You may have a junk drawer full of them or you may have one in nearly every drawer of your house. Old key chains and key fobs from hobby collecting, trade shows, promotions, etc. eventually tend to create clutter. Here are a few create ideas on what to do with them:

1. Attach one that you can write on (those rubbery kind are good) to your camera or smart phone case with your contact information just in case you lose it.
2. Attach to zippers on bags, tents, children’s jackets, etc. as decorative zipper pulls
3. Attach to your child’s soft sided lunch bag to set it apart from similar.
4. Link together or just add to the end of a pull chain for lights, ceiling fans, etc.
5. Hook one to your suitcase to distinguish it from the others … making baggage claim a bit easier. How cool would you be with the Wolverine key chain below on your bag?
6. If appropriate, remove the chain and the ring and use a children’s toy … possibly a dollhouse miniature.
7. For businesses, hook your company’s promo key fob to laptop, projector cases, trade show banner cases, etc. to ID these items when in transport or at show staging areas.

   

   Great for ID tags

   

   Cool zipper pull!

   
   

   

   ID your lunch box

   

   Super hero your way thru baggage claim!

   
   
   

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Cotton Monsters are made from 100% recycled clothing and linens to create one of a kind monsters. There are no patterns used so every monster is a little different. 

Some are quite creepy but the craftmanship is amazing. 

Jennifer Strunge is making these great monsters in her house in Maryland and they can be purchased from her shop at Etsy.

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Natasha’s Babydoll Coat Rack

To create this cool/creepy coat rack you will need a few things.  These are listed below.

• Soft body doll with hard plastic hands and feet (they will have a backing on them)

• Piece of wood, about 2 feet long

• 12 screws

• Heavy duty keyhole hangers

• Drywall anchors and screws

• GE Silicone II household glue

• Pen or pencil

• Sand paper

• Paint

• Drill

• Screwdriver

• X-acto knife with chisel like blade (#17)

Now that you have collected all of your materials, Natasha says this is how you put it all together.

1. Dismember your doll

2. Arrange hands and feet on board in an order you like. Space them evenly apart, marking their positions with a pen or pencil. Set limbs aside.

3. Drill 3 holes per limb. I counter sank the holes so the board would lie flat against the wall. Make sure your holes will not come too close to the edge of the limb, because the screw make poke out of the side of a hand or foot.

4. Position keyhole hanger and mark the spot. Chisel out the wood until the hanger fits snugly and until the drywall screws’ heads fit.

5. Sand your wood a little and paint it. Let dry.

6. Put some glue on limbs. Screw them on. Let dry.

7. Put anchors and screws in your wall and hang up your new coat rack. Hang up your coats and jackets.

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Turn pretty pie-filling cans into a piece of folk art that doubles as a cooking utensil holder. Bolt three eye-catching blueberry cans to a wooden cutting board with a frame hanger on the back. Display your clever work on the wall near the stove.

No matter how hard you try to keep drawers from collecting junk, they seem to be the vortex of miscellany. Get control over the odds and ends by cleaning a dozen tuna cans and nestling them into a drawer. Each little compartment can store thumbtacks, rubber bands, clips or twist ties. Junk drawer no more!

Corral the clutter in the kids’ room with magnetic tin cans. Hot-glue heavy-duty magnets to 10 soup cans and stick them to a steel cookie sheet. Hang it within kids’ reach using a plate hanger. Use the cups to hold crayons, chalk, markers and even small toys. Label the cans for easy clean-up.

Organize your accessories with a scarf display made of sleek silver cans. Arrange seven soup cans to create a tight circle with one can in the center. Tightly wrap a long sash around the bundle of cans, secure it with a knot at the top, then hang your new organizer on the wall. Each cubby stores a colorful scarf and adds stylish organization to your closet.

Keep the weeds out of the seeds by organizing your potting bench with bright vegetable cans. Choose a brand with gorgeous graphics of tomatoes, corn and green beans, or whatever you plan to plant. A clean-edge can opener creates nicely fitting lids, too, so your seeds will stay high and dry.

Thanks for the great ideas HGTV

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Recycled crayons in the shape of fortune cookies make coloring fun.  Creativity creates happiness from within. Good fortune comes to those who take care of the earth. Lucky for you that you have found these wonderful crayons made from recycled, non-toxic crayons. Perfect for creativity and friendly to the environment.
One package comes with pink, red, orange, yellow, light green, green, light blue, blue, purple, gray, brown and black crayons.  Each crayon has a fortune attached and all are packaged in a reusable take out box.

Such a cute idea. Children and adults alike will love these innovative recycled crayons.

These crayons are available for purchase from Etsy.

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These flowers are lovely wall decorations for any kids room or upbeat apartment. Leave them as unpainted cardboard color for clean, natural look or go crazy with bright paint and glitter either way you’ll have a beautiful new addition to your wall in no time.

