Green Options

If you’re anything like me, you tend to hoard things that look like they may be useful later: empty thread spools, glass jars, bottle caps, and those ubiquitous wine corks.

[Creative Commons photo by Claudio Matsuoka]

I’ve got a big bowl of corks in the kitchen that’s mocking me. They dare me to find a project to use them up. Well the joke’s on you, little corks! I didn’t just find one way to turn you into something new. I found ten.

This is a guest post by Becky Haas, who is an amateur crafter/environmentalist who also tries to make a living as a professional musician. You can also find her at the craft blog Sew and So.

I have a confession to make…I’m addicted to music. I guess it comes naturally, since that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing. So I always love it when I stumble across a craft project that uses music-related materials, like Kelly Rand’s recent article on things to do with old cassette tapes.

By this point, I don’t have too many old tapes lying around, but what I do have is a lot of CDs–most of which I still listen to. But we all have those CDs that are too scratched up to play properly, or came free in the mail with unwanted software, or have those songs that seriously tempt you to throw the disc out the window if you hear them just one more time, if it wouldn’t be considered littering. So here’s a couple of ideas for things to do with them.

My first thought was jewelry, and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to transform an old CD into that. Here’s what you need for a very basic set of earrings and a necklace:

Creating mix tapes was an essential part of growing up. Spending hours poring over music, getting the mix just right. Fast-forwarding and rewinding to ensure the perfect timing. Waiting patiently listening to the radio, to record that perfect song (a past time that today’s youth will never no the joys. But that’s a rant for anther time.) And all for that special someone.

And being on the receiving end of a treasured mix tape, you knew that your love would last forever. That is until he started to make a tape for that girl in second period math class.

Ah young, fickle love.

Taking cassettes to the next level, these crafters have taken old tapes and remade them, or remixed them, into some pretty nifty items:

• Over at Craftster, freepepper has created this wonderful wallet (pictured) out of a cassette tape. Instructables has a good tutorial on how to make one of your own.

With all the media attention on "blood diamonds" and unsustainable metals, a more natural option has become necessary. Wood jewelry has been popular for many years, but as clear-cutting takes the spotlight, these options can hardly be labeled as sustainable.

The Palma Collection, based out of La Jolla, California, is pioneering a new, versatile option for green accessories - tagua nuts. The "fruit" of a particular breed

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