October 06, 2006
Fiendishly easy
Here's a little silly I threw together while gorging myself on all those fantastic fall premieres. It's easy enough that an older child could make one (with bigger "mosaic" pieces advisable), and it costs literally pennies.
Mine used:
My photo probably makes it difficult to see, but the tray had perfect shallow "wells" to comfortably hold the mosaic and orange field, which is what gave me the idea!
Posted by jennie at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2006
Books for your books
Via Crafster, a thread on turning your old books into bookshelf for your new books. Tres cool!
Posted by spring at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2006
So eggciting.
I admit, I probably go through more than my fair share of Hapi cans. And, since they're such a nice size, and sport such a sturdy plastic lid, I hate to just toss them in the recycling bin.
And so, I wondered... how could I use them for the Easter holiday?
I think I've got it -- a much more permanent, capacious, and attractive take on the traditional plastic egg. Stay tuned...
Posted by jennie at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Build your own geodesic dome!
I love this -- build a weather-resistant dome shelter out of recycled cardboard triangles (and a bit of wood and rebar).
Posted by jennie at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Monster Mache
I love messy crafts, and Papier Mache has always been a favourite, so I think I'll have to have a go at creating one of these birdhouses out of a juice carton.
The Papier Mache Resource has tons of tutorials, and some interesting articles, the on-going weatherproofing trial will be useful for my birdhouse.
The article about recycling features an elephant that was made to promote recycling by my local Council. I'd like to make one of them for my garden, but I think the birdhouse is a more practical size.
Posted by celeste at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2005
I'm a Junk Medium
It's difficult to come up with creative uses for plastic frozen entree containers. As I was rinsing one out post Chicken Portabello, it screamed "black cat."
The results aren't terribly impressive, but they're moderately weatherproof, child friendly, and take like ten minutes to make. The rims are excellent for staple-gunning to the side of your house, too.
You just need sticky-backed craft foam, scissors, and heavy-duty tape (for reinforcing things that hang off the edge, like wings and tails). Oh, and a sharp razor, to carefully trim off just the foam backing that will touch plastic (again on things that hang off the edge).
Posted by jennie at 08:15 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
Cereal Shippers
We eat a lot of cereal. Even the bub pulls his weight in Cheerios, Kix, and AlphaBits. I've found that it's fairly easy to pry them apart (carefully) at the seams, and glue the flaps back together inside-out, for use as shippers or gift boxes.
Here, I've finished off the edges with stripes of colored electrical tape (I believe they have colored craft tapes that you could use just as easily).
It's still a good idea to cover that tape with another layer of clear mailing tape in the interest of strength, if using as a shipper. And nesting two or three different sizes might be wise, too - they're not the most robust things.
While still flat, you could stamp a design over the top and bottom. Or draw a fancy custom To:/From: box with markers, if you've the skill and inclination.
And of course you can use other shapes and sizes of food boxes, too.
Posted by jennie at 08:00 AM
September 17, 2005
Further justification for the caffeine addiction
I'm always on the look out for interesting things to brighten up my garden, so these Coffee Packet Plant Pots really caught my eye.
They also reminded me of an article I read a few years ago, before I had a garden, about someone using old paint tins, juice cartons, and even dolls heads with the tops cut off as plant pots.
The dolls heads were a bit too freaky for me, but I might try the other ideas.
Posted by celeste at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
Cereal Box Notebooks
My boyfriend does the cooking in our house, when I'm left to my own devices I live on cereal.
Which means I could make plenty of these notebooks from the Crafty Chica.
Posted by celeste at 11:42 AM