This Earth Day, we hope our upcycling projects, will inspire you to join our ‘Revolution Revival Movement’, and start an upcycling project of your own, or look for more ways to reduce waste in your life and in your community.

We’re pretty excited about our very own in-house tie dye project. We gathered shirts with minor flaws, supplies we had on hand, and donated dye, and got to work making an exclusive line of shirts just for you! Each Thursday of ‘Earth Month’ we have posted our collection of one-of-a-kind shirts to our online shop. Click here to get to the shop. In celebration of Earth Day, we are offering them for just $10! What’s even better than that? By buying them you are not only showing your love for the earth (and looking cool while you’re at it), but you are also supporting WIN to provide empowerment programs for women, trans, non-binary and Two Spirit folks in our community!

One of our staff, who is also an Artist, found the book ‘Playing with Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book’ by Jason Thompson at one of our shops, and recently shared the projects that she has worked on over the winter. Believe us, we are as wowed as you are! One of our favourites is to make postcards out of old book covers (you can also use the inside pages in collages)!

For those of you who want to start small, why not make a cute set of bookmarks? These are made from an expired calendar and paper clips. We think they’re adorable! If you’re looking for a new book to read, buying second hand is a great option, and we are having book sales across our Cook, Pandora and Westside locations for the rest of the month!

In this project, you can fancy up a glass vase (by the way, we have lots of them if you want to try this out).  
What you’ll need:  
A drop sheet or rag to cover a table (we used an old swaddling blanket)  
Baking soda  
Acrylic paint  
Lightweight spackle  
A brush  
A bowl  
Gloves or a putty knife 

Here are the directions:
1. Take a glass or ceramic vase that is plain, and cylinder shaped. Place the vase on a drop sheet. With gloved hands or a putty knife, coat the entire vase with lightweight spackle. Don't be afraid to go over the top of the vase and build up the spackle as much as desired. Pat the vase with your palms for a rough textured look.
2. Let it dry completely for at least two hours or up to 24 hrs.
3. Once dry, use a mixture of half acrylic paint and half baking soda mixed in a bowl and apply it all over vase with a brush or sponge to further the textured look.
4. Let it dry completely at least 1 hour and voila! Add your favourite spring flowers and enjoy! 

Thanks for working to reduce waste in your own life! Let’s celebrate Earth Day-everyday!