You will need:

Toilette Paper rolls
Scissors
White glue
Stapler
Paint + brushes
Glitter
Laundry pins

How to:

• Crush paper roll

• Cut into approximately 5 equal parts don’t have to be exact

• place the rolls on a flat surface creating a desired  pattern. spend time trying different compositions and patterns.

• glue where rolls are touching, hold with laundry pins to dry. You may use a stapler as an alternative, what ever is easier. I find that glue is easier for the younger kids.

• You may paint and add sparkles. Sprinkle the glitter on the wet paint, this way it will sticks and you wont need any glue.

• You may expend the pattern in to an organic cell growth. The challenge is when to say STOP.

Thanks Growing Up Creative.

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The Green Baby Guide has several suggestions on how to reuse empty baby food jars to create great little gifts as well as ways that you can use the jars around the house to keep yourself and your household a little more organized.  Some of these crafts can be done on a larger scale as well by using larger glass food jars such as salsa, mustard, or jam jars.

• You can make a chair from baby food jars, but it looks pretty complicated.
• The larger jars are the just the right size for homemade jam or jelly.

• If you’re trying to fit healthy eating into your busy holiday schedule this year, use baby food jars for toddler snacks on the go or salad dressing in packed lunches.

• For the project person in your life, baby food lids can be screwed onto a board, equal distance apart, to create a nifty storage system.  It works for the garage, a craft room, or for desk supplies.  For directions, go here.

• They are a great way to package up homemade finger paints or powdered tempera paints as simple stocking stuffers for your tots.

• You can dry herbs from your garden, seal them in the tiny jars, decorate the lids and and use them as gifts.
• If garden grown herbs aren’t readily available, you can make a handy little spice selection for a friend by buying spices in bulk and packaging them up in decorated baby food jars.
• Create a purse-sized sewing kit for busy moms by filling a jar with buttons, safety pins, and a small piece of cardboard wrapped with thread and loaded up with a few needles.
• This site offers an extensive list of crafts that can be done with baby food jars, including tiny gardens, candles, and homemade berry ink.

Thanks Green Baby Guide for the suggestions.

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Fireflies lighting up the night is a sure sign of summer.  Now your children will be sure to have the glorious glow of Fireflies no matter where you are celebrating the fourth.

What you’ll need:

• 9 x 12-inch sheet of construction paper
• 16-oz. green plastic soda bottle
• Tape
• 2 chenille stems
• Pencil
• Tracing paper
• Scissors
• Thick white crafts glue
• Pom-poms
• Fluorescent light stick (available wherever camping supplies are sold)
• Colorful construction paper

Instructions:

1. Fold the construction paper in half lengthwise and tear it along the fold. Wrap one half around the bottle top for the bug’s thorax and tape it in place.

2. Wrap a chenille stem around the bottle neck and twist it to make antennae. Cut the other chenille stem into thirds and glue the pieces onto the sides of the bottle for the legs.

3. Trace circle and wing patterns onto tracing paper. Cut out the patterns. Trace around the patterns on construction paper, cutting one circle face and two wings. Cut out the shapes. Glue the wings to the thorax. Glue the circle on the bottle cap for a face. Add pom-poms for the eyes. Let the glue dry.

4. Activate the light stick and place it inside the bottle.

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Markers dry out and then what, they end up in our landfills. Children love them and if they are washable and non-toxic, parents and teachers love them.  There is no green way to dispose of child friendly, non-toxic, washable markers. The plastic is just not recyclable and it won’t bio-degrade.

To reuse the markers and caps:

1. Take a small cup of water, dip the marker into the water and you have a watercolor paint brush. The children have fun and you are reusing the ink that you thought was dried up but with some water, you have a marker paint brush.

2. Re-Use the caps and put them on your fingers to finger paint with.

3. Talk to your children about putting the caps on the markers to use them for as long as possible. This alone can reduce the waste of the markers.

4.  Hot glue them around an old frame for hanging all the lovely drawings your kids make.

5.  Drill a hole the the other end of the caps, then voila you have beads for necklaces and other kid’s jewelry.

RecycleChicken loves these ideas for reusing old markers and we are sure that these ideas will come in handy for those with children at home as well as teachers.  Please feel free to share any other ideas you have come up with to recycle or reuse markers in fun ways.

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Laura T. Coffey contributor to the Today Show recommends 10 ways that you can save money on sport equipment for your kids.  She recommends:

1. Buying Used Equipment

2. Know When Not to Buy Used

3. Sell Your Own Used Items

4. Get on The Right Mailing Lists

5. Keep Your Options Open

6. Save on Team Travel Costs

7. Have Your Kid Contribute

8. Conduct an Honest Assessment

9. Know When to Say When

10. Seek Out Charities

For more details about these 10 money saving ideas see 10 Ways to Get a Grip on Sports Costs for Kids by Laura T. Coffey.

If you are an individual or business looking to recycle or re-use items like this please go to www.recyclechicken.com to sign up in the directory.

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