7 amazing upcycled crafts for Mother’s Day

upcycled mothers day gifts1It will be Mother’s Day soon and I’m all about the experience rather than the stuff.

If Little miss Green wants to give the bathroom a clean or give me a massage I’m one happy bunny.

But one of the most common requests from Mums is something handmade from the kids.

What better way to show their love to you AND Mother Nature by raiding the recycling box to create something unique!?

Here’s a roundup of some fun Mother’s Day upcycled crafts that will be sure to put a smile on faces across the country.

Scratched baking sheets and orphan toys memo board

How cool is this? Take a scratched baking sheet, make some magnets from odd plastic toys and voilà – your very own magnetic memo board!

recycled baking sheets mothers day craft

DVD case into crayon holder

Picture the scene. The DVD has long gone – it’s been scratched and turned into a bird scarer. What are you going to do with the case?

Answer: Turn it into THIS gorgeous crayon holder.

upcycled dvd case mothers day

Tetra Pak Vase

Here’s a tutorial for making a gorgeous Tetra Pak vase.

Mothers Day falls at the right time of year to fill one of these with seasonal flowers and use as a centrepiece.

tetra pak mothers day craft

Rusty grater into jewellery holder

Has Mum got pierced ears? Then she needs a rusty grater! Take off surface rust, spray paint and you have the perfect place to stop earrings getting lost.

upcycled grater mothers day

Old pallet into bench

Ok, so I lied. I said Mother’s Day wasn’t about the stuff for me, but if Little Miss Green were to get out her tool kit and rustle up one of THESE for me, I might just be smitten.

Make your own bench from an old pallet.

upcycled pallet mothers day

Jam jar photos

Decorate some old jam jars with washi tape, fill with shredded paper and make flowers with pics of your kids stuck to paper straws.

Get the full tutorial on Amy’s blog.

paper-flower-bouquet1

Tin can wine rack

Is it wine o’clock yet? Check out this tutorial for turning old cans into a conversation-worthy wine rack.

wine rack upcycled mothers day craft

If you haven’t got time to reuse all these items, be sure to recycle them instead. Here’s how:

Scratched baking sheets can be added to mixed scrap metal recycling at your local HMRC
Orphan toys can be bagged together and sold at a car boot sale or given to a charity shop
DVD cases can be offered on Freecycle for people to put freebies in
61% of Local Authorities collect Tetra Pak cartons from kerbside and 91% have a local collection point. Find your nearest Tetra Pak recycling point here
An old grater – if you have a duplicate or just don’t want it any more, a charity shop will sell it. If it really is rusty, into the mixed scrap metal recycling it goes
Offer old pallets on Freecycle for people with wood burners
Jam jars – Offer them on Freecycle to jam and chutney makers
Tin cans – most local authorities collect aluminium and steel cans from the kerbside. Check for certain here