Paper Bag Gift Bags

Recyclers-Anonymous fabulous idea we wanted to share with you ... this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

 This was a little more complicated than we expected, but once you figure it out, it's not difficult at all.
Things you need:
2 pages Newspaper
Jute or Ribbon
Stapler
Index card
scissors
Plastic bag (optional)
Pen

Start by stapling the open end of the folded newspaper, approximately one inch apart all the way across. 

Fold about an inch down and then flip it back over on the other side and fold it back in the same crease.  Then go to the other side and do the same thing.  Tuck in the sides and make flat as in picture below.

Staple along bottom of bag.  Then do the same folding technique on the bottom of the bag.  Reshape bottom to create bag form.

Cut the index card in half and put two holes in them with a pen.  Then put index card inside the bag near the top and make small holes in bag to match holes on card.  Put jute through holes and tie on the inside.

Simple Greenhouse or potted plants

Recyclers-Anonymous fabulous idea we wanted to share with you ... this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

 Using an old Food Container and an old butter dish we created a little herb garden.
Materials:

Old food conatiners
Seeds
Screwdriver or something to poke holes







 First thing that you do is to poke holes in the bottom of the container that you will be planting your plants in. The reason for this is when you water it you don't want to drown your plants so the water needs a way to get out of the container.

Then if you want to make a greenhouse you need to also poke holes in the top of the container top. Also if you want to make a greenhouse you need to make sure that the top is clear and see through so that the sun can get through.

After you have the holes you just put the soil in, and plant the seeds. It is as easy as that and is a great way to get rid of old food containers.

Burlap Type Sack into Shopping Sack

Recyclers-Anonymous fabulous idea we wanted to share with you ... this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

This is an original today. 

Earlier this month Lindsey mentioned a friend of mine had let us go through some of his stuff and we came back with some treasures.  This is one of them.  He works with farmers and received these sacks, similar to burlap sacks, but made of nylon material.  So we transformed them into a shopping sack.This was pretty easy.

Distressed T

Recyclers-Anonymous fabulous idea we wanted to share with you ... this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

I came to this idea because I wanted to make a tie-dye shirt with some yellow dye I had purchased at the store. I didn't let it dye for long enough so it came out distressed looking, and I thought it still looked really cool. Also this season all kinds of T-shirts are in season, and this is an easy way to make a recycled one that is cheap. 

Materials:
T-shirt ( I used a mens undershirt, which we usually have around our house because my brothers grow out of them)

A box of Dye
Twisty Ties










First thing that you do is to mix up the dye, and to do that you just needs to read the directions on the box.

 This is what my yellow dye looked liked when I mixed it up.

Then you use the twisty ties to tie around the shirt in all different areas. When I tied on the twisty ties there was no rhyme or reason, I just tied them on wherever i felt.

 

Then you dip the shirt in the yellow dye. 

And mix it around with a spoon, for a minute or so. I did not do my shirt for very long because I wanted a pale yellow.







Then you take the shirt out and rinse it, the box will tell the instructions of what to do though.

Then you take off the twisty ties, and see your end result. I washed and dried my shirt, and then it was ready to wear.

Jazz up Flip-Flops

Recyclers-Anonymous fabulous idea we wanted to share with you ... this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

I know that everyone has those plastic flip flops that you can buy almost anywhere. I have a pair in my closet for when I go to the pool or when I need shower shoes. Lets face it they are just not the cutest sandals out there. Well with some imagination and some supplies you can defiantly make them cute.

Materials:
Extra fabric

Old Flip-flops
Glue gun
Scissors
Optional: Beads, jute other items that can be used to decorate sandals.


When we decided to make these we both just used our imagination, and maybe others that we had seen as inspiration. We didn't want to make the same ones so we put all of our supplies on the table and got creative.  The girl that I was babysitting decided to tie fabric scraps around the straps of her sandals. This is really easy all you do is double knots with the strips, its really easy and fast, and there is no glue involved unless you choose to put beads in the middle.

The sandals that I decided to make were a little harder to make, but not by much. I choose to glue fabric around the straps of the sandals.

