From Trash to Treasure
There are two kinds of people in the world. One who lack the commitment of being emotionally attached to objects, creating piles of 'trash' out of their belongings frequently. And the other kind, who would rather cling on to even the most ridiculous objects such as the pen caps or the twisted remnants of dysfunctional earphones in hopes that they'll come handy someday. I, being a bit of both, come bearing a solution: Upcycle! Basically, upgrade a few of your trashed objects into something much nicer, meanwhile de-cluttering all the clutter that is killing the beauty of your space.
Spoon
Your regular meal pal can be transformed into something exciting. Jewellery. Got some ancient spoons with swirly designs lying in the corner of the cutlery drawer? It's time to dust them off, for you're going to make a ring and a pendant out of it. First up, since you'll be working on shaping metal, you might want to take the help of someone accustomed with handling tools. Then, simply follow these steps:
Hammer the head of the spoon flat while keeping the handle intact
Cut off the head of the spoon using heavy duty pliers keeping about an inch of the handle with the head
Sand off any sharp edges with sandpaper
Starting with one end of the handle, hammer it slowly around any dowel or rod, which bears the same thickness as your finger, till it obtains the shape of a ring.
As for the pendant, twist back the remnant of the handle on the head of the spoon to create the loop and sling a jewellery cord through it. For extra oomph, don't hesitate to glue on sequins of choice!
Comics
Don't hate me. I'm not asking any of you to sacrifice your precious comic collection. But think about all the times when your baby sibling adorably spilled juice on it or when you clumsily spilled coffee on it. Yes, you can always shed a few tears about it but better yet, salvage whatever bits are left and create your own memorabilia.
The easiest thing to do: cut the best parts of the comics out into strips and glue it onto both sides of cardstock from a cereal box. Voila! You now have a bookmark.
If not, how about comic wrapped shoes? Again, cut strips out of the comic pages and bring forth your oldest pair of ballerina pumps/ sneakers you couldn't let go of. Use adhesive to carefully glue the strips as you cover the whole shoe. Once done, slop it with a coat of adhesive and dry overnight. Repeat the adhesive coating thrice, drying overnight each time. Finally, polish it off with a steel wool.
Keys
I can't be the only one who has bunches of mysterious keys lying around without a lock to pair it with. If that's the case, who loves wind chimes? All you need is some string and an old embroidery hoop.
Cut the string into gradually increasing lengths with the longest being equal to the desired height for your wind chime
Attach a key to each of the strings and tie them equally apart around the hoop
Use four strings at four poles of the hoop and tie them together to create a hanging support and hang it away!
Wrapping paper
To wrap it all up, you can never throw away wrapping paper, especially when it's not shiny. You can use them as covers for tattered old books or use them as scrapbook paper. You can 'quilt' them up and create vibrant wallpapers for any surface.
Basically, not all trash is 'trash', as long as you have a little innovation. Therefore, trash cautiously.
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