9 Great Ways to Recycle Cans

It has been a while since my last recycle post. Even though tin cans are not as harmful as plastic and they are easier to recycle, if they do end up in the landfill they take 50 years to decompose, that's a long time! And a lot of them end up there, much more than you want to imagine.
So here are some fun and pretty ways to recycle your cans.
Colorful ones can be used directly as they are as flower pots.

You can cut them up and turn them in to amazing flowers, or buy them from this artist directly. Cutting tin is super easy with tin scissors, we have a pair and they are really easy to use.

Make clocks and other household stuff you normally buy and are often made of plastic, this is a great alternative and you can paint them in the exact color you want.

This is a super cute lampshade, which will give lovely shadows and is super strong.

If you don't want to mess with electricity, they are also great as candle holders, either standing or hanging as lanterns.

You can paint the cans and use them as plant pots, I like how the ones on the left look like trash but are also cool :)

You can use them in many ways to organize stuff, and personalize them with your own colors and use them for a large variety of things, even for wine bottles!

Flatten the cans and turn them in to amazing pieces of decoration, like this beautiful frame.

Attach larger cans to the wall for a different way of organizing, great for toys but also scarves, socks etc.

And a bonus, use them in your art to make a statement about the environment, or buy from an artist, like these amazing pieces of Stephanie Kilgast:

Upcycle - Recycle - Relove

This ottoman is not as bad as a some we have revamped before but it was super boring and out dated.

I thought it would be the perfect project for the ottoman I mentioned in this blogpost about recycling fabric and clothing with knitted fabric.
I cut the strips of fabric and knotted them together to become a kind of yarn.

And Mum knitted for many days, I had to make a new supply of fabric strips everyday, we used a ton of fabric but still our scrap basket don't seem to get emptier at all!

We choose the colors according to a vintage kilim which I wanted to used for the top.

While Mum was knitting the sides I peeled off the old upholstery, sanded, painted and varnished the feet and added new webbing and foam.

Time for the fun part; dressing up!

You see at the back side of the fabric how many pieces of fabric we used with all the knots.

Tadaaaa! I love the result!
The kilim is so pale because it has been faded by the sun making it very pastel which I like.

With fluffy trim in between the kilim and knitted fabric to bring them all together.

This one of a kind ottoman is now available at StarHomeStudio among other one of a kind furniture.

And we are planning to make cushions in an attempt to shrink the stash of rags :D

Little in Between Project

Just to show that we sometimes make our furniture for ourselves :)
This was a large wooden tray originally used at a bakery to let dough raise, I scored a few of them and after a thorough cleaning they have been in storage for a year or two.
I sawed little shelves for it and after nailing those all in place it got two layers of white paint.

Here a sexy picture of me, glasses all foggy as it is still 40 Celsius degrees here I got all sweaty and it condenses in the plastic glasses, yes very sexy especially with my leopard night gown :D

But it did turn out cool, perfect for all our large thread bobbins in the sewing room. The only new thing was the paint, so a good recycle project too :)

Eco Friendly Wedding; Bouquets and Centerpieces

Weddings are a big deal, although it does not always happen it is planned as a once in a life time thing and often no costs are spared.
Besides the high costs weddings are often also not friendly for our planet, there are a lot of aspects that can make a wedding eco friendlier and even cheaper because of it. I am planning to write a few blogposts about this and am starting today with the flowers.

Flowers are often used as centerpieces on each table, bouquets for the brides, bridesmaids and flower girls, and as decoration.
Unfortunately most flowers available at flower shops have a very big carbon footprint, which is especially sad as all these flowers will be seen for one day and than end up in the trash. I myself have never liked flowers as they die quickly, I much prefer a pot with a nice plant which I can enjoy for many years, this idea can also be kept in thought while planning a wedding.

If you always wanted fresh flowers on your wedding, checkout local and especially seasonal flowers,  they are much friendlier for nature and also cheaper a win-win. Who knows maybe you even have a friendly neighbor with a beautiful flower garden :)

1. Center piece from Projectwedding 2. Succulent bouquet from loverly 3. succulent decor from weddingchicks

But even though seasonal and local flowers are a much better eco option, they still will die, so I love the idea of plants, especially succulent plants. They are beautiful, don't need much water and can handle a day easily as a bouquet. You can also have little pots with succulents as wedding favors and the center pieces will look great in your home and friends homes for many years, even your bouquet could be planted as succulents can propagate with only the leaves.

If you are not convinced yet, check out these 70 succulent plant wedding project at dearpearlflowers!

Paper flowers and decorations are also a great option, recycled paper of course like magazine leaves or newspaper, later they can all go in the recycle bin. Maps could be used for the travelers or music sheets for musicians.

Checkout at idoityourself for how to make such a bouquet yourself.

Center pieces are where most flowers are used for, instead of flowers other objects can be used too, no need to go traditional. Love the idea of this backyard wedding from glamourandgrace where the bride and groom created center pieces with arrangements of beloved personal objects from their own home, their parents, and friends. No waste, no costs!

There are many more alternatives like fabric flowers made of upcycled fabric, pinecones are also great for bouquets and decorations, the amount of flowers can be reduced by using a lot of alternatives for decoration.

