Crocheted necklace bracelet giveaway from TomBjornDesigns

This year's Earth day comes closer and we decided to contribute to it by having this earth-friendly giveaway from TomBjornDesigns.

This versatile piece of jewelry is made of upcycled beads taken from several old broken and forgotten necklaces and bracelets. Ira can never resist giving old items a new life, and tries to upcycle old jewelry as often as she can.

Ira hopes the person who wins will love this summer bright and earth friendly piece and enjoy wearing it!

As all of TomBjornDesigns' necklaces, you can wear this item as a bracelet, belt, or a thousand different necklaces.

Go to see her shop to get inspired!

Here's how you enter for a chance to win this:

- Visit the TomBjornDesigns shop, take a look around and leave us a comment of what your favorite item is (1 entry per comment)
- Follow our blog - 1 entry
- Subscribe to our blog via RSS - 1 entry
- Grab our button and place it on your blog - 2 entries
- Blog about this giveaway - 2 entries
- Tweet about this giveaway - 1 entry
- Leave a link to this giveaway on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow Tombjorndesigns on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow TomBjornDesigns blog - 1 entry

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that we can contact you!

The more entries you submit the more chances of winning!

A winner will be chosen by Ira using random.org on April 22th and we will announce the winner on our blog.

Interview with a Star, Albina from GoodWeather

Recycling is a great way to give a new life to the things people don't want anymore. Albina from GoodWeather shop on Etsy is sharing her own vision of this with us.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

I think the ideas of recycling are in my blood. My father is good at inventing things that are practical. He made a wash stand for their garden out of 2-liter plastic soda bottles. He also made a sauna oven out of metal barrel and built a green house out of old window frames.

I use “soft” materials for my crafts such as old sweaters. I know that unwanted sweaters can have several new lives.

Some of the things you can do with sweaters is unravel them to get some yarn for your new projects and make something from it like this handbag:

Also I often felt sweaters and make lots of cool stuff out of sweater! I love to make gadgets like this smiling cat iPhone sleeve:

Since I love to make jewelry I also use felt in it!

Do you use only recycled materials to create your beautiful items?

I use both used and new materials to make my products. Things like my cup cozies or knitted iPone sleeves are made from new materials only.

Do you take custom orders?

I love custom orders! Once, I had an order for 9 owls. I made all of them look a little different and I enjoyed making them. 

What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?

I appreciate all the feedback I get from my customers, even if it is short and simple like “Thank you”. One I really like that I got for this brooch, "I love this so much! I attached it to my sweater coat and I have gotten tons of compliments on it already! Thank you so much for such fast shipping! You rock!"

Recycled coasters DIY

Coasters are a great way to protect your furniture from scratches or those ugly water rings made by drink glasses and coffee mugs. Use leftover materials you used for some other projects and you will make one more step to saving the planet!

These double sided coasters were made by Albina (GoodWeather) from an old sweater which was previously washed and felted. The main part of sweater was used to make the protective covers for electronic gadgets and the rest of it got a new purpose now!

To make coasters like these you will need:

- Felted pieces not smaller than 5" across
- Scissors
- Sewing machine with thread
- Steam iron

1. Cut out circles with your scissors, 4" in diameter. Make twice more circles than coasters needed (i.e. for 6 coasters cut out 12 circles):

2. Arrange circles in pairs putting one on top of another:

3. You may want to pin the circles in place. Using either simple or zigzag stitch, sew the edges together:

4. Using zigzag or another decorative stitch, sew through the center:

5. If you desire, make another stitch perpendicular to the previous stitch:

6. Your coaster may look a little"wavy" like this:

 7. Steam iron your coasters so they look nice and flat.

Happy crafting!

Interview with a Star, Yaroslav & Natalka from ReComputing

Today we'd like to introduce the Recomputing shop to you, a geeky project on Etsy.

We are a family company of husband and wife Yaroslav and Natalka. The ReComputing shop was opened in October 2011 but Natalka already had her Skrynka shop. So we wasn't new on Etsy.

