Creative Crafts That Upcycle Common Household Waste Items

With a little creativity, many common household waste items can be transformed into something purposeful. Instead of binning items like bottle caps, wine corks, egg boxes and plastic bottles, rather put them to good use in your next craft project! Here are some creative upcycling craft ideas to inspire you.

Bottle Caps

As small as they are, bottle caps can be used to create some awesome crafts for your home. Just take a look at the ideas below. We hope they inspire you to put those plastic and metal caps from your cooldrink, beer or cider bottles to good use.

• Photo Frames

These miniature photo frames will display your memories in a lovely new way. Glue magnets to the back of the cap and place them on the fridge, or use thumbtacks and pin them onto a bulletin board. Get the tutorial here.

• Garden Flowers

Have a colourful garden all year round with these bright and beautiful bottle cap flowers. Instead of a metal stem, you could glue our wooden skewer sticks to the back of the metal flower for a more natural look.

Wine Corks

Wine corks are an incredibly versatile craft material. They can be shaped as need, decorated with different embellishments, glued together to create new structures, and so much more! Take a look at two of our favourite wine cork crafts below.

• Serving Trays

Give your old wooden trays a new lease on life by gluing wine corks to the base of the tray. Follow the full tutorial here. These simple yet stunning trays only take an hour or so to make. Use them in your bar area or when serving guests their drinks.

• Utensil Holders

Looking for a unique way to house your kitchen utensils? Consider making these beautiful wine cork utensil holders. They can also be used to showcase your attractive household plants and flowers. Try your hand at the tutorial.

Egg Boxes

Egg boxes needn’t only be used to store eggs or to start a braai when there’s no firelighters. They can be upcycled into purposeful household storage containers, just like the ones shown below.

• Succulent Pots

These cute succulent pots are an easy way to decorate your patio or balcony. They also provide a great temporary home for growing succulents. You’ll only need three materials to make them: an egg tray, rope and coloured beads. Here’s the tutorial.

• Jewellery Organizers

Source: shop.walkinlove.com

For a craft project that’s as practical as it is pretty, look no further than these egg carton organizers. Spray paint the cartons in your favourite colours, allow to dry, and then fill them with all your favourite things. It’s really as easy as that!

Plastic Bottles

If you want to do something other than recycling your plastic cooldrink bottles, here are some fantastic upcycling craft ideas to keep in mind.

• Pet Feeders

Why spend extra on a store-bought pet feeder when a homemade one will work just as well. We love how this craft uses two common household waste items – plastic bottles and plastic food containers. Follow the full tutorial here.

• Storage Cases

It’s hard to believe these storage cases were once plastic bottles. Each case uses the bottom of two plastic bottles, attached together with a zipper which you can always source from old, unused clothes. Get the tutorial for this fantastic storage solution.