Recycle: Pencil Holder {Tutorial}

If you happened to find some paper cores or paper tubes from your kitchen, toilet, badminton court, craft room or writing table, please don’t throw them away, … recycle them into these yarn wrapped pencil holder and get back to school!!!!

There are many sources that you can get the paper tube for free, just to point out a few….. from your cling wrap, aluminum foil, or kitchen paper towel in your kitchen; toilet paper roll; shutter cock tube after your badminton match; yarn tube, fabric roll tube found in your craft room; even thermal paper roll of the fax machine!!! Turn the trash into treasure and help mother Earth in reducing the dumping load. I got mine from the raffia yarns I made for the recent crochet straw projects, i.e. beach bag, sun hat and the daisy brooch.

I made them for a recent charity event and all of them were sold during the pre-sale. Many came back to me and asked for more…. so I made a “come back” but in a DIY way. This is so simple to make and if you have the materials on hand, it costs nothing!!!!

Let’s get to the how-to after the jump…..

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Recycle Tutorial: Woven Rag Rug

Thank you for all the great feedback for liking my Braided Rag Rug. I understand that not everyone has a sewing machine or/and able to sew, so I created this no-sew version for the non-sewer who like to recycle their bed sheets or de-stash their fabrics to make this feet cozy Woven Rag Rug. This tutorial doesn’t require any loom for weaving, just use a sturdy corrugated carton box from your recycle pile.

I hope everyone can do their part on greening the Earth again and reduce the rubbish that loaded the land fill. By the way, I gave the braided rag rug to my mum and she loves it so much, she is going to dig more old bed sheets out from her storage, which means I will have another bunch of supply to recycle. I need to scratch my head for more stuff to make from them.

All you need to make this Woven Rag Rug are: ….

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Recycle Tutorial: Braided Rag Rug

My mum threw me 2 bundles of old bed sheets she found during spring cleaning. She knows that I love to recycle and able to make something good out from them. In support of the Earth Hour campaign, I am going to spend the whole March making recycle handmade and will switch off my lights for 1 hour on March 27, 8:30pm. Hope you will do so too

The first idea that came across my mind was rag rug, yes, with all this rotten bed sheets I can make lots of rag rugs. I stumbled upon some rag rug tutorials before, and this one really caught my attention, Moda Bake Shop’s braided rag rug. I like their idea to braid the fabric strips and sew it into a rag rug. Since I did it a little different from them, here is my version, a versatile and strong rag rug that can be used for many years, just like my granny’s rag rug.

I love the touch of this braided rag rug….. it is rough!!! My mum loves to rub her feet against floor mat, so this should fits her right. I will send this back to my mum, she is going to love it!!!! I will make one for myself, I need one to comfort my feet too…. I inherited this habit from her…

Let’s go and see how I make this 22″ x  16″ oval shape braided rag rug
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Tutorial: Light Bulb Ornaments by Amanda

From now on, don’t throw away your burnt light bulbs. You can recycle them into beautiful Christmas tree ornaments!

I was so delighted when I saw these at “Craft By Amanda” where Amanda posted the first Angel ornament made out of a burnt light bulb. She made them in Dec 2000 and they still look brand new although they have been put on, taken off and put on a total of 9 times.

You should look at her ….

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Recycle Tutorial – Making Of T-Shirt Yarn

Another tutorial to help save our Mother Earth by turning unwanted items into something useful. This is the yarn ball I made out of an old T-shirt which I have been wearing for 10 years day-in day-out, wash-in wash-out. It finally broke down and tore at the collar and sleeves. Waste not, want not, I decided to recycle it.

In this tutorial, you will need:
1. T-shirts (those without side-seam)
2. A pair of sharp scissors

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Recycle Your Grocery Plastic Bag

Do you have the habit of keeping your grocery plastic bags? I do, and have plenty of them in my carbinet. I know that I will find good use for them one day instead of throwing them away into the dustbin and loading the landfill.

I emptied them out on the weekends as there were too many to keep. Looking at them and noticing that some plastic bags are so beautifully designed, it seems like such a wastes, so I made this!!! Fused plastic sheet for various crafts, you can even sew on them. At this point of time the outlook of the plastic sheet doesn’t seems appealing to you but it will be a great art when you put them together with other material. I am going to use them to make a recycled tote bag!!!

Let me bring you to the tutorial on how to make these fused plastic sheets. I will keep the recycled tote bag for another post in few days time, so please come back and check for the updates.

Material

• 2 sheets of blank white paper,
• A pair of scissors,
• a thick towel,
• iron,
• plenty of thin grocery plastic bags, and
• a well ventilated room

Method
Cut the grocery plastic bags ….

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