What would you say makes your shop unique?
The idea of ReComputing is to make cute geeky things through recycling broken computers hardware. As Yaroslav worked with computers for a long time, we have plenty of broken hardware at home.

What is the most important about your work?
We think that recycling is the great way to save our planet. And we are proud of ourselves that we are involved in such an important thing.

We are trying to make usable things. Our product isn't a cute stuff that you put on the shelf to admire. We make the key chains, jewelry, bookmarks, and we are planning to make clocks, coasters, magnets, business card holders, etc. We don't plan to stop on one category and have so many ideas! Our only regret is that there is only 24 hours in a day!

Do you have a favorite item you have made?
Yaroslav's favorite item is a microchip necklace and Natalka like almost all items made from blue circuit board.

Name 3 things you can’t live without?
Our amazing little son, each other and our dreams.

What do you want to tell our readers?
We'd like to wish health and happiness and LOVE to everyone! Don't forget to wish everyone you care about a happy Valentine's day!

Ideas for upcycled supplies

By upcycling you can make your life and the life of your customers greener. Why not making craft and at the same time changing world for the best? Here are some ideas about where to get alternative supplies for your craft and what to do with your own unnecessary supplies.

1. First of all, check vintage and second hand shops in town - many of those offer amazingly cheap old and tired items. Give them another chance! Moreover, in many second-hand shops one can find leftovers of yarn and other supplies - use it :)
This ring is crocheted with red yarn I have bought in a charity second hand shop and is embellished with a turquoise bead from a vintage necklace.

Old and tired wool sweaters can be easily felted into beautiful new accessories. Just as tiny bit of unwoven wool can make a stunning felted flower.

Check out the tutorial of TonyaUtkina on how to create a felted flower

Moreover, youtube is full with video-tutorial on what to make out of old woolen sweaters.

2. Find soulmates! I regularly post on a local blog an advert saying that I exchange my products for a bunch of old jewelry, even broken or torn (anyway I will upcycle it), leftovers of yarn etc'. You won't believe it, but MANY people are happy to get rid of things they do not need - especially if they get a handmade designed item in exchange. Besides local online forums you can find handmade clubs in town or designs faculty in university or college and simply put paper advert on their board. Believe me, you will be surprised by result!

That's the treasure I got lately from such exchange for only one of my necklaces.

That red broken necklace is made of real red corals. Good bargain, isn't it? :)

3. Revise your old stocks.
Every craft artist has a bunch of old supplies, those that are not colorful enough, shining enough, those that cannot be incorporated into any of your designs, or those little bits that are simply left over and are not enough for a new design. What do you do with them?

- Change them!
Color them, crochet around them, reshape them :)
I have a lot of amazing buttons. Many of them are absolutely unique and vintage, other more common and dark.

In my designs I mainly use happy colors, so brown and black buttons will have hard time finding their way to my necklaces. But I still love them, and I have an idea what to do with them - I will crochet around them and make necklaces out of them. Just wait and see!

- Exchange them!
Yes, your boring leftover supplies maybe a real treasure for someone else. Find your local fair and forum - give advert that you want to get rid of them and see what people can offer you in exchange - their leftovers can be a real find for you.

- Sell them!
yes, as simple as that. List them in your shop and sell.
If you have them for couple of years, you haven't used them until today and still don't have any idea of how you will use them - get rid of them!

- Combine the leftovers.
do you have a bunch of old beads of different size and color! paint them in one color or crochet around them with similar yarn - and then they will make a nice necklace or other accessory. Their different size will only add uniqueness!

In this particular necklace most of the beads come from different other necklaces. Even the yarn I used to crochet over is of different shade. And yet, this necklace is charming, isn't it?

As I said, I love seeing old and sad things getting new life and starting sparkling again.