And of course we make bouquets too! Ours are made with beach findings like sea urchins and shells, vintage fabrics and brooches and lots of love :) If you are in the middle of planning your wedding I hope you have come up with more eco friendly solutions for the flowers. I will be writing more posts for eco friendly solutions for wedding related things.

9 Great Ways to Recycle Toilet Paper Rolls

I have to be honest here, I never have recycled a toilet paper roll. We use and throw them away all the time, but lets face it: the 'toilet' part of its name is not something we like to think about :)
Nonetheless I decided to make a toilet paper roll recycle post, see if it will motivate me and others to use them, most likely not all, but at least some :)

• I like the idea of bird feeders, the glue is peanut butter, you make birds happy and the roll gets a second life, here is an easy tutorial for a bird feeder.

• Make biodegradable seed starters with the help of scissors, you can see it here, very easy and you can plant the entire thing in the ground later on.

• Use them to package small gifts, wrap them with a piece of cute paper or magazine clipping and you are ready to go, I also saw an non painted version of them here.

• Make toys with TP rolls, or make a project of it with your kid. I have seen many many wonderful toys, the mermaid and these race cars are just two examples, I've seen castles and monsters and you can find many more here.

• I've seen many beautiful frame projects, this mirror is one of my favorites, I also liked this art project. But there are many more projects to explore and I'm sure you could come up with your own ideas :)

• Although I do love the creative ideas I actually love the more simple daily usable things better. Like an open cut roll to hold paper rolls, wrapping paper and such neatly together. Or using rolls to keep all sorts of cables organized in your drawer, without them getting all tangled up.

• You can use TP rolls to organize ribbons but also pencils, pens and markers.

• Although we do not have a fireplace I love the idea of these eco friendly firestarters made with a toilet roll, newspaper and dryer lint, if you have a dryer you'll know how much lint comes out of those! 
• Once you have your cozy fire and decide to have a special event, make some cute crowns to go with it :)

And finally an honorary mention of artist Anastassia Elias who makes little worlds shadow boxes in toilet rolls, so cool!

  So what do you think? Will you do any of these projects?
See more recycle posts here.

9 Great Ways To Recycle Old Sweaters

So besides the obvious that re-cycling sweaters and any other textile product is good instead of trowing them away, another thing to think about: 1 kilogram of cotton can take up to 20.000 liters of water to produce (2 lb 2.3 oz cotton = 5283 gallons of water)! You can read more about the impact of cotton on the WWF website. This is about the amount needed for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt!

So not only our food takes a lot of water to produce but also our clothes. Thus another good reason to recycle clothes, and if you are not handy you can always find people in need or places to donate the clothes you want to toss away, and make someone else very happy with the things you do not use anymore.

Our clothing shop and bag shop are both 95% made of recycled materials, which feels good and the pieces become unique. This bag has an upcycled sweater top, we had more but they all sold as they all turned out very cool :)

• Make pet clothing and bedding out of old sweaters. We made a whole bunch of doggy sweaters as they are so expensive to buy, a win-win, great for our budget, warm doggies and recycled sweaters :) We made ours by cutting it according to Toffee's body but not all doggies will sit still like him so I found a few tutorials for you, here is one with good explanation and pictures, here is one made out of a sweater sleeve good for small doggies. I even found a tutorial on how to make a easy to make doggy (or kitty) bed out of a sweater.

Here some more ideas to recycle your sweaters:

• Keep your hands warm and toasty with mittens or fingerless gloves, find instructions here for the fingerless ones and here for the mittens. And here is another cool mitten pattern.

• Keep your feet warm with leg warmers (made of the arms), socks and slippers. If your sweater is 100% wool you can wash it warm in the machine first to get a nice thick felt for slippers. Here is one of many sock tutorials, and I love these slippers with a step by step explanation and these slippers are very cute :)

• I'm sure you have seen them before, knitted pillows. Often very expensive in shops and can be made free from upcycled sweaters. How adorable is that monster pillow? If you have a kid you could even make it of their favorite but now too small sweater so that s/he can still keep it! And here a tutorial on how to make a simple one for a cozy couch look.

• Cover some pencil holders and plant pots to cover up some ugly things or make baskets to hold your craft supplies and other things.

• Cover your old chairs with a beautiful old sweater or make poufs with a sweater and filling (you could fill them with old rags for an entirely eco friendly project).

• If you think that these are all cute and useful but you have a whole bunch of sweaters, how about a patchwork blanket, and they look super beautiful too! You can find a step by step tutorial here in case you have no idea where to begin with :)

• And if you still think that upcycling is too shabby or so, check this post on Country Living with beautiful decorative projects looking very chic! You can cover vases, lamp caps, anything you want!

• Once you have done your project(s) you will have a bunch of leftovers which are fun too, maybe these two will inspire you, adorable balls and mug cozies, and I'm sure your creative juices have started to flow, have fun and if you want to share your upcycling sweater project please share in the comments!

I limited my post with 9 ideas but there are many more like ear warmers, hats, bags, teapot cozies, you can get lots of ideas on Pinterest, you'll never throw away a sweater ever again!

See more recycle posts here, and more are coming up so stay tuned :)
And if you like this post, please share it on Pinterest!