Halloween Water Bottle ideas

I know it's late to be posting this but I was just looking at some last minute Halloween ideas and I found these great ways to repurpose plastic water bottles into a costume.

Halloween Ideas

Savers/Value Village had some great Halloween decorating and party ideas last year.  Fortunately, I bookmarked that section of their site because they have updated it and I had to pull up my bookmarks to find these again.  As with the back-to-school ideas I posted last month, there are lots of examples of how to turn thrift store items into seasonal ones.  "Dolls of the Living Dead" and "Sinister Ceramics" are just a few examples.   The instructions can be downloaded in PDF format.  You may want to download them before this page disappears!

Stickerman

How can you reuse plastic produce stickers?  Here's an idea from Stickerman:

The Door is a Jar

Green Fashion

I follow Eco-Artware on facebook.  They have a couple of fascinating posts this week.  One is an article from treehugger about an art camp in The Hamptons.  The kids there participated in a recycled fashion challenge and created pieces like the one below.

The other post was especially interesting to me because I had just been considering how to reuse medicine bottles a few days earlier.  For me this is a wonderful example of how exciting it is to see something old and familiar used in a new way.  Go here to see recycled pill bottles by LilacPOP.

ReUse Connection

A splendid idea!  ReUse Connection is not live yet but according to the info they have up now, it will be in the next few months.  I predict it's going to be big!  In the meantime, you can follow them on facebook.


From the site:
"Have you ever wanted to get rid of something but didn't want to throw it away...and yet not known what to do with it?  Come visit ReUse Connection and see what people around the world do with everything from old shoes to chemicals to anything you can imagine.

Take Beth, who doesn't want her old CDs to go into the landfill. She posts "CDs" on RC, and global users tell her that they ReUse "CDs" as compact mirrors in their purses, as scarecrow substitutes in their gardens, or as paper weights after they glue them together.

Vintage Suitcase Friday!

Today I want to share a couple of my favorite repurposed storage ideas.  The first is made from 2-gallon water jugs.

by randofo at Instructables

Another idea to corral lots of odds and ends is from kcli and can also be found at Instructables.  

I love this idea!  Look at all those containers being reused!

Can't you just see this with smart looking labels 

and maybe a little Mod Podge action?

Finally, you really need to go see Apartment Therapy's Inspiration: Vintage Storage.  That's where I found this.

These are apple crates available from Baileys Home and Garden 

You should browse around there too! 

Lots of simple, lovely stuff.

It's not clear if they deliver to the US.

Time to link up!

Vintage Suitcase Friday! (and Plastic Bottle Caps)

Did you know that plastic bottle caps are not accepted at some recycling centers?  They are made from a type of plastic (#5) called polypropylene.  You can check Earth911 to see what type of recycling is available in your area.  It says my local Whole Foods accepts #5 plastic (and even Brita filters!) Also worth looking into is Recycle Caps with Aveda is a program in which caps are collected throughout the community, by salons, in school, etc. and then made into caps for Aveda products.

Kiwi magazine has a great idea for repurposing plastic caps.  I would love to find more ideas like this!

Go here to see the directions for making these super-fun magnets!

Time to link up!

"Cup" Cakes

Here is a wonderful, budget-friendly idea for making a little dessert similar to "Warm Delights".  I call it a "cup" cake because we make it in a coffee cup.  Though it's not nearly as cute as a real cupcake, it sure is tasty!

All you have to do is put 4 tablespoons of cake mix and 2 tablespoons of water in a cup and mix it up.  (Earlier recipes suggest adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of mayonnaise for "instant" egg and oil which you would normally add to the cake mix but I don't find it necessary.)  If you want to get fancy, mix something in before you microwave it: chocolate syrup, caramel, fruit preserves, coconut, chocolate chips, whatever.  Microwave for 30-60 seconds.  You could put a little frosting on it when it's done   The first one I made for my son was a yellow cake and after I microwaved it I put canned cherry pie filling on top.  He loved it!  It's perfect for singles or smaller families that don't want to make a whole cake or 2 dozen cupcakes at once (or fire up the oven on a hot day.  You know what would be a really good topping?  Ice cream!)  And it's much more cost efficient than buying the real "Warm Delights".  You can often find cake mix on sale for $1.  Here is my little repurposing tip: I have found that after you use about 8 tablespoons of cake mix (2 "cup" cake servings) the rest of the mix will fit nicely in a jar that originally held spaghetti sauce and you can just spoon it out when you want it.  Let me know if you try this or what your favorite variations are!

Repurposing Recyclables Part 1

I have a lot of SoBe life water bottles right now.  A lot!  I have been playing the Heads or Tails game online (hoping to win a MacBook Pro) and I keep winning buy 1 get one free coupons.  The SoBe drinks were on sale buy 1 get one free last week at CVS so I got a bunch for free (CVS paid for their "one" and the coupon took care of the other "one").

I have been playing around to see how I could repurpose thesebottles and here's what I've come up with so far.

Please pardon the grainy phone photo!  I tried cutting them and realized that they are most easily cut in a spiral.  I cut just a little of this one and left a cup on the bottom.  When I showed it to my 6-year-old he begged me for it.  It stretches like a slinky and might be fun storage for little things in a kid's room.

Here is one that I colored with permanent marker and then cut 

all the way instead of leaving a cup at the bottom.  Party!

A bugcatcher?

This was made by cutting off a top portion and inverting it into the bottom portion.  It's just one bottle, pay no attention to all those others you see!  I don't know if the opening is narrow enough to trap the bugs but in theory if you do this with a regular water bottle and put something in the bottom like juice or ripe fruit you can trap fruit flies and more.  It's based off similar ideas I have seen on The Idea Room and Instructables.  If you have any ideas for reusing SoBe bottles or any plastic bottles, I'd love to hear about them!

