If you've ever accidentally felted a wool sweater, you know that "uh-oh" feeling in the pit of your stomach when you pull the poor, shriveled thing out of the dryer.  Oops!  When Rena from The Cheese Thief shrunk a sweater, she found a great way to rescue it, recycling the misshapen garment into a matching hooded infinity scarf and leg warmers.  If you don't have a felted sweater laying around already, this is just one more reason why you should always be watching for wool at the thrift store!  [how to recycle a sweater into a hooded infinity scarf and leg warmers]

Project estimate:

• Felted sweater, on hand or $1 and up
• Sewing machine, on hand

Total:  Free and up

The decorations are hung, the dinner menu is finalized, and gifts have all been bought.  Now all that's left to do is wrap them up and tuck them under the tree.  You reach into the depths of your wrapping paper supply, and you pull out wedding paper, baby shower paper, over-the-hill paper....  Oh no, you're out of Christmas wrapping paper!  There are four options at this point:  1) Brave going to the store in the last few days before Christmas and risk life and limb (not to mention spending an hour in line) to make it through the checkouts; 2) Go with the Bert and Ernie birthday paper and hope no one notices; 3) Panic; or 4) Improvise!  Jessica from How About Orange dug some newspaper out of her recycling bin and fashioned it into some simple, sturdy gift bags.  I don't know about you, but I would be diving straight into the Sunday comic pages for this project!  [how to make recycled newspaper gift bags]

Project estimate:

• Newspaper, on hand
• Cardstock or chipboard, on hand or $1
• Glue, on hand
• Hole punch, on hand
• String or ribbon, on hand

Total:  Free and up

Wondering what to do with that stack of magazines you've got tucked away in your closet?  (Okay, besides write a ransom note.)  How about making a pretty, loopy wreath?  Christie from Childhood 101 raided her recyclables, grabbed her stapler, and made a little magic.  This is a great project to do with kids.  You can even have them help you find pages that are predominantly in your Christmas decor colors!  [how to make a recycled magazine page wreath]

Project estimate:

• Magazine pages, on hand
• Cardboard, on hand
• Stapler, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total:  Free

The wreath was created as part of a recycled magazine page challenge.  Check out Christie's blog post for links to tons of other recycled magazine projects!

Make a Christmas wreath for your front door for next to nothing. Instructables member jackierusted shows you how to use stuff you probably have around your house already to make a colourful and festive wreath.  Wadded newspaper is taped to the circular-bent coat hangar and taped in place, then painted and layered with embellished of leaf shapes and colourful cut outs. Not bad for almost zero dollars.  [how to make a Christmas wreath for zero dollars]

Project estimate:

• Cardboard, on hand
• Wire coat hanger, on hand
• Newspaper, on hand
• Scotch Tape, on hand
• Hot glue, on hand
• Green (or whatever color) spray paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Assorted acrylic paints, on hand
• Craft wire, on hand

Total:  Free and up

They say a fool and his money are easily parted.  Count me as a fool then, because I have a complete inability to resist cute toys in quarter machines.  I figure, if I'm going to make such impulse buys, better to spend 50 cents than 50 dollars, right?  (I have a friend who is addicted to handbags, so it could definitely be worse!)  I have a hoard of little plastic capsules from my tiny toy collection that I hang onto because, well, you know...  Anyway, Nikki from Whimsy Love used some of them to create a clever snowmen advent garland, with each of the 24 bubbles containing a fun surprise for the holiday countdown.  And if you go out and pump a bunch of quarters into a machine to get all of the capsules you need, they come pre-filled with goodies!  [how to make a recycled snowmen advent calendar]

Project estimate:

• Plastic quarter machine capsules, on hand or about $12
• Drill, on hand
• String, on hand
• Paint, on hand
• Felt, on hand
• Pom poms, on hand
• Small prizes, on hand or $1 and up

Total:  Free and up

Project estimate:

• Cardigan, on hand or $1 and up
• Fabric, on hand
• Sewing notions, on hand

Total:  Free and up

Would you have guessed that this is TP tube jewelry?  Isn't it unexpectedly elegant?  Meg from Mega Crafty cleverly came up with a handful of different pendant designs using the cardboard tubes from toilet paper (or paper towels, if using TP tubes freaks you out).  The secret to the glass-like finish is Dimensional Magic, which she also uses to make another interesting pendant with a 3D effect.  Be sure to stop over and check out all of her great recycled necklace designs!  [how to make cardboard tube pendants]

Project estimate:

• Cardboard tube, on hand
• Scissors, on hand
• Paper, on hand
• Glue, on hand
• Dimensional Magic, on hand or about $3 and up

Total:  Free and up

If you enjoy recycled crafts, you should definitely check out Reduce, Reuse, Redecorate.  Blogger Allison has all kinds of great ideas, like this book page pencil cup, perfect for the desk of your favorite bibliophile!  The idea came after she used the book pages to punch a bunch of circles for a lamp project.  Don't have any books appropriate for mutilation?  Thrift stores are a great source for books on the cheap,  or take the free route and chop up last year's phone books!  [how to make a book page pencil cup]

Project estimate:

• Book pages, on hand
• Cardboard, on hand
• Cardboard tubes, on hand
• Circle punch or template, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total:  Free!

No, these beautiful stars aren't made out of glass.  Or crystal.  They're not even acrylic.  They are actually made out of recycled cellophane!  (Are you having the same OMG moment that I had when I saw them?)  Rena from The Cheese Thief folded the glass-like stars using strips cut out of the packaging from some note cards.  Imagine the strung across your windows, used as wedding decor, or with many strands hung vertically on a wall for a photo booth backdrop.  Or wrap them around your Christmas tree!  [how to make a recycled cellophane origami star garland]

Project estimate:

• Cellophane, on hand
• String, on hand or $1

Total:  Free or $1

Sometimes, all it takes to find inspiration is a little push.  When Kim from RePOSHture was challenged to use something in a new way, she had a realization that the metal lids from the ends of her frozen OJ concentrate would make nice wine bottle tags.  She decorated them up in several fabulous ways!  Living in one of the best wine regions in the country, I frequently gift local wines, and a few people on my list are getting bottles for Christmas.  Perfect!  I love the rustic look of the hammered-out lids, making them great for a folk art look.  They would also make wonderful ornaments!  [how to make a juice lid wine bottle tag]

Project estimate:

• Metal lid from frozen juice concentrate, on hand
• Hammer, on hand
• Nail or awl, on hand
• Twine or string, on hand
• Beads or other embellishments, on hand

Total:  Free