Mother's Day is on May 12 this year, so if you want to get crafty for mom, you've only got a few days left!

This Sunday is all about making mom feel special, and what says special better than a sweet blue ribbon that you made yourself? Bonnie over at Crafting a Green World used a page from a reclaimed book to create a super cute blue ribbon brooch for her momma, and she shared a tutorial so that you can make one for your mom, too!

What I love about this project is that not only is it totally adorable, it won't take you too long to make. Perfect for us procrastinating children, right?

It only takes a few materials to make an upcycled Mother's Day brooch of your own:

• an old book
• scissors
• white glue
• hot glue
• crayons and markers
• brooch pin - the sort with a flat back

Ready to whip up a blue ribbon brooch for Mother's Day? Click here for the tutorial!

Image Credits: Creative Commons photos by Bonnie Getchell

Check out these beautiful pendants made from reclaimed wine corks!

We love crafting with wine corks around here. That humble little cork in your bottle of vino has so many crafty possibilities! Whether your bottle has a plastic or a natural cork, it's worth collecting those suckers in a little bowl, because both make great, free craft supplies. The bonus? When you craft with your old wine corks, you're keeping that material out of the waste stream.

Over on the Fiskars blog, Lisa Storms shares a tutorial for making some super sweet wine cork pendants. You only need a few materials to make your own:

• A sharp knife - I've found that a serrated blade is best for cutting cork
• Paint
• Paint brush
• Stamps
• a 5mm eye screw

You probably have most of these supplies laying around the house! Ready to make your own wine cork pendants? Click here for the complete tutorial!

[This magazine rack is made from recycled cereal boxes!]

Feeling guilty about the cereal boxes in your recycle bin? Pull 'em out and try some of these upcycled projects to give them a new life!

Recycling is great, but reuse is always better! Cardboard recycling is pretty efficient, as recycling goes, but it still takes energy to turn old cardboard into new paper products, and transporting cardboard from your home to the recycle center produces carbon emissions, too.

Boxes are a natural pick for storage, right? When I was researching some ideas for cereal boxes, I noticed that so many of them were organization-related! Next time you polish off a box of cereal, save the box for one of these home organization cardboard crafts!

1. Magazine Rack - Do you have magazines all over your house? Tidy those suckers up with a cereal box magazine rack!

2. Expandable File Folder - Get organized! Check out how to turn an old cereal box into a chic way to store your files.

3. Mini Album - Get your photos all in order with an upcycled album.

4. Fabric Storage Baskets - Cover old cereal boxes in fabric to make boxes for all kinds of organizing needs!

5. Closet Organizer - Tame a messy closet with the power of upcycled cereal boxes!

Have you guys made anything fun with reclaimed cereal boxes lately? Share your ideas in the comments!

Spring is so close that I can smell it! It's just about time to start planting those spring crops, and now is also the perfect time to add a few upcycled touches to your spring garden. Here are a few ideas to get you going!

1.  Boot Planters

Going vertical is a great way to grow more in less space. Hit the thrift store and find some old rain boots to create these sweet, upcycled hanging planters.

2. Reclaimed Raised Bed

Raised beds are great for keeping weeds and pests at bay and in areas where the soil quality might be on the poor side. Instead of using new lumber, check out this upcycled garden bed using reclaimed wood instead.

3. Wine Box Containers

For smaller plants, like herbs, you can use old wine boxes to create beautiful, upcycled planters.

4. Bike Wheel Trellis

Gather up some old bike wheels and create a beautiful, upcycled trellis for your climbing plants, like beans!

5. Wine Cork Plant Markers

You think you will remember what you planted where, but there's always those one or two plants that slip through the cracks when you don't write things down. Grab some wine corks from your stash to make sweet, upcycled plant markers and never guess at your garden's layout again!

Are you adding any upcycled touches to your garden? I'd love to hear what you're planting and how you're designing your space in the comments!

Hi Green Upgrader readers! I'm Cristin from Eve of Reduction and I'm thrilled to announce that my debut DIY book, Living Simple, Free and Happy is now available for purchase on Amazon!

This guest post is one stop on my virtual book tour. This means, if you go to the book tour page and leave a comment, you can win a copy of the book (mailed to US residents, digital copy if winner lives outside the US). If you go ahead and purchase a copy (thank you!), please leave a review on Amazon and let me know on the landing page of my blog tour, you will be entered to win a free, online upcycling consultation with me, Cristin Frank.

And with that announcement I want to share an upcycling project that will help organize and simplify your life: upcycling an obsolete playpen into a lights and brights laundry sorter.

Anyone born before 1980 will probably recognize this wooden playpen from pictures of their toddler years - or the movie Back to the Future. Yeah, no one wants these any more. Well, except me...and maybe you by the end of this tutorial.

A neighbor of mine was getting rid of this playpen, so I took it off her hands before it became landfill fodder. I put it down in my basement and the next time I went down there, I was like, "What's that awful smell!" Yikes, this thing smelled so musty, to the point of reeking. The good news was, I was planning on hacking it up, which meant it would be in small enough pieces that I could seal it in a large black garbage bag with some kitty litter. The clay litter absorbs moisture and smells wonderfully and can save many old, musty pieces like suitcases, too.

I cut up the playpen into 8 sections so that they could be reassembled as two, four-sided laundry sorters.

