August Reuse-it Item: Playing Cards

Ever went to play a card game, only to realize you're missing part of your deck? Here at the Reuse Centre, we take full and partial decks of playing cards, and even those singles you find under the couch.

What can you do with part of a deck of cards? Check out these great ideas.

Michelle

Here is a way to keep necklaces from tangling up in a box. Reuse playing cards by cutting 2 slits into the top of the cards, and slipping necklace chains into the slits. This would be a great way to display jewelry if you're a seller at a market. It is an easy way to show off your work without having to hang everything individually.

Check out this idea, and more great jewelry organization tips, at TheGloss.com

Emma

Sometimes reusing is less about cutting, sewing or changing the look of the item, and more about just finding a new place to use it.

This light fixture, part of Nick Sayers' "Spheres" exhibition, is easily identified as a recycled playing cards project. So simple, but really effective. I'd love to see if the light bounces off the cards to create shadows, or if the fixture gives off a glow.

Check out more of Nick Sayers' work with upcycled materials on his Flickr page!


Lana

Be an ace and declare someone the king of your heart! Re-purpose old playing cards into valentines like Thrifty Jinxy, by gluing the card to a colourful paper and adding a "punny" phrase.  Or go a bit more polished with Martha Stewart's project, which embellishes using printed glassine or parchment paper envelopes.  

At first I thought this project would be limited to the "hearts" cards, but both give ideas on how to use the full deck with phrases like "We are two of a kind".  Simply 2 sweet!

Sarah

Growing up, we always seemed to have a pack or two of cards in the junk drawer. We didn't actually play a lot of card games, but I do remember one summer where my brothers and I made approximately one billion card houses. (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it was a lot!)

You don't need a full deck to build a card house. Your cards don't even need to match! And the best part is you can knock them down and rebuild them as many times as you like.


Do you have any other great ideas for reusing old playing cards? Share with us in the comments!

Easter Bonnet Reuse Party!!

The Reuse Centre Blogger Team has wanted to do another crafting challenge for a while now, and we were racking our brains trying to come up with a great project. Some of us fondly recalled making Easter bonnets as children in school, out of paper plates and scraps of construction paper.

So we had our challenge! The idea to make fashionable and delightful Easter themed bonnets from items on the Reuse Centre acceptable items list was too good to resist! We set a date and met for a dessert potluck and crafting party.

The creative juices were flowing

We had two rules: all the items had to be on the Reuse Centre list, and we had 10 minutes to pick out our materials. Our material gathering was a bit frantic, but luckily we had stomachs filled of delicious, sugary treats to fuel our artistic endeavors.

Maybe we were so frantic BECAUSE of the sugary treats?

We came up with an eclectic array of items including ribbon, lace, baskets, paper towel rolls, bird figurines, tissue paper, beads, buttons and much more! A lot of these items are things you can find around the house too.  

Baskets, aluminum pie plates and paper plates were used as a base and then the sky was the limit with decorations.

Michelle working on the base of her bonnet

The results were fantastics! Lana went haute couture with book pages.

Lana's bonnet set to appear on Spring 2015 runways

Sarah wondered what Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy would like, so went with an 19^th century bonnet style, using ribbons and lace.

Sarah modelling a bonnet inspired by the novel Pride and Prejudice 

Michelle designed a top hat style bonnet out of paper towel rolls and a paper plate, decorated with construction and tissue paper for Kate Middleton to wear to her next royal function.

Michelle asked: Kate Middleton, will you wear this Reuse Centre inspired Easter bonnet?

The rest of us created our bonnets with more eggs, pom poms and strategically placed birds. We went with the idea that "more is better." What's a good Easter bonnet without a little silliness? Modern bonnet design is definitely lacking in birds! 

Nichole models her creative Easter bonnet, a definite asset to her Easter day outfit!

Tamare added lace as a nice touch

Hayley had only one rule: the more rubber ducks the better

Group shot!

Which one is your favourite? Vote on our Facebook page and in the comment section below! 

Easter bonnets are an easy and fun activity to do with anyone, and you can make them easily with items from around your home. So get Easter-bonneting and share your creative results on our Facebook page or below!

July Reuse-It Item - Pill Bottles

July's Reuse Item is pill bottles! These little things seem so useful, it's hard to throw them away, and we see loads of them coming through the Reuse Centre. Read on for some practical and unique ways of reusing this common household item!

Lana

Blog team member Emma thought this would be perfect for
Walking Dead or Hunger Games aficionados!

Waterproof and compact, prescription pill bottles are great re-purposed as a travel container. But even if you're not going far away, one would make a perfect little "emergency kit" for day to day. A few spare safety pins, needle, thread (or dental floss), and buttons, and you can fix and prevent a wardrobe malfunction. Include plaster bandages, allergy pills, and a rolled five dollar bill and you'll likely have all bases covered!

Sarah

When pill bottles came up this month, I thought I was going to have a hard time coming up with something other than "put stuff in them", but you really can find anything on the internet!