When putting the fabric on the thongs make sure that you put the fabric on in a way that it is evenly distributed on both sides of the strap.

When you start to fold under the strap you have to make sure that you fold under the fabric so there are not raw edges. This makes it so that you do not have the frayed edges when the fabric starts to unravel.

Then on mine I lined the brown fabric with jute just to give it a little bit extra detail. Then you have a cute new pair of sandals!

In a Clutch Hobo Bag

Recyclers-Anonymous has a fabulous idea that we wanted to share with you ... 

this project may be an original or borrowed idea.

In a Clutch Hobo Bag

Let us start by saying Happy Birthday Mom and Yaya (both the same person).  We love you!

This idea came from an older crafting project we saw done with a scarf, but we changed it up just a bit. 

This is the cutest and easiest bag you will ever make in just a few minutes.  

Supplies:

Fabric, a piece of square fabric or square scarf (approximately three feet wide is what we used)

Tie each corner at least six inches down in a knot.

It looks like a turtle.  Now tie two of those ends together in a knot.  And adjust it so it is a cute bag.  Beautiful, easy and fast!

T-Shirt Necklace

This idea was one that was found on the internet, but it is a great way to get rid of those old t-shirts that are not wanted anymore.

Materials:
T-shirt
Scissors










First step in this project is to cut around the bottom of the shirt. You should cut a circle about 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. Make sure that when you are cutting that you are cutting a circle because that is what makes it a necklace, do not just cut strips of fabric that are not connected.

The picture above is about what your piece of fabric should look like once you have cut it. 

The next thing you do once you have cut the desired amount of circles is to stretch them. When you stretch the fabric it makes it into a tube like structure that looks more finished.

Then after you have done this to all of your strips you put them together and be creative. There are many different ways that you can mix and match these strips. You can even pick different color shirts to mix with or add accessories.

Savvy Scarf Holder

This idea came from my friend, Ange'.  She saw the paper ring trash can and thought this might be a good project, so we tried it.  

Cute Jar Lanterns

Thanks to one of Mom's friends from work, we obtained a lot of new recycled stuff for today's project, and more to come. He gave us a ton of things that we could pick and choose from so we were very excited. For the first project we chose to use an old pasta sauce container to make a candle votive lantern. Here is a picture of the final product we had hanging on our porch.With the flash of the camera it is hard to see that they are lit but they are.

  Here is another picture without the flash, so that you can see them glowing.

Materials:
Recycled Clean Pasta Jar Containers
Votive Candle
A Recycled Cable Wire that you do not use anymore
Wire Clippers
Utility Knife
Pebbles, Rocks, Marbles, Shells, or anything that can be put at the bottom of the holder

The first step in this project is to separate the copper wires inside of the old cable. How we did this was we used the utility knife to cut a little slit in the white plastic until we saw that colorful copper wires underneath. We then pulled them away from the white and they come loose pretty easily. This part is defiantly not for kids because of the big razor or knife that is used.

Now when you open up the cable you notice that there are usually different colors of wire underneath. We had four different colors and they were green, brown, orange, and purple. For our two lanterns we used the orange, brown, and purple. To measure how much of the wire that you need, you should wrap the wire around the top of your jar at least four times. This will ensure that you have enough to make it secure and make your loops to hang it with. You will also need about one and a half separate wraps of either the same color or a different one in order to make the hanger.

The next step is to wrap as tightly as you can the wire around the mouth of the jar. We wrapped it around 3 times, and then made sure it was tight, because you don't want your jar falling.

After you have it wrapped you then, make loops like shown above. Make two that are on opposite sides of one another. Make Sure that if you lift your jar up by the loops that they are balanced because if they are not the jar will lean.

After the two loops are finished you then will make a little hanger to go into your two loops, to hang the jars up with. Use the one and a half extra wire that you cut to make the hanger.

After that fill with the stones, pebbles or whatever you got to go on the bottom, put the candle in and Voila a cute Votive candle holder!

By the way the box in the back is all of our new recycled materials for crafts in the future, YEA!!!!