I got this idea from an email with “redneck” solutions!
If you are in need of a sprinkler, and got a pop bottle or a plastic drink bottle available, just poke some holes in it, connect it to your garden hose and “wha la” you have yourself a cheap sprinkler.
If it gets crushed or some creatures decide to chew on it, (as it happens at our house) then just make yourself another.
I read in iVillage’s email newsletter a good tip on reusing paper towel tubes. These were from their Extra Weekend Community Challenges.
Use them to contain cord clutter:
- one way was to cut one along the long edge, insert cords and duct tape it to the back or underside of your desk
- use the longer paper towel tubes to corral extension cords, by just stuffing them inside the tube
Another use of paper tubes is to cut them into smaller sections, fill them with dirt and plant seedlings in, for transplanting later outside. I did this last spring when starting my own broccoli, I transplanted them into the tubes, and then could plant them directly outside in the garden.
My daughter is a stamper and card maker. She loves working with new ideas for her scrapbooks.
Saturday, while we were there, she made some new stamps, out of the scraps from other stamps. When she buys stamps they come in a block shape, that are precut, and she has to punch out the stamp. What is leftover she makes into a new stamp. Her husband cuts up blocks of wood for her from the scraps, left over from building their house, and she attachs it to the block.
For example, she got a new snowflake stamp. She punched out the snowflake and what was left over looked like a rounded star. So she got 2 stamps in one. Then she uses these to stamp designs on a piece of paper for background sheets for her scrapbooks.
She even made herself a stamp that looked like stained glass left over from scraps after cutting out a new stamp.
She also saves her scraps from cutting out designs with her punches for other projects. Even the little pieces work good for confetti, or making stained glass windows.
photo credit: Photos8.com
Do you have some old books laying around you don’t know what to do with?
Check out this site for lots of ways to use those old books: http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/02/17/80-awesome-ideas-for-all-your-old-or-unwanted-books/
I also like to share my books, to help others learn as well. I have started a list in a notebook however to record books I have lent out, so I know where they have gone. Sometimes, I will think, I had a book, but where is it now? So now I have been trying to keep better track of where my books are.
I also do this with teaching CD’s and DVD’s as well. Help someone else learn too.
Do you have lots of plastic grocery bags around and can you crochet or do you have a friend that can crochet. Make “plarn” bags out of them. Plarn stands for plastic yarn.
I made one last winter out of all my bags, this year I have been working on some smaller ones. The yellow and green one was from grocery bags my mother and daughter saved for me. The yellow beads for the handle came from the a thrift/second hand store.
This one, below, wa
s made out plastic bags that were thinner and softer, I had dark green, cream color, and clear plastic bags. The smaller shorter one 
was made from brown bags and white bags. The white bags with different colored printing add a pretty design look to the bag.
You can make your plarn bag any size you want. The one I made last year, my granddaughter uses as her “overnight” bag when she comes to stay at our house.
So during these long dark winter days, have some fun use your creativity and recycle those plastic grocery bags into something more durable and useful.
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