I Love to Create: Top 10 Must Recycle Items for Crafters!

Top 10 Must Recycle (and Repurpose) Items for Crafters

Us crafters love to make somethin' out of nuthin' but even during these eco-conscious times, there's a fine line between waste not and pack rat.  Here's my list of favorite household items to reuse and repurpose using a few staple craft supplies and a bit of creativity!

"Nature Calls" Ruffled Shorties

Knitted with yarn unwound from a thrift store sweater & hand-dyed.  Pattern in AwareKnits!

1.   Shipping Boxes: Cut-up boxes are great for use inside of t-shirts when decorating with fabric paints or markers.  They also make great canvases for kids' artwork!

2.  Consumable Containers: Glue vintage wallpaper over food and body product containers to create decorative holders for your craft bits.  Knitters, try drilling a hole in the lid, feed yarn through and close to keep a yarn ball from tangling!

3.  Magazines: Cut out your favorite images for endless decoupage, inspiration board and greeting card projects.

4.  Ribbons:  Save those gift ribbons to tie around plushie creature's necks, glue onto decorative vases or bind dried flowers with.

5. Curtains: Recycled curtains are a great resource for plentiful yardage of neutral or patterned fabrics.  Turn that fabric into journal covers, table runners or little girls' dresses.

6.  Window Screen: Staple onto over-sized frames to make an earring display, cut-up and adhere to a collage to add texture, or paint over to add a pattern to fabric or paper.

7.  Broken Dishes:  File edges of a pretty piece of glass or ceramic and drill a hole for a unique pendant, glue pieces onto a plain frame for decoration, or use multiple broken dishes to create a mosaic design for a tea-table top.

8.  Wrappers & Packages: Colorful food wrappers make great base materials!  Fold and weave them into a wallet, stick onto contact paper and sew into a tote bag, or glue onto cardstock for unique gift cards.

9.  Plastic Grocery Bags:  Make "plarn" and knit or crochet a recycled tote, fold and sew into  "quilted" place mats, or tie onto a wire circle to create an eco-smart wreath.

10.  Old Wool Sweaters: Unravel sweaters and custom dye yarn; repurpose yarn into new, knitted or crocheted treats; or felt, cut and sew sweaters into throw pillows, pet beds and more!

Craft.Rock.Love,

Vickie