Artist Mark Orr of Scavenger Art repurposes an interesting family of items — billiard balls, shutters, stair balusters, wooden shoe forms and more — into striking one-of-a-kind artworks. Take this “Raven on 8 Ball,” for instance, made of carved and … Read More ...
Tiny Cassette Tape Purses
Check out these microscopic Barbie purses crocheted from cassette tape at MyRecycledBags.com. (And don’t miss the recently posted matching Barbie halter dress and hat.) The creator, Cindy, generally crochets standard sized handbags, totes and other useful objects not … Read More ...
Silver Dollar Ring
MAKE magazine (the older sibling of CRAFT magazine) offers a video podcast on creating a one-of-a-kind hardy hand-crafted ring from an old silver dollar.
Even I (who has zero background in jewelry making or silversmithing) feel as though I could … Read More ...
From Junk Mail to Fine Art
Paper craft extraordinaire Patricia from A Little Hut has created a series of recycled art projects on her blog, including this first in the series of six (so far). For this project, she simply cut junk mail into thin … Read More ...
Aluminum Mini Trays
Using only a pair of scissors, Instructables member xavtek has been making these mini trays from aluminum cans for years. They’re meant to be used as ashtrays, but they function just as well as jewelry holders, soap dishes, spare change … Read More ...
Better than HDTV
Move over, Animal Planet – here comes a more realistic wildlife channel. Sender-inner Trisha brought to my attention this tutorial of converting an old console TV into a fab new home for your fish. By carefully replacing the TV with … Read More ...
Recycled Barbie and Friends
Up for an indie recycling art show?
San Francisco’s 5th Annual Altered Barbie Show, “Out of the Box: Reclaiming and Recycling Barbie,” features 75 artists and vendors celebrating Barbie’s (and Ken’s and Skipper’s) second life. The art show, which … Read More ...
Vinyl Sign Jotters
Leslie Herger of Comfortable Shoes Studio upcycles colorful and funky vinyl signs into one-of-a-kind covers for her delightful — and very reasonably priced — handmade jotter notebooks. She gets her sign vinyl from a grocery store chain where she works … Read More ...
Three Phone Books Too Many
Yet another phone book company delivered a book of “friendly” yellow pages to our front door this month — for a total of three giant phone books from three different companies — for our two-person household. I don’t remember the … Read More ...
Carpet Sample Transformation
Interior designers and architects receive a fair share of carpet samples and then discard them the next year when they receive the latest-and-greatest shipment of samples from the same carpet manufacturers. This year the Ample Sample Design Contest challenged designers … Read More ...
Stay Cool and Crafty
Trying to stay cool this summer? How to make a USB-powered personal fan from a used CD. It’s more techie than crafty, but it definitely would make your co-workers green with envy. Just don’t get too close to the … Read More ...
Baking with Blue Jeans + Procrastinators Wanted
Old denim has been repurposed into many crafty things, but these simple pot holders by Canadian crafter Lise Farynowski caught my eye (OK, they actually caught the eyes of ReadyMade editors as they were sorting through the entries of their … Read More ...
Wine Cork Placecard Holders
The online shop Bright and Bold, which offers mostly modish home décor accessories and other fun things you didn’t know you needed, offers this set of reusable wine cork placecard holders. Based on the pristine appearance of these … Read More ...
Coca-Cola Car
It’s Sunday afternoon. I’m sipping a Coke with my laptop hinged open, while my husband watches an Indy car race on TV. What a coincidence, then, that I run across this little Indy racer made from old Coke cans. Scott, … Read More ...
Go Green! Contest
OK, crafters: Let’s make sure the crafting world is represented in the “Go Green!” Contest presented by Instructables, Popular Science and TreeHugger.
An overview of the contest: “We want to know how you’re reducing your environmental footprint, and … Read More ...