Bread Dough Clay

Bread Dough "Clay"

Don't throw away that stale bread, turn it into a masterpiece!
If you take a piece of stale white bread, take the crust off i and tear it into small pieces, then add a tablespoon of white glue to it, you can have a pretty great clay of sorts.
When you're mixing the glue into the bread, it looks pretty gooey and sticky, but if you keep mixing, it gets more solid and clay like, at this point you can add a few drops of paint to change the color. You can make just about anything with this clay that you can make with any other clay. Give it a try, if nothing else, you've learned a new craft technique.

Framed

Framed

Making a picture frame is pretty easy. Depending on the style you're looking for. Some frames look great without any decoration at all, and some need a little something to fit in. When you go to the store to buy a frame, you're looking at spending quite a bit of money. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time being separated from my money. Especially if I don't think the thing I'm buying is worth the price tag.

My husband and I are avid recyclers. We have an unspoken rule; if we can make it, we don't buy it! We needed picture frames in our new house, so instead of buying them, we made them. Now all the frames in our house match. Here is one of the frames we made. All you need is; scrap wood, a router, sand paper, and wood stain.

Use your imagination, and skies the limit!

Wood Burning Is Fun

Wood Burning Is Fun

When you're looking for a recycling idea, you might want to give wood burning a try. Wood burning is easy and quite fun to do. Some people say that the smell of the wood burning smells like popcorn. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that the fumes can cause headaches if you breath it in for a long period of time. To avoid headaches, just do the burning outside or in a room with a fan.

This wonderful wood burning is an example of the beautiful results you can receive with just a little bit of patience and dedication (since this "sofa sized" picture took over 60 hours to burn).

Don't let trying something new intimidate you, Wood burning is just as easy as coloring a picture with crayons, except the "crayons" are 900 degrees. Get out there and BURN!

Don't Be "Bowled" Over

Don't Be "Bowled" Over

I have always loved the look of those yard globes. I went looking to buy one, a couple of years ago, however I wasn't into paying the $30 or $40 they cost. One day, one of our neighbors gave us an old bowling ball (he works at a bowling alley), the ball had big chips in it, and it was destined for the land fill. To give it a new life, my husband and I tiled the entire thing and mounted it onto an old tree stump in our yard. It turned out great, and now it's life has been extended indefinitely.

Hunting Eagle

Hunting Eagle

Recycling is easy! All it takes is an idea. Anyone can recycle, and just about anything can be recycled. This wood burning is an example of one of those ideas I was talking about. The backing that this burning is done on is door skin, the frame is made from recycled wood. All you need is a drawing and a wood burner. When you're finished with your masterpiece, you can proudly hang it on the wall or give it as a gift, all the while knowing that you have done something good for the environment.

Trust me, once you start recycling, you begin to look at the things around you very differently. It's very empowering to know that you can do your part however small it is.

A Welcoming Sign

A Welcoming Sign

The sign posts at the stores are great, but expensive! Being a family of five in these times, my husband and I needed to come up with one that looked great, yet was inexpensive. Since we had just put up our fence, we had some 2 X 4's left. My husband took one of those 2 X 4's and added some small strips of wood here and there. We painted it to match our house and added a solar light. The whole thing took only a couple of hours, but it's effects are dramatic. Now when anyone walks up to our front door, they instantly feel welcomed. This project was so easy, anyone could do it.

"Harley" Bench

"Harley" Bench

Got a man garage? Consider making this great bench. One day, one of my husband's friends asked him to come up with a bench for her husband's "Man Garage", she was very specific about what she was looking for. "It has to hold shoes" she said. "Plus, it has to be a "Harley" bench" she added.

My husband went right to work making this bench. It turned out great! It made a great addition to his friends man garage, and best of all, the wood was all recycled!