Crafting From Trash

March 7, 2013 11:35pm CST
How creative could you get when you have many things inside your house that you decide to just throw away already but others see something in them that can be turned into an object for crafting? Like me, I have glass bottles of diffrent shapes and they are really nice, and I see or envision them to be dressed in laces or paints or sequins and later on become a home decor or a gift. My husband would always throw away things that are still nice and can be transformed when artistically handled. It takes a lot of imagination to do that and patience as well plus so much enthusiasm and interest in doing crafts. When I go to the crafts store, I would always imagine how I would turn my obsolete stuffs into something beautiful again.
5 people like this
19 responses
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
8 Mar 13
There are many things that get put away and say i will use it later but never do just because you just don't know what to do with it you never know what can be repainted and look new again I always think before I throw something away
1 person likes this
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
8 Mar 13
Like the saying goes someone's trash can often be someone else's treasure. What you may find no use for could be something to compliment someone's crafting ideas. Be careful what you throw away. You just might buy it in some other form.
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
8 Mar 13
Well i usually unscrewed all the electronics product that i am going to throw away, so that i could keep the screws and nuts which is very useful for me when i am doing a DIY project myself yea.
@Catkin (480)
• United States
8 Mar 13
I do this, too! Why toss hardware out that you can use later on as part of another project, when it saves you from having to probably buy the bits all over again? DIY projects are a load of fun, too...we can make just about anything we'd like, given the time, tools, and material.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
8 Mar 13
In inherited the love of taking something that was otherwise destined for the landfill and transforming it into something that is beautiful from my mother. When I was a child my mother taught my siblings, the neighborhood children, and myself to make sand art paperweights from used baby food jars. One of her most popular crafts that she sold at craft shows was Santa Claus faces and the base for those faces was empty bleach bottles. I don't want to be a hoarder, but I hate to throw something away when there is a great crafty use for that item.
• United States
23 Mar 13
I have a friend of mine who uses old tiles and glass to make table tops (mosaic arts). I also know that one can take old jeans, old t-shirts, and shorts and make them into bags or quilts. I think it is great you take old glass bottles and make them into art. I do have a suggestion though, with smaller bottles you can turn them into candle holders.
@nyssa102 (748)
• United States
26 Mar 13
I like your idea of making the obsolete useful again. They sell some on the craft sites under 'recycled art' or 'recycled crafts', sometimes it's called "junk Art". I think you should try to make one of these items that you are envisioning just for fun and see how it looks. I like to make vases out of plastic bottles. Very handy especially if you have a cat :)
@peavey (16936)
• United States
8 Mar 13
I do the same thing. Right now I'm making Easter baskets from plastic bags. I cut them into strips and braid them, then sew the braids into basket shapes. It's going a lot faster than I thought it would. I'm always saving things that others think of as trash, like facial tissue boxes, string and containers of all kinds. I use most of them to make useful things or just decorative things.
@buenavida (9984)
• Sweden
8 Mar 13
In our place, in the stores, we find lots of foods packed into plastic boxes. We can leave the plastic things to recycling, but some of them are the right size and shape we can use for some practical purpose. I have a small box of plastic that used to have cherry tomatoes, but now I put my cheese slicer there and have it on the kitchen table. It is always at hand when I need it, so I don't need to look for it in another place. Saves a bit of time..
@carolbee (16230)
• United States
8 Mar 13
Sounds very interesting. My mother use to save old bottles but added water in place of the perfume or whatever was in the bottle and then added some dye. Very pretty and simple to do. You have a creative mind it sounds like. I envy people who are able to think of these things and then follow through with their ideas. I work with plastic canvas and do create all of my own ideas. Many sold well at craft fairs and it was fun. Lately haven't worked as much on my crafts. Not enough time!
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
8 Mar 13
i would classify myself as a fairly crafty person and i have gotten a lot of great ideas on pintrest. the one that i like most that fits into your discussion would be the amazing stuff that they make out of packing crates. from book shelves to furniture, there are tons of ideas for those who have an imagination and follow through to put it together.
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
8 Mar 13
I think that it is a great idea to turn trash into crafts. I like to visit the websites where you can see pictures of the things that people have created from trash. If you are creative there are a lot of things that you can recycle. My mother-in-law has a neighbour who is an artist and she makes sculptures from things that most people would throw away. I have seen some of those sculptures and they are amazing. At the moment I mostly use old magazines in my art. Before I throw the newspaper and magazines away I remove the pictures that I can use in my paintings. I have recycled a lot of pictures from old magazines.
@natliegleb (5175)
• India
8 Mar 13
It is art i would say because i saw it somewhere it is more like paper art where people put more effort to make it sound crazy and creative
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
8 Mar 13
Starting when I became active with my online activities, I was not anymore able to do the things that I used to do before. I also love doing some crafts and recycling things. In as much as I wanted to do thins thing, my time would not allow me. I do appreciate those who have time for this activities. Have a great day!
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
8 Mar 13
I see alot of people making great craft things from bottle, and things. We make neat airplanes here from soda cans.
@kaka135 (14931)
• Malaysia
8 Mar 13
Ever since I started to make some handicrafts for my son, I always like to keep those "unwanted" stuffs that I usually would throw away, such as card boxes, papers, toilet paper rolls, etc. I just used newspapers to make a coloring pad for my son this morning. I did it together with my son, and we also wrapped the pad with book wrapping paper. I was amazed that my son wrapped the pad by himself, he saw how I wrapped a book yesterday, and he remembered! If you are interested in making the coloring pad, here is the link: http://thewonderofchildhood.com/2011/06/how-to-make-a-coloring-pad/
@Catkin (480)
• United States
8 Mar 13
I know of someone who has used plastic grocery bags, torn into strips, and turned them into a pretty neat jellyfish that you can hang up and even put a small light in if you want to use it at night.
• Philippines
8 Mar 13
If given a chance and time and resources for gardening, I would like to use plastic bottles for indoor gardening. I have seen some youtube uploads that gardeners used for indoor gardening and it was really great. With these handy items, you don't need to worry the stock of plastic bottles in the kitchen and use them wisely and efficiently in beautifying the house. I do like to create a green house background in our home and by this, I can start with recycling the bottles we have at home. It is true, being creative is needed, you don't need to buy expensive pots just to start a garden. You can recycle some items you have at home.
@offlimits (596)
• Philippines
8 Mar 13
That's very nice. It's always a good idea to recycle most especially that we can in taking care of our nature in our own way. I'm like that as well I would like to turn my scrap papers into something more useful like a new notebook but I don't have much time to make them. I wish I'm more creative with crafting though, because I usually make plain things that are somehow good enough to use again. Good day!
@Mavic123456 (21893)
• Thailand
8 Mar 13
wow.. this is nice I love crafting too, the thing I missed back home. I have one big plastic container full of crafting materials I love scissors and I love punchers. I am so like CRAZZY having them. LOL. but I am scared of this thing because I might end up being a PACK RAT, things that should be thrown still kept in. Make and give away