It’s been awhile since we have focused on repurposing projects – we have been busy with events and other happenings here at Goodwill.  However, I recently spent some time browsing our favorite blogs and found some great summer projects – enjoy and remember to check out Goodwill for your all your craft projects!

Repurposing Old T-Shirts

Crafting a Green World had a great post last week on “Memorable Ways to Repurpose Old T-Shirts.“  No need to get rid of that Nirvana t-shirt – simply turn it into an upcycled pillow or quilt.  Not crafty?  They even point out some services that will make a t-shirt quilt for you -  just send in your t-shirts!  You can also make scarves or turn them into wall decor.

Need Kid’s Projects this Summer?

Check out Apron Thrift Girl’s idea to create a thrifed stash basket – she includes rulers, markers, graph paper, shells,  candle-making kits, and various odds and ends she found while out thrifting.  She also advices looking for sea glass, blocks, drawing paper, rubber stamps, corks, and wool sweaters for felting.  Now you have plenty of supplies to keep your little ones busy all summer!

Reusing Old  Mason Jars

Though I’m not sure how this is done, I really love these mounted mason jars used as vases – take a close look at picture – if you can’t figure out how to make them, they are available on Etsy at Post Road Vintage’s Shop.  Enjoy!

This is probably one of my favorite features of this blog.  It is very inspiring to see all the great projects that repurpose old items into new – not only do second-hand items have a *soul* and sense of history, but by opening our minds to see old items in a new way, we are unleashing our creativity AND keeping items out of the landfill – what could be better?

I now present this week’s roundup of repuposing projects – enjoy!  And please remember that we are always looking for YOUR repurposed project to feature on here; leave us a comment and let us know about your creations!

Postcard Banners

This project is super, super simple.  It is a great way to display postcards you have received from friends or family, or to feature a personal collection of cards.  All details, directions, and pictures can be found on Design*Sponge.

Projects for all those little pieces of paper scraps you could not bear to throw away…

Design*Sponge has come through again.  Have I mentioned how much I love their site?  They make crafting projects very accessible – this one features mini-projects that put to good use the odd ends of scrap paper you may have saved for some future project…details and directions can be found here.

Handmade Business Card Envelopes

These are pretty amazing…while it may seem like a time-consuming project, it looks like it actually does not take that long.  As they point out, if you want to stand apart from the crowd or make an impression, handing out your cards in these handmade envelopes will do just the trick.  Visit Crafting a Green World for directions.

Roxy at the Giggling Gnome Shop on Etsy has shared with us her latest creation: unique bowls made out of old records!

I have seen these creations before, but I fogot how versatile they can be:  use as a fruit bowl, junk bowl, planter, or feature decoratively.  Do you have a favorite album you want to memoralize?  This would be a great way to do it.  Go to your local thrift store and browse through the selections to find your favorite album.

You can purchase record bowls direct from Roxy, but I also found some websites with directions on how to make your own:

Make Your Own Record-Bowl

1. Watch this instructional video on Cardboard TV

2. Simple-to-follow directions on Thrifty Fun

3. Directions on the “edges down” and “edges up” method from WikiHow

Goodwill is considering organizing crafting and repurposing classes in northern New England and we would love to hear your feedback: would you be interested in taking a class? Do you sew, knit, felt, or make crafts? Would you be interested in teaching a class? Please fill out the poll to the right and let us know! You can reach us at info@goodwillnne.org.

I’m sure many of you have heard of felting: the phenomenon of creating a new, sturdy fabric out of wool. Felt is warm, water-resistant, and durable. Felting is nothing new, but it has recently been rediscovered as a resource for people who want to make quick and easy crafting projects.

We featured a felting project from Susan of the Maine Etsy team back in December, but I’ve received requests for additional project ideas. I’ve thinking about felting quite a bit lately (I think mostly because knitting has fallen to the wayside) and I found a number of sites with tutorials and easy projects for beginners.

The First Step: Felting the Wool

How do you felt wool? I’m sure many of you have accidentally put your favorite wool sweater in the wash and it came out looking something like this:

That’s really all you have to do! Check out this tutorial on Crafting a Green World for some great tips.

Easy Felting Projects

Instructables.com has a pretty easy tutorial for making a felted bag. You can ignore the first knitting step and find a wool sweater at Goodwill in your favorite color and pattern.

I started knitting an iPod cozy, but after seeing this felted cozy, I think I might switch and try this instead. It is easier to make and the water-resistant qualities of felt make it more appealing to protect the iPod. I also found this post helpful for making iPod cozies, though it gives options for making them out of other material besides felt.

Hats make for a very easy felting project and people love receiving them as gifts, too. I found this site that features some hats for inspiration. According to a tutorial on Threadbanger, simply “cut up a couple rectangles and sew them together to get a hat shape with ears, then embellish however you want…”

Threadbanger also features a variety of other projects that are a bit more challenging, but exciting, nonetheless. I really want to make these beverage cozys!

And because I find this completely amazing, check out this felted typewriter! Take a look at other felted projects blueblythemonster makes.

Thanks for reading and remember to take our poll on the right hand side of the blog!