fellow crafters. Do you recycle or do you buy new products to craft with.

Wow, funny you should ask this right now. I've just looked at some sites on recycling yarn. There are several good sites that explain what type of sweaters, etc, to look for and how to unravel it to make 'new' items. Apparently a lot of people do it as you can even buy recycled yarn on eBay! I'm going to check out my local thrift stores and see what I can find. Might be able to pick up a cheap sweater for a buck or two and make scarves or neck warmers with them (my new favorite thing). Quality yarn is very expensive and I would never buy it outright. This is a great way to try them without spending a lot of money.

Yes. I recently used recycled jars to make into easter gifts. One was a preserves jar the other a spaghetti sauce jar. I replaced the labels and filled them with candy.

I always try to make do with what I have first. I try to find new used for everything and when I am getting ready to throw things away I amke sure I dont need it for anything else first. I love to make things out of things that might have been trash otherwise. It really tests your crafting ability to make something from nothing.

I put together Native American crafts and use both new and used materials in my projects. Some things such as animals parts (sharks jaws, leather etc.) are used but other things such as beads (not all though) are new. Any time that i can use recycled material I will but some things cannot be found as recycled items or at least when they are needed.

I recycle as much as possible. Water bottles, baby food jars, paper towel tubes, clothing, old CD's, glass from picture frames, jar lids, scoops from coffee cans, shoe boxes, oatmean canisters, you name it. I mostly craft for my own use, and sometimes as gifts, but I am thinking about making things to sell. I'm very timid about that, but I think it's worth a try. I have an article on AC about making homemade musical instruments with household items. The link is in my profile if you would like to read it.

Oops, forgot to mention buttons! Some of the things I'll be making will look good adorned with pretty buttons, but that's another thing that can be very expensive. I'm going to look for buttons on garments in the thrift stores as well. A sweater might not be the right fabric to unravel, or not the right size/color for something I'd wear, but if it has really nice buttons I might pay a dollar or two for it. Of course I'll go through my own items first and cut buttons and zippers before tossing something out.

I nearly always recycle. It doesn't seem right somehow, to go and buy some stuff and put it together and call it a craft! But I did buy a sheet set at the Goodwill store recently ($6) - a really pretty red and white check, of all things - and I made a table cloth, curtains and 8 napkins from it. I still have material left so I'm going to see if I have enough for another table cloth, but if not, maybe something decorative to go with the set.

I sew and yes I do recycle things...clothes that dont fit or don't get worn anymore I either use as scraps for different things or I alter, resize, add to etc etc and make totally new clothes usually its just something simple like in the pics

I am a total craft-a-holic! I love drawing, painting, beading, sewing, working with clay, making candles and soaps, making greeting cards...tons of things! I finally have all my craft items put in their proper place. Took me a while, but it's so much easier now. I save just about everything and anything. I save scrap cloth I have left over, buttons, beads from broken jewelry, clips and hooks and fasteners, candles, soaps, bits and bobs...! I love buying new things, but I do buy them on sale. Especially paints and paint brushes because they can be expensive. I save chop sticks for stuffing things or making small hangings. Crafting is so much fun...and to me it's even more fun to know I haven't spent a fortune to make something! Happy crafting!

I don't recycle with all the crafts I make, but I do use beach glass in quite a few of my jewelry creations. For anyone who doesn't know what beach glass is... it's mostly glass that was dumped in the ocean many yrs as garbage. Tumbling around in the salt water and sand for decades, the bottles break into shards and the shards into smaller, rounded pieces with a beautiful frosting (the frosting comes from the combo of salt water and sand "leeching" chemicals out of the glass during it's stay in the ocean) Beach Glass jewelry has become very popular with the "Go Green" community! I buy some costume jewelry and re-use the beads in my creations and I also have a couple of suppliers who recycle glass and make them into beads. Blown glass beads are wonderful items, rarely can the process be duplicated, so they are almost always one-of-a-kind pieces. Rather than throw old sweaters out, I will reuse the yarn to knit scarves when possible and I've donated quite a bit of yarn from old sweaters to knitting clubs that knit scarves for the less fortunate.

I usually use things from nature. i love the beach and coral, shells, driftwood, beach glass, coloured seaweed. I also like to recycle household items into handy new things. A friend of mine can make a padded foot stool with 5 baby formula canisters she buys all these pretty fabrics and people love them.

I usually buy new items but I try to find clearence items. Occasionally I will use some scraps or pieces left over from previous crafts. I always cut the buttons off old shirts before I throw them out. I also love to sew, i find it relaxing and makes me fel very creative.

I keep a big box, and into it I put anything that I think can be used somewhere. i don't necessarily use things straight away, but it's great to go rummaging in there & find soemthing perfect that I'd forgotton about! I keep scraps of cloth and pieces of binding and ribbon, pretty buttons, broken jewellery, jigsaw puzzles, monoploly money and other games pieces, greetings cards, old maps, shiny papers ... the list goes on!! Lots of my craft stash gets used by the children when they are making their own cards. I also enjoy doing collages with them. I generally just pick up ideas for crafts when I'm browsing the net, and see if I have the things I need. The last thing I made was a picture frame made from jigsaw pieces stacked up on top of each other to give a 3D effect, then sprayed. It looked suprisingly good and cost me nothing apart from the paint so I was doubly pleased.

I sew a lot ....but im always salvaging bits of material from charity shops!!...the price of new fabric is soo high... I like to patchwork..ive done quilts,but I only use scraps...it seems daft to just go and spend a fortune on fabric just for a scrap quilt!!! plus i beg and borrow from my family!!!

I recycle items for my crafts whenever I can. Sometimes I have to buy them new though. I mostly make crafts for my own use and to give as gifts, although I have sold some of them.