Back to her recycling theme, Carol provides some terrific ways to turn would-be trash into helpful household items. This quintessential crafter's economical approach is also environmentally friendly since it reduces waste and the consumption of new products. Here's what she proposes: - Use empty milk cartons to hold gift-wrapping supplies, pens, crayons and other normally scattered items. Construct a compartmentalized container by gluing together several cartons. Carol uses a similar container to organize the contents of her dresser drawers.
- Create a "Sack Sock" by creating a tube from a piece of fabric and sewing elastic around the opening at one of the ends. Stuff plastic bags into the tube and use it as a dispenser by just pulling the bags out from the bottom.
- If you use a lot of small pieces of cardboard for your crafts, save empty cereal boxes and cut them up to use later.
- To reduce the number of garbage bags you use, crush cans and boxes so that they take up less room. Better yet, if your town has a recycling program, contribute cans and corrugated cardboard as indicated.
- Make a booster seat out of empty cardboard milk cartons. Fully open the tops of eight empty, clean, quart-size or gallon-size milk cartons. Take a pair and push one carton completely inside the other so that the bottom of each carton touches the top of the other. Repeat this step with the other three pairs. Put the four reinforced boxes side-by-side and wrap them together with fabric or Con-Tact paper.
| 
