Earth Day Share. . . Recycled Projects

Ever wonder what to do with some of the garbage in the house? It drives me crazy because my family seems to produce so much garbage. Recycling isn't as convenient up here and the items they accept at the recycling center are limited. So I was determined to find a use for a few things like the plastic containers that our apples and salad mixes come in. What better day to share my recycled projects than today, Earth Day?

I decided to take the Costco plastic containers and use them as my seed starters. I filled them with dirt and planted some seeds. The plastic containers when closed act as sort of a mini green house so you do get good growth, which is perfect for me because I don't have a green house.

The whole apple containers are shallow so if you wait too long to transplant, your plants won't do well.

I sewed juice pouches together to make planters so that I could transplant my flowers that I started in my plastic containers.

I also took an old drawer from my kitchen that my youngest daughter broke years ago using it as a step.  It's been put back together a couple of times only to break again, but the final break was it. I kept it around for a couple of years thinking someone would come along and say it could be fixed. This year I figured it was time to just toss it out. I still have a missing drawer where this was. It's not pretty, but it holds my plastic wrap and foil just fine. I'm hoping for a new kitchen someday! 

Anyway, after I had put it out to throw away, I realized I could use the wood for signs. I took apart the drawer, pulled the staples and nails out of it, and put a little wood filler to patch up some of the holes.

I gave the boards a quick sand, and went on to pain. I wasn't going for even and uniform, so I applied a dark base and then went over this particular one with strokes of a lighter shade. 

Then I chose a short saying, cut it out in vinyl on my awesome Silhouette Cameo, applied it to my board, and spray painted it white.

Once it dried completely, I gave it a light sand to get give it some texture. I was pleased with how it turned out.

Here is the bottom of the drawer, it measures about 20x19.75. For this board I used the same process as the smaller board. This is a saying my daughter really likes. She saw it at gym where she does gymnastics and took a picture of it so we could make it into a sign. She even chose the colors. She's not a fan of any distressed or weathered looks so we kept this one pretty plain and simple. 

So there you have it, sometimes recycled trash really can come in useful. I hope you all had a Happy Earth Day!

Until the next time. . . .

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