5 Household Reuses for Newspaper

Really, the best way to avoid wasting newspaper is to not get one to begin with, right?  You can get your news  from the internet, of course, but I do understand holding something phyfsical in your hands.  (I have an eReader, but I still like to read "real" books every once in a while.)

If you subscribe to the daily news, you're going to have a big pile of newspaper in no time at all!  You're going to need to do something with all that paper.

Here are 5 Household Reuses for Newspaper:

1.  Use them for cleaning glass instead of wasting paper towels.
2.  They are great for absorbing odors, so line your vegetable trays in your frig with them. Some people like to put a lining of newspaper then a lining of paper towels.
3.  Crumple them up and put them in your sneakers.  It gets rid of any bad smells PLUS if they are wet/moist, it helps dry them out.
4.  Use in suitcases in storage to keep out bad odors.
5.  Stuff in coolers that you store - it will keep them dry plus keep out odors.

What ways do you reuse newspaper around your house?

10 Ways to Recycle and Reuse Newspaper

This Sunday - April 22, 2012 - is the 42nd Earth Day!

As you know, I am a huge supporter of trying to preserve the earth with little steps that you can take each day.  And I love making things with items that were originally destined for the trash!

Today, I bring you 10 Ways to Reuse Newspaper!

First of all, you can eliminate the need to do anything with newspaper by getting your news online!  However, I know that sometimes you just want the physical paper in your hands. 

If you must subscribe, here are some things to do with your newspaper when you're done reading it:

1.  Make a newspaper flower!  It will never wilt!

2.  Make cute decorations!  I made hearts for Valentine's Day, but you can make any shape you like!

3.  This was originally another Valentine's Day project for me, but you can make any shape you want with this great tutorial.  It basically transforms newspaper into clay.

4.   More newspaper flowers!  These were at Ripley's Believe it or Not in Atlantic Ciy, NJ!

5.  Crumpled up newspapers are great for absorbing odors.  Put them in coolers when you are storing them to keep them fresh!  Put in luggage when you are storing it.  Or stuff them in your sweaty sneakers to absorb the moisture and odor.

6.  Line your veggie draws in your frig with it.  Again, it absorbs the moisture and smells.

7.  Wrapping paper!  Look at that amazing bow on top, too!  I found how to do this on Adelle.com.au

8.  Paper Hat

9.  Flower Pot!  Bonus:  you can put the pot right into the ground!

10.  Use around the house:  messy cleanup, line pet cages, line kitty litter (or even use as kitty litter in a pinch!), wash windows and line trash cans.

Recycled Newspaper Puffy Heart....Revisited

Last year I made these cool recycled newspaper puffy hearts.  I'm happy to say that they have lasted a year and are now decorating my stand for another year!  

This is a really fun project and you still have time to make them for Valentine's Day!  And after Valentine's Day, you can really make any shape that you can mold!

Recycled Newspaper Puffy Heart Tutorial

Valentine's Day Decorations that Anyone Can Do!

I needed some Valentine's Day decorations and I just don't like buying mass produced junk that I will probably just lose or rip and not use again anyway.  

Plus, we all know I love to make "trash" into something special.

One of my favorite materials to use when making decorations is newspaper.  Probably mostly because it's so easily accessible.  Also, I really love the black and white and the look of words on a page.

I didn't take step-by-step photos, but they are really simple to make!

Supplies:

Imagination 

Newspaper

Scissors

Any ribbons, paints, buttons, string, embroidery floss and needle that you have around

Stapler

Hole punch

Instructions

Step #1

Fold 2 pieces of newspaper in half, and in half again.  You can just randomly place the images on the newspaper, or you can try to place certain words and images where you want them.  (I just randomly placed mine)

Step #2

Even if you haven't made hearts in a while, I'm sure that you made them sometime in your past.  

Draw half a heart making sure that the fold is the middle of the heart.

Step #3

Cut along the line you just drew.  Now you have identical heart shapes.

Step #4

Here is where your imagination begins!  The first heart I embroidered around the heart with hot pink thread.  It took a little while.  For the rest of them, I just stapled around.  The embroidery is definitely cuter, but took much longer.

Make sure you leave one side open when sewing or stapling so you can stuff your heart.

Step #5

Use your hole puncher to punch a hole in the top of the heart.  Later we'll tie a ribbon through it to hang it.

Step #6

Stuff your partially closed newspaper heart with newspaper.  You can use the waste from when you cut out the hearts.  Rip into smaller(ish) pieces and stuff in the heart.

Step #7

Close up the heart by sewing or finishing stapling.

Step #8

Now you can decorate your heart any way you choose!

On each of my hearts I put buttons in the middle for a really cute look.  Just hold a button on each side of the heart and use your embroidery floss and needle to secure the buttons to the heart.

You could paint your hearts.  (I happened to not have any paint.  :(  My paints got put into storage when I moved.)

I added some ribbon and lace hanging from the bottom of some of my hearts.  I just stapled it in when I was stapling around the edges.

You could glue pictures to them, create a collage, whatever you can think of!

Step #9

Add a ribbon to hang your heart.

Step #10

Enjoy!

If you would like to see my newspaper hearts in person, just stop by BUiLDiNG CHARACTER tomorrow night (Friday, February 4, 2011) for First Friday!  (6pm - 9pm)

18 Fun and Useful Ways to Reuse Newspaper

1. Make a Newspaper Flower that will never wilt!

2. Make it into a clay-like substance to make sculptures. See my Recycled Newspaper Puffy Heart Tutorial.

3. Wash windows or mirrors with it
4. Pack crumpled-up newspapers into containers to absorb orders. For example, put it in coolers when you store them for the winter.
5. Line your vegetable draw in your refrigerator with them to draw out moisture and smells.
6. Line pet cages with it. Also, you can use cut up newspaper as kitty litter in a pinch.
7. Make seed starting pots from newspaper.
8. Make a newspaper hut for your kids!
9. Use as wrapping paper. (It would be so adorable with a newspaper flower on top!)
10. Use newspaper to cushion packages you send.
11. Stuff crumpled newspaper into wet shoes to help them dry more quickly.
12. Use in your gardening.
13. Make a cool paper hat!
14. Go fly a kite.
15. Use it to make large patterns for sewing or crafting.
16. Use it for anything you would use any paper for!
17. Donate to farmers - I see boxes around asking for newspapers.
18. Make a newspaper fountain (see video below)

What other ideas do you have for reusing newspapers?

Recycled Newspaper Puffy Heart Update

Earlier in the week I shared the Recycled Newspaper Puffy Heart Tutorial. Well, I improved upon my finished project.

I added keys with jump rings to the fronts. Does this improve them? Or do you think that the keys are too much?