recycled button coasters

Buttons are something kelly and I just seem to gather, from extras that come with new jackets/pants to random garage sale finds. We have always wanted to use them for some form of craftiness but could never quite figure it out.  Then yesterday it just hit us...how cool would it be to create a cup coaster out of old buttons woven together?

These coasters are the perfect gift for a friend's birthday, father's day (which is just around the corner) or just to add a little handmade touch to your home!  So start scouring for old buttons and get to craftin'! All the how tos after the jump...

Recycled Magnets!

Now that Earth Day and Mother's Day are just around the corner we thought we should bring you some nifty ways to use recycled goods for a crafty gift!  Besides, what is more fun then gluing stuff together?

Benny and I are reluctant to throw out anything. So when we first sat down to decide what gifts to create, we really wanted to use up some of our stock piles.  Our first thought was of our growing collection of used spray tips from our spray paints.  They have a nice multicolor quality that we love and we have a ton of them!  So after a little deliberation we settled on a gift that is simple, quick and totally customizable....RECYCLED MAGNETS!

All the how tos after the jump...

Homemade Cardstock!

Kelly and I were recently brainstorming on ways to incorporate more recycled products in the overall makeup of our line, while cutting costs everywhere we can (usually these two ideas don't go hand in hand...).  In our brainstorming process we decided to do a housewide craft supply/material inventory to see what we already had.  We ran around the house gathering anything and everything that could be used to create something, which rules out very little.  Once we gathered our overwhelming pile, we soon realized we had an ungodly amount of old paper bags from all the different sorts of shopping we do.

Looking at all these bags, we just had to figure a way to use them.  One of our biggest cost here at bennykelly is cardstock.  We use it not only for all our tags and marketing fliers, but also as stencil paper.  And as of recently we've been having difficulty finding cost effective cardstock made from 100% recycled paper.  So to end our paper woos and bring more sustainability to our line, we decided to create some HOMEMADE CARDSTOCK!!

Make your own cardstock...all the how tos after the jump!

Custom Postcards

Is there anything more exciting then getting physical mail?  We don't think so!  Benny and I are still avid users of the grand old postal service for more than just packages!  We just love send letters and postcards as a means of keeping in touch with our friends.  Why not just email you ask?  Although emailing is much more efficient, there is something about taking that extra effort to handwrite a message and pick out a postcard that makes the overall interact so much more fun (and generally more appreciated)!

We want nothing more then to spread our postal passion, so we put our crafty skills to work and created this simple tutorial on how to make your own custom postcards.  So break out the old address book that been gathering dust all these years and go buy some stamps!

All the how tos after the jump..

Candy Heart Tea Bags

Our Next Valentine's Day gift is what we personally gave out to our friends this lovely holiday, custom  heart tea bags!  They are super easy way to create a custom gift and sure to please any tea lover.  They can be made in no time, with little need in the way of supplies!

So invite your "hot momma" over for a cup of tea in this rainy weather.  We are sure they will find you irresistible!! How tos after the jump...

Craft us some love!

Valentine's Day is soon upon us and nothing tells your honey "i think your awesome!" more than a sweet handmade gift of love.  To help guide you on your crafting way, Benny and I have gathered a few v-day gift tutorials.  We will be sharing these sweet ideas with you over the next few days, so start gathering those supplies!

First off we have beaded keychains!!  This is a simple project that can give you results that will stun your love! And the best part of this whole projects is you probably have most of the supplies lying around the house.   Overall a low cost, fashionable way to show you care!



All the how tos after the jump...

trade recycled plastic for leather...

As you know we love textiles and reusing anything we can, so when a friend suggested that we try substituting leather with recycled fused plastic we were intrigued.  We then learned that this "substitution" was a textile fabric you could easily make at home and we just fell in love!!

This fabric you can create is extremely versatile, being relatively strong (dependent on the # of plastic layers you fuse) and weather resistant.  You can take a sewing machine to it with no problem and we have even been contemplating making a full blow rain coat!  So in the true spirit of how we learned, here are the how tos to make this fantastically versatile homemade fabric...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="483" caption="here is a sweet 100% recycled envelope we created with this lovely fabric!"][/caption]

tutorial after the jump...

back to work...custom color shoes!

We are finally back from our very extended holiday break and glad of it!!  The parties are over and our 9-5's have finally slowed enough to let us breath, so we bring you some home craftin'.

Custom Color Shoes!

We always have the hardest time finding a sweet pair of plain tennis shoes in that exact shade desired. The problem is we absolutely  hate being limited to black, white or brown shoes and are limited in the funds to buy all the amazing shoes we see.  So we came up with a simple solution that involves some cheap shoes and dye and tada...custom color shoes!

Reusable garment stencils!

So the freezer paper has been fun and all, but what happens when you don't want to re-cut your stencil every few sprays/iron on appliqués?  Or what happens when you want to use a previously cut stencil?  Well we came across this amazingly helpful hint for sticking your stencil to your fabric while trying to figure out a way to silkscreen a huge stencil without a big enough screen frame.  The best part is how easiest it is!

So there is not really a process to this just a few things to gather--acetate paper/mylar (or really any type of thin flexible fabric/plastic whatever your comfortable cutting into), a blank garment, spray paint and the secret ingredient, quilt basting spray!!  Quilt basting spray can be found at any fabric store and is relatively inexpensive.  There is no name brand to look for.  I usually just go for the cheapest in the store.  The spray is temporary, either washing away in water or, as the bottles says, "the adhesive properties will diminish or be completely removed after several weeks".

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="160" caption="the spray we currently use..."][/caption]

Just use the mylar to create the stencil, adhere  and let the paint spray!!

Helpful hints: First and foremost a little bit goes a long way with this stuff.  If you use too much and you don't wash it off the fabric before putting it through a sewing machine it might muck up the needle.  Finally, if you let the stencil sit for a moment to let the adhesive get tacky it will stick all the better.
Enjoy!
here is the life size stencil that inspired this trick...

An oldie but oh so goodie...garment friendly stencils!

So here is another great use for freezer paper, garment friendly stencils. This is a stenciler's dream if you like to spray paint fabric as much as we do! The stencil stays in place and just peels off after giving you NO OVER SPRAY! yay!

Step 1: gather supplies
This project is pretty simple the only necessities are an inkjet printer, xacto, freezer paper, iron and spray paint. This will also work with a blank silkscreen and fabric ink or straight fabric paint, instead of spray paint. Whatever your heart desires...
Show us your stenciled garments!! send us pictures of your latest stencils on your favorite clothes and we'll post you!

more steps after the jump...

Freezer Paper Fun!

We know we have gotten away from doing crafty tutorials since we lost our old blog with the shutting down of uber and we are just as bummed as you!  So to make amends we are bringing back the old and creating some new, starting with freezer paper fun!

This is one of the coolest helpful hints we have ever stumbled across, using any ordinary inkjet printer to print directly on fabric!  We have used it to create awesome fabric designs as well as washing labels/tags for some of my sample fashion designs. It sounds a bit too awesome to be true, but for how easy a process this is, you are going to printing custom fabric in no time! Send us examples of your fabric designs and we'll post them!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="this is a sweet print hanging on our fridge!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="120" caption="we have used this technique to create garment tags!!"][/caption]

How to after the jump....