Can you believe that these gorgeous earrings were made from cut up pill bottles? Check out this article on LilacPOP for more really fantastic examples of jewellery made from pill bottles, including necklaces and more earrings.

The examples on that blog are all made from orange bottles, but the Reuse Centre also sees plenty in blue, fluorescent green, and clear that would look great, too!

Emma

Always forgetting your key? Try keeping a spare somewhere covert with this awesome stealth key hide.
Simply glue a rock to the top of your pill bottle, close up your key inside, and push it down into the dirt. Now you just have to remember which rock it's under!

Visit Thrifty Fun for this and other great ideas.


Nichole


When I see pill bottles, I think of handy ways to keep hair pins and craft supplies organized. When artist Mary Ellen Croteau sees them, however, she sees the potential for installation art.

Her ongoing "Endless Columns" collection, featuring plastic bottle caps, jar lids, pill bottles and other materials that aren't easily recycled, is a social critique and visual challenge for us to look at everyday things in a different way.

Visit her online gallery to see more photos and learn about this innovative art project.



What are your favourite ways to reuse pill bottles? Share your ideas in the comments below!

How do YOU make it REUSABLE contest!

We often wonder what our customers do/make with items they buy in our store. We have a lot of creative, imaginative customers and frankly, we're curious!

So we decided to put together a contest to showcase our customers' reuse creativity! We are asking you to submit your favourite way to Reuse items on the Reuse Centre accepted items list.  We want to see all the wacky, creative, fun, useful or innovative ways you use the items on our list. All entries will be posted on our Facebook page and the winner will get profiled on our Reuse-it Edmonton blog.

Here is how to enter: Submit photos and a short blurb (up to 200 words) of how you have reused the items found on the Reuse Centre accepted items list to hayley.orton@edmonton.ca before the deadline of Friday, August 16th. Please include your name, email address and phone number in your submission (your last name, email address, phone number will not be published).

All entries will judged by our panel of Reuse experts on the entry’s creativity, innovation and reusability. The panel will decide on a winner who will be notified by email or by phone. 

Prize: Our winner will get profiled on our Reuse-it Edmonton Blog and also be awarded a Reuse Centre gift basket (to be picked up at the Centre). The profile about the winner and his/her winning entry will be posted on our blog on Monday, August 26th.

Rules: ALL entries must contain original images taken by the submitter. All photos submitted will be posted on our Facebook account during the contest. All entries must contain items from the Reuse Centre accepted items list. This competition is open to only those living in Edmonton Capital Region. 

If you want a good starting point, scroll down for some inspiration we’ve put together!

Good Luck and Happy Reusing!

Christmas decorations made from frozen juice can lids











Using baskets, coffee cans and shoe boxes for storage

Using various items including magazines, carpet and buttons to make pieces of art

(inspired by the visual artist Lee Gainer)

Little owls made from paper towel rolls, 

monster bookmarks, popsicle stick airplanes 

and fish made from CD's

- Reuse-it Edmonton Blogger team

Journey through the Ages: The History of the Reuse Centre Accepted Items List

The Reuse Centre turned 6 years old on July 6th and what a great time to reminisce on how far the Reuse Centre has come! The most significant change that the Reuse Centre has undergone is the evolution of our list of acceptable items for donation.

We get questions about why our acceptable items list contains the items it does, so we though we would compile a bit of a history for our readers.

Flashback to early 2007 (before the Reuse Centre grand opening).  The question being tackled was: what to include in the Reuse Centre accepted items list? One starting point was the items collected at the successful once a year Reuse Fairs held in various Edmonton communities. These fairs collected various and select items for schools, daycares and community organizations and it seemed natural to include the vast majority of these items on our list.

A typical Reuse Fair 

These items, like milk bottle caps and bread bag tags, were items not available for reuse elsewhere so it also helped that that Reuse Centre could fill this recognized gap. This reasoning also determined why we decided not to take certain items. For instance, clothes, blankets, toys were not included because there were a large number of organizations that already took them.

The Detailed List of Accepted Items

So, these items were compiled together and the first list was created. At the beginning, the list was a whopping 4 pages long! It consisted of a brief summarized list of items and a more comprehensive detailed list.

Fast forward to 2008. We decided that having two lists was redundent, so we downsized and consolidated the two versions into one.  Going from our original four-page list to a one page durable list just made sense considering we are in the business of making environmentally conscious decisions. 

2009-2010 The list went through more revisions, including organizing items into categories as well as adding and removing items as the demand for items changed. For example, onion bags and panty hose were removed and cables and video games were added.

Compact and user friendly                              

In 2012, the list went over a bit of a make-over. This brighter, more colourful list is presented in a more user friendly format, and includes the Reuse image of the City of Edmonton Waste Management Services. 

Making Reuse easy

The accepted items list has served us very well over the last six years at the Reuse Centre and it has been supported by our customers with every incarnation. Over the last six years we have had over 725 tonnes of materials dropped off and over 500 tonnes purchased by 105,000 customers. Way to go, Edmonton!

Share with us in the comment section your favourite items to buy at the Reuse Centre!

 - Vanessa (Volunteer) & Hayley (Staff)