This month you’ve probably got some large tin cans hanging around – especially if you’ve been making pies in bulk with canned goods. This is the perfect opportunity to make lovely homemade Recycled Holiday Luminaries.

You’ve got lots of choices about how to reuse scrap gift wrap from last year. I was thinking you could make some adorable recycled cereal box houses, then dress them up for the holidays. Not only a cute idea, but something the kids could totally help with. You can make beautiful recycled gift wrap scrap cards. You can also create paper Christmas trees with recycled construction then cover them with ornaments made from recycled gift wrap.

Lastly you can use small scraps of recycled gift wrap around drink glasses at your holiday party or gathering. People can write their names on their cup without marking the glass and more easily tell them apart.

One of my favorite craft ideas is the Illuminated Wreath (shown above) that I saw at Real Simple. Grab a wire wreath frame and an old set of lights and you’re good to go. I realize the downside is the energy use, but you can limit that by unplugging this wreath at night when everyone heads off to bed.

A great useful reuse craft is to turn old holiday greeting cards into brand new gift boxes – seriously these are awesome and gift boxes can be expensive so this solves two issues.

What holiday reuse ideas do you have?

[Wreath Image via Real Simple; Homemade luminary image via:http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckmann/ / CC BY 2.0]

Post from: Blisstree

Recycle Holiday Goods Into New Decor

Crafters are using everything from vintage clothing to old watch parts to make some amazing pieces of work.

But have you ever thought about using old grain sacks in your work?

Fiber artist and jewelry designer Leslie Janson creates gorgeous jewelry and home accents using vintage burlap grain sacks – that would normally just get tossed into the garbage!

This is one of her sewn cuff bracelets, with an outside made from vintage burlap, lined with a soft vintage grain sack on the inside.  It’s accented with vintage crystal and metal floral bloom.

She also uses the grain sacks to create funky pillows – perfect for adding some country flair to your house.

I’ve seen some really interesting burlap sacks from coffee roasters – they’re used to ship the green, un-roasted beans from different countries.  It might be worthwhile putting on my thinking cap and seeing what I could make from those…

image: Leslie Janson

Post from: Blisstree

Fabric Upcycling from Old Grain Sacks

Megan Nicolay, author of “Generation T: 108 Ways To Transform A T-Shirt” has offered one of my lucky readers their own copy of her book.

image: Amazon.com

Generation T is all about using your resources creatively.  Why not transform a t-shirt into another piece of clothing, rather than having to buy it new?

As a special treat, here’s a sneak peak with instructions to create your own “Pin Up Girl” halter top – all you need is a pair of scissors.  This project doesn’t even need to be sewn!

image: Megan Nicolay

If you’d like to enter the contest, there are a few rules I need to go over first:

• The contest is only open to residents of the continental USA.
• One entry per person please.
• To enter, just leave a comment on this post, explaining why you want to win your own copy of Generation T.  Make sure to use a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.
• The winner will be determined by a random draw.
• The contest runs from August 18th, until midnight, September 1st.  I will hold the draw on September 2nd, and contact the winner privately by email.

Good luck!

Post from: Blisstree

Win A Copy Of “Generation T”!

This video tutorial is on how to make pompoms and pompom maker! Next school year is just several weeks away so you’d be busy waving those pom poms! Better learn how to make them. Saves you money!

Materials needed:

For the pompom maker:

• Old CD
• Popsicle Sticks
• Hot glue gun

For the pompom:

• Yarn
• Scissors
• Pompom maker

**STICKY: Join Bliss Tree’s Arts & Crafts’ latest giveaway: Win 1 of Rand McNally’s Pin Your Journey Maps!’

Post from: Blisstree

Easy Craft Project for Kids

Image: Cheryl

You can re-use your old DVD or CD shelves and use them as a ribbon shelf or organizer similar to what Cheryl did above.

This is what Cheryl has to say:

This is my ribbon storage. These 2 units were originally in my son’s room for his DVDs and games. When he needed a larger unit, I got them. To get the ribbon to stay on the shelves, I put the back shelf supports 1 level lower than the front shelf supports.

**STICKY: Join Bliss Tree’s Arts & Crafts’ latest giveaway: Win 1 of Rand McNally’s Pin Your Journey Maps!’

Post from: Blisstree

Green Crafts: Recycling DVD/CD Shelves

Re-using materials has always been fun in our family.  I grew up in an era when there wasn’t lots of extra money for craft supplies.  So my siblings and I created with used materials from around the house and out-of-doors.  I also did crafting with my daughter using “found” items.

Image: sxc.hu

“Green” crafts for St. Patrick’s Day:

• Cut shamrock from green wrapping and construction paper saved from previous projects.  (Families can keep a paper recycling bin or box like we do at many schools.) Make these shamrocks into place cards for the table, connect them for shamrock chains, paste them to a larger sheet of paper for a collage.
• Make leprechaun houses from “found” items, such as twigs, leaves, paper, string and stones.  (Some people call these fairy houses.)
• Save cards…greeting cards, postcards, holiday cards.  Youngsters can have such fun making their own cards, collages, mobiles, and more by cutting images from the cards.  If you have any old cards with St. Patrick’s Day designs, they’re very appropriate for this celebration.

What do you do for “green” crafts? We called it being creative with what we had on hand, when I was a youngster.  Or stretching our budget when my daughter was young and I didn’t have money for new craft materials.

Today we’re being “green.”

Post from: Blisstree

“Green” Crafts for Kids