UPCYCLING! I've never heard that term, but it sounds like something that I've recently started doing also! I'm a crafter who scrapbooks and makes cards, and recently I've been taking other items and 'altering' them. What I do is take a used item (like a PB jar, loose tea tin, the big plastic container my organic lettuce comes in, etc) and decorate it to be used or given to somebody. This past weekend, I decorated the PB jar, filled it with shredded paper, an iTunes gift card and some things like a pack of gum, tic tacs, etc, and attached some balloons to it. No wasted gift wrap or gift bag, and the decorated jar is PART of the gift. I'll be doing the same with Christmas gifts too. When I get a chance later today, I'll post a few pictures if you want to see what I'm talking about. My sister took an old baking cookie sheet and made a decorative perpetual calendar with it!
Gayle
