Even for those of us who live green all the time, Earth Day is an important holiday to celebrate. Whether it’s volunteering at your local park or recycling facility, participating in earth friendly nature crafts, or turning out the lights, saving mother earth is something that we can do one step at a time. Supporting Earth Day initiatives is a great way to start.
You can choose the traditional approach and rock out in recycling gear, or go modern with jewelry and clothing made of sustainable organic materials.
Here are some fun ways to reduce your carbon footprint by re-purposing old jewelry:
1. Refrigerator Fun Zone
Ya know all those old, light-weight acrylic plugs that aren’t the right size anymore? Well, all it takes is one roll of self-adhesive magnetic strip from your local craft store (about $2) and a magic marker, and they can become cool and useful fridge art. Just write or draw whatever you’re into on one side of the plug with the permanent marker, and apply a piece of the self-adhesive magnet to the back, and voila! Instant, one of a kind refrigerator magnet. Colorful, fun, and a great no-fuss project for kids too.
2. Going Broke
All of those extra beads, dangles, and body jewelry balls with no home aren’t exactly worthless. Beads and dangles can be restrung on ribbon, fishing line, or elastic to make new charm bracelets or neat nomadic looking strands of love beads. Those little mismatched pieces also make great decorations in a clear vase, cute trim for table runners and lampshades, or an awesome piece of displayable artwork when hot glued to floral photos from magazines or postcards.
3. Pack It In
One of the best things besides your jewelry that you can reuse is its packaging. Postal envelopes with bubble wrap can be clipped into strips, colored or decoupaged on, and then glued around old cans to create pencil holders or herb planters. Boxes can be snipped or taped into shape and covered neatly in old wrapping paper scraps to create permanent jewelry storage containers. There’s no limit to the uses of paper products for crafting.
Have fun, and don’t forget that Earth Day is Sunday, April 22nd.
