Recycled Trivet Floor Mat

I love this idea to turn old trivets into a floor mat!

 

What a cool way to bring these beautiful, artistic trivets out of the drawer and into every day view.  I think this would be great hanging on a wall too, maybe even with an empty frame around it.  Love, love, love it!

Recycling vintage costume jewelry

I love getting blog post ideas from my readers!  Recently I received an email from Sherri, wondering what to do with her aunt's box of costume jewelry.  I have always enjoyed picking up old jewelry at garage sales and thrift stores and cutting them up to re-use the beads and embellishments in new jewelry.

Buzz Buzz Designs turns recycled vintage jewelry into something new.

About.com has a pretty nice tutorial on re-purposing your old costume jewelry, with a list of supplies needed and some suggestions.

Curbly posted a great idea to use costume jewelry to create knobs!

 The Willies' Etsy shop sells some cute wall art that uses vintage jewelry. You could make some cute flowers using buttons as shown below, or more jeweled pieces like on the knobs above!

Throw some vintage photography into the mix too, and you can create something like this idea posted on Craftstylish!

Wall art is a great way to keep your vintage jewelry on display, even if you aren't wearing it, especially if it has sentimental value and helps you remember the wonderful women who wore it!  Here's one way that Heather used her family members' heirloom jewelry to create wall art to display each Christmas.

Other ideas that come to mind...
Decorating the top of a jewelry box that stores your own jewelry.
Use them to embellish home made cards and gift tags.
Sew them on an old purse to give it some extra sparkle.

Okay, I think I need to go to the thrift store now...

Used Lottery Ticket Creations

When we were little, my younger brother used to make amazing creations out of used lottery tickets.  This one's for you, Ben!  Check out this art created from used lottery tickets! (via Cool Hunting)

DIY Travel Play House using a Recycled McDonald's Happy Meal Box!

Okay, so I promised you a new tutorial on how you can recycle your McDonald's Happy Meal boxes...here it is!  I have created pdf patterns that you can download for free over at my design site.  Check out my step-by-step photo instructions at my IDMommy blog!

Ignore this little Ronald telling you to throw away your box...

...and make a little house out of it instead!

A Thank-You and other cool stuff...

First of all, I'd just like to say thanks to Cindi Rose from the Examiner for mentioning Junk Mail Gems in her article a few days ago, listing some of her favorite places to visit online!  I am truly honored.

Cindi also mentions another great blog that I just checked out, called "Blah to TADA!"  I'll have to add this to my blog list too...lots of fun ideas to repurpose those "blah" objects in your life!

Here's something else I thought was cool...this Chinese farmer created a way to heat enough water for three family members to shower every day, using beer bottles!  Water flows through the bottles and is heated up by the sun.  A perfect example of the blending of necessity, resourcefulness, and creativity!
(via SuperUse)

Okay this is a pretty random post, I know, but I'm going on very little sleep this week with a teething baby!  ;-)  I will have a really fun way to recycle your kids' "Happy Meal" boxes coming soon...stay tuned!