Recycled Crafts: Recycling Crafters of Etsy

I was thrilled last month when I clicked on a message in my overflowing inbox and read a request fairly similar to this:

Dear Deb,
Please write about crafters who recycle in March as part of the Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, Healthy Wallet series.


We Love You,
The Babes of BlogHer.

Ok, these notes are never signed "The Babes of BlogHer", but I think they should be!

Now I've already written about refashionistas and refashioning with a purpose this year.  Last year, about one article a month was on recycled craft of one sort or another.  This was a request pitched into my wheelhouse!  (baseball.. another month away...)  So I'm going to step up, and try to drive this one outta the park!  This is, after all, BlogHer's REACH year!

How about an article each Saturday focusing on a different way to look at recycled artists and crafters? This week: the brilliantly talented artists/crafters who can turn trash into cash by creating recycled, upcycled, and repurposed pieces then selling their good on Etsy.

Courtney Watson makes her TwisTeD Jewelry from 100% recycled telephone wire.

TJTDesign sells beautiful knitted items.  Her shawl from recycled sari silk is stunning!

DebbyAremDesigns takes circuit boards and repurposes them into office products and beautiful jewelry pieces.

I am considering ordering this Upcycled Bread Bag Choker just to figure out how it was made!

Etsy even has a proud groups of creators who formed a recycled craft street team!  TheY are know as Trashion and this group has both the Etsy Trashion Shop and the  etsy trashion blog. They use recycled materials in all their products.  One of the bloggers interviewed,Tiffany Threadgould of  RePlayGround remembered the first thing she recycled:

Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept?

The first thing I made was a CD holder out of an old microwave when I was an undergrad. The microwave broke and it was a shame to throw it out, so I turned it on its side, added a shelf and put CDs inside. I still have it and it holds 32 CDs.

This is a just a sampling of the many creative souls who are creating things both beautiful and practical with materials that have lived before their current creation.  

So what it's store for the rest of the month?  How about other communities, group blogs and individual blogs that talk about recycled craft?  How about a discussion of how DIY can save your earth, your wallet and your brain? Or how about a shopping guide to using your local thrift store like a craft store/art supply store?
 
Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her mundane life at Deb's Daily Distractions .