ReUpCyCleVintage

Super busy Recycling for Fall & Winter

2010-11-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

Been super busy with fall projects, and finally have most of them posted to Etsy, here are a few on DoyouEtsy.com
http://www.doyouetsy.com/photo/albums/falls-handmade-creations

Featured Giveaway Winner Celebrate Recovery

2010-04-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Celebrate Recovery!

Heather won our blog giveaway and has a custom recycled zipper ring on the way to her:o)
She has a great Etsy shop where she donates %100 percent of her proceeds to charities.

Lets show her Etsy shop and Facebook page some love and get o know her a little better. Here is our interview with this lovely lady. I think I'm a bit partial, as her answers are very similar to what my own would be:o)

What is your shop name?
Our shop name is Celebrate Recovery, & the company name is Brianne's Basics

What do you sell?
We sell handmade jewelry & gifts, plus craft supplies

Where can we find you?
http://www.facebook.com/l/3651b;celebraterecovery.etsy.com or http://www.facebook.com/l/3651b;heathernelson.webs.com

Twitter? @briannesbasics

Facebook? http://www.facebook.com/l/3651b;bit.ly/BBFacebook

Blog? http://www.facebook.com/l/3651b;briannesbasics.wordpress.com

Do you have more than one business? nope

What got you started?
My love of handmade items & crafts, plus my passion for volunteering, encouraged me to combine the two. Now I get to share my crafts with everyone, AND raise money for local charities and events

What is your inspiration?
My kids. They inspire my creativity and my need to be a better person and help create a better world.

What types of charities/events do you give donations to? In 2010 alone we've donated to Broken Loaf Food Pantry, Camp Ronald McDonald, Friends Like Us, LB Depot For Creative Reuse, Love In The Mirror, Operation Easter Basket, and Ronald McDonald House. In the next few months we're participating in CHOC Walk In The Park (Children's Hospital of Orange County), Ride For Kids (Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation), Rip's Bad Ride (American Diabetes Association), and Relay For Life (American Cancer Society), plus donating to organizations.

What do you do in your off time?
Relax! I spend time with my three kids and my husband, go to Disneyland, craft, watch movies, craft LOL

Do you have any hobbies?
All crafts! Knit, crochet, jewelry, scrapbooks, etc.

What do you value most?
My family. They've given me strength and support, and I try to do the same.

What is something that most people probably don't know about you?
Hmm. Probably that I've been volunteering since I was 8 years old, and that I've been running my own "business" for about 19 years now.

What keeps you going when things are tough?
My kids and my husband. They listen, never disregard my feelings, and always give me hope for the future.

Any advice for other shop owners?
Get out there! Make friends, talk to people, get a website up and running. Live by the Golden Rule. Always remember that at some point you're the customer too.

What has worked well for you?
Craft fairs and events. I love being out there, talking to others, and selling my items.

Anything else you would like the readers to know?
I'm very grateful to anyone who has ever purchased from my store, spread the word, or even just looked at my shop. I feel very blessed that I've been given the opportunity to combine my loves and help others. And always remember, every day is the first day of the rest of your life. Every day is an opportunity to make someone's life a little bit better.

We had some other awesome friends post comments and their shop links as well, lets spread more love for these talented ladies as well!

http://pettibear.etsy.com Favorite item http://goo.gl/z9kJ

http://craftomaniatools.blogspot.com (this is my fav toolbar for anyone who owns a Etsy shop or crafting business!!)

http://tractorgirl.etsy.com http://www.etsy.com/listing/44209454/pillowcushion---byzantine-medallion

http://teenhoffen.etsy.com http://bit.ly/bCKH2m

GIVEAWAY PROMOTION

2010-04-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Time for our first Giveaway.... I'm thinking let's make it a Win-Win for everyone and do some group promotion. So here's how to enter and give shop "shout out's" to all!!!!

1. Follow this Blog and/or follow us on Twitter (ReUpcycle) or Facebook

2. Leave a COMMENT to let me know and best of all.. Promote Yourself!!
If you have a shop, post a link to One of your Favorite Items for everyone to see!

(If you don't have a shop, just let me know how to contact you of you if you've won)

That's pretty simple right?? This should be a great promotion for all involved.

I will put all the names/shops in a hat and randomly choose (actually I'll probably let one of my children pick a name out of the hat) Heck, I may even post a video to the drawing:)

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

1. A One Of A Kind Swirl Zipper Ring Handmade with Love by Me:o) Like the ones below- (all vintage recycled zippers on silver adjustable rings)

PLUS: If the winner owns a shop, I will Feature your shop on my Blog/Twitter/Facebook and scream about it!

Giveaway runs for 2 Weeks from today Ends April 23rd. You can Enter every day if you'd like, the more chances you'll have to have your name drawn

Ready.......Set........Go!!!!!

Craftomania Love

2010-04-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous week of Etsy Treasuries for our shops:o) I am really enjoying Craftomania Toolbar and all the links and info it provides. A couple nights ago I sat down and used the poster sketch tool for the first time. Of course I picked several of my Craftomania pals and VintageEtsySociety for a nice mix of great creations. I was so honored to wake up the next morning and see our other shop Lil' Ashley's Closet in 2 treasuries from a couple of the exact same Craftomania team members I had just put on my poster sketch the night before.KathyCoJewellery & IraRott:o) All this love as Sabbio's treasury that featured ReUpcycleVintage was still running too! I seriously have Craftomania love for you all!

