Number Twenty One: An Old Frame Into an Earring Holder
Caveat: This craft refers to a holder for pierced ear earrings only! But if you have an old photo fame laying around (and chances are that you have at least one) you can put some burlap (or whatever fabric you have handy that needs a home) around some cardboard, frame it and turn it into an upcycled frame earring holder. Of course, the best thing about an old frame that you’re upcycling is that maybe you can paint it to match whatever room décor you’re using … and then you can repaint it again when you change your mind!
Image via Popsugar
Number Twenty Two: Mesh Produce Bags Into Pot Scrubbers
We eat a lot of citrus, so often it’s better for us to buy the pre-bagged citrus like lemons or grapefruits instead of the individual ones. But then we feel almost guilty about the fact that we just purchased an unnecessary plastic bag container. We also dirty a lot of pots and pans, and those pots and pans need to be cleaned. You can imagine how excited we were when we found this DIY for upcycling your plastic mesh produce bags into pot scrubbers. And we can attest that this one has been tested and works remarkably.
Image via Popsugar
Number Twenty Three: Plastic Milk Jugs Into Watering Cans
Even organic milk is often sold in plastic jugs, and while those plastic jugs are easy to recycle, you can save yourself a watering can purchase with an easy and quick DIY to upcycle plastic jugs to watering cans. The water will be a sprinkle, which is also great if you’re trying to be responsible about watering your plants or vegetables by making sure that you don’t waste too much water.
Image via A Journey to a Dream
Number Twenty Four: Plastic Soda Bottles Into a Jewelry Stand
Soda pop is very, very bad for you and we hope you minimize how much of it you drink. But that said, most of us like to indulge in the occasional soda. And because we’re all trying to limit how much soda we drink we often purchase our soda pop in individual twelve or sixteen ounce bottles (we can save the debate as to whether twelve or sixteen ounces is really an individual serving later). Fortunately, those bottles are ideally shaped to then be reused with a metal rod to make a jewelry holder as you can see in this DIY tutorial for upcycled soda bottles.
Image via EPBOT
Number Twenty Five: Old Christmas Cards Into Holiday Ornaments
Receiving holiday cards is a lovely tradition that fills us all with warmth and happiness and connects people at least once a year in an ever disconnected world. But whatever do you do with all of those Christmas and Solstice and other cards after the season is over? You could recycle them certainly, but if we’re being honest don’t you feel just a little bit guilty doing that? Bless Martha Stewart (and all her faults, she’s only human) for creating this DIY to upcycle old holiday cards into ornaments. We love it!
Image via Martha Stewart
Number Twenty Six: Plastic Spoons Into a Wreath or Mirror
As much as we would all love it if nobody ever used plastic disposable spoons, most of us will at one point or another face an occasion where they make the most sense. Having an outdoor gathering for fifty or a hundred people? Chances are you’re using plastic spoons. But what do you do with them when the event is over? Instead of having people throw them away, collect them in a bin, clean them and then use them to make this cool upcycled mirror or wreath.
Image via Addicted 2 Decorating
Number Twenty Seven: Lemon Rinds Into Soaps
Just because something is organic material, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t value in upcycling it. After all, unless you’re composting it, it could spend years in a garbage bag before things are decomposed enough to make a difference. Hence our next two citrus ideas. The first is a way to make sure that your lemon rinds don’t go to waste by using this DIY to turn lemon rinds into cute soaps. They’re great for a guest bathroom or for a gift.
Image via Popsugar
Number Twenty Eight: Stop! Don’t Spiral Peel That Orange!
Our second citrus DIY upcycling tip is to turn an orange rind into a candle. We think that this one is especially great around the holiday time when you can use the interior of the orange to make juice to add to cider. But it works well any time of the year and chances are that you have all of the items that you need already in your kitchen. You don’t even need to buy candle wicking like you would with many other DIY candle projects. And these upcycled orange rinds smell so much better than store bought orange candles.
Image via Wikihow
Number Twenty Nine: Flower Petals Into Bath Salts
We’ve been known to try to steer you away from purchasing cut flowers from (most) florists for events like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. But you can’t control what other people do and it’s very possible that you’ll end up with a beautiful bouquet of flowers that will eventually … die. But those flower petals (particularly if the flowers were roses) can be easily upcycled as part of a homemade bath salt recipe. We like this recipe for homemade rose bath salts, but you can feel free to get creative!
Image via Popsugar
Number Thirty: Fourth T-Shirt Idea: Pillows
One of the reasons that we loved the upcycled sweater pillow we mentioned earlier in this list was that it was so soft to sleep on. The same is true of t-shirts that are upcycled into pillows, particularly if the t-shirt that you used was one that got a lot of love and was worn and laundered until it was perfectly soft. Much like the sweater pillows, our favorite upcycled guide for t-shirt pillows doesn’t even involve any sewing. Though if you are handy with a needle and thread, we say go for it and sew your t-shirt pillows for a longer lifespan.
Image via Snapguide
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