$.07 for a plastic bag?!
Yup! If you're lucky enough to live in one of the many beautifully, crazy cities like I do, you probably know that they're now charging to have your groceries bagged. Seriously? What kind of crazy law is that? I understand nothing anymore. Oh, and it's really not just your groceries either. Want a sweater from Target? You might as well just wear it outside after you pay for it. Because if you want the bag, KACHING! You get slapped with a hefty price to pay (but definitely not Glad - maybe mad... lol).
Now apparently, you're expected to reuse the bag - and not for garbage. So, you start storing them in your kitchen pantry and before you know it you're building a cabinet to serve as home to your mop, broom, sandwich bags or whatever you used to keep in your pantry. So now you have a bag of bags in your pantry and you're supposed to reuse them - apparently 125 times (as noted on the bag). Well guess what! I'm not reusing them 125 times! First of all, they really don't usually last after the second use... Just sayin'. And if you're lucky enough to see it turn 3 weeks old (time to take out the party hats and streamers and throw a bag party ;) ), you've most likely forgotten to take them shopping with you and you end up with even more bags... And if you're like me, sometimes you're already out and you decide you need something from the store and guess what - you're bagless.
So you're stuck with a whole mound of plastic bags that you're supposed to recycle, but face it. You're not going to. So what to do? Don't recycle - UPcycle! This is where DIY makes its grand debut on the Once Upon a Shooting Star blog!
You've got so much "stuff" in your house. If you have plastic bags, it's time to take out your boring ol' hangers and some ribbon. To start off you'll need:
hanger(s)
ribbon
plastic bags
Scotch tape (yes - any brand will work ;) )
glue (optional - but it will keep it together better)
1. Grab your hanger and tie the ribbon in a knot around the neck of the hanger leaving a few inches of ribbon hanging on one end and the majority hanging on the other.
2. Take one of your plastic bags and scrunch it around the wiring of the hanger near the neck and wrap a strip of tape around it securing it in place.
3. Repeat step 2 with more bags until the whole hanger wiring is covered with bags.
4. Wrap the longer part of the ribbon around the bags covering it completely.
5. When you come back to the neck of the hanger, simply tie the ribbon into a bow using the little bit of ribbon that you left hanging. You can glue the ribbon to secure the bow to the neck so that it doesn't untie and unravel.
And voilà! You have a pretty UPcycled hanger :) I don't have pictures yet of this DIY, but I'll try to upload them asap.
But for another simple upcycling DIY, if you're crafty and you have leftover tinsel wire all over your room, you would really love to make these super easy amazing balloon tails for your next party - or just some nice decor for your work space ;) I found these on the Studio DIY! blog. Check it out here. Photos by Jeff Mindell of Studio DIY. Thanks, Kelly Mindell for the great idea! :)
Yup! If you're lucky enough to live in one of the many beautifully, crazy cities like I do, you probably know that they're now charging to have your groceries bagged. Seriously? What kind of crazy law is that? I understand nothing anymore. Oh, and it's really not just your groceries either. Want a sweater from Target? You might as well just wear it outside after you pay for it. Because if you want the bag, KACHING! You get slapped with a hefty price to pay (but definitely not Glad - maybe mad... lol).
Now apparently, you're expected to reuse the bag - and not for garbage. So, you start storing them in your kitchen pantry and before you know it you're building a cabinet to serve as home to your mop, broom, sandwich bags or whatever you used to keep in your pantry. So now you have a bag of bags in your pantry and you're supposed to reuse them - apparently 125 times (as noted on the bag). Well guess what! I'm not reusing them 125 times! First of all, they really don't usually last after the second use... Just sayin'. And if you're lucky enough to see it turn 3 weeks old (time to take out the party hats and streamers and throw a bag party ;) ), you've most likely forgotten to take them shopping with you and you end up with even more bags... And if you're like me, sometimes you're already out and you decide you need something from the store and guess what - you're bagless.
So you're stuck with a whole mound of plastic bags that you're supposed to recycle, but face it. You're not going to. So what to do? Don't recycle - UPcycle! This is where DIY makes its grand debut on the Once Upon a Shooting Star blog!
You've got so much "stuff" in your house. If you have plastic bags, it's time to take out your boring ol' hangers and some ribbon. To start off you'll need:
hanger(s)
ribbon
plastic bags
Scotch tape (yes - any brand will work ;) )
glue (optional - but it will keep it together better)
1. Grab your hanger and tie the ribbon in a knot around the neck of the hanger leaving a few inches of ribbon hanging on one end and the majority hanging on the other.
2. Take one of your plastic bags and scrunch it around the wiring of the hanger near the neck and wrap a strip of tape around it securing it in place.
3. Repeat step 2 with more bags until the whole hanger wiring is covered with bags.
4. Wrap the longer part of the ribbon around the bags covering it completely.
5. When you come back to the neck of the hanger, simply tie the ribbon into a bow using the little bit of ribbon that you left hanging. You can glue the ribbon to secure the bow to the neck so that it doesn't untie and unravel.
And voilà! You have a pretty UPcycled hanger :) I don't have pictures yet of this DIY, but I'll try to upload them asap.
But for another simple upcycling DIY, if you're crafty and you have leftover tinsel wire all over your room, you would really love to make these super easy amazing balloon tails for your next party - or just some nice decor for your work space ;) I found these on the Studio DIY! blog. Check it out here. Photos by Jeff Mindell of Studio DIY. Thanks, Kelly Mindell for the great idea! :)
Balloon Tinsel Tails by Kelly Mindell of Studio DIY! Photo by Jeff Mindell
RSS Feed
