Going Green: Crafty Ways to Recycle and Reuse Your Plastic Bottles

Plastic bottles have many different uses so reuse them instead of throwing them away. Less waste is always a good thing. Here are some ideas that will help you recycle your plastic bottles instead of throwing them away.

Plastic bottles can be cut in half in order to make self watering planters for seedlings. Fill the top of the bottle with dirt and plant your seeds in them. Making sure the dirt is packed in the bottle well, next remove the cap, and place the pot in the bottom half of the plastic bottle and water it. This setup will water the plant itself and require you to water the plant less. The plant will soak up the water from the bottom part of the bottle.

You can also cut the bottom part of a bottle and fill it with potpourri. To disguise your bottle hot glue some lace or ribbon around the top of the bottle. You can also add beads or strands of a fancy braid to the top in order to add some fun to the piece.

Plastic bottles are also helpful when making wind socks. Simple cut the ends of the bottle to create a cylinder. Paint it on the inside and poke 3 holes in the top of the bottle. Now tie 3 strings to the holes and make them into a knot. This is the part of the thread that you will hang the wind sock with. Now attach ribbons or strips of fabric on the other end of the tube. You can tie them into holes, or you can glue them on with a glue gun.

Plastic bottles also make great funnels. I particularly like to use the bottles that have handles. In order to make a plastic bottle funnel cut the bottom of the bottle off. You can make different size funnels with different size bottles.

You can also make ice packs with plastic bottles. Simply fill them half way with water and freeze them. Now you can have ice packs free and whenever you want them. You can also freeze different size bottles for different problems.

Another awesome use for plastic bottles is to make a chandelier. Simple make a hoop out of some wire, and string the bottles around it. This works especially well for bottles with handles, but bottles with regular tops can be wired to the hoop. Next you will need a string of lights and put a light in each bottle. Tie some rope to the top of the hoop and hang the lamp.

I hope these ideas inspire you to make things out of plastic bottles that you wouldn't normally make. Next time you are going to throw something out think about what else you could do with it!

Crafty Ways to Create Fun Sculptures Out of Trash

I love to make stuff out of recycled materials, and I am always looking for inspiration in everything. If you are like me you love art, and you hate to waste stuff. If you are like me you will love these projects because they are some crafty ways to use your garbage for good.

A great sculpture project that can you can make using stuff found around the house is a book sculpture. All you will need for this project is an old book, a pen knife, some markers, some paint, a piece of newspaper, and random fun stuff found around your home. All you will need to do stand the book up and open it so that some of the pages are grouped together. Now take the paint and spread it thickly over the book. I like to use paint that you would paint the walls in your house with. I find that this paint is thick enough to hold the pages together in the position you like. After the book has dried you can use your pen knife to cut holes or windows into the book. You can also use the markers to draw on the book or add fun details and patterns. Now glue the found items and you have a fun book sculpture that can be personalized with pictures and other memorabilia.

Another fun project is making a junk mobile. This is a lot of fun, and you can utilize all different things found around the house. The base of this mobile can be made using hanger or similar object that can be bent into a ring. Shape the hanger into a ring after you undo the twist in it. Next find some wire or fishing line. Dental floss also works very well for this project. Next find some fun things to hang from your mobile. I like to use old silverware, screws, bolts, and any other nice charms that will sound nice banging together. Remember to add beads if you like, and you can also bend the utensils into interesting shapes. This mobile is totally customizable, and it makes use of junk that is lying around the house.

A great sculpture project that uses found items is the dish shelf, and this project requires several different dishes such as cups, bowls, and plates, glue, paint pens, and different found items. I like to use different color dishes that have different patterns and designs. All you need to do with this project is stack the dishes on top of each other. Remember to start with the largest plate at the bottom. Next add a cup or a bowl to create height, and add another plate or bowl to create another level. You can stack these dishes as high or as wide as you like, but remember to glue them well, and make sure the shelf is sturdy. Once your shelf is created you can add details to it using found items and paint pens. Remember you can also incorporate tin cans and other interesting items found around your home to create levels of your shelf, and remember the more personal the better.

Creating sculptures are a lot of fun, and creating sculptures that are personal are even better. Remember it is better to make something awesome and useful instead of just throwing away your trash so think creatively not wastefully.

Crafty Collage Projects that Recycle Things Found Around Your Home

 

It is fun to create crafts using the collage method, and it is even more impressive and fun when you use items found around your home for these craft projects. I love to used collage and mixed media because you can create something amazing from many different pieces of things that would not have been very extraordinary in the first place. Here are some fun collage projects that will help you use some of your trash to make awesome art work.

One project that is a lot of fun and can help you use up your junk mail and magazines is recycled paper. First you will need a piece of screen or tulle fabric stretched over a frame. Next you will need to shred up some old junk mail or newspapers and soak them in water. After the paper turns to mush pour it over the screen, and let the paper dry. The best part of this project is that you can use the paper you created to make several other cool projects.

Another fun collage project that you can create using things found around your home is a table collage. This project requires a table, but you can use a small corner table or a large coffee table; any size table will work well for this project. You will also need a bunch of pictures and words cut out of magazines and newspapers. I enjoy using old mail and tags from products and clothing as well. Now simply cut out the pieces you want and place them in a fun pattern on your table. 

When you are happy with the pattern glue your pictures down. Remember you do not have to be afraid to overlap or mix pictures together in different orders to create separate images all together. For instance place all the pictures of similar colors in straight lines across the table and the patterned will appear striped. When you are done with this part of the project you must let it dry for 24 hours. After it has dried you must spray the piece with a clear sealer. Remember to spray it several times, and let it dry thoroughly in between applications. This table will be a special piece of furniture that you can treasure forever.

Collages are a lot of fun, and you can utilize the junk lying around your home to create a 3-d collage sculpture. First start out with an idea of what you want to make or the space you want to put it. If you can not decide on a subject for your collage start by putting together a couple pieces of junk that you find interesting. I like to use things that have fun colors or shapes. For example you can turn a plastic spoon into a flower by gluing several bottle caps to the round part of the spoon. You could then make several more flowers and put them into an old tin can. There are several different things that can be made using junk around your house. Landscapes can be created using a piece of cardboard and different size containers. Twigs can be used as trees, and pine cones make delightful pine trees as well. Let your imagination run wild when creating these collage sculptures.

There are so many fun collage projects that can be made using items found around your home. Instead of throwing away your trash, try to create something unique, personal, and beautiful. Remember one man's trash is another man's treasure, and there is always inspiration everywhere. I hope these fun projects help you reuse some of your garbage and have fun at the same time!

Have it All: The 2 Reason Rule and Recycling Your Stained Clothes with Tie Dye

Some of you may remember my post about organizing clothes for success and quick everyday use. Here are some pics of the results and some info on the 2 Reason Rule.

  After organizing all my clothes and making a pile of stained stuff that I did not want to part with, I decided to separate the stained clothes into 2 piles. One for tie dying, and one for doing galaxy prints.  This way I get to have fun and be crafty and save some stained clothes from the dump.

This is an excellent example of what I like to call the 2 reason rule. Basically, I find that if I have 2 reasons to do anything then I am much more likely to actually do it. It is the perfect combination of multi-tasking and motivation that I find is necessary if you are going to have it all.

I realize after the fact I should do before and after for the satined clothes so you can see how they looked, but most of them came out pretty great. I love these overalls; I used a basic spatter dying technique and added more teal later. I used some darker tan colors on the shirts to cover the stains, an I think the striped collar one came out the best.

Let me know your thoughts and ideas on tie dying, recycling, and if you find the 2 Reason Rule works for you. 

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