I’ve been humming and hawing over what to do for 2010 and I’ve decided I’m going to do a “Craft Neutral” year. What does this mean? Well in 2010 I can craft only using the supplies I already own. If I want or need to buy anything, I can only do that with the proceeds from crafty stuff I’ve managed to sell. Not only should this substantially decrease my stash but it should encourage me to pull the proverbial finger out and actually put some of my makes up for sale.

Of course this gives me a couple of months to buy in things

So – who’s with me on the 2010 Craft Neutral challenge?

Anyway, by a BIG margin the winner of the craft challenge is entry #2 from Ali at Craft Matters. As a reminder she utilised one of her Dad’s old ties to make herself a business card wallet and a needle book as a birthday present for her sister. Before:

After (needle book first, business card wallet second and third):

Congratulations Ali! Your prize will be sent off next week and I’ll email you to let you know when to expect it

So! Entry #1 is from Alex, OH of Kerry of PennyDog fame. He found old beehives by the roadside and repurposed them into a functioning beehive. Before:

And after:

Entry #2 is from Ali at Craft Matters. She utilised one of her Dad’s old ties to make herself a business card wallet and a needle book as a birthday present for her sister. Before:

After (needle book first, business card wallet second and third):

Entry #3 is from Jane, who inspired this contest in the first place! She created a shelf from an old drawer!

Entry #4 is from Cheryl who overhauled an old chair and made a cushion to go with it using her daughter’s outgrown dressing gown! Chair before and after:

Cushion before and after:

Entry #5 is from Cheryl’s seven year old daughter Sophie, who wanted to join in the challenge and made this funky rabbit by painting an old water bottle. Ingenius!

Finally, entry #6 is from me. I used an old dress of Erica’s that was frayed and damaged to make a sunhat and booties for Greer. Dress before:

And after:

Voting will remain open for one week from today and will close on Monday 15th June 2009 at 12noon. Voting is now closed, thanks for looking! See here for the result.

Leave your vote in the comments and the winner will be announced next week. Good luck everyone!

I challenge you to find an old obsolete object – whether that’s something in your home, something that you’ve found or something you can acquire by completely legal means – and turn it into something new.

Rules
1) Your starting object must not cost you any money. So no charity shopping it up. I am watching.
2) You can spend no more than GBP£10 or the equivalent (USD$15, CAD£17, AUD$20, €11) on supplies to alter your starting object
3) A flickr group has been created for this project and all completed projects must be submitted by 9pm on Friday May 29th 2009. If you would like to be invited to the flickr group, leave a comment with your email address.
4) The winner will be selected by vote which will be hosted here. Voting will open at 9.30pm on Friday May 29th 2009 and will close on Friday June 5th 2009.
5) Any soliciting of votes will mean a penalty against the entry with possible disqualification. Play nicely, please.

So far, only four people have submitted photographs and of those four only one is completed so the competition is wide open! Get making, people!

I’m having a kind of weird day, Nairn’s been unwell this morning but Bob’s off work so I’m able to relax a little. I’m using this time while Findlay & Erica watch cartoons and Nairn sleeps to try and catch up on my bloglines subscriptions because I have over 2000 unread entries to try and look at! I think maybe I need to trim my reading list a little.

Anyway! Today I happened to read the entries leading up to this entry from Jane at Out of the Crayon Box. What a transformation from a piece of furniture that was going to get sent to landfill! It made me think about how much thrifty crafting I see going on and how special it is to create something new from something old or destroyed. So here’s my idea: I challenge you to find an old obsolete object – whether that’s something in your home, something that you’ve found or something you can acquire by completely legal means – and turn it into something new.

Some rules are in order I think.
1) Your starting object must not cost you any money. So no charity shopping it up. I am watching.
2) You can spend no more than GBP£10 or the equivalent (USD$15, CAD£17, AUD$20, €11) on supplies to alter your starting object
3) A flickr group will be created for this project and all completed projects must be submitted by 9pm on Friday May 29th 2009.
4) The winner will be selected by vote which will be hosted here. Voting will open at 9.30pm on Friday May 29th 2009 and will close on Friday June 5th 2009.
5) Any soliciting of votes will mean a penalty against the entry with possible disqualification. Play nicely, please.

If you’re interested in joining in, leave a comment with the email address you’d like a flickr group invitation sent to.