Recycle: crayons

If you’ve got lots of crayon stubs that you might be throwing out, wait!!!

To make some funky multi-coloured crayons break all your crayons into smaller pieces and pop them into patty pans. Melt the crayons in the oven. When the wax has cooled knock your new crayons out. Pretty clever!

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Tuesday Tutorial: apron

Not too long ago I made an apron for my littlest sister’s birthday. It was very simple! And only took about ¾ of an hour to whip up.

You will need: A colourful tea towel, bias binding, and coloured thread.

1. Lay the teatowel out and fold it in half long ways.
2. Along the salvage edge draw a fairly shallow curve. This will be the top edge so it will have to fit under the arms, eventually. Cut along the curve you’ve drawn.
3. Take the bias binding and put a pin through it at about 50cm. Then from that point pin the binding on to the curve and when you get to the top leave just enough for a small head to get through and then continue pining it onto the other edge.
4. Leave 50cm on the other side and then cut the bias binding.
5. Sew the binding over on itself and onto the tea towel.
6. Embellish with buttons, pockets or however you would like it.

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Recycle: the rubbish dump: part two

In last weeks photos two main themes seem to stand out RUBBISH and POVERTY. Now, because I’m puting this under the “recycling” and “don’t throw that away” categories I’ll stick to the RUBBISH topic.

After a visit to the Stung Meanchey rubbish dump there are lots of things that stick with me:

The thick smell of burning plastic and other unusable rubbish that catches and sticks in your throat .

People filling sacks full of tin cans…plastic bottles…newspapers…unwanted shoes…all to sell off to someone else.

Mountains of plastic bags.

People who delight in finding things that, (to those of us who throw them out), are thought of as rubbish.

So much rubbish.

SO when you reuse something instead of throwing it away you are stopping that from going into a similar rubbish dump. And next time you go to put something in the bin stop and see if it can’t be used for something else.

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Recycle: Stung Meanchey rubbish dump

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Recycle: rag-rug

If you have a lot of time on your hands then you might want to try making a rag-rug.

It’s quite easy, but does take a while if you want a big one. The only things you need are loads of rags (could be some old clothing that was destined for the rubbish bin, but check with mum or dad that it will be alright to use it). You’ll also need hessian.

Cut the rags into strips and poke them through the hessian with the aid of a blunt pencil or chopstick. Make sure you poke BOTH ends through the hessian so its like a U.

I’m about to start a big rug so we’ll see just how long it’ll take 🙂

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Recycling: catch a ball

Trying to catch a newspaper ball (that is tied to a string, attached to a fizzy bottle, with the end cut off) is harder than you might think, but its lots of fun!

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Recycling: puzzle

Do you like doing puzzles? How would you like to make a puzzle?! You’ll have to find a picture you like in the newspaper or in a magazine. Cut it out and stick it onto a piece of card. Cut the card into pieces and scramble them up. Now you’re ready to do a puzzle you have made 🙂

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Recycling: planter boxes

Usually you would put a pot plant into one of the many terracotta pots that you can can buy in the shops…but here’s an interesting twist on that idea

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Recycling: hovercraft

If you happen to have an old unused CD sitting in your rubbish bin, you could have a go at making a hovercraft. Just make sure with your parents that they no longer need it!!!
With an adults help use a hot glue gun to glue a drink bottle lid over the hole in the CD. Stretch a balloon over the sipper part of the lid. Blow through the hole in the CD until the balloon has a considerable amount of air in it. Close the lid by pushing it down just as if it were on a drink bottle. This will stop any air getting out while you place it on the ground. When your hovercraft is sitting on a hard surface pull the lid up and watch it fly!

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Recycling: parachutes

Parachutes are great things to make out of old shopping bags. You need to cut a square of plastic out of the bag and tie string onto each of the corners. The other end of the string are tied to a cork . Wrap the plastic around the cork and throw it into the air. The parachute should open and slowly descend.

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