Saturday Seven - Upcycle!

Are you familiar with this term? To "upcycle" is basically to take something you might normally toss out and make it into something better. For a more thorough definition, go here.

I thought this would be a good topic this week in light of the rising gas prices. Here in Tennessee, it's up to almost $5 a gallon at the stations that still have gas at all. So, let's find ways to make our trash more valuable to us and do a little something nice for the environment, too!


1. Old Glove to Finger Puppets - How many times have you pulled out your winter basket on a cold day and found that you were missing a glove? The New New York Etsy Street Team has a great way to keep a glove useful after it has lost its mate here.


2. Cereal Box to Gift Box - I'm usually pretty skeptical about making anything out of cereal boxes as they tend to turn out pretty cheesy. This gift box from blightdesign passes the test! You wouldn't even know until you opened it that it used to be a cereal box. And by then, you'd be so impressed, you wouldn't even care!


3. Peanut Butter Jars to Super Cute Storage - I love that plumpudding has not just stopped at reusing these jars for storage. She has gone a step beyond and added darling ribbon accents that also keep the lids from getting lost! She's got about a million other really cute recycling ideas, so make sure to check out her blog.


4. Junk Mail to Mulch - Scroll down to #3 to see this great idea (out of 10) for using shredded junk mail for mulch.


5. Old Sweater to Yarn - Got an old sweater that's beyond repair (or beyond ugly)? Craft Leftovers has a great tute on how to recycle it for yarn. Also check out the link at the bottom of the page for felting ideas.


6. Newspaper to Play Hut - Even though I don't subscribe to any newspaper, I still get a couple of local ones each week. And when it's yesterday's news, well, it's yesterday's news. So turn your old papers into a fun play hut for your kids. From Pepper Paints.


7. Plastic Bottle to Flower Vase - Zakka Life has a tutorial on turning any old bottle into this simple vase using raffia. You could do a ton of variations on this, using different shaped bottles and string. Make one to match each room in your house!