Turning "Trash" into Fashion

I was looking at some different repurposing ideas and came across this.  There are some interesting ones here but why do they have to call it "trashion"? *groan*

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Make Diapers and More from T-Shirts

I saw this news story of a woman who uses old t-shirts to make diapers, beanies and bibs (all from one shirt) and sends them to El Salvador.  Google has yet to reveal how to do this triple play, but here is a tutorial on how to make a diaper from a t-shirt from Natural Violet and there are scads more ideas on Hide Your Arms.  Like more ideas than I even had time to look at today.  You could learn how to deconstruct, recondition or cut up a t-shirt, make it into a wedding dress or make a customized silhouette t-shirt of your kids.

Special!

Vintage Suitcase Friday

When I was waiting to pick up a $3 desk from the back of a thrift store on Wednesday, I saw this:

Hear me in my best Haley Joel Osment confidential whisper.  No, I don't see dead people...

...I see potential.  (Which is, admittedly, both a blessing and a curse.  If my "rescued" pieces were felines, I'd be the crazy cat lady by now.  I need to start my own business.)

I wonder what was wrong with these suitcases that they couldn't even be sold in a thrift store.  Were the latches broken?  Make it into a pet bed!

Natural Home has a tutorial here.

There are so many ways to redo a vintage suitcase that I have chosen one to be the poster child for repurposed items in general.

Look, it's smiling at you.  Winking, even!

What could you do to make something old new again?  I would love to see your trash to treasure creations!  Come back next Friday to link up to my very own party: Vintage Suitcase Friday!

New Dress a Day

I heard about New Dress a Day from a friend today and I love it!  Marisa has some mad repurposing skills and is on a year-long adventure to turn a thrift store dress a day into a piece of clothing she can add to her personal wardrobe.  Inspired by Julie&Julia but lacking a passion for pheasant, she has sworn off buying new clothes and is instead dedicating a year and $365 to adding 365 items of repurposed clothing to her collection.  Go Marisa!

 

Members Only jacket makeover

 

Blue dress with polka dots

Great Ideas

Beckie at Infarrantly Creative has a great idea for making an Uncrustables-type sandwich and using the leftover crusts to make croutons.  Love!  Actually she has lots of great ideas on her site, including Great Idea Days link parties.  Here is the link to the March party and there is another coming up on July 9th. I can't wait!
Also check out her "Roadkill Rescues" which are pieces rescued from the side of the road (or otherwise acquired for free) and given new life.

100 Decorating Ideas and a Dog Bed

Better Homes & Gardens publishes a magazine I love to ogle at Walgreens:100 Decorating Ideas Under $100.  The summer issue is out and it's available only in stores.

There is no information on bhg.com.  The best I can do is point you to the facebook page.  There are definitely some Mod Podge Rocks-inspired pieces in this issue! You can see some of the photos from the magazine on the facebook page, but not the one I want to show you.  They took a table like this

and removed the doors and the top, painted the whole thing white and put a dog cushion in it!  Who knew it would make such a sweet dog bed?  p.s. I own the table above.  I got it for $5 at Salvation Army.  I have seen similar tables at other thrift stores for $40.  Look:

The truth is, a relative of yours probably has one in their basement and would love for you to take it off their hands.  Do them and your dog a favor by making it into a dog bed!

Library Bag

Another follow up to my Preserving and Repurposing T-Shirts post:

  I got this shirt for 99 cents at Family Thrift.  It's a child's large 

and I thought it would make a good throw pillow, maybe for the boy's room.

But then I thought it would make a good bag for library books, although being a child's shirt it isn't super roomy.  Plus if I change my mind later I can still make a little throw pillow out of it.  I sewed a French seam in the bottom of the shirt, which is just a fancy way of saying that I sewed the bottom together while the shirt was still right side out. This assures that you don't have unfinished edges after you sew it together.  Then I sewed the bottom seam right sides together.  Since t-shirt fabric doesn't fray all you have to do is cut off the collar and sleeves to make a bag opening.   

What do you think?

Custom Chalkboard Colors

Painting surfaces with chalkboard paint is a popular way to repurpose an old picture frame or even an old cabinet door.

Smitten Furnishings on Etsy

I have been thinking of making the door of an old spice rack into a chalkboard but I have been hesitant to bring that dark color into my sherbet colored kitchen.  Enter Martha Stewart's recipe for custom chalkboard paint!  It's made by mixing  flat-finish latex paint with unsanded tile grout.  See the article and recipe here.

  

Repurpose Frames with Radiator Grill

  

I have found two great ideas for using radiator grill to make an old frame into something new.  The first is a jewelry organizer from Lost Button Studio.

The second is this idea from Brooklyn Limestone for a mail center.  Go see it!

             

I love the cloverleaf pattern.

I had a hard time finding information about radiator grill.  The comments that I read indicated that you had to get it at Lowe's and that the people at Home Depot wouldn't know what you were talking about but I found the opposite to be true.  (I got mine at the Home Depot on Kingshighway.  It is 36"x36" and cost around $30.)  It is aluminum so see Brooklyn Limestone's little hack for using the bulldog magnets if you are making a mail center.

Sunburst Mirror

Wow, this is beautiful.  Can you believe that Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming made it with cereal boxes?  She has a wonderfully thorough tutorial.

Meal Planning Magnets

Today from The Red Chair Blog:  a great way to reuse junk mail magnets (those advertising pharmacies, pizza delivery, etc.) that will help you figure out what's for dinner.  The tutorial includes a free printable PDF.

I love this idea!  I don't know if I love it more because I am a visual person or because I would most likely lose a menu plan if it wasn't stuck to the fridge, but I love it!