Re-bi-cycle

photo courtesy Fast Co Design

A bike made out of cardboard. That was the subject line of an email my brother recently sent to me along with this link. Pretty straightforward and certainly had me curious to click through.

Apparently the cardboard bike was inspired by a cardboard canoe, cost around $9 to create and could carry up to someone who weighed 300 pounds. This bike certainly gives new meaning to the word re-cycle.

Create a cereal box cyborg! This weekend!

Make it to the last weekend of summer Maker Days at the NY Hall of Science! In honor of Make's iconic robot, RePlayGround will be on site helping museum goers reate their own upcycled version. We'll have super-crafty super-friendly instructors help you customize robot from cereal boxes and other upcycled materials. You can find us at the NYSci from 11 – 4pm this Saturday and Sunday, August 25-26. This project is free with museum admission. Making stuff doesn't get any better than that!

Then, be sure to put Maker Faire on your calendar - September 29-30. It's two jam-packed days of making, crafting, hacking, deconstructing, reconstructing, building, and just bout anything you can add -ing to. Whew. It will blow your crafty mind!

Go to camp without leaving home!

It's the last week of Maker Camp so tune in this week for DIY bookbinding, creating your own marshmallow cannon, and more.

The great thing about Maker Camp is that if you miss a session you can always tune in on Make Magazine's YouTube channel. If you missed my session last week, you can still catch the complete video on how to make your own woven basket from scrap paper and weave as you watch.

The basket pictured above is the one I wove during the session. It took me over an hour to make, so I finished it up at my Brooklyn studio, then took it up to my roof for a glamour shot. Make your own upcycled fun before summer is over!

Weave your way to Maker Camp!

Can't get away to camp this summer, but still have that bug to make cute and crafty things? Maker Camp is virtually the best camp for you! It's hosted on Google Plus so you can tune in from your own home.

There are tons of projects like making your own junk art robots with with Joe Szuecs, and creating marbled paper with Dale Dougherty. And I'll be on hand Monday August 13 doing a do-it-yourself woven scrap paper basket. Check out the schedule for what you want to make. Material lists and instructions are posted just before the project week starts.

Come to Camp and Make stuff!

ReLIT NY Book Drive

ReLIT NY is a free book donation and reading program that collects your unwanted books and recycles them back to the public.  This organization seeks to redistribute books at no cost, and you can find ReLIT books being handed out at various New York City subway stations every month.  What a cool way to reuse!  To take part in the next book drive, drop by the Union Square Station on June 18 at 5:30PM.

For more information on ReLIT NY, click here.

Upcycling ideas from Instructables

Here are a few of our new favorite DIY upcycling projects from Instructables.com. Click to try them out!

Budweiser Box cardboard wall mounted mail holder

Hack a VHS cassette tape into Super Pom Poms

Fuzzy bunny slippers from recycled sweaters

Ammmunition box tea organizer

RePlayGround just posted a new DIY project on Instructables.com, so take a look! See step by step instructions to make your own tea packet organizer out of a repurposed ammo cartridge box: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ammunition-Box-Tea-Organizer/

This project can also add a bang to your Valentine's Day gift giving!

Altered books

Here are some creative ways to upcycle old books. A good book never goes out of style!

Bookworm Linked Bracelet by Etsy jeweler TheUnwrittenWord

Hanging Hearts Valentine by Etsy crafter BooksETC

Book Purse: You can find a tutorial of this project in our book ReMake It!

Fortune Cookie Coaster

We came up with a fun way to recycle fortune cookie wisdom! Check out our fortune cookie coaster project on Instructables here to see detailed instructions. Show off your wise, yet crafty side with this easy paper project!

More crafty creations for Halloween! Courtesy of Kiwi!

Hey there blog readers! Spend your Halloween in crafty style tomorrow and try one of these crafty projects. I wrote up two new projects for the October issue of Kiwi Magazine.

Dish up this sweet recycling project with scrap paper and candy wrappers. Then, put a new spin on an old T-shirt with this spider web project. These projects are a sweet way to flex your recycling power this Halloween. So grab a copy of Kiwi Magazine for the complete how to and get crafting!

Craft up this cardboard carton candy carryall!

Getting into the crafty Halloween spirit? Check out these sweet candy totes we made for Craft. We used an empty salt container, oatmeal cylinder, and ice cream carton. It's a great trick for turning empty containers into Halloween treats. Get the complete how to over at Craftzine.