Saturday, April 11, 2009

Wanted: Your recycling/reusing ideas!

Rather than use the dreaded Easter grass that ends up on our floor, our carpets and is horrible for the environment, I will be using fabric.

I am going to pick spring colors from my scraps and tear them into thin strips. Then I will line the baskets with the strips to resemble the grass. I can them just store them in a bin for next year!

Now it is your turn. What is your favorite recycling tip? It can be simple or you can tell me about a favorite project you did. Post it here and let others be inspired! I will read every suggestion and post the one I think is the best on my blog!

14 comments:

EccentricPastiche said...

Well, I'm an altered artist, so I love taking things like empty Altoid tins or old cigar boxes and altering them. I love altering books, and to get my books, I visit the library book sale when they are purging the library of all their old books... they usually sell these for like a dollar each (or a couple of dollars for a bag full) and this not only gives a little bit of money to the library, but, the books end up as art rather than as fodder for the landfill.

There are SO MANY altered art options out there that you can use rather than throw something out...

Barb said...

Thanks Eccentric! Great idea about the books. I have also seen people make purses out of old books which look fantastic.

Amy V. said...

I saw an article on reusing old game boards as art in kids' rooms. I'll be hunting down some this year at garage sales.

Nelly said...

I use old fabric patterns as gift tissue. Also, I've done altered cds as wall hangings and as Avlor mentioned above, I've picked up old games to use in my altered art and currently I'm using one of the actual boards as a base to protect my table from paints, glue, etc.

Amanda Ergenbright said...

Great idea asking for questions!!

I don't think I have any really great or new recycling ideas, but I always reuse the envelopes that my beads and supplies come in, so that I can use them to send my customers' orders out. So far, I have not run out of envelopes. :-(maticro

Vivian said...

I recently saw an idea for cutting the bottom 2" off of liter-sized soda bottles (like 7-Up), putting two of them together to form a container, and connecting the two halves with a zipper to make a cool little recycled-repurposed pod. I wish I had a picture, but imagine a plastic cylinder connected by a zip around the mid-line curcumference. My kid would love it!

Barb said...

Fantastic ideas! I love reading about them.

nomadcraftsetc said...

We use those nasty plastic bags you get at the grocery store as packing peanuts in our packages. We ball them up and they are great little padding. We send a note to the buyer and ask that they recycle all of the packing elements as best they can. Hopefully they do. :)

Hypnotransformations said...

Most recently I got big bags of free coffee grounds from Starbucks and put them in my new garden.

UniquePaperBoutique said...

I have two ideas. The first is more Mommy related. Take a used plastic bottle decorate it with a young child. Re-used tissue wrap from gifts stays well. Fill with beans, noodles or popcorn kernals.
Now you have a homemade instrument or gift for grandma.

The second idea. Take your cereal boxes, or any thin box, and cut them up into gift tag size pieces. Cover the front with your own art, recucled newspaper or magazine then decorate with a drawing or whatever. These can also become product tags if done well.

GalleryJuana said...

Great idea and eco-friendly too.
As far as reusing, I am trying to take my own shopping bag each time I go shopping.


Also, Every Thursday I offer readers the chance to post their annoucements or ideas for new and discovered things. You're more than welcome to post your link on "Thursday Tweets".

my blog:
Gallery Juana

Chezvies said...

I love shoeboxes. I cover them with (used) wrapping paper and use them alot to store my sewing nicknacks, VCD/DVD, my son's school supplies, etc.

Brooke said...

i recently used up a bunch of my son's receiving blankets by making them into diaper doublers for overnights and nursing pads for me! it was a great way to get rid of the blankets and get to "reuse" them again- and save $$/waste!!

Jeanie in NC said...

I haven't been able to craft much lately but, I did do a cool crafting project with my students that allowed us to use old plastic grocery bags. We made Christmas Wreaths out of grocry bags.

We cut the bags into strips and tied them to rounded out coat hangers. I spray painted them all green and then the students added decorations from the local dollar store. We had a ball and the kids loved the wreaths that they got to take home!