Taking Down our Christmas Decoration

Posted by on Jan 10, 2013 in Green Stuff, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments So sad, another christmas is over! Yesterday, I took everything down and stored it in our attic for our next christmas which will be in Portland!! Leaving Texas in October for good, woohoo. So I had to think what should go into the boxes and what I can donate or put on the curb. I decided that all the reds needed to go. When I was little, bright red was my favorite color (my first bike was dark...
read more

How to Make Your Own Deodorant (From “The Bust DIY Guide to Life”)

Posted by on Sep 25, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff | 2 comments After a one week vacation (we went to visit Portland!!), back and ready to roll my business again!! We went back to check out the area closely and to find the right neighborhood, in case you wondered, yes, we’ll be moving there next year. That’s the reason we went to visit again.. So we didn’t travel much this time -only one trip along Columbia River on our 4th wedding...
read more

Great New Items in My Booth This Weekend!

Posted by on Sep 12, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 1 comment I’ve been working hard to get all my items finished that I’ll be selling at the Third Monday Trade Days this month. It’s been a busy summer and I enjoyed fixing, repairing, upcycling, dumpster-diving and street-shopping a lot. My schedule has been filled with markets throughout every single weekend and restoring during the weeks. In between, I took some graphic design jobs and...
read more

Aquaponics Project in our Backyard – Fish & Veggies!

Posted by on Sep 7, 2012 in Blog, Food, Green Stuff | 1 comment It was my husband’s idea to start with aquaponics in our backyard. What a great idea!! I had no idea what it was and when he explained to me, I was hooked. We have raised vegetable beds, but with the heat, most of my plants stop growing after June, so my harvesting time is usually over by then. But with this concept, we could have fish AND veggies all year round in our backyard. This is...
read more

Upcycling an Old Teflon Pan to Clock

Posted by on Sep 2, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments I know how harmful teflon is to health, so I decided to get rid of my teflon pans as soon as I found out (better alternatives: stainless steel, cast iron). They were still good and didn’t have scratches but why wait until they’re gone bad? If you want to make some healthy lifestyle changes, I don’t think you should use up all that crap that’s sitting in your kitchen,...
read more

A Beautiful Armoire in My Repair Shop

Posted by on Aug 7, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 4 comments I was on my way to a friend’s house, I was late and out of gas. And only one block from our house, I see this armoire! Luckily, my husband was off that day, so I called him if he could go and pick it up for me. And he did!! It was in such a bad shape, drawers broken, one missing, extremely sticky and dirty and very heavy too. I don’t know how he managed to shove this thing into his...
read more

Street Shopping & Dumpster Diving

Posted by on Aug 1, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments It’s funny what kind of things find me when I go street shopping! There are days when I look up the trash days in areas and then I just drive around, on other days, I am on my way to the grocery store or my chiropractor and I pass these. Or I get calls like: hey, in my neighborhood there’s a pile of < insert item >, why don’t you come by and have a look before it’s gone....
read more

Upcycled Tables from Reclaimed Wood

Posted by on Jul 30, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 1 comment My favorite shopping mall is the street! Some women love shoes, I love weathered wood. Whenever someone is taking a fence down in the neighborhood, I am the first one to show up and pick it up. And I am their favorite street shopper. Most people are delighted because more often than not, during trash days, it doesn’t get picked up and sits on the streets for weeks. If they can, they even...
read more

Upcycling Old Bed Sheets To Curtains

Posted by on Jul 28, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments I am so glad my family is the type “hunters and collectors”! My Mom gave me all those beautiful old bed sheets from my great-grandparents, or maybe even from their parents? They are really beautiful and they were made to last because they had to be passed on to the next generation. And they do! You know how much I preach about recycling and upcycling -these are fairly new terms but...
read more

Easy Ways to Save Water

Posted by on Jul 7, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff | 0 comments The easiest way to save water is not to use any (says the person who consists of 90% water!!). Ok, there are many ways like - brush your teeth or shave without the water running - fill the washing machine and use the minimum amount of water Or, catch the rain water for watering (I have buckets to catch the water from the gutters). But be careful! Did you know that there are states in the US...
read more

Working on the Smaller Projects

Posted by on Jun 30, 2012 in Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments And then there are all the small jobs and projects I am working on but who don’t really make it on my blog… They can be time-consuming, so I thought some of them deserve to be in the spotlight of today’s post! Like this wood bowl that I upcycled into a pet bed: I found the bowl (it had a crack on the side) along the street, I guess, the people who threw it away didn’t...
read more

Shabby Chic Glider Chair in my Repair Shop!

Posted by on Jun 26, 2012 in Green Stuff, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments A couple of weeks ago, I found a glider chair for nursing moms in my mother-in-law’s neighborhood. At first, I didn’t really know what it is until I had it at home and had a closer look. It didn’t seem to be broken, just a few cosmetic things had to be done. Then I found out how EXPENSIVE they are (starting at $300)!! How can one throw something like this away?!? I am glad I...
read more

Upcycling an Old Rocking Chair to Bench

Posted by on May 1, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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...
read more

Upcycled Wine Bottles

Posted by on Apr 29, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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...
read more

A Letter From My Chiropractor

Posted by on Apr 24, 2012 in Blog, Food, Green Stuff | 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...
read more

How to Preserve Parsley

Posted by on Apr 22, 2012 in Blog, Food, Green Stuff | 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...
read more

We Don’t Need Earth Day

Posted by on Apr 18, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff | 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...
read more

My Latest Upcycled Projects

Posted by on Mar 30, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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 decor: Materials I used: - scrap wood from...
read more

How to Save Money on Art Equipment

Posted by on Mar 28, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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...
read more

About Suburbia, My Undies & Saving Money

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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...
read more

Shameless Self-Promotion: Earth Pigments Promotes MOI

Posted by on Jan 21, 2012 in Art, Green Stuff | 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...
read more

How To Stretch Artists’ Canvas

Posted by on Jul 3, 2011 in Art, Blog, Green Stuff, 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....
read more

How To Make Oil Paint From Pigments

Posted by on Apr 3, 2011 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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 in the middle 2....
read more

How & Why To Use Pigments For Any Paint Project

Posted by on Mar 28, 2011 in Art, Blog, Green Stuff, 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...
read more

How To Custom-Build Your Own Frames

Posted by on Feb 27, 2011 in Blog, Green Stuff, 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:...
read more