Recycling, Repurposing, Upcycling ' what's the difference? 'and what exactly is Upcycling?
We all know what recycling is. A plastic bag is used to carry home groceries then is later reused by the owner who uses the bag a second or third time, perhaps to again carry groceries or store items. The bag has been recycled by its owner. The bag is being reused but the value of the bag remains the same.
In upcycling, the item is often no longer being used for its intended purpose but is repurposed ' given a new purpose ' and along with this new purpose it is also given an increase in value (usually both aesthetically and monetarily) It is worth more in its new form.
Recycled ' used again and value remains unchanged
Repurposed ' used again but with a new purpose
Upcycled ' used again, with a new purpose, and with greater value than its original state
Why are upcycled items so desirable? They are created with innovation and creativity!
Necklace pendant made from broken Shelley Blue Rock teacup
Wisegeek said it best:
'Upcycling is designed to work in opposition to consumer culture, encouraging people to think of new and innovative ways to use things, instead of simply buying new consumer goods. It also benefits the environment, by promoting reuse over discarding whenever possible.' There you have it! Laura
I had lots of these books when I was little, I loved the characters, especially Mr. Tickle.
The books celebrate 40 years this year and are just as popular today as back when.
Charles Roger Hargreaves was born today, 76 years ago (9 May 1935 ' 11 September 1988). He was an English author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers. The books' simple and silly stories, with bright-coloured, boldly drawn illustrations, have been part of popular culture for over 25 years, with sales over 85 million worldwide in 20 languages.
Hargreaves grew up in Cleckheaton. He spent a year working in his father's laundry and dry-cleaning business before starting out in advertising.But his original ambition was to be a cartoonist; and, in 1971, while he was working as the creative director at a London firm, he wrote the first Mr. Men book, Mr. Tickle . He initially had difficulty finding a publisher; but, once he did, the books became an instant success, selling over one million copies within three years. In 1975 it spawned a BBC animated television series called Mr. Men Show, Mr Tickle being voiced by Arthur Lowe.
By 1976, Hargreaves had quit his day job. In 1981, the Little Miss series of books began to appear. It, too, was made into a television series in 1983, which was narrated by John Alderton, who, with Pauline Collins, voiced the Men and Misses, respectively. Although Hargreaves wrote many other children's stories, including the Timbuctoo series of twenty-five books, John Mouse, and the Roundy and Squary books, he is best known for his 46 Mr. Men books and 33 Little Miss books.
With his wife, Christine, Hargreaves had four children: Adam, Giles, and twins Sophie and Amelia. The first of the Mr. Men characters is reported to have been created when Adam asked his father what a tickle looked like: Hargreaves drew a figure with a round orange body and long, rubbery arms, which became Mr. Tickle.
After Hargreaves died of a sudden stroke in 1988, Adam continued writing and drawing the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters in new stories. However, in April 2004, Christine sold the rights to the Mr. Men characters to the UK entertainment group Chorion, for '28 million.
They are always good for a laugh, strange health-food items and a helping hand. Not only that, they have really big hearts. Recently, they decided to start a non-profit organization to help rescue young women from human trafficking. It's called Worthwhile Wear. Here's what Dan and Steph have to say about it:
Worthwhile Wear exists to rescue and restore girls from forced prostitution, and more importantly help prevent girls from ever entering it. We target highly trafficked areas both internationally and domestically, and offer women the opportunity to overcome two primary factors which are at the root of sex trafficking; poverty and lack of education. This solution is offered through vocational training centers which teach women how to make wears, such as jewelry, handbags, and clothing, which are sold to provide them employment. Additionally, the women are offered free education, a safe place to stay, and restorative programs geared toward encouraging personal growth and re-establishing self-worth.
A big part of their mission is to provide items that these women produce, to us, here in the States. The women are given a fair wage (30-40% higher than the average paid person in their area) so that they can protect themselves from ever having to go back to their old lives. And the stuff is gorgeous!
But here's where we come in: Dan and Steph and the board of Worthwhile Wear are hosting a huge kick-off party for their new organization on November 17th at Calvary Church in Souderton at 7 PM and they've asked us to decorate. Yee-haw! Using our talents and what we love to do to help others is our idea of a good time (we like to call it a"Helping Hobby"). The theme of the night is"Celebrating the Richness of India", and we can't wait to try out some fun ideas.
We're planning on incorporating this Indian Paisley Damask Stencil from Royal Design Studio in some fabric wall treatments, and possibly some art.
We, of course, want to include the rich, vibrant colors of India like you see in this Inspiration Mood Board from Limn & Lovely. Don't those colors knock your socks off?!
