Making Juggling Clubs With Dowels and Plastic Bottles

This is an ambitious re-purposing project. Six plastic soda bottles will soon be my new juggling clubs. You can read more on my juggling blog.

Scallop Shells

Yesterday we ate out at Todai, a seafood and sushi restaurant. I usually save my scallop shells. So I saved four of them in pretty orange and yellow shades.  I use them to decorate succulent dish gardens and as wind chimes or elements in mobiles.

Make a Greenhouse Out Of Soda Bottles

I'm always looking for things to do with used soda bottles. I don't have a yard big enough to hold a greenhouse, but maybe this link would be of some help to one of you.
http://www.squidoo.com/plasticbottlegreenhouse

Make a Hula Hoop Rug

Put that old hula hoop to good use and weave a rug on it. http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/print/

Make a fringe t-shirt fashion accessory

My version.

A giant list of things to do with T-shirts

Chair

When some neighbors moved, I found this chair waiting for the trash man.  I grabbed it thinking maybe it can be fixed. The woven seat needs to be repaired.  But for now it makes a great anchor for my weaving project.

Oh and the loom is made from popsicle sticks.

Save the Pool

Our neighbors always stick things in the dumpster that are too big for the trash crew to pick up, then the bulky items get tossed in front of my backyard gate, which I consider a fire escape, so that really chaps my hide.
In this heat my ankles have been hot and swollen, and I was just saying to my boyfriend how I should get a kiddy pool, just to keep cool in the backyard and soak my tired feet in.
So he said, "Take that one that's been blocking our gate for a week." At first I was disgusted.  He said, "Big deal, just clean it and you are good to go."
It was still there this morning after the trash crew came and left. So I booted it over the gate, scrubbed it with a brush I use to clean the truck, and now I have a way to keep my feet cool and happy.  And I saved one more thing from the landfill, at least for now.

Oftentimes the universe plops what we need right in front of us, and we don't recognize our good fortune. I'm sure buying a pool would have cost me $20 or so. So it's like I earned $20.

Air brushed birthday card

For this I took a leftover Christmas card, coated it with gesso and let dry. Then I used gel medium under and over bits of tissue paper to cover all the white areas. The tissue paper was saved from my daughter's baby shower. After that was dry, I cut a stencil out of graph paper, and used it to air brush a leaf and butterfly design over the tissue on the front. I'm letting it dry over night under weights and in the morning I'll write the text part. So far so good.

T-shirts

Many of my t-shirts are no longer wearable and are just taking up way too space in my bedroom. Some of the things I've done with t-shirts in the past include making  a beach blanket (cut the best front or back with a 12" x 12" cardboard template and stitch together), t-shirt yarn (which I used to crochet a bath mat), and rag curlers. This time though I took the simple route and just cut a shirt into shop rags which I'll use for applying dye, dusting before adding a finish coat, or to clean up spills.

There are many books and websites devoted to making new fashions from old t-shirts, so think twice before you pitch those shirts away.

Wasting Things

This is my reply to a blog post I read on Livejournal:

I've always been a hoarder, maker, and re-user of things.  In fact I really had to bite my tongue when my boyfriend's mom said she had just thrown away all the decorative pinecones she bought for Christmas.  There are so many uses for pinecones. And don't get me started on what a waste cutting down trees for xmas is.  So I vowed this year to always plant a tree for Christmas.  I'm going to plant a pomegranate tree this year as soon as I can afford one.  Maybe they will grow from the seeds.  I'll have to find out.
Our idiot landlord chopped down the only tree that shaded 4 apt. yards. Why? Because the neighbors whined and moaned that they had to rake up leaves. This summer they will fry and spend a fortune on air conditioning because their apts. are no longer shaded. But the owners of the building that complained the most don't even live here. They'll be in their posh home in San Diego under their air conditioners while we are all melting.
I just bought a new webcam when I had a perfectly good one already. Why? Because the old one is obsolete and won't work with this computer. Such a waste.  At least now the Goodwill's take electronic waste (anything with a cord or batteries).  You can't legally throw those things in a dumpster in CA, but every day when I drive down the alley I see TV's and monitors and radios and all kinds of that stuff by the dumpsters.  So at least in Anaheim it's being ignored.  People are too lazy to even walk across the street to the Goodwill to dump their old electronics. How sad is that?

Arrow Hook or Rake Made From a Broken Arrow

If you are an archer, you know that sooner or later every arrow you have is either going to get lost or broken.  Some can be fixed and some can't. So my boyfriend and his friend Sal started making arrow hooks out of broken arrows to be used to retrieve arrows lost in deep grass or up in trees or shrubs. I wrote a bit on it here: http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/40734/master/1/?page=1

One of the arrow hooks is made out of a trashed aluminum arrow. The other one was made from bamboo.

Arrow Hook or Rake by Guy Taylor of Greenman Archery

Belly Dancing Costumes

I need to inventory all my belly dance costumes.  Then I can repurpose things into other things.  Like old veils that are too worn to use can be gleaned for fabric to make hair scarves, belly covers, and sleeves.
Belly dancing coins can be cut off and added to new costumes. Broken barrettes can be repaired or the beads and trim can sometimes be re-used.

Bras that no longer fit can get new straps and trim. And any damaged beadwork that can't be fixed can be cut apart and added to hats or turned into appliques.

Sometimes dancers have swap meets and trade their old costumes with other people. Since women gain and lose weight constantly, your rejects may be someone else's best find of the day.