We’ve had an email from Kathy asking about getting rid of her children’s old jigsaws:

I just know they’ve got pieces missing so would feel bad about giving them to a charity shop. They’re cardboard with a shiny paper top so they could be recycled?

Probably – as long as it’s just paper and not plastic laminate. Most (but not all) paper recycling bins take light card & glossy paper but best to check the advice in your area.

Since it’s getting to the dog days of the summer holidays and they’ll be bored, perhaps use child labour to do the jigsaws and check for missing pieces, then you’ll know what’s missing. If it’s not an important piece, you could mark on the box what is missing and some charity shops/thrift shops still might take them.

Other than that, I’ve seen old puzzle pieces used as decorations in a number of craft projects – photo frames & on ornaments and to make Christmas decorations (wreaths & baubles).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by pzado)

Another one from the “Suggest An Item” page, Covert_Operations’78 asked:

How can I reuse or recycle those cheap, tiny plastic toys that come in Christmas crackers, snack packets and the like, please? These are mostly just brittle, non-recyclable plastic ‘shapes’, not like the playable and durable fast food premiums. I don’t buy them, but what do I do with the bunch I’ve acquired over the years at parties and such? Even if I try to reduce by not accepting them, they would have been purchased, and would be given out to others anyway, even if I decline. Thank you in advance!

As I explained last month, I don’t celebrate Christmas so it comes across as Bah-humbug when I say it, but ugh, I hate Christmas crackers – so much waste for a split second of cheer. I understand the “it’s hard to reduce” point – they’ve already been bought and few people want to kick up a fuss and refuse to pull one at a party – but so. much. waste. One idea for the future might be to ask if you can provide the crackers for the party – you can then make them out of recycled materials and/or at least know exactly how to recycle all the paper waste, and you can include small but actually useful items as opposed to the random useless stuff you get in commercial ones.

But what to do with the commercial stuff – those little plastic toys? I know a number of people who would use them to make fun costume jewellery or mobile phone charms. You could also use them in little terrariums. Other ideas?

We’ve had an email from Jamie:

Hey. I’ve got a broken Guitar Hero guitar. Don’t know what to do with it and saw your page about game controllers so thought you might be able to help.

Depending on how/why it’s broken, you might be able to send it back to the vendor: if it’s their fault, they should replace it. If however, it’s broken because you got a little too into the Rock moment and smashed it on the floor… they’ll probably be less like to replace it ;)

Again depending on how it’s broken, it might worth eBaying it for “spares or repairs” – I know the head and neck separate on the newer guitars, I wonder if if the broken part could be swapped out… If it’s broken for an electronic switch issue, someone that way inclined might be able to fix it in a shot.

Aside from that, a toy for a kid?

Other ideas?

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

The other day on Things To Do Today, I mentioned marbles in passing and it made me think of the stash of marbles we have in our board-games-and-assorted-toys chest. You know, the stash we’ve probably touched once in five years.

They could, obviously, go to a charity shop for another generation to enjoy but since the orbs were so fiercely won in many heated battles over the years and hold fun memories, it would be nice to reuse them from something around our house or the like.

My ideas so far: jewellery (albeit heavy jewellery) with the marbles held in bead cages, on display in a clear glass vase or somehow made into a lightshade.

Any other ideas?

What about the really really bashed up ones that won’t look so nice on show? I imagine they’re handy weights – any good uses for them?

(Photo by asolario)

(Hey, sorry for not posting anything on Friday. I don’t celebrate Christmas so should have posted really but then we stayed up shockingly late playing video games on Thursday night because everyone was off work and I didn’t wake up until Friday afternoon :) )

We’ve had an email from Maya – which reminded me of an email Agata sent me a few weeks ago but which got buried in my email inbox for some reason – asking about reusing dolls’ furniture.

Maya says she has “loads of old doll furniture, mostly from Barbie sets. I don’t have a clue what can I do with them.”

Well, the obvious thing is, if they’re still in ok-to-good condition, to give them away, either to charity shops or through Freecycle – let someone else use them for their intended purpose.

It might also be worth checking eBay in case you’ve got an item that collectors want.

But assuming that’s not an option – say if they’re broken or damaged – what else can be done with them? Any crafty ways to repurpose them?

I’ve seen small dolls’ house kitchen items and the like made into jewellery – kitsch earrings, brooches or pendants – and I imagine something like a dining room table could be used as a podium type thing on a shelf to give a second layer for small items, and armchairs could become phone/ipod rests. Any other suggestions?

(Oh, and if case you’re interested, we covered the dolls themselves just about a year ago.)

(Stock photo by Carin)