Did you know marigolds are one of India's national flowers? Were going to try and get our hands on some for a splash of color on the tables and around the room. This Inspiration Mood Board from Marigold Events inspired us to add in some fun yellow and orange tones!
Here's where YOU come in: We are hosting a table of 10 at the event and want YOU to join us! Wouldn't it be so fun to hang out with fellow blog junkies, while supporting an amazing cause and experiencing the culture of India? Tickets and more information can be found here. Make sure you let us know that you'll be there, so that we can be sure to save a spot for you. Hurry to buy your tickets!
If you can't make the event, then go ahead and start your Christmas shopping on their website! Don't want to come to the event or shop, but still want to help? Donate here to help save young girls and give them the hope for a future. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are so excited about Worthwhile Wear, and so proud of our friends, Steph and Dan! We hope to see you at A Worthwhile Evening in a few weeks!
I have a thing for pictures that tell a story, and there are many of them. The stories they tell are appalling and shocking, heartbreaking and sad. They show a world of starvation, war, heartlessness and pure evil. They show the harsh reality so many people live in and though we might not want to see this side of life, I recon it's important to know they're out there.
Although we might not be able to help them it might help us to be more grateful for what we actually have ourselves.
The afghan girl, picture shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. Sharbat Gula was one of the students in an informal school within the refugee camp; McCurry, rarely given the opportunity to photograph Afghan women, seized the opportunity and captured her image. She was approximately 12 years old at the time. She made it on the cover of National Geographic next year, and her identity was discovered in 1992.
Thisphotograph has become synonymous with The Battle of Gettysburg, which was the most bloody battle of the American Civil War. Photographer Timothy H. O'Sullivan documented and recorded the battlefield, and this picture became a sensation.
For many, this was their first chance to see, first hand, the true extent of the Civil War. However, it was not until 40 years after the battle that the pictures were mass produced, as photo-engraving had not been established. The picture shows dead confederate soldiers on the battlefield.
Alberto Korda took this picture of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, titled 'Guerrillero Heroico' or 'Heroic Guerrilla'. It shows Che, as he was known, at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion.
Despite being one of the most reproduced images in history, Korda, a lifelong Communist and supporter of the Cuban Revolution, claimed no payment for his picture.
Lawrence Beitler took this iconic photograph on August 7, 1930, showing the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, two young black men accused of raping a white girl. It sold thousands of copies, which Beitler stayed up for 10 days and nights printing them.
It has become iconic over the years as it is one of the best and most recognisable images of lynching which at the time was commonplace, but now serves only as a reminder of the pre-Civil Rights era.
The photo shows a crowd that have turned out to view the lynching, and the audience a mixture of anger and fulfilment. The photo was so popular it has been the inspiration for many poems and songs down the years, 'Strange Fruit' by the Jewish poet Abel Meeropol (later sung by Billie Holiday) being the best example.
Possibly the most talked-about, debated and controversial picture in history, the picture of the moon landing has been seen as a feat of human engineering at its best, and has been speculated as a hoax by contractors of the event.
Those in doubt of the authenticity of the picture have come up with many suggestions as to why and how it might have been faked. However, none of the accusations have been proved correct and the debate continues in some circles.
The American flag installs national pride in the US as the winners of the so-called 'Space Race', and their establishment as the world's one remaining super power.
This photo of a naked and terrified young girl running towards Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Nick Ut has entered popular culture as a symbol of the horror of the Vietnam War. It was taken during the American bombing of the village of Trang Bang, Vietnam.
It is said that this photo ended the war in Vietnam and served as an icon for the peace movement that was prevalent in the 1970s.
Often considered the most iconic photograph in history, 'tank man' or 'the unknown rebel' shows an act of courage and defiance and earned the anonymous man widespread fame.
It took place during the protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, and has subsequently become a symbol of the end of the Cold War era, and one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. Four people claim to have took photos of the event, but the most reproduced image, and the most famous was by Jeff Widener.
Kevin Carter's photo shows a heart-breaking scene of a starving child collapsed on the ground, struggling to get to a food center during a famine in the Sudan in 1993. In the background, a vulture stalks the emaciated child. It is a horrific picture that gave people a true look at the dire condition in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Carter was part of a group of four fearless photojournalists known as the "Bang Bang Club" who travelled throughout South Africa capturing the atrocities committed during apartheid.
He won a Pulitzer Prize for this work and came under a lot of scrutiny for spending over 20 minutes setting up the photo instead of helping the child. Three months after taking the photo, he committed suicide.
