reduce.REUSE.recycle

I been trying to reuse things lately, so as not to be so wasteful... and so I don't have to spend money on things I can "upcycle" - yeah that a new term that just means turn something you would throw out into something you can use. I've found a few good uses for things this week. We put away all of our holiday decorations the past few days.
I used old baby formula cans to store some holiday ornaments and a larger one to store my new snow globe I got this year (it didn't come in a box). I've already turned others into a piggy bank, a crayon holder, and a grease can for the kitchen...
I also took all the cards we received this year and cut them up into gift tags for next year. I actually got a lot of really cute tags to put on presents, and a whole baggie full. It may not be a lot, but it's a least $5 saved for the next couple of holidays. And they are WAY cuter than store bought ones.
And finally, I decided to make a large blanket out of Logan's little receiving blankets. He's way too big for them and we had so many. They were barely used and all still so soft... And he doesn't have a comforter for his bead, so voila! Cayce is being ever so gracious to loan me her sewing skills (okay, she's sewing the whole thing for me... but I don't have a machine and I'm NOT doing it by hand!). We took pictures of the textures/patterns and with Photoshop I designed a plan for the blanket:


Then Cayce started cutting out the squares. She brought them over and we cut the rest of the blankets up and layed out the two sides. It will be squares on both sides. I had two packs of 3 coordinating receiving blankets, so I kept them on separate sides so it will be reversible. One side is more blue, it has stars, stripes and camo. The other (shown below) has more green in it and is brighter with stripes and polka dots.


Cayce is currently sewing the squares together. Then we will quilt it somehow and then sew up the sides. I'm excited! It's a very good 'REUSE'. I will post more pictures as it gets completed.