Earth Day Design Challenge Entries

The theme for the latest WEST Design Challenge was Earth Day. WESTies were encouraged to design or curate something  focused on re-using, recycling, up-cycling and reducing our impact. 

Here are all of this month's entries, in order of submission. There is a poll at the end of this post. VOTE for your favourite submission! The poll will be open for one week, and the winner will receive a special spot of recognition on the blog until the next design challenge!

Dayle from vbling says: "I [was] very excited about this design challenge and got to work right away with something I've been wanting to make for ages." Her lovely necklace is already sold!

Turquoise Butterfly Necklace by vbling

Krista from KristasJewellery says: "I bought a pair of earrings a while ago and never ever wore them or knew what to do with them so I took the aluminum charm off of one of them and made it the focal point of this necklace. I used three Picasso jasper stones as they are an earthy green and felt that they went well with the classic black and white of the pendant."

Pendant Necklace by KristasJewellery

Laura from PrairiePeasant says: "These miniature book necklaces are made from recycled leather, vintage buttons and offcuts of paper from larger projects. I have been wanting to work more with leather and these little mini books are the perfect project to start off with. All the leather I have is either scraps salvaged from various sources or garments that friends have given me, knowing that I might be able to use the leather in some way."

Leather Miniature Book Necklace by PrairiePeasant

Lisa from BitchinKitsch'n'Kitchen says: "This Earth Day, celebrate by whipping up a nice, fresh batch of home-squeezed juice! Perfect for oranges, lemons, limes, or tomatoes! This fantastic juice press has survived since the 1930s, and has many more years of life in it."

WearEver Aluminum Juicer from BitchinKitsch'n'Kitchen

Andrea from WeAreBoundTogether says: "The wood that covers the book are from salvaged scraps and leftover oak wood. Wood is sanded smooth and lightly finished with non-toxic danish oil which retains the natural colour of the wood. The script has been hand burned with a pyrography pen. Working with wood has been a rewarding experience, I love the earthiness and feel of wood and that these pieces are no longer in the back of a scrap pile."

Oak Book Pyrography by WeAreBoundTogether

Vote for your favourite design challenge entry on the poll below. Only one vote is allowed, so be sure to choose your fave!

The poll will close in one week on Sunday, April 20, at midnight, and the result will be posted on Earth Day. The talented winner will receive a spot of recognition on the WEST blog until the next design challenge. 

Gift Wrap Alternatives

Our very own Kat of aeliosdesign on CTV this morning 

talking about gift wrap alternatives

In North America we spend billions per year on commercial gift wrap. If you are looking for some other ways to wrap gifts here are a few ideas:

• Use other kinds of paper like newspaper, old sheet music, old maps, paper lunch bags, and old book pages. Add a potato print pattern, doodles, washi tape or stickers for more flair.
• Reusable metal tins or wooden boxes, like vintage cookie tins or cigar boxes (search Etsy using our team tag "winnipegteam" to find local sellers)
• Reusable cloth bags with drawstrings - make your own or check out local WESTie Sew Dandee's shop on Osborne for some locally made ones
• Make paper boxes from old Christmas cards. Check this link for a how-to http://www.pedagonet.com/fun/minibox.htm
• Make pillow boxes from toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes http://www.createcraftlove.com/2012/12/toilet-paper-roll-pillow-boxes.html
• Furoshiki or bandana to wrap the gift--here are some instructions: http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/thats-a-wrap.html
• Decoupage boxes with old gift wrap so you can use the boxes over and over again 
• Make your own gift bags from recycled materials, magazine covers, old maps or atlas pages, brown paper bags etc.
• Use a stocking to pack up all the small gifts like make up, jewellery,  watches, etc.
• You can find the small paper boxes from the segment here:  http://www.linesacross.com/2012/05/paper-pyramid-gift-boxes.html

WEST Summer Promotion: Periwinkle Dzyns

Let me introduce you to the next participant in our WEST Summer Promotion Series - Periwinkle Dzyns

Periwinkle Dzyns specializes in: Geek nerd recycled computer components handmade recycled upcycled eco friendly jewelry which is made from resistors, capacitors, diodes, oscillators, MOV's, transistors and more.....making them Future Friendly Accessories.

