June Reuse-it Item: Home Décor

The Reuse Centre takes a wide variety of Home Décor items including carpet samples, tiles and paint swatches. Our bloggers have compiled some fun and easy ways to reuse these items to brighten up your home!

Tamara

For reusing carpet scraps, there are many cool DIY doormats you can do that are relatively simple - check out this unique one out with this full tutorial.

Essentially, it just requires some washing and cleaning, some cutting, and latex paint. You can paint your own pattern on, or if you're in need of inspiration, check out more ideas for different patterns courtesy of JenTaterTots. Guests will enjoy these interesting doormats being the first thing they see when they come visit you!

Lana

Tabletops get a lot of abuse from cold dripping drinks and hot serving dishes. A little protection from a coaster or trivet can make all the difference and you can make one from leftover (or Reuse Centre) tiles. It can be as simple as attaching cork, felt or rubber pads to the bottom of one tile (like Tanya at Dans le Lakehouse or creating a mosaic and special wooden frame (à la Mandy of Sugar Bee Crafts or xNerdiusMaximusx. Either way, your tables are saved!

Sarah

The Reuse Centre gets so many tiles of all different colours, shapes, and sizes, but rarely enough at a time to complete a major project. If a mismatched backsplash isn't your thing, why not try making ceramic tile coasters? They make great gifts! You can pick up some plain tiles, and customize them any way you like, with scrapbook paper, photos, paint or stickers. It's just a bonus that all of these decorating materials can also be found at the Reuse Centre! Check out this tutorial at Homemade Gifts Made Easy for instructions and lots of great photos for inspiration!

Emma

Sometimes tile samples can be reused and still maintain their original function. Whilst it's unlikely to find enough tile samples to finish your own kitchen floor, small projects are a great fit for using them. I found some rainbow coloured tile samples in amongst other colours and thought they would be perfect for decorating a dollshouse for my little girl.

Source: Ruby Murray Musings 

I cut them into quarters, making them 1.5" square and used them to tile the kitchen floor, I alternated colours and made them in a rainbow colour scheme. I even grouted them so they'll stay the course.


Nichole
I can't decide if this craft idea is super obvious or super genius, but I kind of love the idea of patching together an area rug from a large collection of carpet samples. I saw examples of these kinds of rugs that were a delightful mess of colour and texture, but the project I liked the best (from ColOrs-Of-ReUsing) showcases a colour gradient from dark to light that looks surprisingly flawless for being made from tiny carpet scraps. You could use carpet samples to make any size rug, and either sew the patches together or join them with good quality fabric tape.

- Reuse Centre Volunteers

Host Your Own Craft Night!

(My latest creation shared with our crafty gang)

In 2014, I had a plan to bring some amazing ladies together to craft once a week.

My initial idea was simply to give a bunch of friends a place to go away from home to share something we all enjoyed,  It was a roaring success! Over a year later, we are 10 members strong, have our own inside jokes and are planning our second crafty weekend away.

Our merry band of ladies is a mixed bunch of crafters of different occupations, tastes and skills. Meeting with them is always fun and inspiring. I would encourage anyone looking to be more creative to get some friends together and start your own craft night.

Amazing double knit hat by our resident knitting superstar Edith Arel (totally reversible with the reverse of this pattern on the inside)

Where to start?

Start small, friends will invite others and you could soon have a crowd on your hands.

Use technology to organize. Using social networking is a great way to invite people, let others know about time and location changes and who is coming along.

Benefits of starting your own Craft Night

Fight off those winter blues -  When snow is thick on the ground, having a weekly outing to look forward to is sure to keep your spirits up. Even for those who tend to hibernate when the temperatures drop.

Increased productivity - Regular meets help keep you on track, with each person eager to show off their latest completed project. No one wants to be left behind on a never ending project.

Sharing skills and Ideas - New crafts, new techniques or just a different way of approaching a project. Sharing with a group is a valuable resource for fresh ideas.

Recycling your supplies - Passing on unwanted or unused supplies to friends is both thrifty and friendly. Save money and help out your friends by having a swap bin at meets.

With so many reasons to meet up with friends, there's never been a better excuse to get out in your community and spread some crafty love.

Stay crafty Edmonton.

Emma (Volunteer)
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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!

January Reuse-it Item: Popsicle Sticks

After the holiday season, January is a bit of a slow and usually very cold month! Check out these fun activities for reusing popsicle sticks that are perfect to do inside on a snowy weekend. Share your ideas below, we'd love to hear them!

 

RuthAnn

Popsicle sticks are a crafter’s dream. However they have lots of practical uses outside of crafting, too! Check out this list of 14 Clever, Non-crafty Uses for Popsicle Sticks.

As a history buff—and someone who’s teacher brother-in-law once built a working trebuchet for his students—this project (left) particularly appeals to me: How To Build A Popsicle Stick Catapult.

Tamara

Here is a chic way to do something with extra popsicle sticks you may accumulate - a popsicle stick helix vase! It's not too hard to make - just spend a bit of time bending the wood and arranging in a cylindrical glass vase. The full instructions and a video tutorial are available at : http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/12/bending-popsicle-sticks-for-wooden.html

You can even write a cute message on the inside or decorate them to add a little personal touch!

Michelle

Christmas is over but that doesn’t mean you cannot prep for next year! Using wooden sticks, foam cone and a glue gun; you can achieve this original Christmas decoration that you can put anywhere in the house. You can get the kids to paint or decorate before or after gluing.

-Reuse Centre Blogger Group (Volunteers)