Word of the month 12/13

Hello my dears,
Luckily everybody knows recycling nowadays and more and more people regard such products when they are shopping. But how about upcycling? Do you know this word? I explain you the difference to recycling with an easy example:

You buy a bottle of water. The glass bottle has to get produced, therefore you need energy and resources. When the bottle is empty, you got two possibilities. You can put it into a bottle bank, your bottle gets a new life after remelt it down. That's a good idea but you again need energy for it. Instead of trashing it, you could decorate it and use it as a vase for example. In both cases your bottle lives a new life but with the second possibility you wouldn't need energy for it, so it's recycling that's even more environment-sparing. That's upcycling. You create something new out of trash. I already deal with this topic for a longer time now because the perfect combination of environment and DIYs is 

Maybe you can remember an old word of the months. I talked about my collection of sunglasses and was looking for a possibility to store them. About one month ago I had an idea and I was busy with this upcycling stuff. The basic shelf is always the same, I'll show you my version step by step. During the following four weeks I'll present you also other upcycled things. This time I used mandarins' boxes, old bonbon papers, old wooden boards and a tiny bit of color from the cellar.

Sunglassesshelf

For four sunglasses you need:
* one empty mandarins' box
* color
* glue
* 'glitter paper' [old bonbon and chewing gum papers]
* three thin wooden boards, ca. 7 x 18cm [you can take the wood from other mandarins boxes]
* 12 small spikes
* thin carton and cellotape

Let's start:
At first clean the mandarins' box, that means remove glue and paper from the sides and wipe it out. Probably there are some small holes in the bottom, so cut circles out of the carton and fill it with the tape into them. Now just choose a pretty color for painting the box' outer face and the wooden boards. If you want, you can of course paint it everywhere. When the color is dry, paste the inside of the box with the glitter paper in a suitable color, I collect these papers for years now because I think it's a pity trashing it. My paper hasn't clung at once so I put glue on several parts after the first drying again. When again everything is dry , mark six points for the spikes, there are always two points at the same height and have a distance from about 7cm, to the next two nails but you can see it better on the picture.

I made three boxes and found the perfect place to look at my favourites all the time. I hope you like this upcycled DIY and you maybe try it on your own. I'd like to see pictures of yours then! If you need any filling, here are the links to my 'bestsellers:
http://buntes-bonbon.blogspot.de/2012/07/brille-selbst-basteln.html
http://colorful-bonbon.blogspot.de/2013/11/glasses-birthday-model.html
_Marie_
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