Something from nothing... show me yours :)

[shortstack]

I am constantly inspired by people who can make something from nothing. Whether it is something to eat, something to wear, a gift, something for your house or a million other things I always love to see what people can come up with when they are creative. The circumstances differ from wanting to have a smaller carbon footprint to not having money to spend on something that is needed. Regardless of the circumstance I love that moment of "Why didn't *I* think of that!?"
So inspire me, what have you come up with to make something out of nothing?


I'll start. I wanted a new pendant necklace and looking around my house for inspiration and raw materials I decided to make one out of a fork (the background is a first go round try of my 11 year old with mono-screen printing)...

[Spirit Deer]

Nice fork, er, necklace. Love the idea.

I'm currently making cushion covers for our new camper out of a fifty-year-old canvas tent I couldn't bear to part with. It should look nice when I'm done, serve a useful purpose, preserve the memories from the old tent, and save a pile of money over buying yards and yards of new fabric. Oh, and help de-clutter an item I know we'll never use again that's been sitting around in the way.

I repurpose loads of stuff and now that you've asked this question, I can't think of a thing I've done...

[shortstack]

I also love to repurpose and when I typed up this post I drew a blank as to what to start it off with from the things I'd made lol My fork, er, necklace was the last thing I repurposed so it made it into the post lol

Is it taking you forever to sew the cushions? I got suckered into sewing new curtains for a neighbor's camper and my plan was to ask for food from her freezer in exchange for my work time (which was around 10 hours of work). Well that was BEFORE we had the giant power outage in WV that left most people without power for a week or so and thus everyone without a generator lost all of their food in their fridges and freezers. She was included in the no generator crowd

[frugalwarrior2]

Ds makes knives out of chunks of metal. He made a forge to temper the metal out of some scrap bricks. He loaded it w/ twigs and used my hair dryer to accelerate the flames. And yes it worked. He worked out side where the dog pool had sat and the ground was damp so I didn't worry about the grass(its very dry here.)
Ds took one of his weight lifting weights and hammered out the center to use as a base for the umbrella I got for our glass patio set. Save at least $50. The weights were free (and extra) from a garage sale.
Ds takes silver quarters,hollows out the middle and makes beautiful ring bands. They are smooth and shiny when he's finished. He made one for his friend going to Africa. She was doing Missionary work And had to wear a band so she wasn't "chosen" to marry.

And yes I wish I had his talents. And vision.

[Manilyn_Y]

That's nice! You really have the talent to make something from nothing. Keep it up! Unfortunately, I'm not so blessed with that kind of skills, but I have the talent in business. In fact, I'm running a yard sale. Garage and garage sales are a summer tradition for a lot of families. It's a great way to get rid of a year's worth of clutter and to make a little pocket change besides. In the Post Recession, it is only smart to recycle.

[heartofmine]

My daughter makes pendants for chains or earrings out of paper. She has a secret to hardening the paper and I can't divulge that but it is very unique and as far as we can tell there is nothing like it on any of the craft or blog sites online.

I've used old bottles and scrap material and made snowmen, angels and things like that. I made a doll bed out of a milk jug (years ago). I enjoy stuff like that when I really have time to sit down and think about what I want to do.

[Spirit Deer]

It's taking me longer than it should to get the cushion covers done, but that's because I've been lazy about it. I'm going to join a challenge here on FV that might get me motivated. Sorry about your power outage and the ensuing problems. We've watched that on news reports and I felt bad for those suffering through it. We all take power for granted till it's not there.

I've made three Dutch oven cooking tables out of various bits and pieces I've picked up here and there. The first one was made from two camp stools and an industrial size cookie sheet:

I paid $1 for the camp stools and the cookie sheet was laying around in my garage. The most expensive parts were the tool clips and stainless steel bolts I used to hold the whole works together.

The second one I made from a portable restaurant tray stand ($3 at Goodwill) and a heavy roasting pan (fifty cents at a rummage sale.) Again, tool clips and SS hardware were the biggest expenses.


The last one I made, which is my favorite, I made from another camp stool ($3) and an enameled broiler pan salvaged for free from the local appliance recycling center. The bag for this one was made from a piece of canvas formerly in use as a backing on a hooked rug that got trashed.


