65,000 CDs float to a new tune

photos courtesy Bruce Monro

What do you do with 65,000 CDs? If you're Bruce Monro, you upcycle them into a floating art exhibit of oversized, upcycled waterlilies in Pennsylvania. A friend forwarded me this art installation which isn't too far away from where I'm located now. It's not clear on if the exhibition is still on display, but it's nice to read that no CDs were harmed for the creation of the exhibit and all materials will go into future art installations.

Help with my Happy project!

image courtesy Pinterest

Hey there RePlay blog readers! I recently moved and am having a blast decorating my new space. I have a large wall over my fireplace that is just begging to have a large-scale art piece and upcycled is my favorite genre of art. When I was a kid (and heck, even now) I always loved Happy Meal toys. I even had quite the collection when I was working at a toy company about 10 years ago. I don't eat so much fast food these days, but still love those toys and have some grand plans for my art project.

If you have any fast food or similar sized toys, send them to my way! Email me at tiffany(at)replayground(dot)com and I'll help to figure out shipping and the easiest way to get them to me.

Stay tuned. I'll be sure to post the finished work on this blog.

A berry fun summer project!

Recently, RePlayGround offered a series of upcycling projects for a "farm to table" style evening hosted by Time Out NY Kids.  We offered do-it-yourself recycling projects made from food packaging, and our big hit of the day was this woven berry basket, as pictured below.  These berry baskets can be found at grocery stores and farmer's markets, and are easy to upcycle!  Simply cut up strips of colorful plastic bags, t-shirts or ribbon, and weave the strips in and out around the berry basket frame.  Once you're done, you'll have a candy dish or organizer basket that will wow your friends!  You can also see this project in the book ReMake It! Recycling Projects from the Stuff You Usually Scrap.




images courtesy of Time Out NY Kids

Rock 'n Recycle

Be a recycling rock star! This Pick Punch is an easy way to make upcycled guitar picks! This punch would be a great way to upcycle old credit cards, hotel room keys, records, plastic packaging and more. To find out more, see: http://www.pickpunch.com/

image via Pick Punch

If you'd like to make your own upcycled record guitar pick from scratch, try this method: On the edge of an old record, draw an outline of a pick with a permanent marker. Place the record inside of an old t-shirt and heat the record with a clothing iron until the section of the record you are using is pliable. Using a scissor, cut around the outline. Be careful, the record will be hot! You will want to cut the record immediately, as the record will cool quickly. Sand the edges down until the pick is smooth.

Rock n' recycle away!

Tupperware FX Pedal

The New York based band Globular Cluster has recycled flair! Guitarist Jake Adams performs with this effects pedal which is designed by artist Brendan Byrne. Byrne modifies effects pedals and rehouses them in plastic tupperware containers for easier access to the controls. This would make any Tupperware party 10X cooler.

To see more of Byrne's work, click here!

photo courtesy of Jake Adams

Tote Overload in New York Mag

New York magazine recently ran an article called Tote Overload (Dec. 12 2011). The article makes a good point about consumption. There's no argument that reusable totes make an impact on the burgeoning plastic trash problem we face. But over consumption can still occur with the eco-friendly tote bag. Professional personal organizer Beth Zeigler came up with an innovative solution. She staged a redistribution drive this December in L.A, and collected 1,900 unused reusable bags for redistribution. Great! Now let's get these drives to catch on in cities nationwide!

To view the entire article, click here.

A minty fresh Halloween!

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween out there! As usual, I remade mine from scrap I had at my studio. I was an upcycled tooth fairy complete with a pleated skirt made from toothpaste tubes, a wand made from toothbrushes, toothbrush jewelry, and sparkly wings, tank top, and tights.

Want to make your own upcycled tooth fairy skirt? Head on over to Make:Projects for my step-by-step instructions. You can get a head start on next year's costume and try this pleated, upcycled skirt. It'll take a little while to collect all of those toothpaste tubes. But don't fear, after all of that candy this year, you'll be needing an extra dose of toothpaste.

What were you for Halloween? If you made (or remade) your own costume, you have 2 more days to enter it into Make's Halloween contest. I hear there are some scary-good prizes!

Plastic bag bangles by Garbage of Eden!

