Save Money. Save the Environment. Make someone smile.
If you look through your recycling bin you can find a lot of raw materials to make striking jewelry and crafts to use or give away as gifts for the holidays. Click on the links in this entry and you will find some of our tutorials.
Plastic
You can make old expired credit cards, gift cards, hotel keys and membership cards into a striking
bracelet or
earrings.
Cut up the plastic from brightly colored bottles from many household products of all types and make stunning
charms that you can use to make a pendant, earrings,
bracelet, necklace or key chain.
Bottles & Cans
Save the
corks from your wine bottles and make them into delightful charms for
earrings, a pendant or a necklace. Or melt the wine bottle itself and turn an old, empty bottle into a
cheese platter or
earrings.
Gather the
pop tops from soda cans and weave them into a designer
bracelet like the one made popular by Kristen Stewart, the movie star who plays Bella in the Twilight series.
Glass
Take an old, orphan
wine glass and create a work of art by
painting the glass. If you are not into wine, then
paint an old glass bottle, jar or flower vase and use it to hold home made
bath salts for a personal gift that will turn a bathroom into a private spa.
Scrap
Make a
ring from an old spoon or a
bracelet from old knitting needles.
Computer keyboards, computer
circuit boards, old
vacuum tubes, abandoned
bicycle chains and
scrap and paper wood can all can all be pulled apart and used to make interesting jewelry.
Be creative. Upcycle for the holidays.
Looking for Chanukah projects for your kids? Upcycle. Collect some old scrap wood or recover some old, worn no longer loved building blocks that were abandoned in the bottom of the toy box. Consider turning these found items into a simple Chanukah Menorah or Channukia. Turn your trash into a treasure. Make a Chanukah Menorah or Channukia out of scrap wood or blocks.
Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel...you can make it out of clay; but remember, there are lots of ways to make a dreidel. We posted three tutorials showing three different ways to make a dreidel. Click on the links below to learn how to make your own dreidel out of:
Bottle caps come in a variety or shapes, sizes, colors and materials. Rather than throw bottle caps in the trash, you can upcycle the bottle caps from beer, soda, water and other bottles to make spectacular gifts. The limit is your imagination, but you can use bottle caps to make unique, personalized jewelry and gift. To get you started following is a list of tutorials using bottle caps:
* Earrings 