From the Periwinkle Dzyns profile:
I take inspiration from the shapes of my latest recycle finds, materials needing a new use and traditional jewellery design.

I used to work in a large electronics manufacturing plant...and that led me to my love of upcycling factory discards into wearable pieces of jewellery. I am pleased that the factory continues to set aside their discards for me!

I love to try new jewellery techniques and my mind is often consumed with finding supplies and executing a new design. I participate on several beading forums and enjoy helping out people new to the hobby.

Proud member and team captain for the Winnipeg Etsy Street Team

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Check out this recycled goody:

I always sell out of these at craft sales, they are one of my most popular designs and I can see why, geek sleek at it's finest!

Factory discarded lock washers, dangle 1.5" (3.8 cm) from your piercing, 3 lock washers interwoven with 2 jump rings.

Light and fun but green too!

You will know how you are saving the environment, one piece of recycled industrial left overs at a time!

Feel good and be green by wearing these earrings made from pre-consumer waste!

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If you would like to keep up with Ruth from Periwinkle Dzyns check out the following links
Periwinkle Dzyns on Etsy
Periwinkle Dzyns Blog
Periwinkle Dzyns Group on Facebook

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And if you'd like a chance to win the item featured above along with 15 other fabulous WEST creations, please visit this treasury link and leave a thoughtful comment on the treasury page.  Simple!


*** Only comments on the treasury itself count for entry into the giveaway.  But you're more than welcome to introduce yourself, ask questions or talk geek with Ruth in the comments below****

Treasury: Earth Mama

I created a treasury on Etsy today entitled: Earth Mama

Mother's have a wish to leave a beautiful, sustainable, healthy earth behind for their children and grandchildren after them to enjoy. Here are some eco-friendly and mother nature celebrating products for mamas to ensure their wish is granted. (All products are handmade by the wonderul and talented team W.E.S.T).

In celebration of both Earth Day (April 22nd) and Mother's Day (May 8th).

I chose my favourite items in orange, brown, and red for this particular treasury. Very earthy don't you think?



Click the photo or click here to view this treasury.

For Ruth

Ruth is the WEST Team's fearless leader. She likes to reuse bits of what many would consider junk, or even trash, to make new things, in particular jewelry. This is for her:

Several weeks ago I started to watch a show called "The Lazy Environmentalist" and I was enjoying watching the host find easy ways for many people to be a bit more enviromentally friendly in their day to day lives (to be honest I was kind revelling in it, going yeah you suck, I recycle, I walk to work etc..) then they did a show about jewelry and I was oh! This was followed a few week later "Eco-trip" doing an episode on gold mining - I was oh yeah you really need to get on this!

Since I have been searching for more enviromental friendly options for my modern jewelry designs. I have found out my silver is ethically mined (good) & I am slowly switching to vintage beads, tagua nut beads, and recycled paper beads. In my search for inspiration I found on Treehugger a post about a jewelry label called Spacefruit by Becky Crawford.

She makes jewellery from plastic bottles she finds "on the beaches as well as from a recycling center where they'd otherwise be turned into things like carpets! Each shape is cut out individually by hand so no two necklaces turn out the same, so colours will vary! Almost every colour combination is possible but please be aware that purple is very rare!"

medium disc plastic necklace & bracelet

cluster petals brooch & earrings

very wiggly necklace

So I was inspired! I have been collecting out of my recycling the plastic lids from different containers.  Cutting them into organicly shaped cirlces (I did ponder getting a circle punch but thought that  it defeated the purpose and was a bit boring) .  I have only finished one pair of earrings so far but I think I may keep it  up as it was fun cutting up the lids (I have saved all the scraps to use maybe to use in a clearplastic ring made of biobased epoxy resin with plastic sprinkles???)

 Vox earring with yellow plastic discs on Argenitum Sterling Silver - coming soon