What to do with old, plastic CD ROM cases?

Hey everyone! I'll be the first to admit that my blog has been LAME-O lately. My slightly less lame-o excuses: we had a lovely little H1N1 scare last month in our house (all quarantined, including a toddler and pregnant woman...yay!), and then I ended up having to get into the new routine that comes along with gestational diabetes this month. But, things are medically calming back down and I'm finally catching up with all of you wonderful people who have emailed me comments and requests and waited so patiently!!

I got an email from "Beth" back in the end of October, asking for ideas on what to do to recycle old CD ROM cases. I've wondered about them myself, and thought it would be a fun thing to blog about. Here are a few ideas I've found while doing a little web surfing...

If you'd like to get crafty...

Craft Chi has a great idea and tutorial to turn them into pencil/pen holders:


Instructables has a tutorial to make a really cool wall mural:


Thread Banger has a fun way to turn a case into a desktop calendar:



For a great project your kids can do, check out Fave Craft's tutorial on making picture frames:


Or the Elk Grove Public Library's cool 3D photo cube ideas (you'll have to scroll down a ways to see them when you click the link.


Got a card collector in your family? They make cool little frames for displaying your cards:


Feeling more ambitious? If you've been following my blog you've no doubt seen many-a-lampshade possibilities, but how about this awesome chandelier made out of CD cases from Keetsa:


If you aren't up for doing a project yourself...

1) Put them up for free on Craigslist or Freecycle, as you may have someone in your area who has some kind of art/craft project in mind for them already!

2) Visit Earth 911, where you can look up a recycling center in your area that will take them. (Remember you can't just toss them into your regular recycling like you do with plastic bottles, etc!)

I'm sure I am just scratching the surface on ideas here, so if you have any others, feel free to share your own!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! In case you didn't know, Inhabitat is having a Green Halloween costume contest...check it out here...there's only one day left to enter! You can even get some inspiration to make your own green costumes by checking out their gallery of last year's winners, here!


Also, remember to save your carved pumpkins after the trick-or-treaters have gone...they make great pie, bread, and snacks! Check out my tutorial on getting the most out of your pumpkins, posted last year!

Have a safe, happy, and green Halloween! :-)

Craighton Berman's Coil Lamp

Check out this cool Coil Lamp designed by Craighton Berman of Chicago.


By winding a 100' extension cable around a carefully designed, laser-cut plexiglass structure, Berman manages to turn an object that typically lives in a snarled heap in the garage into an accessory worthy of display space inside the home.



This object of desire is available for purchase already hand assembled on Berman's website, or for half the price, you can purchase a kit and do-it-yourself (cable not included...recycle your own!).

Freecycle

Freecycle has been around for a little while, but I've just recently (finally) joined the group so I thought I'd post about it!

Freecycle is made up of 6,540,000 members (4,808 groups) around the world. As their website states, "It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people)." Basically it's a place where people who are looking for stuff and people who are giving away stuff can connect, and everything must be offered up for free.

Membership is also free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box on the site or browse through the groups. I'm not sure if each group operates differently, but the Minneapolis group that I'm a part of is run via Yahoo groups. You have to offer up some items before you're allowed to start asking for specific items, and the first couple items you list need to be approved by the administrator. But, I just posted a ceiling fan that we're giving away from our recent remodel and am in the process of giving it away!

At first it was a bit overwhelming as my email box got instantly flooded with offers from the group. However, once I was able to go into the settings and sign up for the "daily digest" instead of getting every offer individually, that helped a lot. I now get a couple emails a day with a big list of 25 of the latest messages so I'm not swimming in emails.

If you have some "stuff" you are looking to give away or are looking to help recycle by re-using other people's stuff, it's worth checking out!

Junk Mail Gems Mentioned in Women's Focus Magazine!

September has been a big month for press coverage for Junk Mail Gems! Junk Mail Gems has just been mentioned in another great magazine called Women's Focus, in a wonderful article by freelance writer Bonnie D. Tharp:

You can check out the article along with others on my press page, or, you can read the article online via the Women's Focus page, here!

Thanks so much for the nice article, Bonnie!!

TWO New Products at Junk Mail Gems!

Those of you who subscribe to our e-newsletter (now over 575!) already have heard about the latest products now available at Junk Mail Gems: Paperweights and badge lanyards! This is a direct result of YOUR participation in our contest this summer, providing me your feedback on your favorites of my selection of new product ideas!

Paperweights ($23.00) are made from recycled junk mail! Each paperwight showcases a colorful page from a piece of recycled junk mail underneath a crystal clear glass dome. They measure 3.5" in diameter by about 2" tall and weigh over a pound. The base is covered with a black felt pad. I am trying out something new with the paperweights...you get to choose the exact design that you purchase! I will be doing my best to keep the page updated as paperweights sell out and new ones are added. Prefer the element of surprise? Simply select "surprise me" from the drop-down menu when you add it to your shopping cart!


With 30 1" beads made from recycled junk mail ($30.00), this new colorful badge lanyard is sure to be a conversation starter at work! It's strong, swiveling, metal clip can hold your ID, name tag, badge, etc.

Thanks again to those of you who helped me choose which new products to make available this fall!

JunK Mail Gems Featured in Womeninc Magazine

I was pretty excited to find some copies of the latest Womeninc magazine in my mailbox today, with a several page article featuring Junk Mail Gems! Check out the story on my press page, where you can download a pdf. Many thanks to Myrna CG Mibus, the talented freelance writer who wrote the article, and photographer Jessica Sauck for the many great photos used! It was very cool to see my magnets covering the entire table of contents page too! :-)

Womeninc is published in Fairmont, MN and has a circulation of 15,000 copies monthly. It is subscriber based and people can subscribe online at www.womenincmagazine.com or www.readthestories.com.