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I’m always peeking at the recycled-and-upcycled offerings over on Etsy – and today I found this great looking pendant light.
It’s made from a colander! And a lot of careful craftsmanship.
Look at all the positives: it’s recycled (a colander!). This could have gone in a landfill – and it shouldn’t have – and it didn’t. It’s handmade, which is always a good thing. (There’s enough big box stuff out there already). It uses the new energy-efficient CFL bulbs. It’s unique. It’s affordable – a pendant lamp for your place and even with the shipping, it’s only $55? Oh yeah, this is of the good.
And of course the most important thing – it LOOKS GOOD.
It’s available from SpokenStitch on Etsy – go over there and take a look, they’ve got lots of goodies, both recycled and handmade. Totally worth checking it out!
Think how great this would look in a loft space. Or a farmhouse kitchen. Or over your dining room table. (Or mine!)
You get the idea I like this lamp? I really really do 🙂
I found another great idea over at Design Sponge – truly one of the best inspirational sites you can find. This particular post shows you how to create a desk and/or wall organizer from cardboard boxes.
You know all those christmas packages with the boxes and the packaging you were just going to throw away (in the recycle bin, I hope). Don’t toss them! Convert them into an ultra-useful organizer instead. Like this one:
Start with empty boxes like this:
The full post at Design Sponge shows how they did it. Here’s one crucial clue – how to cut your boxes. I figured a pic would make more sense than trying to describe it!
It’s totally worth reading the whole post. One note – in that article, she wraps the boxes in wrapping paper before mounting them on the backing. Me, I think I’d just spray paint the whole arrangement. But either way would work.
And either way would (1) be free (or practically free, if you have to buy some paint, or maybe glue). And (2) it would give you a jump start on organizing all those odds and ends you keep *saying* you’re going to organize.
Do it! It’ll look great, it’ll help clear away clutter, and it’s cheap – or free!
Now this is very cool. Take an old phone book (yeah, we’ve all got them, and who uses phone books anymore?) – and turn it into a useful, funky, and attractive pencil cup holder for your desk.
I found this nifty idea over at Chico and Jo’s Blog and they have pages and pages of terrific do-it-yourself ideas.
Of course they also show you how to do it, and as you can see, you can use the phone book “au natural” or choose your own colors. And you’ll probably think of other variations to make it your very own.
So – a useful and decorative way to get a little more organized, and if you’re like me, you can really use THAT.
And it’s fun, and it’s recycled, and it’s practically free. Too cool!
I’m a member of Craftster. It’s a wonderful place to go explore ideas for do-it-yourself craft goodness – but I don’t mean “just crafts”. I mean glass work and recycled furniture and how to make a wedding dress and probably everything else you can think of.
How to make shoes. There’s threads and tutorials for those. So yeah, there are a gazillion good and useful and fun ideas to explore. You should go there and explore and learn and have fun.
But this! This one blew me away. It’s a prom dress. And as you can see from the pics, it’s a gorgeous prom dress.
 
Isn’t it beautiful (so is she!) And here’s the kicker: she made this dress from ribbon – and recycled pop can tabs, and she got inspired to do a plus size prom dresses as a collection. I am serious. LOOK at that dress! It’s lovely. It fits beautifully. And yet! Pop can tabs! Here’s a closeup of the “fabric”:
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Truly, you want to go read the whole thread. You don’t have to be a member to read the articles. It’s just that you will want to be a member after you see all the goodies over there!
And here’s a side note I thought was pretty interesting: she’s in high school – a junior if I remember correctly (if I’m wrong I’ll come back and correct that!) She had made another recycled prom dress the year before – out of Doritis packages. Really. And her principal told her she couldn’t wear the dress to her dance – possibly he thought she was going to Make a Statement, or do Something Outrageous, or whatever.
After he saw the dress he apologized to her. Publicly. And allowed her to wear the dress.
I mention this only to say: this girl has grit, and determination, and the willingness to See It Through. And she’s either talented, or knows how to get talented people (family) to help her, or both. And she’s beautiful.
We should probably keep our eyes open for her. She could go far. She can do anything.
But most of all – what a dress!
Here’s a great example of indie design – fab style – and recycling too! This dress is from Amanda Vaughn-Redmon on etsy.
First and foremost of course, is that it’s a great-looking dress – it would be fun and flattering to wear!
Equally important in my book – she makes her garments in the U.S. (North Carolina) and she uses recycled/repurposed clothing for all or part of them. Of course that makes each garment one-of-a-kind, which is terrific too 🙂
Think about it – this is style at its best. It looks great, those fabrics would feel good and be super easy to care for (here, she’s used an old t-shirt, and slinky drapy poly knit) – and she’s taking what would otherwise be tossed away, and turned it into something fabulous.
