So we moved into a new house (you'll be getting a lot of threads from me about what to do with things-haha!) And we went to put shades up in the bedroom windows.  Our windows don't allow shades to into the frame and the windows each have a frame and are too close together to get the outter hooks to put them OUTSIDE the frame. (gotta love those old windows!) and one of them is completely ruined.



Is there anything I can do with that? I was thinking of using a part of it to make some new funky lampshades? Its too small to really use anywhere else and one end is completely ruined.

Any ideas would be awesome!

I made this as an anniversary gift for my fiance. He served in the Army at the beginning of the Iraq war...

I've seen people who spray paint them, use them as candle holders (especially filling the bottom with those marble thingys and adding water and floating candles) and of course, paint them really nice and use them in an office for pens/pencils/etc depending on how big they are.

What can I do with wall board? Let me explain, its like plywood but has a glossy white coating on it. its from retail store shelving units.

I cleaned out a basement in a family owned house this past weekend. I don't have any pictures yet, but I do have a few things I had to grab due to the crafty potential they might have! So here's my list


A poker table. Obviously, I can paint it up and use it as a table, but does anyone have any suggestions of how to close up the holes (cup holder/chip compartment thingy)?

Some dominoes. I personally love the cedar box they are in more than the dominoes themselves, but there's gotta be a crafty solution for them.

One of those little organizer boxes with the little drawers filled with old washers, screws, electrical doo-hickeys. They are so cool!

An old gumball machine. It wouldn't be worth anything since the bottom plate (that catches the money) falls off. So I was thinking of putting stuff in it and displaying it, but I don't know what to do or what to put in it.

A 1940's Coca Cola cooler. I was thinking of keeping it as is (obviously) but putting piece of plywood on top and using it as a plant table.

I'll probably think of more things as I go through stuff, but this is for starters. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thanks!

I love the idea of using the base on the wall for things. My husband always takes off his dirty work hat every night and plops it right onto my clean kitchen table. At least if I use the spindle thing and hang it right next to my key hanger, he has no choice than to take off his hat and hang it right there!

And hanging mugs is a good idea too! I have some decorative ones I'd like to see out above my counter.

Thanks so much for the terrific ideas!

I saw a tutorial similar to this.

It was an article that showed you how to use the whole bottle for beading. The woman cut the entire length of the bottle in strips and colored them (scribbled so it looked awful when she did it) with a sharpie or marker then rolled them and baked them. It looked so cool with the messy scribblings of the marker plus the melted plastic.

Looks like I'll be saving my water bottles from now on!

Are they like bread tags? I saw this awesome tutorial where you decorate the tags and use them to hang as mobile or hang from a ceiling...they looked really cute.

If they are like regular key tags, you can always use them as labels. I had a bunch of those plastic key tags with paper inserts that I use on my totes and bins to label what's in them.

If they are different colors, a cool collage would be neat with them, too...if they have the paper inserts, you can write a little quote on each and decorate them then make wall art with them.

I have a few empty CD spindles similar to this:


I saw a few ideas to screw the bottom into a shelf (like with glass bottles where you screw the top into a shelf and put stuff in there), but I don't know if the plastic would be strong enough to store things.

Also, I have some mailing tubes like this:


And I don't know what I can do with it. Its not super huge but is medium size and I can't bear to throw it out! And also a clear tube that my wall decal came in.

Any ideas would be great?

I'm sorry for your loss.  I lost my father in November 2010 so I feel your pain...

I think that you should search things from the WW2 era...colors, flags, pictures, maps, whatever...and decorate the box with them.

Unless you wanted to use old pictures to cover the box with and make a small "shrine" of sorts.

The main thing is to make it so that when you look at the box, you think of him.  Decorate it in a way so when you see it, you get that warm feeling thinking of him

Yeah, I'd love to know how you did these!  I've been collecting jars and cans for a few months now and the amount I have is overwhelming!