This week we're featuring our friend Stephanie Huffaker of Garbage of Eden! Stephanie, who is also a RePlayGround instructor, creates beautiful bangles out of plastic bags and yogurt cups. Below you can see the process of creating the yogurt cup base. Stephanie uses pre-consumer and post-consumer waste to make her upcycled designs. Materials include misprints from companies and also used materials that are sterilized for reuse. Garbage of Eden seeks to raise consciousness about sustainability. "If we take the time to seek out and realize the positive potential in the objects around us, there is no waste." To get your own recycled bag bangle, check out the Etsy shop!

Photojojo helps us put a new spin on our photos

The wonderfully crafty photo site, Photojojo, featured one of our projects in their newsletter this week! Swing by their site and get the complete how-to. And sign up for the newsletter while you're at it. You'll get fun photo ideas straight to your inbox on a regular basis.

And if you're looking for more crafty photo goodness, be sure to pick up a copy of their book, Photojojo - insanely great photo projects and DIY ideas. We contributed to a project in there. And we have ourselves our own copy and really do think the book is insanely great. Get up and start your photojojo!

Another addition to the Unconsumption Uncollection

Since just about any type of trash can be made into jewelry, the Uncollection un-assignment didn't seem like real project without some sort of jewelry addition making an appearance.

These earrings are made from #6 plastic and then shrinky dinked with the Mr. (and Ms.) Cart logo.

You can get the brief how-to make recycled shrinky dink jewelry all on your own. You can find #6 plastic in things like deli lids and other take-out containers.

And then challenge yourself with an un-project. Add something to the Uncollection and post your photo. It's a great way to unconsume and still be really excited about the new-to-you object.

Unbottle your crafting skills this weekend!

Get ready for some upcycling fun this weekend with GrowNYC! In order to raise recycling awareness and promote our high quality NYC tap water, you can take part in a plastic bottle sculpture project this Saturday! So unbottle your creative side, and drop by for some hands on fun!

When: Saturday May 21, 2011 11-3PM

Where: DEP Visitor Center

329 Greenpoint Ave & Humboldt St (G train to Greenpoint Ave)

Brooklyn, NY

Please note, you must be 18 or older to attend this event. Don't miss this exciting twist on recycling!

Upcraft! Candy wrapper barrettes

Craftzine just shared our project for these super sweet barrettes on their website. They're made from candy wrappers. Just in time to upcycle all of those sweet Easter treats! They'll tell you the step-by-step. Then head over to TerraCycle to upcycle the rest of those candy wrappers.

2nd Take on the VHS Tape

Warm weather is around the corner, and so it's time for spring cleaning! This year, remake your old junk instead of leaving it out for the trash collectors. As I did a little of my own spring cleaning, I discovered a pile of old VHS tapes in the back of the closet. Check out these cool takes I found on the upcycled VHS tape!

External Hard Drive VHS
Find it here: http://blog.metroparkusa.com/2010/01/21/vhs-upcycle/



VHS Tape Loomed Flowers
Find a tutorial here: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/43650/crafting-with-vhs-tapes



Video Tape Frock
Find it here: http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/scianca-vhs-dress#!/photos/78908/1



With such inventive recycling ideas, you can count on your VHS tapes never going out of style!

ReMake It: Soda Bottle Soap Dish

This soda bottle soap dish project is the latest from the world of TerraCycle DIY videos. It's also one of the fun projects in my new book ReMake It! which will be in stores this week! Woo hoo! Pick up a copy for yourself at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or your favorite local bookstore. And if your book store doesn't carry them, send them over to Sterling Publishing to stock the crafty love so they can share with all of their customers!

Get ready to ReMake It!

Gill the recycled holiday fish

Happy upcycling holidays everyone!

I trekked back to see my family in mid-Michigan this Christmas with many-a-handmade gift to give. My 9 year old niece and 4 year old nephew excitedly took me to see their neighborhood fish. I wondered why this particular fish lived in the parking lot of some nearby stores, but since you should never question the enthusiasm of kids, I went along with it and assumed they wouldn't be that excited if his health of living in a parking lot was questioned. When we pulled up it all made sense - Gill was constructed completely from recycled plastics. He was created mostly from laundry detergent bottles, but there were also pieces of plastic plates and an old wading pool in there, too. He also had holiday lights strung throughout him, making him a recycled aquatic Christmas tree of sorts. There's certainly more than one way to spread holiday cheer.

