Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We've all heard it, but how many of us actually do recycle?  I know I do - and I'm not talking about just bringing my cans and bottles in (but I do that, too).  I take the Reuse portion one step further.  You've seen my posts about altering things.  A lot of my girlfriends call me the Queen of Altering :)  Just click on the 'altered items' link in the left column under labels and you will see some of the things I have altered such as this candy container.

Imagine my delight when I saw some adorable bags made out of bags at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago.  Bags made out of bags?  Yeah, that's what I said.  Here is the one I ordered and picked up the other night.

I absolutely fell in love with these.  See, my new friend Kristi crochets these out of plastic grocery bags.  Mine is a medium size and it takes about 50 bags to make it.  I special ordered a white/red one so she used Target bags (she has a lot of friends and neighbors saving their plastic bags for her).  Can you pick out the Target logo?  The bow was made out of a Christmas bag of theirs - see the snowflake? 

She can make them in pretty much any color you can find plastic bags in.  She does a smaller 'lunch' bag, my medium 'market' bag, or a larger 'beach' tote.  Talk about recycling in a fabulous way!  It should pretty much last forever, and think of how easy it will be to wipe clean :)  If you are interested in a bag such as this, email Kristi for more information.  Just tell her I sent you!

In fact, I'd love to see what some of you have created by repurposing something.  Send me your photos and I'll have a little contest (put recycling or something similar in the subject column).  I have a little project in my head that I 'need' to get made.  I'll show it to you when I hear back from some of you showing me what you've altered, reused, recycled...(see, this will keep me on target to get my project done, too!)

I can't wait to see your projects!

Happy Scrappin'