Talk about a feel-good dress! Love it 🙂
This isn’t a new idea but I just found a great example of the classic “reuse cardboard containers” Do It Yourself idea:
Recycled cardboard container (this was oatmeal) into good-looking storage
Like I said, it’s a classic idea. Cover the cardboard with contact paper, fabric, recycled magazine pages (yeah, more recycled stuff!) to match your decor. Make a grouping of three or four of them, maybe – really your imagination’s the limit, and more storage is always good 🙂
Once again I’ve found great tips – this time it’s 50 Healthy Foods for Under $1 a Pound at The Daily Green – over on Yahoo. (Scroll down the page to find 12 Things To Do With Oatmeal.
There are tons of great tips, and cost-saving ideas over there – all green oriented. Really, check it out!
You know it’s fun to give presents, and it’s very nice when they’re all prettied up to make the gift even more special. And now I’ve found a way to make those fancy bows I used to buy. And to make them out of recycled paper – so (1) you don’t have to spend money on them, and (2) you can make them out of practically any paper so they can be as fun or colorful or unusual as you want to make them.
And it’s easy! Take a look at the results:
Make your own gift bows from recycled paper!
Now I can’t take credit for this – I found instructions at How About Orange Blog.
The blogger is Jessica Jones, and she gives full pics and instructions and even admits she just grabbed what she had on hand – in other words, you can do the same thing and adapt as needed. She’s got lots of other good ideas over there – go read, you’ll see how easy it is.
No more having the money to either buy the present or the wrapping/bows 🙂 Now you can find cool mag pics – fashion mag? Harley catalog? Phone book? (She used that one!)
Easy. Cheap. Recycling-and-reusing. Fun. And did I mention easy? This is of the good!
So first off I should say that I never use dryer sheets. I don’t think we need them (the only thing that ever gets static-y is the few silk things we’ve got, and I’m totally willing to deal with that). I think it is a deliberate Proctor-and-Grumble-ish advertising invention to make us think we need them. And, we have birds. The fake perfume in the dryer sheets is poison to birds (and to us too, only we are bigger).
But a whole lot of people do use them, and think they need them. So I’m just asking, if you buy them, please do reuse them! Turns out there are a bunch of nifty things to do with them. These ideas aren’t original with me – I’ve gotten this handy list from Daily Green Cheapskate over on Yahoo. (Love that name, by the way.)
 A few highlights from the “how to reuse dryer sheets” list:
1. Use them more than once. (Back when I did use them, years ago, this totally worked. They’re good for three-four washes at least.)
2. Anti-static dust wipes (use them to clean your monitor and TV screen – they’re great for that).
3. Pot scrubbers and sink / tub scrubs.
4. Dust-free blinds: Not only do spent dryer sheets make a handy wipe for metal and plastic blinds, but the chemicals in them help to repel dust.
5. Get your shine on: When used as a polishing rag, dryer sheets make mirrors and chrome appliances shine. They’re also great for cleaning windows and other glass.
They’re also recommended as sort-of-sachet. Put one in your glove box or underwear drawer so you can smell that creepy sweet scent for ages. (Can you tell I don’t like the smell? Yeah.)
Check out the full article here.
And for even more super useful info on how to go green easily, go to The Green Cheapskate Blog. There are TONS of good ideas there.
And it’s fun. And you’ll feel good about it 🙂
Okay, it’s not recycled paper – you know I like to recycle my fave medium – but it’s definitely recycled, and it is definitely art. Take a look, this is gorgeous!
This gorgeous display – wall art – cascade – was created by Michelle Brand via Green Design Girl.
I’m not suggesting you should copy her – but be inspired by her? Definitely. Can’t you see this in front of a window? or adapted to become, oh, the ‘door’ of a cabinet? (come on, work with me here). There will be ways we can take this inspiration and use it. If nothing else, hang it in front of a window.
(Don’t buy all those bottles though. Enlist everybody to save them for you.)
You know I love to hear about new ways to recycle paper, since paper is after all one of my preferred materials 🙂 I saw this totally cool idea that tells you how to make a “new” wastebasket out of recycled magazine pages!
 Recycled Wastebasket made with magazine pages
This is from Homemade Originals and there are clear directions included here.
You’ll probably think of a lot of variations on the theme – hey, if nothing else, you can take a wastebasket you already have and decorate it with magazine pages – not so original, but still a lot of fun. And all it costs is a magazine you’ve probably already got, and some glue.
Vive recycling!
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