Hands up if you love a bargain, an upcycle, or better still a freecycle?

If you are a crafter, maker or DIYer, there is a lot of thrill and accomplishment that comes from turning someone’s garbage into a treasure, whether you keep it, gift it or sell it. Like we say here at the Used HQ, Make Cash not Trash!

Our bloggers are a creative bunch so we are lucky to get an insight into many upcycle processes. Here we bring you the best of the UsedBlog, with simple and thrifty ideas for crafting and DIY projects.

1. The garbage chair
Blogger Sara found a mid-century dining room chair on the side curbside (#ShouldaUsedOttawa) and turned it into a fabulously modern piece. Check out her blog post and process here: Garbage Chair. Remember to use the Free tab on your Used site to find potential projects.

2. Tea cup bird feeder
Robyn not only brought us some awesome ideas for using tea cups as bird feeders, but at the same time gave us a super simple recipe for bird seed. There are lots of ways you can fashion tea cups into feeders, from candelabra style holders high up in trees to securing the cups to garden poles. Using the saucers with a drop of water also gives birds a watering hole!

3. Mossy terrarium
Who doesn’t love the simple mason jar! There are just so many ways to upcycle this household staple. This is a cute and innovative little project from Andrea at UsedOttawa. A kid a friendly DIY that’s great for the summer.

4. DIY musical fence
When Suzanne needed an interactive kids play piece for all the family friendly events UsedVancouver attends, she opted for a super simple musical fence. Our advice is to source your pots and pans from the free listing on the Used sites and of course post your old stuff for others to find!

5. Garden paths
Another great blog post from Andrea and one of my favourites, is this one about cheap and simple do-it-yourself garden paths. Again, a great place to source unwanted building supplies such as excess bricks and wood is our free listing category on the Used sites.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram , Pinterest and Twitter for more great DIY projects, tips and fun ideas.

Use the hashtags #Used and #Used(followed by the city name dependent on where you live) to show off  your own used finds!