Reduce your waste this Earth Day with these beautiful modern DIY upcycling ideas.
Dating myself again, but Captain Planet was my faaaaave when I was a kid!
Fast-forward several decades, and I’ve been trying to be more mindful of how much waste I throw out, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite modern DIY upcycling ideas. Because Earth Day is next week, after all!
Creating art and crafts has always seemed worth it to me — worth the resources produced, worth the waste made. I don’t know if nature necessarily agrees. But we can at least try to craft by those three R’s they taught us in elementary school.
These projects achieve all three!
(Yep, it’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Pushing my glasses up higher on my nose as I type).
DIY Upcycling Ideas
+++ Transform glass drink bottles into chic, minimal vases on Make and Tell.
+++ German blog My Muesli shows how to turn round tea cartons into a very on-point desk organizer using wrapping paper. (In German, with step-by-step photos).
+++ Use an old leather belt to make minimal leather circle earrings, by yours truly.
+++ Spatial Dwelling had the brilliant realization that this placemat was too pretty to cover in crumbs. Instant art!
+++ Save all those skincare jars and bottles. The Merrythought demonstrates that they make great revamped containers for bobbins and such.
+++ You can make a beautiful tote bag using an old basket and colorful raffia, by Enthralling Gumption.
+++ Lobster and Swan used vintage doilies to make plant hangers (I LOVE how many possibilities there are to upcycle things into plant holders!).
+++ Here’s another planty one: use Ctrl + Curate’s tutorial to transform an old bathroom mirror cabinet into a plant display shelf.
+++ Turn all that junk mail into STUNNING handmade paper that you’ll actually want to use, unlike that gunk you made in grade school. Visit Salvage & Stitch to see how.
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How do you strike a balance between the need to create and the desire to be more eco-friendly? Have any of these projects inspired you to try your own upcycling DIYs?
