Cool recycling turns trash into treasure
'Upcycle' bits and pieces of garbage into decorative items for your home, jewellery, new clothes or even items for the garden.
Newspaper basket
Recycle your newspapers into a stunning basket
I love this handmade basket from How About Orange, woven out of strips of newspaper. There's a beribboned version at Craft Stylish, too, which could be used as a cosy pet bed. Recycled Wall.E
Make your own Wall.E figure out of trash
Wall.E's environmental message about us making too much trash might have been a bit tarnished by the sheer amount of plastic Wall.E merchandise they made to go with the movie, but over at Filth Wizardry they've come up with the perfect solution - make your own Wall.E model out of recycled materials! A great project for the kids this summer. Brilliant Book Marks
Turn old seed packets - or even junk mail envelopes - into bookmarks
The crafty folk over at Little House in the Suburbs have come up with an awesome way to make sure you never run out of bookmarks!You can make your own out of seed packets (perfect for marking those useful pages in your favourite gardening books) or junk mail.
You'll never have to dog ear your page corners again....
Cardboard Ottoman
A portable ottoman or side table
I could really use one of these cardboard ottomans in my tv room, so I'll be making one as soon as I can source some suitable tubes! DIY Snow Globe
Make your own snowy scene
Very topical, considering the weather here in the UK, and something that will only take a few minutes to make and give hours of pleasure - turn an old glass jar into a snow globe! It's a lovely personalized gift, because you choose the scene.Over at StarWars.com they're making their glitter globes with Star Wars figurines.
Salvaged Serving Tray
Serve up a storm on this gorgeous recycled cupboard door
I love this beautiful serving tray, made from a salvaged cupboard door by Craftynest. Follow the link for a detailed tutorial, and you could have your own special serving trays before Christmas!
One of these would make an awesome gift for someone who loves breakfast in bed, don't you think?
Homemade garden toolbelt
Make a garden toolbelt from an old satchel
A garden toolbelt is a really useful thing to have - it means you don't leave your tools lying around and lose them in the garden, or keep having to dash back to the shed to collect something you've forgotten.
I made this one myself by recycling a messenger bag which had fallen to bits. The pockets were still intact, so I cut off the back (it's vinyl, so no hemming required!), unpicked the strap and turned it into a belt - combining the two plastic strap holders made a lovely simple buckle and a spare scrap of strap made a chunky belt loop.
Minimal sewing, did the whole thing in an afternoon. It's wipe clean and even has a 'secret' zip pocket on the inside!
DIY: Recycled Glass Chandelier
Glass jars make a beautiful lighting arrangement
Turn recycled glass jars into a holiday chandelier with these instructions from Casa Sugar. Toilet Roll Forest
Cardboard tube art
There's no shortage of materials available if you want to try your hand at making a Corner Forest artwork for your home - it's made out of toilet roll tubes!The designer is Yuken Teryua, and you can see more of his work on his website.
Junk Mail Art
Unwanted direct mail becomes a work of art
November 15th is Junk Mail Revenge Day, when people all over the world are being encouraged to return their unwanted direct mail to the advertisers who sent it. Lets see how they like getting a lot of pointless post!But if you'd rather do something more creative with your junk mail, try out this tutorial for making beautiful junk mail art.
Semiprecious Salvage
Creating Found Art Jewelry
Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found Art Jewelry
Amazon Price: $15.63 (as of 07/10/2009)
"Semiprecious Salvage shows readers how to think beyond the techniques taught in traditional beading and jewelry books in order to create found art jewelry. Mixed-media applications like sewing, plasterwork and altering found objects tie together to create jewelry pieces such as brooches, pendants, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and belts. In addition to thought-provoking stories on the origination of some of the found items, Stephanie provides the reader with practical jewelry-making techniques that they can incorporate into their own inspired pieces. A simple, organic approach gives the reader limitless ideas for crafting their own jewelry as well as ideas for locating found items whether it be on a nature walk, one's travels or in the comforts of home."
Newspaper Furniture
Chairs made from nothing but newspaper
Via Inhabitat, the very cool furniture that David Stovell is making out of carefully rolled newspaper - something that could be done at home if you have the patience! Handmade notebooks
Love notebooks? Make your own
Make your own pretty pocket sized notebooks out of scraps of paper, card and paper fasteners, by following the instructions online at espirit cabane. Keyboard jewellery
Wear an old keyboard with style
Got a tired old keyboard? Turn it into a funky necklace, or some rings. Or maybe you could glue on some little magnets and have some fun with the fridge. Either way, you'll probably have to give those keys a good clean first! Bottlecap Lampshade
Cap off your recycling efforts with this funky lampshade!
Collect 128 plastic bottle caps to make this ultra-fashionable lampshade for your home. You'll also need some brass wire and a hammer and nail.Use a low energy lightbulb to protect your creation and also help save the planet!
