Don't throw it away; reuse it!
Arts and Crafts Crafts are so satisfying because so much of life is mundane and routine. Creating something stimulates that part of my brain that lays dormant so much of the time. There's a story to tell about each project I do and looking at art projects I've made just makes me happy.
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JUICE POUCH PURSE I spied this terrific purse at one of my daughter's volleyball games. DeAnna Goodwin makes these out of juice pouches. It has fur around the top and is fully lined. What a fantastic way to reuse juice pouches! Great job DeAnna! If you want more information about her purse or other crafts, you can contact her at dehummer@yahoo.com |
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ART DOLL lace Please check my creations out at... |
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ROCK BOOKENDS These bookends are so EASY to make! I found plain, wooden "L" bookends at a garage sale for 50 cents, but you could use scrap wood to make an "L". Use wood glue and screws to attach, sand the whole piece well, primer and paint. I painted these flat black (reused paint I already had.) and then found two rocks with a flat side, stenciled the letters on (made my own stencils) and attached to the wood with epoxy. I epoxied small pebbles her and there to level the big rocks. Alternative
ideas: Stencil anything on the rocks: animals, leaves, names. Or use
round rocks and leave them au natural. Or, epoxy old railroad
spikes, car parts, cooking utensils, animal figurines, baseballs, an
old oil lamp, antique cameras, etc. You can use just about anything.
What is nice about the rocks is that they are heavy and will hold your
books better.
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ROCK MIRROR FRAME This is another easy project. I used a flat, unfinished mirror frame that someone gave me and covered the mirror with newspaper and tape. I gathered more rocks than I thought I would need and laid them out first. Then I glued each one using Gorilla Glue. The great thing about Gorilla Glue is it foams up through the rocks when it comes in contact with air. While it was still sticky, I poured sand from the sandbox and "mushed" the sand down into the glue. This is a very messy project that needs to be done outside. I was able to do about 1/4 of the frame at a time before I had to stop and pour sand on it because the glue had hardened too much. Then, I filled in any holes and let the whole thing dry flat overnight. It takes the glue a while to dry and the rocks will fall off if you try to hang it too soon. I didn't paint the frame first, but it might be a good idea if you don't want bare wood showing here and there. Alternative ideas: Glue shells, toy cars, unpopped popcorn, beans, hair barrettes, twigs, or old wooden thread spools. You can use regular white glue or a hot glue gun if you are gluing light items, epoxy if you are gluing very heavy items. |
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PUZZLE PICTURE FRAME My daughter made this picture frame at school. What a great, easy project to use puzzles missing pieces. I'm thinking Christmas present for Grandma, tiny picture frame/magnet for the fridge. What else could you glue puzzle pieces on to? A mirror frame, a wooden box? |
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FOR THE HOME
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GARDENS
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CAMPING
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ODDS & ENDS
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HOW DO I REUSE:
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T-SHIRT TABLE RUNNER Check out this table runner pattern that you can make from old t-shirts. I got this from EcoEmporia.com, a website I found on Twitter that has all sorts of resources for reusing and recycling! |
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Greetings Notebook Here's another great craft project from EcoEmporia.com. It's a notebook you can make from an old greeting card. I'm thinking Christmas present for Grandma! |
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CROCHETED BAG FROM PLASTIC FatBottomBags.com is a fantastic site that shows how plastic grocery bags can be made into beautiful crocheted bags. Christy Spangler is so talented and generously let me put a link to this tutorial on her site. |
