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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Take the Upcycle It Challenge


embroidered flowers and handmade doll
Happy Saturday, Recycling Fans!

I hope you all had a good week and found one new opportunity to reduce, reuse and recycle. Today, I'd like to introduce you to a few of the RocketSquids on Squidoo.

NOTE:  On August 15, 2014, Squidoo announced that it had been acquired by HubPages. This program is no longer available on Squidoo.

The RocketSquid program was Squidoo's web writing bootcamp for new Squidoo members. Each week, RocketSquids were presented with a writing challenge and reading material to help them become successful on the Web. Their completed assignments were reviewed by experienced Squidoo writers who provided RocketSquids with encouraging critiques and helpful tips.

Last week, Squidoo's RocketSquids took the Upcycle It challenge and wrote stories about their adventures in recycling. Their assignment was to spotlight something that they upcycled, recycled or transformed into a new object.

The challenge motivated me to start a project involving pressed flowers from a floral arrangement that has special meaning for my family. My creativity sparkled with an idea to Recycle Memories of Love and Flowers. I gathered the assortment of pressed flowers, then searched for a picture frame and fabric to complement the flowers. Adding a bottle of glue, a precious memory will be forever enjoyed.

As a kid, growing up in the 1960s, we used all kinds of trash to make art. Magazines, Popsicle sticks, tin cans, fabric scraps. Anything with color and anything that would stick to glue. My favorite was to cut up magazines and make collages.

My mom is always recycling old blankets and scraps of fabric. With the best pieces, she makes baby blankets and donates the blankets to a pregnancy aid center for low-income families. These Homemade Organic Baby Wipes are much gentler to a baby's skin than the disposable baby wipes. And, you can use a soap that does not irritate baby's skin.

What do you do with old mattresses? When I bought a new mattress, I wasn't sure how to dispose of the old mattress. A scrapper, making his run through the neighborhood alleys, offered to take the mattress off my hands. It went in the back of his truck, on top of his collection of scrap metal. Away to the recycling center he went.


I hope you enjoyed these Upcycle It stories and found some inspiration to create an upcycled project with stuff you find tucked in a corner of your basement.

Until next week, keep on recycling!

Coletta





Posted by Coletta Teske
Coletta Teske

About This Contributor

Coletta Teske writes reviews on books, business management, writing, crafting, cooking, and gardening. She is also an avid recycler and shares her tips on recycling. She delights in upcycling an old object, recycling or transforming discarded items into a new treasure.

8 comments:

  1. Awesome group of lenses - and lensmasters! Thanks, Coletta, for promoting our RocketSquids and their lenses!

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  2. Lots of great recycling ideas. Thanks for sharing what these lensmasters are accomplishing with recycled items.

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  3. This is fantastic! I really do love the RocketSquids! They are so enthusiastic and fun. This is an excellent write up Coletta, I have already seen 2 of the lenses, but I will make a point to visit the rest this weekend.

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  4. Love it! I do love to give a new life to something that has already lived a life -- upcycling at it's best! There are some great ideas here, too. The RocketSquids did great!

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  5. Thank you, everyone, for encouraging Squidoo's RocketSquids. I really love RocketSquids, too. I graduated from the program last August and I was sad to go. It's a great environment for sparking ideas and building confidence. I appreciate everything I learned from RocketSquids and I am so happy that I can give back to the program.

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  6. I look forward to visiting these Rocket Squids. Thank you for spotlighting their creative work and projects. Always nice to boost others in our community.

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  7. Coletta, this article spotlights the importance of writing about those things of which we are passionate - or once were passionate about! In sharing your Recycler challenge with others, you re-ignited your own passion as well as that of others. And as all those writers share their own recycling ideas and projects, they will send their readers down that same recycling path. You truly are an inspiration to the RocketSquids - the new writers on Squidoo - as well as to those of us who have been around awhile.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ruthi! Being selected as the Recycler contributor on Squidoo has re-charged me. This new role scares me but at the same time it excites me. I believe this will be a very satisfying and productive journey that will benefit all of us all over the world.

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