Upcycle

Summer is in full swing! Everywhere you look, plants are in full bloom and green is a way of life. Gardeners are clearly living up to their full potential. I cannot think of anything else that personifies summer better than gardening. When it comes to planting greenery, most ...more

What’s better in the summer than playing around in the water? Lounging in the pool, water balloon fights, and playing in the sprinklers helps us forget how much it sucks to be outside in 100+ degree weather. Sprinklers are especially fun to play around in, particularly if you ...more

When it comes to milk, my family consumes anywhere between two and four gallons every two weeks. That's about four to eight gallons every month. That's a lot of milk—and a lot of empty milk jugs! Instead of simply tossing them in the recycling bin, why not get creative and mak ...more

There's something undeniably naughty about upcycling your boyfriend's old tie into a thong. Japanese site Panty Hanty offers a library of free sewing patterns in the art of underwear-making. The underwear thong: Plenty more patterns for plenty of panties: Not to worry, guys ...more

If you want to put a fire pit in your backyard, but don't want to spend a lot of time or money on it, this $10 DIY Upcycled Fire Pit designed by Sarah and Joe over on House & Fig is the perfect weekend project. It's simple, looks great, and shouldn't take much more than an hou ...more

Compact discs...remember those? Before you toss your old CD spindle cases away, consider upcycling them to a DIY terrarium, cable storage container, hamster toy, rainfall shower head, bird feeder, bagel sandwich lunch box, and more. Need a quick and easy iPhone or iPod touch ...more

Skip Conversions = guerilla art + recycling + creative urban upcycling. My three favorites below (particularly the pool, which literally interprets the term "dumpster diving").

For as long as I can remember, I've always sucked at wrapping presents. No matter how careful I am, my gift-wrapping usually ends up looking like a toddler did it, so I'm always looking for easy ways to spruce up my packages. If you've got a lot of gifts to wrap, store-bought ...more

Forget those boring evergreen wreaths with the thick red ribbon and the pine cones that everyone else has hanging in their homes. Make your own DIY upcycled wreath using newspaper, paper shopping bags, cardboard coffee cup sleeves, toilet paper tubes, or even that trashy paper ...more

Do you have a bunch of old jeans that no longer fit you or are too outdated to wear in public? If you are handy with a sewing machine, the possibilities for upcycling your jeans into something crafty are endless. You can update your old denims into a jean tote bag, yoga mat ba ...more

One thing that's very crucial to gardening is the seed starter. Seed starters are very important for a number of reasons, including the fact that is an excellent way to make sure your seeds survive in their own little environment until you’re ready to transfer them to your gar ...more

Tim Fishlock’s piece entitled What Watt? showcases 1,243 suspended retired light bulbs, the center illuminated by one low-energy fluorescent bulb. Beautiful eco-friendly design. Says Fishlock, "What Watt? is a memorial to the incandescent lightbulb. It’s a spherical chandeli ...more

Ecouterre posts seven upcycled circuit board fashion accessories, many of which were part of a group show to help raise awareness about e-waste and overconsumption. (Upcycling: the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of bet ...more

WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with topics ranging from Minecraft to science experiments to Scrabble and everything in-between. Check in every Wednesday evening for a roundup of user-run activities and how-to projects from the commu ...more

Aspiring Scottish fashion designer James Faulkner brings all new meaning to the term upcycling.  Faulkner uses wings, feathers and furs of actual roadkill for his headgear line. He line employs a variety of taxidermied vermin, including foxes, magpies, rabbits, wood pigeons, p ...more