custom-Build Your Own Frames

Posted by on Feb 27, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Have you ever thought of building your own frames and stretch your own canvas? There are several reasons why I think custom-build frames are better and more convenient than the store-bought ones (or if you have someone who builds them for you even better!). Here is why: - you can decide the size of the frame, large/small/very large - you can build frames that you won’t get at the store:...
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How To Custom-Make Free Office Organizers

Posted by on Jan 4, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Every time I wanted to get my office organized, I stopped half-way because I did not have the right tools and equipment to finish the job properly. So I had an excuse to drop the work and headed to my favorite store: The Container Store! I can easily spend 2-3 hours in there without actually deciding what I want, I love all their ideas. Then I decided to visit IKEA, another favorite store where I...
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Recycable And Creative Gift-Wrapping

Posted by on Dec 17, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Don’t throw it away, use it to wrap gifts! Every time I walk up to the trash can with something to throw away, I double check first if I am be able to reuse it in some way. And yes, most of the paper gets recycled in our household. But besides old paper here’s a list of items you can use to wrap your gifts: - the easiest way is to reuse old wrapping paper from last year, just make...
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5 Ways To Save Money

Posted by on Nov 22, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 0 comments While there are a lot of options how to save money (like air-drying laundry -saves you $40/month- or get a water filter system..), I wanted to list a few things that you probably haven’t thought of: Don’t speed, always drive the exact speed limit. That will save you quite a few bucks over the months, those 5 miles more might not seem much but they actually make a difference. It...
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Which Water Filter System Is The Best?

Posted by on Nov 9, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 0 comments Why should you have a water filter system? a lot cheaper than bottled water reduces plastic in landfills reduces use of gas for transportation safer than bottled water more convenient Bottled Vs. Filtered: water takes on traces of pthylate (plastic) through bottle (check for BPA -bisphenol exposure from polycarbonate bottles, imprinted numbers 1, 2 and 4 are safer, BPA-free even...
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Are You A Pre-Cycler? ♻

Posted by on Nov 6, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 14 comments What does precycling mean? “Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing into the home or business items which will generate waste”. Recycling is good, pre-cycling is better, you can prevent trash and therefore prevent higher landfills. Recycling still uses a lot of energy to re-manufacture stuff. Here is a list of how to pre-cycle ♻ Always bring...
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Is Dental Amalgam Safe?

Posted by on Nov 1, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 2 comments Amalgam is a mixture of mercury, silver, tin, silver and zinc and it is used for dental fillings. There is a vivid discussion of all kinds of health professionals whether amalgam is safe or not. Let´s have a look at the most common statements from doctors, health organizations and officials. Safe: Amalgam is durable and the least expensive material to a fill cavity Mercury is the only element...
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How To Save $100 On Your Water Bill

Posted by on Oct 24, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 36 comments How much water and money are you wasting every time you use the toilet flush? Toilets manufactured before 1994 are at 3.5 gallons and newer ones at 1.6 gallons per flush. That means with a family of 4 you are flushing between 9,000 and 15,000 gallons of water down the drain per year. With a dual flush button, you can save thousands of gallons of water and between $100 and $200 per year. Over the...
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