There are so many items which we throw away every day that can be used in your crafting endeavors.  The “trash to treasure” genre highlights how to create items using found objects, but you can recycle and re-purpose items into tools to use in your crafting.  The ideal items require little to no modification and are easily found, if not already in your house.

Here are the first ten of my favorites, in no particular order:

1. The little plastic cups from Crystal Lite (or similar) make great wells for small amounts of paint or glue.  They are also terrific for holding sequins or beads while working on your projects.
2. An old tile of just about any type is terrific for a hot plate.  Use it to rest your hot glue gun or mini-iron or wood burner on to protect your counter or table.
3. An old metal storm window makes a great work surface.  I use one to cover my work table in my shop.  It works great as a cutting board and just about anything you spill or drip on it can simply be scraped off.  Glue some rubber rug liner to the corners to keep it from sliding.
4. The good old coffee can is always great for holding pens, pencils, markers, paint brushes, etc.  I particularly like the red plastic ones from Folgers.
5. Dryer sheets work very well as stabilizer/interfacing for embroidery or embellishing.
6. Changing your shower curtain liner?  Save the old one to use as a drop cloth.  If it’s a little bit grungy, simply throw it in the washer with a load of towels and let drip dry.
7. Empty cereal boxes will hold scrap booking papers very nicely.  Cover with self adhesive shelf paper or Contact Paper to make them a little more sturdy and stack them on top of each other to keep everything organized & protected.
8. Whenever you get one of those fake credit cards in the mail, save it to use as a scraper or squeegee.  Save your out of date cards, too.  Unlike an actual scraper or putty knife, credit cards can be cut to whatever size or angle you might need.
9. Old CLEAN cotton socks work great as a painting mitt for hard to reach spots.  Put on a rubber glove, sprinkle a little corn starch or baby powder on it and slip the sock over it.  Dip your hand in the paint & you are ready to get those spots like the back of the radiator or the spindles on the deck.
10. Glue a piece of sandpaper to a popsicle stick to save you fingers when sanding small items or edges. (An emery board works great, too.)

So before you start buying up everything at your local craft store, check out stuff you have laying around and before you throw something away, take a second to see if you can find another use for it.

Stay tuned for the next batch of 10!