Creative ways to reduce and reuse in time for Earth Day

7 April 2022

Reduce, reuse, recycle—the term we’ve been taught for years. It remains an important, everyday habit to decrease the amount of waste we produce. With Earth Day just around the corner, I wanted to create a series of Cricut projects that reuse some scrap materials and items from around the house to reduce the amount of waste I produce when crafting. I challenge you to do the same and see how much we can all recycle this April!

Painted wooden keychains

One of the easiest ways to utilize your small pieces of scrap vinyl and/or stencil vinyl is to design shapes and patterns for painted keychains. A small surface that does not require a lot of material, keychains are the perfect craft for recycling material. If you want to do more to spread the Earth Day love, you can paint trees, flowers, the planet, and even the recycling logo. 

Stickers with scrap vinyl

Another simple way to use scrap vinyl is to create small stickers or decals for all your plain surfaces. To avoid a complicated, multistep sticker process, I simply Cricut cut the leftover vinyl to form fun and abstract shapes. These stickers are easy to make and require a very little amount of supplies, so your waste will be limited. 

Recycled paper woven basket 

Attempting to store paper grocery bags can become challenging over time. When scouring the internet for creative ways to repurpose the old bags in my house, I came across the brilliant idea of an Earth Day-inspired woven paper basket. I knew I had to try it so I turned to my Cricut to help me cut precise measurements for my weaving strips. Recycling items to produce unique items like this is half the fun of crafting!

Recycled glass jar lights

Just in time for the outdoor seasons, these repurposed lanterns are perfect nightlights for a calming atmosphere inside or outside. Since I have multiple roommates and we’re always getting rid of old jars of sauces and jams, I thought it would be fun to reuse them for something functional. Using Cricut vinyl stencil helped me outline pretty patterns onto the glass jars to create a mattified effect for my lanterns. Use a candle or light of your choosing, and ta-da, an easy upgrade from an old food jar. 

It is important to remember we can all make small changes to reduce our waste while still upgrading our space! These Cricut-made recycled crafts are the perfect way to do just that. And they don’t hurt the wallet either. Also check out our other ideas on how to use get scrappy with Cricut materials.

Challenge yourself to create something fun with your crafting scraps this month and show us what you come up with by tagging #Cricut on social media. Happy Earth Day!