I hope this can inspire you to reuse and recycle. You can both make crafts and make the world better. So why not simply doing that? :)

Story by Irene (TomBjorndesigns)

Interview with a star - Irina

Today we are sharing an interview with Irina who runs TomBjornDesigns shop on Etsy.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I have been creating things ever since I remember myself. My grandmother was making amazing silk embroidery on those old mechanical sewing machines and I used to sit next to her and watch for hours. This is how I learn patience. When I crochet my necklaces or simply arrange my boxes with beads now I can be concentrated on this process for many hours in a row. Otherwise I am a very impatient person!

Last year I started making much more things than I could use for myself or give away as a present. So I simply decided to share things I make with wider audience. This is how my shop came to existence.

How would you describe your style?
My style is a happy style. There is some indie in it, some grandma vintage, and a lot of upcycled ideas!

I have so much more ideas on my mind! I write my ideas down and only if the future item seems to me colorful, happy, versatile, with option of using upcycled materials, then I will and create it.

This Happy tiny buttons versatile necklace is made of tiny buttons that I discovered in one of the second hand shops and I decided to give them a new life:



What inspires you?
I find my inspirations mainly in my colorful dreams, my memories of my grandma, shopping in vintage stores and nature, of course. I also love to look through the shops on Etsy, especially the ones which are using upsycled materials. Then I am coming up with my own ideas.

These earrings are made of upcycled wooden beads which I brought back to life by crocheting around them. I love this vintage feeling about them:


What items in your shop do you most enjoy making and why?
I can't help it, I LOVE making my versatile crocheted necklaces. First I decide on the color palette, then I start playing with amount of beads, and then finally the crocheting precess - oh, this is the best meditation I have ever had. I can sit for 5-6 hours in a row and just think about something or listen to an audio book while my fingers create magic with beads and cotton thread.

This is one of my favorite items - all the beads are equally round and it only adds to the meditative process. I can even crochet without looking now :)


What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?
I love my customers! Their feedback is so important for my creative process.
Once I had a custom order of 8 similar necklaces for bride-maids - the bride (who was the buyer) loved the idea of versatility and thought that the bride maids will have similar necklaces, but they will wear them in 8 different ways. Several months later a bride has sent me a photo of all 8 girls wearing my necklaces (one wore it as bracelet and one even as a headband). I was so happy that my work contributed to the most important day in her life!

What is the day in your studio look like?
Ah, this is a hard question. I don't have a proper studio, I share an apartment and all my beads and threads are all around.


I study full time and do many extracurricular projects, so I don't have much time to actually sit and work on my items. I do them in the metro, on the lectures, coffee shops - everywhere.



and I love the reactions of people around me - they usually smile and some even ask what I am doing.

If I can make people smile - this is my best feedback and motivation to continue creating :)

Story by Irina (TomBjornDesigns)

Stylish things - KatrinShine

I would like to share with you a wonderful collection of leather jewelry and accessories by a very talented designer Katia (boutique Кatrinshine).


Accessories in autumnal red, burgundy and golden brown colors attract attention to themselves and touch everyone's hearts. Her creations are stunning, full of lightness, elegance and
inspiration! Immaculate execution of decorative features highlights stylish compositional solutions. The idea of these accessories is very simple - it is a stylized poppy made of pieces of leather. However, the number of possibilities in this design is simply inexhaustible!!!


Flaming red poppy is passionate and glowing, it is a perfect match for an evening dress as well as a strict business style dress. Sultry hot red can be easily combined with a summer outfit, attracting attention to the bronze glow of tanned skin.


Dark cherry color can serve as an alternative to a red poppy. Burgundy color adds a touch of mystery, magically turning a beautiful woman into a mysterious stranger.


Golden brown raises completely different emotions. Its tanned color, as if touched by the sun, suits warm and cozy autumnal jersey, mixing well with the colors of ripe fruit and berries.


A smoky blue flower has yet another purpose. Dove-colored blue brings thoughts of the frosty breath of winter, crystal mist on the tries and sparkling snowflakes slowly moving in a dance.

Green World

Russian Artists Team shops in Green World category:

GoodWeather