[kathryn5kids]

ok ladies I've been thinking of some craft project to make to enhance/organize my house. something very inexpensive such as recycling what we normally have. Can ya help me out?

While surfing the net I got a simple but cleaver idea of making our cereal boxes into color book holders. And with my stack of magazines (which by the way e-bay is a awesome way to get subscriptions. like 2 years ago I subscribe to women's day and shape for like $10 for five years! yeah it's for real) so with my magazines I'll have the kids glue pictures on it.

I'm trying to figure out what to make with the tons of milk gallon jugs I go through. And with egg cartons. My kids already plays with the empty toilet rolls.

thanks kathryn5kids (now w/6kids)

 

[oneotamama]

Hopefully someone else is more clever than me, but we always used egg cartons to hold our playing cards when we were kids. Children's small hands can't hold very many cards at one time and this helps so others don't see your cards if you drop them! Good luck!

 

[KathyS]

I have been using milk cartons to cover garden plants and also for putting fresh cut flowers in to give to people. I milk carton with the top cut down slightly holds a ton of flowers. Also- I think one of our kids made a bird feeder out of a milk carton once. I'm not sure how you could use them to help organize your home though.

Talking about egg cartons?? I have laying hens and everyone brings me their eggs cartons. I need to count them but I have a ton they are stacked floor to ceiling and I will never be able to use them all. I would LOVE a great idea for using these on other things.

 

[Sherry]

well its not organizational, but we use egg cartons for holding the kids paint when they are at the easel...and for starting seeds.

the cereal boxes idea is a good one...even taping a few togater and decorating it would make a nice in/out type mail box.

 

[Meiri]

We used egg cartons for homemade Mancala games we gave to extended family last Xmas. We got the plastic ones that have the egg shaped part that folds over, which then allows for more variations of the game to be played, or not.

A friend gave me some large cereal boxes which I use for magazine and catalog storage after decoupaging them with page-a-day calendar pictures.

Cloth from worn out clothing can be cut into strips and used to make braided rugs. Or cut into squares for quilt projects...

 

[Tuckersmom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meiri We used egg cartons for homemade Mancala games we gave to extended family last Xmas. We got the plastic ones that have the egg shaped part that folds over, which then allows for more variations of the game to be played, or not. A friend gave me some large cereal boxes which I use for magazine and catalog storage after decoupaging them with page-a-day calendar pictures. Cloth from worn out clothing can be cut into strips and used to make braided rugs. Or cut into squares for quilt projects...

Are there any online instructions for making rugs like that? I have always wanted to do it, but didn't know how!

 

[Meiri]

I don't know of any, but a search on "braided rugs" or braiding rugs ought to turn something up. I snagged a set of metal things (for lack of a better word) that turn the edges under as you slide them down the strips, so no raw edges show, at a garage sale a few years ago, but I haven't used them yet.

From what I can see from my great aunt's work, you just make a very extremely long braid, stitching a new cloth strip onto each working strip as you reach the ends, then start laying it into a circle or oval and handstitch with a big needle to hold it in shape. She made one, that's now in Mom & Dad' house, that is the 20'+ long strips stitched together straight.

 

[mehndi mama]

Do you have a woodstove or wood fireplace, or grill with charcoal in the summer?
If so, I have a good project using paperboard egg cartons, dryer lint, and old candles - Fire Starters.

You pack the cups of the egg cartons with the dryer lint. Then melt all your old candles in a coffee can set in a pot of boiling water. (If you fish the wicks out, they make good fire-starters, too, when you let 'em dry all clumped together.) Pour a bit of melted wax over each cup of lint, to saturate it & seal it in. Once they're cool, you can use them - one or two does the work of a whole huge wad of newspaper and half the kindling! They light quick & burn quite a while.

 

[lunamomma]

we use water jug tops for sorting and counters
the actual jug we cut up and use for a shovel

cereal boxes we have used to make musical instruments- Apsu's favorite is the guitar.

i have made candle holders and wheatgrass planters from tin cans

Just my 2 cents