We Love Upcycling

We all know it's good to recycle, but we think it's even better to upcycle. Upcycling is all about taking things that would have gone into the rubbish, or the recycling, and giving them a new lease of life. It can be fun to look at things before you throw them out and see if there's another way of using them, and there are plenty of ideas on the internet to inspire you. So with Valentine's Day approaching - we thought it was time to show our love of upcycling with a pixie twist. So here's an idea for an upcycled faery wand complete with a ribbon of hearts for a little Valentine's day magic.

Make Your Own Faery Wand

You will need - scrap paper, an empty plastic milk bottle, a coloured plastic bag, a garden cane or drinking straw, scissors and glue dots.

First cut the flat areas from the milk bottle. Then draw 2 different sized hearts on the scrap paper and cut them out. You need to make sure that the largest of these is no bigger than the largest of the pieces of plastic you have already cut.

Using the paper templates, cut 2 large hearts and 5 small ones out of the plastic bottle. Then cut 2 more small hearts out of the coloured plastic bag.

Layer three hearts together so you have the largest one on the bottom, then the coloured heart and the smaller milk bottle heart on top. Staple them together and bend the smallest heart in a little. Repeat this stage so you have 2 matching layers. Then staple the two layers together leaving a small gap in the centre for the cane to go through.

Cut a 2cm wide strip from the plastic bag and twist this around the cane fixing it at either end with a glue dot. Push the cane into the piece you have already made.

Cut another strip from the bag and attach the 3 remaining hearts. Tie one end onto the cane just below the layered hearts. Allow the other end to hang loose.

You are ready to make a little upcycled Valentine's magic of your own.