Candy wrapper napkin ring project

As your Halloween candy pile has dwindles into a pile of wrappers, we have a great upcycling project to satisfy your crafty cravings. Here we’ll show you an upcycling trick to transform wrappers into napkin rings – the perfect treat for your Thanksgiving celebration. Then, in the true spirit of recycling, you can reuse them again and again. It’s a sweet way to decorate your dinner party without spending a dime.



You can follow the video above, or get the complete how-to by clicking below!

Pack-o-recycled-fun

Check out the most recent issue of Pack-O-Fun magazine. It's loaded with eco-goodness for Earth Month coming up in April. Plus it includes a few RePlayGround articles - including these sweet little scrap paper picture frames and a plastic bag woven fruit basket. You can't get much more packed-o-fun!

images courtesy of Pack-O-Fun

Rethink | Refuse | Reuse : Foil Trays

Here's another super simple Rethink/Refuse/Reuse that you have no excuse not to be using at home. It requires no craftiness whatsoever and is just a simple matter of making the most of the resources that make their way through your life.

Some extremely eco-minded folks avoid takeout containers entirely (I've read accounts of brave people showing up at restaurants with their own reusable containers) but, I have to admit, I am not one of them. I cook a lot, but I like to treat myself to other people's cooking occasionally, and this usually happens when I just want the easiest solution possible. So, like most people, I get my takeout in disposable containers.

It turns out that foil takeout trays fit perfectly in my toaster oven and make great mini roasting pans or cooking trays. I wouldn't buy them at the store, but if I have a few leftover from takeout orders, I wash them out and re-use a couple times. (Then if I cook something extra dirty or gunky, I can toss the container without too much guilt, since I already gave it a few more uses than it was originally intended for.) They are particularly suited for dishes you might want to make ahead, keep in the freezer, and bake later (mac and cheese, anyone?) - you can leave them in the freezer as long as you need to, and won't miss the containers like you would your favorite Pyrex baking dish.



(Bonus: the #6 clear plastic tops make great trays for paint or glue, for those of us with a crafty bent. And in one of my personal favorite little-known RePlayGround facts, they are made of the same material you'll find in Shrinky Dinks, so save them for a project!)

We can't be all green all the time - sometimes it's the little things that add up to big changes.

Rethink hanger

The Rethink Hanger is a great reuse for your plastic bottles. It's gets you rethinking about disposable hangers. Simply screw 2 disposable plastic bottles onto the hanger and that's all there is to it. At $7.99 it's not exactly cheap. But rethinking disposable is the valuable lesson to hang your hat on here.

via Core77

DIY Bird Feeders

It's getting to be that time of year when our fine feathered friends need a little extra sustenance. Here in Brooklyn, I get pretty excited about being able to attract local wildlife to my yard and having rare sightings of "exotic" birds like cardinals among all the pigeons and sparrows. Depending on where you live, you might be surprised at the variety of birds who'll visit you once you put a feeder out. Here's an easy way to do that and keep a few beverage containers out of the garbage at the same time. You might have even done this project in elementary school art class!



Plastic bottles make excellent bird feeders. Birds like to be able to see their surroundings, so clear containers are appealing feeding stations. Soda bottles are easy to cut up with scissors, and I found that a cheap serrated kitchen knife is the easiest way to make holes in heavier plastic, like large juice bottles.

Use a permanent marker to mark out your feeding hole(s)- I just cut big "windows" close to the bottom of the containers but you could also add smaller holes up and down the length of the bottle, like this tube bird feeder. Just be sure to add a perch anywhere the birds will need to sit. Used wooden BBQ skewers and chopsticks make great perches and the plastic is really easy to drill through. You can add extra perches - the birds like to hang out around the feeder while they're waiting for others to finish eating. Finally, insert a skewer near the top and tie some ribbon or yarn to each end for hanging.

These simple plastic feeders might not be the prettiest, but the birds don't seem to care, and they tend to blend in with winter scenery anyway. You could also dress them up by choosing a series of matching bottles or playing with color-coordination: painting the perches and bottlecaps a bright color to match.

Milk cartons are even easier to work with, and a great project for kids. I dressed mine up with some contact paper (the waxed milk carton will probably hold up in the elements OK, but a little extra protection can't hurt, and it looks nicer).



It's a fun, basically free fall project - and with a little extra care and creativity, might even make a nice holiday gift for the bird lover on your list.