Drinks bottles are getting easier to recycle in most areas, but 80% are still being sent to landfill and you can do a lot better by simply re-using them. If you're clean out of ideas on how an old coke bottle can improve your life then check out this really cute idea for turning old drinking vessels into instant fashion items. You could use this handy purse for carrying cash and other essentials around on holiday, and I can see it being particularly useful for storing headphones to keep them tangle-free.
Instructions on how to make it are here. You could even embellish it by adding googly eyes to make a fetching frog face! [Via Craftzine]
Related: Fresh and funky recycled jewellery for spring | Magic spoons. Lost any cutlery recently? | Crochet whale headphone holder
Shower puffs, like pipe cleaners safety pins and egg boxes, are a good example of those items that were inadvertently invented for crafty types. Yes, they do have that scrubbie-washing feature as well, but we all know that their real raison d'etre is to appear in your creations and make your friends go 'wow'!
Threadbanger have a great tutorial up today for how to make a dress that certainly has the 'wow' factor if you're daring enough to wear it! And with Christmas party season now upon us, now might just be the time to whip one up...
Related: Make a Robert Smith style shirt from a shower scrunchie | Project for a rainy day: shower curtain dress
Living in an age of low-energy, CFL lightbulbs, we all know that the old fashioned sort are evil, even if they do make better crafting supplies! So why not make that point by turning an old bulb into a wicked witch? It's a great way to recycle, and also a very quick and easy project for Halloween (and let's face it - time is running out!)
Your finished witch can be hung anywhere you like: maybe use her as a spooky bauble, or as a centrepiece in a halloween wreath. Just don't drop her, as she's very fragile!
[Via All Free Crafts]
Related: shake up old bulbs for fab salt and pepper pots
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Fashion doesn't come trashier than this...Kathy Kasdan has been using plastic bags to make amazing fashion items for some time now, and these are a couple of amazing pieces from her latest collection. The plastic is knitted, woven and melted together to creat the outfits.
What's impressive about Kasdan's work is that she doesn't purchase any materials to make them -- all this is the result of trips to the grocery store. It goes to show just how much plastic we pick up and discard every day. There are more examples of Kasdan's plastic bad dresses here.
Related: How to crochet with plastic bags
[Via Hippyshopper]
Bold shapes and opaque colours are all the rage in jewellery design just now, and one designer has come up with the bright idea of using billiard balls as a base for funky, chunky rings and bangles.
In Eleanor Salazar's online shop, everything you'll find has been hand carved from a used billiard ball. Eleanor got into the idea of recycling when she found out about the toxicity inherent in casting acrylics from scratch, and instead chose to focus on using existing items that already had the colour qualities she loves.
I've just discovered 'Recycled Cindy', who runs the blog My Recycled Bags: a great resource for anyone looking to knit or crochet plastic and other unusual materials to make eco-friendly yet stylish bags.
In the blog, she regularly features her own recycled bag creations along with step-by-step instructions on how to make them. She takes all sorts of raw materials to make the bags, including old denim jeans, crocheted polythene and even video tape ribbon (pictured). Ever wanted to know how to crochet a granny square out of old bags? Cindy will show you how. As well as the familiar tote-style shoppers, you'll find patterns for bags of all sorts here: clutch bags, lunch sacks, make-up bags and just loads more really inventive recycling ideas.
If that all sounds a bit too crafty for you, you can also buy Cindy's products here.
For those of us to whom sewing doesn't emerge as a natural instinct, here's a great project that's easy as pie, and will make use of an old pillow case.
Amy from Craft Chi made this one out of an old pillow case she found at a thrift store, that was too old and worn to sleep on, but already looked much like an apron! The pattern to follow is here, and in Amy's own words: "There are a lot of pictures so it may seem complicated, but this is honestly the easiest thing I’ve ever made. It would be a great project to introduce kids to sewing because it’s mostly sewing straight lines. I just included a few sewing tips of things I wish I’d known when I first started sewing that I picked up along the way."
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