This is rather sloppily done, but it is a great idea, nevertheless. Inbaliya took old birthday candles and eggshells, put them together, and made floating candles out of them.

From what I can tell (the site isn’t in English), she melted the candles, and then poured them into the eggshells. Then she added a wick, which she held up from the wax with toothpicks, like so:

Turns out eggshells are the perfect shape for floating candles. Who knew? I wish these were a little prettier, but overall, a great idea. I might just have to try this when fall gets here. (Via Recycled Crafts)

Here’s a good idea from ohdeedoh–a car travel game using recycled bubble wrap. Each time the kid sees a corresponding object to the one drawn on the game, s/he pops a bubble. Simple and cute. (Via Craft)

I recently discovered the work of Dan Phillips, who makes houses out of recycled materials. Something like 85% of the material he uses in his houses is recycled. By doing this, he can build a house for a fraction of the cost it takes to typically build a house, because most of his material is free.

He builds floors out of wine corks, mirrors from glass shards, windows out of relish plates, and ceilings from frame corners–those display frames that you can see in frame shops. He hauls things from stores and dumps and construction sites and re-uses them.

What I like about Dan Phillips is how nice his designs look. This frame-corner ceiling is cool:

“Old shingles, arranged by color, to build the roof of what he calls “the storybook house.”"

A counter out of slices of osage orange wood–rather like the wood slice walkway.

The above images are from a slideshow in the New York Times on Dan Phillips.

Phillips has also developed a housing initiative to help a low-income family get their own house. The new home owners pay for the land and material (I assume) and help build the house. Phillips has built over a dozen houses so far, according to the NYTimes. But even though the monthly mortgage is only between $99-$300, over half the houses were lost to foreclosures. Which is kind of depressing.

Some of those people simply disappeared, leaving the properties distressingly dirty and in disrepair. “You can put someone in a new home but you can’t give them a new mindset,” Mr. Phillips said.

Although the homes have resold quickly to more-affluent buyers, Mr. Phillips remains fervently committed to his vision of building for low-income people. “I think mobile homes are a blight on the planet,” he said. “Attractive, affordable housing is possible and I’m out to prove it.”

Here’s an interview with Dan Phillips:

Part 1:

Part 2:

And oh look! He has a website. I love the Internet.

There are a lot of recycled t-shirt crafts out there, but these rugs made out of old t-shirts from Talking Squid on Etsy are among the best I’ve seen. Looks like the t-shirts have been cut up and sewn to a cotton jersey t-shirt base. Nice. Prices range from $58-$598. (Via Design Milk)

I like that this one looks like a dandelion.

Wendy from Obsessively Stitching is making toy spaceships out of what she calls “junk”–bits of plastic from toys, electronics, and other things.

First she pries the objects apart:

And glues them together to make spaceships like this one:

Great idea. With a coat of silver spray paint, they look as good as any spaceship in the toy store.

ReadyMade has a great round-up on how to re-use ceramic dishes. They range from the teacup lights above to mosaic furniture to jewelry. Check it out here.

The next time you lose one glove and are left with only one left, don’t chuck it. Turn it into this adorable chipmunk stuffed animal. Here’s a pattern on Etsy. (Via ReadyMade)

Inhabitat has an awesome contest going on called “Spring Greening Contest.” People sent in entries based on creative uses for old household items. It’s pretty neat.

The above sandals have the highest number of votes. Called the Chop-Flops, they are made from chopsticks that were collected from the dumpster of a Japanese restaurant, dental floss, cork from a pin-up board, and an old Jansport bag.

This POP Pendant Light is making the rounds on the blogs. It is a lamp made out of discarded aluminum pull-tabs and looks pretty spiffy. It reminds me of this lamp made out of coffee cups.

Speaking of coffee cups, I also liked this lamp made out of, well, other coffee cups. It looks like a jellyfish and is “made out of small plastic cups, and plastic taps, parts of egg cartons, and other miscellaneous plastic pieces were used for the tail.”

Finally, there’s this little vase made out of a lightbulb. It reminded me of the candle holders made out of lightbulbs in this post, which goes to show how hard to have original ideas when using recycled materials. But still, this is a great use of a burnt-out bulb.

See the rest of the entries here.

Design Sponge has a great before and after: Elien Popelier in Belgium took this average-looking desk, which she got at a thrift store, and taped a striped pattern on it, like so:

Then she painted the desk and removed the tape. The result:

Great idea!

She also used IKEA boxes to make a spiffy coffee table, which you can see here.

Here is a lamp made from 300 coffee cups. It kind of looks like a honeycomb. You can learn how to make it from Instructables. The cups are attached to an energy efficient lamp, like so:

What an interesting re-use for that Starbuck’s habit. (Although, if you’re collecting that many cups, you really should look into getting a mug.) (Via Re-Nest)