Recycling and Craft Ideas.

Staysoft bottle – cut the neck off, mount to the garage wall (or inside of a cupboard) and use to store tools (or other) in.

Small glass jars such as baby bottles can become decorative candle holders – insert a wick, fill with wax and decorate to match the occasion.

Cereal or wine boxes – draw a line from two top corners almost all the way down to the opposite bottom two corners. Cut off this long corner and you will have a magazine rack!

Denim legs can be cut into pocket-sizes and sown closed to form ‘envelopes’ – stitch all these pockets on to a background and group together into an organizer or shoe-bag.

Favourite old t-shirts can be cut and sewn into pillowcases to match the childrens bunk beds. When the kids outgrow those wonderful items, recycle them for the room!

Vinyl record album to become an ornamental bowl. Place a large round oven dish into the oven, preheated at 150 degrees. Place the record on top and heat for 5 minutes (or until it starts melting). Remove from oven (wearing gloves of course) and model around the bowl while pliable.

Old bills and a cereal box can be used to make a notebook. Cut the 2 sides of the cover from the cereal box (to the sizes of the paper sheets) and staple all together.

Styrofoam (for example meat) trays are great for shrinking art. Colour and cut your desired shapes, place into an oven-dish and place into a preheated-to380degree oven until the shrink and curl. These are great for jewelry and other decorations.

Tires should be used in the veggie garden for your edibles or hang under the tree for your kids to swing in.

Toilet rolls are great for storing plastic bags for the car. Fill with bags and keep in the cubbyhole.

Tins (or any other object) with Magazine mosaics – cut up colourful pages from magazines and sort the different colours together in piles. Draw your picture on your container and ‘fill’ in with your colourful strips, gluing each piece down with white glue. Varnish afterwards.

Ice-cream containers make great shapes-through-the-hole toys for babies. Draw and cut (with a Stanley knife) a few shapes out of the container (lid and sides). These can now be pushed back through the holes by baby. Ensure the shapes are simple, big enough yet fitting easily through the shapes.

CD’s as canisters for candles look fantastic on tables as they reflect the light beautifully.

CD’s also make for great mosaic – break into pieces and jazz up an old tabletop.

Egg cartons and toilet rolls (wiggly eyes and pipe cleaners) displayed on a table for your kids to turn into characters, monsters and creative creatures. Give them a time limit to do it in – that always adds to the fun!

Boxes, jar lids, egg cartons and anything else you can find suitable can be used for and turned into a doll house. First, find your largest boxes (shoe or cereal boxes are great) and place them side by side – now staple them together so that when you turn them on the one side you will have a 2-floor building. Cut out your windows, make curtains and glue them in. Add furniture in the form of doilies for carpets, small covered boxes for trunks/beds etc.