You'll notice that I'm making 2 structures, each with 4 legs, but there are only 4 casters. To remedy this, I positioned two casters as the back legs, then repurposed a crib spindle to use as the front legs of the laundry sorters.

Because there were so many cut edges, and now the miss-matched wood from the crib spindles, I painted the laundry sorters to bring it all together.

Next, I reused a fitted sheet to make the laundry bags. This worked out great because I reused the fabric and elastic, plus the casing for the elastic was already sewn.

Click here to get the sewing pattern for the laundry bags.

The last detail was adding a bottom onto the sorters. I fully intended to cut up the original particle board bottom that came with the playpen, but the sorters left a very tiny ledge for them to rest on the inside and from underneath, I'd have to cut around the added front legs. I decided it would be easiest to simply use the remnants of the fitted bed sheet to tack down a fabric bottom. The fabric was really easy to work with.

If you like DIY projects that are easy, inexpensive, reduce waste and add beauty and function to your home, please check out Living Simple, Free and Happy on Amazon. It is also available at bookstores, home improvement stores and craft stores nation-wide.

The book includes 10 upcycling tutorials that take easy to find furniture items and transforms them into customizable, organizational solutions from your home.

What else do you get?

• Simple techniques that eliminate clutter and keep it from returning
• A personalized plan to help you reclaim your time
• Practical (and profitable) ways to sell unused items in your home
• Tips to eliminate debt and curb consumption
• Dozens of exercises that help you identify and honor your talents, values, and goals

Please remember to leave a comment on my blog tour page to be entered to win a copy of Living Simple, Free & Happy. There you also see my blog tour schedule and can check in to learn more about upcycling, simple living, decluttering and writing a book.

Please know that I look forward to reading each and every comment, and Becky, thank you so much for being a gracious book tour hostess!

Is your stash of reusable grocery bags a little slim? Beef it up with these DIY ideas!

Did you know that you should be washing your reusable bags? Those totes are much better for the planet than the single use plastic sort, but without proper care they can harbor food-borne illness. That doesn't mean you need to switch to disposables, but it does mean that maybe it's time to add a few bags to that rotation, so you'll still be able to grocery shop when one set is in the wash.

You could pick up reusable bags at the store, but then you'd have the same boring bags as everyone else! We've rounded up a few grocery bag tutorials to make sure your stash or totes is as unique as you are.

1. Embellished Grocery Bag

You can use this tutorial from Sew Homegrown to spruce up one of the bags in your stash or fancy up any tote you pick up at the thrift store. Not only does she show you how to add cute, geometric embellishments but she walks you through adding a pocket! Perfect for stashing a magazine or your coupons!

2. Upcycled Denim Bag

The Queen of DIY shows you how to make a reversible grocery tote from an old pair of jeans! A bonus? Denim is super durable, so this bag is sure to last you ages!

3. T-Shirt Grocery Bag

Got some old tees in your stash? Use them to make a DIY mesh grocery bag - no crochet or knitting skills required!

4. Vintage Pillowcase Bag

A reclaimed pillowcase is perfect for hauling those groceries around, and SpiderWomanKnits shows you how to make a super sweet upcycled grocery tote from a vintage one. Just make sure you choose a pillowcase that's in good shape. Some of the older vintage pillowcases can have very delicate fabric, and you want your bag to be durable!

5. Flour Sack Grocery Bag

Have you ever bought flour in one of those awesome cotton sacks? Here's how to turn that flour sack into a grocery bag! You could use the same instructions to turn a burlap coffee bag or rice bag into a tote, too!

Image Credit: DIY Grocery Bags photo via Bigstock

I love shopping for jeans at the thrift store. Some of my favorite pairs of jeans have come from the thrift store and cost me less than $5. The thing that can be frustrating is when you find a pair of jeans that would be perfect except for one little detail. Maybe they have a small tear, are a bit too long, or fit great in the hips but have a cheesy bell bottom thing happening. Never fear! Whip out that sewing machine, crafty friends, because you can easily fix these problems and turn those thrifted jeans into your favorite pair.

1. Hemming

Hemming is probably the most basic repair you can do, and there are a couple of ways to go about it. The easiest is to cut off the pants, fold them to the length you want, and sew the seam, but you can also hem your jeans and keep the original hem, if you like the look of it. Here are tutes for both methods:

1. Basic hem
2. Keeping the original hem

2. Lengthening

Shortening jeans is very Sewing 101, and it's not that hard to add a little length to jeans that are a little too short. Julie over at Crafting a Green World shows you a simple way to lengthen too-short jeans.

3. Patching

Confession: I love a patch! Sometimes I add patches to things that aren't even torn, just to up the cute factor. Whether you want to add a splash of color or cover up a tear or stain, check out this tutorial on how to sew a patch. Easy peasy!

4. Reverse Applique

Reverse applique might sound daunting and fancy, but it's really not much harder than sewing a patch. Get more deets on reverse applique and how to use this method to repair torn jeans here!

5. DIY Skinny Jeans

Ever tried on a pair of pants at the thrift store that are super cute until you get to the knees, where they balloon out into bell bottoms? Fear not! You can turn those outdated duds into skinny jeans that fit like a glove. I love this skinny jeans tutorial from Cut Out + Keep for taking in those pant legs!

Have you done any creative repairs or alterations on old jeans from your closet or from the thrift store? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Image Credit: Thrift Store Jeans photo via Bigstock