How to make plarn
Knit or crochet with yarn made from plastic bags
How to make Plarn!
A quick little tutorial on making "plarn" - plastic yarn made from grocery bags. You can crochet or knit with it to make environmentally responsible upcycled trashion items. Woohoo! Visit http://www.aephemera.net to check out the blog that this video is to be featured in.
Runtime: 2:30
21237 views
10 Comments:
Recycled jeans rug
Give your cast-offs a new life as a rug
Another easy idea, from This Recycled Life, is to turn your old jeans into a fantastic rug for your home. There's lots of great ideas on this blog, too, including turning your junk mail into envelopes and using recycled fabric to make everlasting flowers. Recycled cork board
A good excuse to open a bottle of wine
Wine bottles with corks are increasingly hard to find these days, but buying bottles with corks supports the cork growing industry - and the environmentally friendly environment in which cork is grown.This recycled cork board is a nice way to reuse corks that you've collected. If you're not a big wine drinker then you might need some help collecting enough! It's easy enough to make - simply stick corks to a suitable backing board.
Wine box hedgehog house
Make a winter home for wildlife
Make a winter home for hedgehogs out of a wine crate, or other untreated timber scraps, using these instructions from Gardeners' World magazine. Plastic bottle decor
Turn empty bottles into a room divider
Michelle Brand strings together the flower-like bottoms of plastic bottles and turns them into designer interior decorations!Her pieces start at £65, but if you collect enough plastic bottles there's no reason why you can't make your own!
Recycled garden lantern
Brighten up your outside space
Fine Gardening have got step-by-step instructions to turn an old tin/ can into a stunning garden lantern. There's even a demonstration video! Tetrapak Coin Purse
Save your pennies!
Espirit Cabane have come up with another set of crafty recycling ideas, including this awesome coin purse, which is really easy to make. Chopstick soap dish
Saving your soap
Fed up with mushy soap? Worried that those disposable chopsticks are harming the planet? Kill two birds with one stone and make your used chopsticks into a cool and eco-friendly soap dish. Your favorite creative recycling sites
Sites which help people to turn trash into treasure
esprit cabane, the magazine of crafty & green living ideas
The web magazine of crafty & green living idea more...0 points
Crafts from Recycled Stuff
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Recycled Crafts - Free Projects and DIY Gift Ideas from Craftbits.com
Recycled Crafts - Save the environment or your mon more...0 points
This Recycled Life
Thank you for your visit to www.thisrecycledlife.c more...0 points
Crafty Crafty
Your guide to all things crafty, including knittin more...0 points
Holiday craft projects
Projects for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays
- Countdown calendar
- Make yourself an advent calendar for Christmas (or a countdown calendar for Thanksgiving, the Winter Solstice, Chanukah or any other holiday) out of cardboard toilet roll tubes. Tutorial from maya*made.
- Newspaper bunting
- Make your own decorations for any holiday, out of newspaper, using the tutorial and templates from maya*made
Previously featured projects
Odd ideas don't die, they just fade away
- How to make flower pot creatures
- Turn old flowerpots into garden friends
- Recycling washing machine drums
- How to recycle a washing machine drum into a metallic drum pouffe. A wheeled ottoman which can be used as a stool or toy chest.
- T-Shirt Underwear
- Give old t-shirts a new lease of life by turning them into underwear!
- Recycle Lamp-shade - Video
- Recycle an old book into an amazing lamp-shade.
esprit cabane magazine
the magazine of crafty and green living ideas
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Recycled craft projects from Thrifty Fun
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If you've seen a cool recycling idea, let us know :)
momof7 wrote...
Seeing the recycled blue jean rug reminds me of a blue jean quilt a friend made for daughter. Delightfully heavy and rugged, it's her favorite bedspread. Good job on the lens. Lots of thoughtful ideas.
Posted July 04, 2009
Wysiwigs wrote...
What a wonderful collection of crafts; I'm definitely going to try that coin purse! Very nicely done :o)
Posted June 21, 2009
a_willow wrote...
You collected some cool ideas here! Love it! You're invited to submit this lens to Reuse it all! group! And leaving you an angel blessing for promoting great thing - reusing! :)
Posted April 09, 2009
only1bub wrote...
Love your page - you've got some great ideas here and looks like you put alot of work into it! I included a link to it on my page coming up tomorrow "13 ways I saved the world" which is about recycling. I thought your page would be a nice addition!
Posted February 21, 2009
StephenC wrote...
Terrific lens. I wrote an article on how teachers can create a green classroom. One idea was to reuse trash for art projects. Nothing new about that, but I did reiterate that one must make art out of trash that will be kept! If you toss it away, it defeats the purpose. Love this lens!
Posted January 27, 2009
by EmmaCooper
You can check out my gardening blog and some more of my gardening articles on my website: http://coopette.com
I also produce a podcast called the Alter...
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