I have seen this picture several times through the years and it touches my heart more and more each time. It brings tears to my eyes and my heart aches for this little, helpless girl.
This image of a child in Uganda holding hands with a missionary shows big contrast between the two people and serves as a reminder of the difference in wealth between developed and developing countries.
Mike Wells, the photographer, took this picture to show the extent of starvation in Africa. He took it for a magazine, and when they went 5 months without printing it, he decided to enter it into a competition. However, Wells has stated that he is against winning a competition with a picture of a starving boy.
Photographer Eddie Adams took this picture of the execution of Nguy?n Van L'm by Nguy?n Ng?c Loan during the Vietnam War. Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyen and his family for the irreparable damage it did to Loan's honour while he was alive.
Picture from an Einsatzgruppen soldier's personal album, labelled on the back as 'Last Jew of Vinnitsa', it shows a member of Einsatzgruppe D is just about to shoot a Jewish man kneeling before a filled mass grave in Vinnitsa, Ukraine, in 1941. All 28,000 Jews from Vinnitsa and its surrounding areas were massacred at the time.
A while ago we talked all about our decorating plans for the event, A Worthwhile Evening, benefitting our friend's non-profit organization, Worthwhile Wear. We even shared some mood boards, but wanted to show you how it actually turned out!
We'll be completely honest. We didn't think we could pull it off. Especially because this is the room we had to overhaul into a beautiful setting for 200 people with only a $300 budget.
Oh boy. We were scared. But guess what? We pulled it off and the night went so well, and the room looked beautiful. We used all of our sneaky resources and came up with some inexpensive, but pretty awesome decor for the room. The Centerpieces
These babies were definitely our favorite feature of the room. We used chargers and vases from the Dollar Store, branches from our backyards that we spraypainted gold, and flowers from Produce Junction. But what really made them shine was the Worthwhile Wear jewelry we hung from the branches. They looked so cool, made a great conversation piece and helped to sell even more jewelry for the organization,
The tables were covered in an inexpensive purple satin with a gold, shimmery tulle overlay.
The Art
We used the same roofing material that we used on our last Nate Show episode and the Indian Paisley Damask stencil from Royal Design Studios to create a gorgeous backdrop for the room. A big thank you to Royal Design Studios for donating the stencil for a good cause! We've said it time and time again that stencils make a huge impact for very little cost, and RDS stencil are the BEST!
The Silent Auction Tables Unfortunately, the room had a pretty ugly border around the entire room that would have been too expensive to cover up, not to mention pretty difficult to do in a non-permanent way. We decided to use one of our other tricks, giant Staples Engineer Prints to deck out the walls and draw the eye away from the border. The prints of these gorgeous girls and women were taken while Dan was in India learning more about the culture and the great need for these girls to be rescued. Printed on each picture was a statistic of interest (most of them heart-breaking) related to human trafficking.
The Atmosphere
We were pretty limited as far as furniture goes to just what the church had available, so we decided to make the whole room into a lounge/coffee shop feel. Lots of cozy seating areas, coffee tables and lamps for softer lighting. We also used a lot of Ikea curtain panels to dress up the walls a bit more.
Of course, Viswas, the sitar player, need a cool background!
One big score was the lights we had hanging from the ceiling. The church already owned this (which helped us stay within budget), but they originally came from Ikea.
A big thank you to the photographers for the evening, Jake of Harr Photography and Robert of Robert Radu Stern for sharing their pictures with us. They even snagged a great one of the two of us at the end of the night!
We were so happy with the way the evening went, and that we could use our talents to help out our good buddies, Dan and Steph and the amazing organization they've started. Want to know how you can help us help them out even more? Worthwhile Wear is a part of two awesome contests and need our votes. It only takes a minute, but will make a big difference!
1. The First ever Philadelphia DoGooder Awards celebrates the power of storytelling as a way to connect non profit organizations with valuable partners, volunteers, donors and resources. Non profits are invited to submit short 5 minute or less (2-3 preferred) films with a compelling narrative. Filmmakers are encourage to submit films on behalf of their non profit clients. They are competing for $250,000 in resources, national and regional recognition, and much much more. To vote, click here, watch the video (be prepared for tears!), and cast your vote.
2. Our local bank, Univest, is giving $5,000 to a local non-profit. They are asking you, the community, to nominate a non-profit for this contribution. Please take a moment to"Like" Univest and then in the comment section write a nomination f or Worthwhile Wear. You can nominate WW until 12/31/12. Feel free to share this with others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the perfect season to do a little good for someone else. We thank you so much for helping us grow Worthwhile Wear! Have an awesome, Christmas-festivity-filled weekend!
