The 3 R's Plus One: Recreating

The Three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

One thing that I've always been "into" is the adage: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Way back when I was a teen, (well before the days of gift-bags) I attempted to set a family rule: we had to use reused paper or alternate wrappings. While not everyone complied, the majority of gifts that first Christmas were wrapped with saved stashes of wrapping paper, newspaper, or decorated

boxes. There were even a few tea towels and other useful items that hid the contents effectively, and became part of the gift. I was very proud, and continue to encourage re-use of bows and ribbons, wrappings and bags, year after year for all gift-giving events! In fact I get teased about it, because I take great care to fold tissue and paper into neat little squares as everyone unwraps.

Toilet Roll Cord Keeper

Neat and easy use of a paper towel or toilet paper roll.

My mom has always been a good influence in this regard! She has a knack for re-purposing things that most people toss out. Take toilet rolls for example. She cuts them in half to make them shorter, and then uses them to secure electric cords on appliances that are stored in the cupboard. Try it: just fold the cord up accordion style and stuff it in the toilet roll.

Benefits:

• tames tangled cords in the cupboard or on the counter
• easy remove when you need the appliance (much less fiddly than a twist tie)
• greasy or crushed or damaged ones are easily replaced
• easy to find when putting the appliance away (not like that dang twist-tie!)

Plastic Pull Tab Cord Keeper

A variation of this: use the little white plastic pull-ring tab from the milk carton spout to tame your earphones in your purse or briefcase! Here's a real-life image:

Neat cord in pull tab ring (left, white); messy cord that would get tangled in your purse or pocket (right)

I literally pulled these headphones out of the pocket of my purse: the white ones are neat and tidy, the black set were tangled in the pocket... I must buy more milk so I can fix it, as shown!

Tabs are easily collected from milk, juice and other cartons. Rinse and save!

One further re-purposing... mom uses the tab, held as shown in the photo above, to protect her finger as she gets the last bit of cheese through the grater, and as a quick thimble when quilting. Told you mom thinks out of the box!

The 4th"R" is ReCreate!

My craftiness has been influenced by my love of reusing... but in this case I like to call it "re-creating" and some of my favourite materials to work with are:

T-shirts (new, hardly worn, or worn-out)

• transform into new garments (halters, tanks, dresses, shrugs)
• transform into useful accessories and gifts (pet scarves, baby hats, headbands, belts)
• rip up and crochet or braid or weave into new stuff (rugs, bags)

Inspiration for this is a book called Generation T: 108 ways to transform a t-shirt, and it's sequel, Generation T:Beyond Fashion... 120 NEW ways to transform a t-shirt. And I just discovered the website...sweet! http://www.generation-t.com/

Cottons and Yarns (Reclaimed from a crafter's neglected "stash" or unraveled sweaters)

• Almost anything I can knit or crochet with NEW yarn!

Here is a great resource for keeping things out of landfill:

Freecycle is a group that encourages local people to connect and GIVE their un-needed stuff to other freecyclers on the network. I joined our local group in Orangeville and have both given and received lots of items that will continue to be useful!

Cheers for now!

BusyLizzy