I have approximately ten dollars in each of these tables. "Real" DO tables are expensive, huge, heavy, and would not meet our needs nearly as well as any of these, especially the two smaller ones. The little one I made last is very lightweight but would easily hold over 100 pounds of stacked iron and food, yet folds up small and easily fits into the cargo bay in our little trailer. It's perfect for our current needs.

I made a yogurt strainer out of a spare Tupperware pickle keeper I had on hand. It works great and holds a lot more than any ready-made one I could find, and it was free.


I made a charcoal scoop out of an expanded metal pizza pan. I paid a quarter for that and spent about five minutes bending it. It actually works pretty well, especially with partially burned coals when I need to separate the coals and ash.


I bought a cloth shelf unit at a sale for $1 to use at home, but it did not work out. It was in the Goodwill box to be donated when I realized if I added mesh to the front of the open shelves, it would make a dandy hanging pantry in our pop up camper. So I added the mesh panels and it's worked out great. We load it in the house and take it along, and then it clips to the sidewall of the roof inside the camper.


I also needed a shelf over the galley in the trailer, but didn't want something we'd have to set up and take down. It's enough work to set the trailer up without adding more. So I took a shoe rack I got NIP at a sale for fifty cents and remade it so it's horizontal instead of vertical. It stays in place at all times and folds itself up as the roof of the camper is lowered. It's worked out great and has been very handy. The shelf also holds a light bar to provide light over the sink, and a plastic bag dispenser for trash bags so those are handy. Both are attached with Velcro and remove easily for travel.

[shortstack]

How does he hollow out the quarter? Does he have a blog to look at? Sounds like he does some amazing things.

Ds makes knives out of chunks of metal. He made a forge to temper the metal out of some scrap bricks. He loaded it w/ twigs and used my hair dryer to accelerate the flames. And yes it worked. He worked out side where the dog pool had sat and the ground was damp so I didn't worry about the grass(its very dry here.)
Ds took one of his weight lifting weights and hammered out the center to use as a base for the umbrella I got for our glass patio set. Save at least $50. The weights were free (and extra) from a garage sale.
Ds takes silver quarters,hollows out the middle and makes beautiful ring bands. They are smooth and shiny when he's finished. He made one for his friend going to Africa. She was doing Missionary work And had to wear a band so she wasn't "chosen" to marry.

And yes I wish I had his talents. And vision.

[shortstack]

You have me curious lol I've made paper beads but those are everywhere.

My daughter makes pendants for chains or earrings out of paper. She has a secret to hardening the paper and I can't divulge that but it is very unique and as far as we can tell there is nothing like it on any of the craft or blog sites online.

I've used old bottles and scrap material and made snowmen, angels and things like that. I made a doll bed out of a milk jug (years ago). I enjoy stuff like that when I really have time to sit down and think about what I want to do.

[shortstack]

Spirit Deer you are good! The DO tables are intended to hold the DO after they are out of the fire? I have a DO but don't use it nearly as much as I would like. Do you have any great tips, tricks or recipes to share for the DO?

[Spirit Deer]

No, the DO tables are cooking tables. I hate cooking on the ground. It seems like the ground gets farther away every year anymore. I cook with charcoal, because I don't have the patience to wait for a campfire to burn down to coals. Often I don't have the time either.

The best DO info I know of was written by some friends of ours. You can find it here: Outdoor Cooking with Dutch Ovens - Lone Star Dutch Oven Society

[imagine]

My this weeks out of nothings are.

Chip bag clips from those plastic pants hangers the stores sometimes send you home with ( originally saw this on the net but can't remember where) the clips just snapped off and volia chip bag clips.

Also Little Miss and I used an out grown skirt of hers to make her doll a sundress.

[tripleb]

Awesome looking necklace shortstack. am amazed at all the great ideas Spirit Deer! Thanks for the site for outdoor cooking. Will have to have a look.

[BlissMommy]

You guys are all amazingly talented!

[sunshine]

~ made a clothes pin holder from an empty milk jug (my cloth one was getting pretty ragged)

~ made cardboard "beads" from a cereal box to make a stringing/sequencing toy for my grand daughter