Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

Few possibilities

Faraday cage wallet could be interesting or even phone cages using some creativity you can even add some candy wrappers.
Basic instructions below at wired.

Paint chip whimsy can be book marks,window decor or doorway chains( connect with paperclips for fun make them colored clips)
Use a hole punch for nice even clean cuts. Put 2 back to back add nice piece of cord and a piece of hardware to put on ceiling fans or light pulls.

The Expert answers:

There are a number of recycled craft ideas.
1. Using plastic shopping bags to crochet into door mats,
2. Using old cotton shirts, cut into strips and crocheting into rugs,
3. Pop can tabs to make purses and totes,
4. Large plastic pop bottles to turn into bird feeders,
5. Old forks and spoons hung to make windchimes
6. Using egg cartons for kids crafts like caterpillars, bugs, etc.
7. Taking paper shopping bags and turning them into masks,
8. Unravellling an old sweater to make scarves, mittens, and hats.

Google any of the above and you will find the instructions.

The Expert answers:

Here’s a very simple tutorial on turning an old t-shirt into a shopping bag.
Http://wildonionstudio.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/tee-bags-a-tutorial-to-recycle-a-tee-shirt-into-a-shopping-bag/
Here’s one on making a headband from a t-shirt.
Http://indigo-blue-designs.blogspot.com/2009/10/recycled-t-shirt-in-headbands.html
If you’re feeling daring, here’s a video showing how to make a bikini from an old t-shirt (lots of other cool recycled clothing projects at this site, too).
Http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Recycle-an-old-t-shirt-into-a-Sexy-Bikini-30426223
Good luck with your project – hope this is what you were looking for!

The Expert answers:

The knitiign ideas are good 😉 There are websites about recycled crafts too:

http://recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com/

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/index.shtml

http://www.makingfriends.com/recycle.htm

http://www.freekidscrafts.com/recycled_crafts-t27.html

I am sure you will find something at one of these sites 🙂

You can also use recycled materials to make your own greeting cards. Here’s a list of recyclables I put together for people to consider as card making or scrap booking materials:

http://www.papercraftcentral.com/recyclable-products.html

Have fun!

The Expert answers:

I know of some guys in Haiti who used an oil drum and cut it up, beat the metal flat and sculpted a tray and table from it. Very nice work.

The Expert answers:

There are a ton!
-Decoupage from old magazines and greeting cards
-Scrapbooking using recycled materials
-Knitting and crochet using reclaimed yarn unraveled from old sweaters
-Sewing with fabric from old clothes
-Creating candles from old candle stubs

Is that enough?

The Expert answers:

You could make little notebooks out of paper that would usually get tossed, like old printouts that only have writing on one side, or paper bags. Then you could use unique stuff for the cover, like old floppy disks.

Alternatively, have you noticed how, at the end of the year, perfectly good lunch boxes, stretchy book covers, locker shelves, binders, etc, end up in the garbage? Maybe you could do something with that, if this is a yearly project.

The Expert answers:

You can do a lot of fun stuff with bottles, both plastic and glass bottles. You can use recycled cloth and yarn and paper to dress them up and make them into little people. I once made a fish out of a blue plastic dish detergent bottle. You can paint glass jars to make them into decorative containers. Glass bottles also make great holders for candles. You can also use cans to make recycled crafts. One fun craft I did was to make a Santa Claus out of a tin can. But you can make anything you like with your discarded bottles and cans, for any occasion or no occasion. Just use your creativity, and if you have kids, get them involved.

The Expert answers:

You can use heaps of things again in paper crafting. I use clothing tags on my scrapbook pages and cards. I also cut out pictures from tissue boxes and use them as images for cards. The other day I cut down some Coke cans (washed, of course) and put them through my Big Shot to cut some tin leaves from them, which I then put on a card. I recycle ribbons and bows from presents and packaging. There is so much you can do with recycled products!

Here’s a page I wrote about recycling for papercrafting:

http://www.papercraftcentral.com/recyclable-products.html

I hope the list helps but if you look further around the site, you will see more things I have made from recyclables 🙂