Just an information post about a new campaign by Marie Curie Cancer Care:

I am writing to ask whether you would be interested in supporting Marie Curie Cancer Care during our diamond anniversary year. The charity provides high quality nursing, totally free, to give people with terminal cancer and other illnesses the choice of dying at home, supported by their families.

The charity was founded 60 years ago with the donation of a diamond engagement ring. Given that 2008 is our diamond anniversary, it seemed the perfect time to launch a jewellery recycling scheme.

The recycling scheme is straightforward. We are asking the general public to donate unwanted jewellery. Anything is acceptable – damaged pieces, odd ear rings, stopped watches, snapped chains, costume jewellery or the real stuff.

All the donations are processed by a professional recycling company. They hand sort every donation and either sell on the valuable pieces, or break-up/melt-down damaged items, and the residue is sold to a specialist scrap merchant.

The income generated will go towards paying for more Marie Curie nursing hours.

There are collection boxes in Laura Ashley and Marie Curie stores, but within the UK, you can also send donations direct to a free post address:

Marie Curie Cancer Care
Freepost
Central Recycling

(Photo by angood)

Continuing in our semi-regular series of crafters making cool things by recycling and reusing random stuff, let me introduce Lynsey of SwirlyArts:

I saw over on your blog that you wanted to know what people are making out of old rubbish and stuff that is normally recycled. Well I make lots of things in my Etsy store out of products that are destined for the recycle bin and I thought you might like to check them out. I turn egg boxes into sewing kits, old maps and magazines into envelopes, gift tags, badges and stickers and I make chicken shaped doorstops from second hand fabric.

All very cute – and inspiring – stuff. Browsing through Lynsey’s Flickr profile, I particularly liked the Lego box gift tags (so colourful) and the old books (in her case a children’s German dictionary) into envelopes. I, of course, also love the doorstop chickens – because who couldn’t? ;)

We’ve had an email from Alice who wants to turn this whole crazy thing on its head:

Instead of an item that I want to recycle, I’m actually working backwards here – does anyone know what kind of waste could be used to build a sturdy bookcase?

A few ideas spring to mind from previous posts – namely snowboards (and I guess skateboards would be similar), hollowcore doors – and old hollowed out televisions. There is also a suggestion on making shelves out of old books but I suspect that’s more decorative than sturdy.

If you’re interested in an industrial look, you could use stacked metal food cans (or decorated old paint can) between the shelves – and depending how you do it, they could be used for secret storage too – or skip-diving might turn up some breeze blocks or the like (it might get heavy quickly but red house bricks would look cool).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by GiniMiniGi)

We’ve had an email from Heather:

I have a former airbed — the pump has failed mechanically and is built in so it can’t be replaced — so I could cut the material away from it if I had an idea what to do with it. the bottom is just pvc sheet, the top is the same but with a fabricy surface.

I suspect some of the suggestions for old inflatables and (from a plastic sheeting point of view) old shower curtains may be relevant – but has anyone got any specific suggestions for Heather?

(UPDATE: Sorry for the downtime this evening – unexpected and unplanned. Grrr, computers suck sometimes.)

The post about hair gel last month reminded me that I’ve got an almost full canister of hairspray in the back of our bathroom cupboard.

I bought it way back in the day one summer when I was trying everything and anything to try to stop my curls turning instantly to frizz. It didn’t work so was relegated to the cupboard of forgotten toiletries.

I don’t know anyone else that uses spray – all by friends either have shaved heads or prefer their hair to move instead of being rock solid – so 1980s-theme parties aside, I won’t be able to find a good home for it that way. But the responses to the hair gel suggestion made me wonder if it could be used as an adhesive or something like that instead. Anyone know?

Or anyone got any other suggestions?