Even though I've been selling online for years, I am just learning about the networking and how great it is to meet other artesians (did I spell that right?) and admire their work. I have fallen in love with Etsy and I should have been doing this years ago!!

A few days ago I got started on the Craftomania.ning.com network and wrote my first blog post on there, so I'm realizing how many different sites I've hooked up with in the past several weeks since installing the Craftomania toolbar. I've got to start keeping my blog up to date, but I'm pretty sure I should gain more followers. So I'm going to make it my mission in the next couple weeks to promote more time to my blog and post interesting informative stuff:o) Starting................NOW...............I'm about to post a Giveaway, I love those! Now it's my turn:o)

New Fabulous Vintage soon to be Lisited

2010-03-25T13:28:00.001-07:00

100_9979
Originally uploaded by ReUpCycle Vintage

We had fun with a photo shoot yesterday, and I actually got to be on the fun side of the camera, I just Love playing Dress-up! We've got some super cool stuff to put in the shop...now...if time will just permit, I really wish there were more hours in a day!

Most of these aren't listed yet, but are soon to be, and I threw a couple of my favorites in there because they're just so fun!

They're here on Flicker

Do you Etsy? http://doyouetsy.com

2010-03-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

We were just featured on doyouetsy.com along with some other great sellers! It is a great network for Etsy workman crafters!:o) There are some really cool people on this site that have some beautiful work.

Craftomania Rocks!

2010-03-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

So I've been using the Craftomania toolbar for a little while now, and they have these great links for sellers on Etsy. One (of many) is http://tools4etsy.com. They are great! They do advertising for your Etsy shop free and they have other cool tools as well like the new TagWars and a neat screensaver of Etsy Favs.

I was tickled to have my morning cup of coffee and see that ReUpCycle Vintage is on the front page of Tools for Etsy! What a great way to start a morning. I would have never found them if it weren't for the AWESOME links at http://craftomaniatools.blogspot.com. For Etsy sellers this is a Must HAve. It has been crucial in helping me learn about new tools and stay involved more. They also have some great founders with a lot of talent! StoryBeader did a great interview on Craftomania creators here :

http://www.storybeader.com/2010/03/internet-artisan-interview-craftomania.html

It's a great look at the wonderful minds and talent that created this site.

Thank you Craftomania creators and Tools4Etsy!!!

Romancing the zipper again tee-hee

2010-03-09T19:52:00.001-08:00

Two more Zipper Rings just finished,these are so much fun to do.

The Zipper Rings

2010-02-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

These are some of my fav things to make. Why?? You ask. Because they can be taken anywhere to work on, if I'm taking a rare moment to watch a movie, that's an hour and a half I can be multi-tasking with these! To top it off, they are super unique. They are salvaged zippers from vintage items, and I especially love the metal toothed ones:o) If they are next to white on a pretty band the teeth almost look like rhinestones! I'm twisting and sewing each curve and swirl they take on their own individual character which makes each one one-of-a-kind.

A Little Touch of Handiwork

2010-02-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is just a bit of the jewelry I made for my bridesmaids. I will carry the clay flower jewelry in our store as soon as I get more made. The twins and I made every piece for our bridesmaids jewelry petal by petal in all original designs. If you see something in particular you like or would like to see, send me an e-mail

How the love of vintage came to be

2010-02-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Christian Dior did me in, I was hooked. Growing up in a household of 9, we loved estate and garage sales from an early age . While out bee-bopping in my teen years one day I came across an estate sale and something jumped out at me and I HAD TO HAVE IT! At the time, I had no idea what I was looking at except that it was fabulous and was screaming my name! The woman who owned it said it was "vintage" and said I could have it for $15. I also bought a great pair of heels and a few purses, but the main piece that hooked me was the suit.

Get this...It was a Christian Dior 1940's wool suit with shirred chiffon lapel, fitted waist (24") with a little kick at the hip on the blazer. The skirt was straight pencil with a kick-pleat back in a neutral tan color. It fit perfect and was in MINT condition. It wasn't until years later after a house flood I realized how precious that suit was to me. To cry over clothes may seem strange to some, but to see the flood had ruined my fabulous first suit I had ever bought, my prized vintage collection piece was heartbreaking.

Now I can't help but search high and low for more fabulous finds hoping one will dull the pinch in my heart from that one. I've got a few, but none will ever be like my first Christian Dior suit!

ReUpCycleVintage's First Blog Post

2010-02-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I suppose I should tell you how I came up with the name ReUpCyCleVintage...... It's a blend of Recycle, Upcycle and Vintage. Which basically means you can find all things n our site:o)

We have a mix of unique vintage items, handmade jewelry made from new and recycled materials and my fav custom items upcycled from old clothes. I absolutely love taking something that others would discard and turn it into something One Of A Kind and super fabulous!

You will hear me talk now and then about I, we or our, that's because my daughters are a big help on ideas and love to learn new techniques. In fact my youngest daughter Ashley loves to sit on my lap when I'm sewing and bead with me. Our oldest daughter will be helping keep up with this blog as she is learning about the business aspect of loving vintage and remaking things too!

So that's about it, we've got lots to add, stories to tell and pics to post, expect more in the near future.