Project Purge 2009

We are just 27 days into the new year and already my family has surpassed our Project Purge 2009 goal. We decided on 365 items, figuring 1 item per day for the year was a good number. As of last weekend, we hit 396 items!!! Following is the list of items that made their way to someone else's home:

Qty		Description
21		Movies
5		Movies
2		Laptop Chargers
2		telephone cords
1		4 port USB adapter
1		Motorolla headset (stereo)
1		Zippo Lighter
1		Pink Nintendo headphones
1		Este Lauder Romance
1		Victoria Secret Golden Dreams Lotion
1		Victoria Secret Body Spray
3		Make up bags
1		Exfoliating brush
1		hair clip
1		strand of chunky beads
1		makeup mirror
2		perfumes
2		lotions
2		sheets of stickers
3		Barbie dolls
17		Barbie Accessories
3		Barbie dolls
17		Barbie Accessories
1		Pirate costume
2		small wind chimes
1		large wind chime
6		lace doilies
31		gel pens
20		Sharpies
6		Packages of "eyes"
4		Packages of "noses"
33		gel pens
1		Halloween Flashlight
30		Foam Circles
1		Teen Mug
2		Zenith Remotes
1		Wok
4		scrapart
2		photo albums
1		empty container
1		frog stamp
1		mini box of beads
1		box with clipart
1		stapler
1		bunny statue
12		marbles
1		magazine
2		glue sticks
2		brushes
3		pens
2		pencils
30		Foam Circles
6		place mats
6		cloth napkins
1		table cloth
1		set of henna stencils
1		Remo drum head
1		key lock security chain
12		6x6x8 boxes
1		plaque board
2		Craft books for kids
1		grapevine potted plant holder
1		package of beads
1		stack of cardstock
1		box of paper
1		coloring book
1		notebook
13		candle holders
22		Women's Clothing Items
5		prs of pj pants
1		bag of cat food
1		stick of 256mg DDR ram
3		baggies full of plastic beads
16		Sheets/Pillowcases
3		Purple window curtains with pockets
1		Nice frame
1		Dragon/wizard print

Upcycled Photo Tutorial

What do you do with the boxes of pictures nobody wants? Not the family heirlooms but the more recent pictures with funny faces or blurry shots. I found a large bunch of these in the trash recently and wanted to find a use for them. After searching the internet for ideas, I came up nearly empty handed. I say nearly because a friend directed me to a site. This person modified her pictures but kept some of the background. For my images I did not want to see the background so I made up the rules as I went along.

This is my first tutorial so bear with me.



Start with a picture you want to modify, a tray of water, and a piece of sandpaper.



Leave the picture in water for just about one minute. This softens up the inks.



Use the sandpaper to roughen up the photo. In this example, I sanded quite a bit leaving just the underlayer of colors. I have also done some where I left some of the picture visible.



Wipe off the goo left from the removed colors. You may want to dip it back in the water to clear it off a bit so you can see if you want to sand it again.



Gather your supplies for decorating the picture. Bleach is nice for bleaching out bits. What I forgot to photograph was the automatic lead pencil that I used for doodling on the picture. It is one of those with the metal tip. I used it without lead so I was actually scraping off the paint. Alternatively you can scratch into the picture itself.




Spread on the first layer of paint. I ended up wiping off much of the black for the finished example.



Layer the second layer of paint. I chose a dark red color.



Blot away the excess paint. I don't use paper towels so I blotted with an old flannel rag.



Get creative! You can add as much or as little detail as you like.



Another example. This one has "love" etched into the back. I left this one in more of a rough state.

Filtered

COFFEE FILTERS

Coffee filters...who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing.

1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2 Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China . Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters. Not sure how this works!!

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

Uses for Old Photographs?

I freecycled out a few photo albums that I found in the trash. I took out about 75 4 x 6 pictures. These are of people I do not know so keeping them is not my concern. I just have a hard time tossing this much potential crafting material.

I'm scouring the web right now looking for a creative use for old photographs. If you know of anything, please comment!

Crafty Days Ahead

I am determined to have a craft filled weekend. There are many things that I would like to try to make. If it works out, I'd like to have a give away here on my blog. However, I don't even know if people here would be interested. I am not sure I even have regular readers. That being said, please let me know if a crafty giveaway would interest you!

2008 Wrap Up & 2009 Challenge

We managed to get rid of over 4,500 things in our 2008 "55 Week Fling"! I was so proud of our efforts. When we started on December 1, 2007, I thought getting rid of 208 things would be difficult. We just kept going and going. It was amazing to see. Even when I thought there was nothing left to get rid of, I would open a drawer or get a box out and see even more things I did not need.

When we took out the tree and decorations, I ended up getting rid of tons of stuff. We had enough extra stuff to do a second tree easily. Of course, I kept enough ornaments and lights for a six foot tree even though we currently have a four foot one. I figure it is better to keep enough than to have to go out and spend money (gasp!) on more stuff!

This brings me to the 2009 Challenge. This year I encourage all of you to join in on Project Purge! Consider getting rid of just one item per day. that is 365 items in a year! My family is donating most items to our local FreeCycle group. This year, as with last year, we are not counting items thrown away.

If you chose to follow along on Project Purge, let me know. I'd love to cheer you on!