Three Fun Recycled Craft Ideas

Recycling is a great way to find a new use for something that you don't need anymore. Many people think that the recycling process ends up once you throw away your rubbish in the bin designated for the purpose or when you drive down to the recycling bank. However, that's just one way to look at it. Alternatively you can take recycling in your own hands and reuse your old junk. Here are three interesting craft ideas which you might want to try out.

Rustic Glass Bottles

Fun fact - glass can be recycled unlimited amount of times. But before you take your glass bottles down the recycling factory, why not try something new and interesting? For this project you will need glass bottles (as many as you want) and a rust-oleum spray paint. There are many variations of the spray, so you can use anything you like (for example, aged copper or oil-rubbed bronze look great).

Before you start, be sure the bottles are clean and dry. Then, once you shake the spray bottles well, you can apply a coat of paint thoroughly. After the first coat is dry, get the darker spray and apply it over. Use a piece of cotton and dab some of it in order to make the bottle look aged. Now, let the rest of the paint to dry, and finish this project by rubbing gently some fine steel wool over it. This will give your bottle a very nice and antique look.

Bottle Cap Curtains

I saw this lovely idea in a home design website and I really thought that's a great way to both recycle plastic bottle caps and have a colourful curtain for your home. Depending on the size of the curtain, it might take you some time to collect enough bottle caps (for a full-sized curtain you might need up to 2000 caps). And they have to be in various colours too, if you plan on designing a certain motif.

Apart from the bottle caps, you will also need a pine dowel (25 mm diameter), 2 half-hangers, a reel of heavy-duty nylon line, a drill and a pencil and tape measure. Start by drilling a hole in the bottom and the top of each cap. Then, thread a needle with heavy-duty nylon thread. In order to make sure that the line is taut, go through both the top and bottom holes 3 times, each. Do this for every single cap. Finally, tie off each length of bottle caps with a double knot and then secure the nylon line around the pine dowel.

Floppy Disk Notepad

If you are not a 90's kid (or older) you probably don't know what a floppy disk is. In a nutshell, this is a disk storage sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier. Nowadays, floppy disks are not used for what they have been designed anymore, so instead of throwing them away, you can try this fun project and give them a new purpose in life. Moreover, recycling such electronic devices should be done by special waste collectors, thus if you don't know how to do it properly, it is always better to reuse them.

For the project you will need two floppy disks, ribbon, glue and 3 A4 sized papers. Cut the papers 8 cm by 17 cm and fold each piece into half. Five of these will make a 10 sheet notepad. Place the paper into place and glue them along the ribbon. Then attach the two ribbons like a book spine. Use plenty of glue to be sure that the paper will stick fully to the ribbon. Let everything to dry and you can start taking notes in your brand new home-made notepad.