Recycling Old Magazines Idea #2

Here is another way to reuse old magazines. Take a punch, could be a butterfly, flower, star ect. ect.
I used my flower punch.

Punch out different colors in the magazines. I found a flower magazine and the punches came out really cool!

From here you can be creative and do a lot of different things. Decopage, paste on a paper to create flowers, use as table confetti...the possibilities are endless!

I seperated the colors I had and created an initial with rainbow colors. Here is my "H" for Haley. I'm still working on an "S" for Serenity. I'm going to create a zebra print frame to match the girl's bedroom decor and then frame the letters and hang on their door.

T-shirt Rug Tutorial

There are several ways to make a rag/t-shirt rug. This is how I do mine. Its super cheap, the only thing you really have to buy are the rubber bands.

To start with you will need to cut up old clothing into strips. You can cut up old t-shirts, leggings, socks ect. Use soft clothing (not jeans) that can be easily cut.

Don't be afraid of different textures. Also try to coordinate colors. For example, different shades of pink, purple and white; or red, black, and white. The strips should be about 1/2 inch wide and around 6 inches long. As you can see they don't all have to be the same size. I don't measure every strip, usually only the first one and then eyeball it from there.

Next you will need the base to your rug. What size shirt you use will depend on how big you want the rug to be. I would suggest a men's XXL shirt, I use a an XL or XXL. Cut out the neck, arms and back or front of the shirt. Trim the edges down to make an even square.

Using a ruler and a fabric pen (or if your cheap like me a sharpie) draw lines all the way across about 1/2 inch apart.

Next cut small slits about a 1 inch apart, following the lines as pictured below.

 

This part can be very tedious but hang in there, you are almost to the fun part!

 

Your shirt should look similar to this

 

Now remember those strips you cut up earlier? Take one and weave up through the first slit and down through the second.

 

 

Take another strip and weave up through the second hole and down through the third (it will share a hole with the first strip).

 

 

Take the two ends in the middle and wrap a mini rubber band twice around them. I use the tiny rubber bands made for hair.

 

Continue to weave and rubber band down the row, and then move on to the next line. This part takes a while but I find it relaxing. I watched two seasons of Criminal Minds while completing my latest one. Dr. Reid is my favorite character (he is the nerdy genious hehe)

 

 

After you have several rows done you can go back and take the strips on the ends that don't have a partner and rubberband them to the one on the row under it. And then you are done!

 

 

Recycled Shoeboxes

I've been trying to organize my girl's room forEVER! The cute patterned organizational boxes I've seen are so pricey though. I happened to have a few shoe boxes laying around so I turned them into suh-weeeet boxes for the girl's barbies, dress up jewelry and pony collection.

All you will need is cool patterned duct tape, a shoe box, diaper box or any other cardboard box you have on hand and a pair of scissors.

Cutting a slit in  the tape before you press it down will help it lay flat.

 

The finished top! (Contrasting colors work amazingly!)

 

Way cool finished product :p

Handmade Gift Tags and Cards

Since we are on a very tight budget, I always look for ways to reuse everything. Even free magazines we get in the mail! In another post (coming soon!) I'll give you 10 ways to reuse old magazines.

This is a fun, easy and cheap way to make gift tags and cards. You can make these to use as gift tags, give them as gifts, or write a note to someone.

You will need:
Scissors
Glue stick
Construction paper or cardstock
Magazine pictures

1. Take your magazines and cut out pictures you think are cute. I like to use landscapes, animals, patterns.

2. Take a piece of construction paper and fold in half. Place picture on the folded paper and cut around it. Use paper colors that compliment the picture. Should look something like this.

3. Glue picture in the center of the cut out card. Gluesticks work best since magazine paper is thin and will bubble if liquid glue is used.

Wah-lah!