Reduce, REUSE, Recycle - I'm Semi Crafty

It has been two months since I packed up my cloth diapers due to Aidan outgrowing the one size pocket diapers, and while I apologized to the environment, I felt I could do more.  I kept saving all of the boxes from the diapers, hoping to do something productive with them.

Thanks to searching on Pinterest, I found several blogs/tutorials for reusing diaper boxes.  The first was creating a corn hole game, and the second was creating storage bins.  The first crafty attempt was the corn hole game, which would require sewing, which I don't do well.

I had some shirts in my closet that needed to go in the trash, but were generally saved for yard work or painting activities.  So instead of buying new material, I decided to reuse these shirts to give them a new purpose - bean bags.  I have tons of cross stitching thread, so I didn't need to buy thread either.  The only thing I needed was patience to sew and beans for the filling.  The bean bags aren't perfect, but they function well!

Then, I tackled making the corn hole boards from the diaper box.  This was easier to do since it required an exacto knife, marker, carpenter square, a straight edge, and a round object.

Then I decided I would cover the boards so they weren't an eyesore.  I used glue, a brush, heavy paper, and vinyl tape I had lying around.  Again, all materials I had at home. I had very limited waste from the box, which I threw in the recycling bin.

So here's the final product...and so far, has withstood Aidan abusing it, ya know standing on it.  He throws the bean bags, but no where near the board.  Or he runs up to the board and dunks the bean bag in the hole.  Oh well, it was a great rainy day activity that kept him entertained.

The second project was the storage boxes, which I needed more storage to start organizing the insane amount of toys we keep in the living room that Aidan loves to dump out all over the floor.  I figured he had too many toys to play with at once that I should probably try this toy rotation that I have heard other moms doing.

I started with cutting off the flaps and saving them for reuse on a future crafy reuse project.  Then I pulled out some fabric that was left over from a chair reupholstering project that my sister did for Aidan.  Then I started spreading ModPodge on the box and worked my way around the box applying the fabric.  I used binder clips to hold the fabric in place while I worked on one side.  

For gluing the fabric over the edge of the box into the inside of the box, I used a hot glue gun (hah, this is why I am semi crafty, thank you hot glue gun).  I also used the same methods to wrap the fabric around the bottom of the box.  When I originally cut the material, I attempted to leave at least an inch over hang on the top and bottom for the wrapping over the edges.  In addition, I was not worried about the exposed plain cardboard inside of the box.

I then decided I wanted to make handles for the boxes.  I had plenty of fabric scraps I could use, so again, utilizing my hot glue gun, I made handles.  In addition, I had jean buttons that AJ occasionally uses since I can't sew a button that stays.  Since he hadn't used them in a year or so, I decided to put them to use.

Even after attaching the buttons through the box to hold the handles on, I wanted to ensure they would hold, so again, I used the hot glue gun for reinforcement.  Very crafty, right...

I really liked how the storage boxes turned out, and I will definitely make some more because I will need them.  They're cheaper to make than buying wicker baskets, and I reuse the diaper boxes.  My next project, I hope to cover a diaper box to make it a memory box to store cards in.  I saved all the flaps from this project, which I think I can make into dividers for the memory box....stay tuned.