We all know wrapping paper is bad, m’okay? and that reusable gift bags are a far better alternative if you go in for that type of presentation and reusable gifts bags made out of recycled stuff from around the home are better yet – but how do you make them?

I wanted to make a gift bag in a hurry the other day out of some old brown paper. A quick search pointed me towards a number of tutorials which used existing boxes as templates – either intact boxes or as nets – but I wondered if anyone else had any other designs?

Another idea I had was to make a quick pouch out of a pretty fabric – or even just fold the fabric furoshiki style.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Stuart:

Dismantled some fitted cupboards, six tall louvre doors leftover. Ideas?

I really like the idea of louvre/louver doors as indoor window shutters, an alternative to blinds. I’m not 100% sure what they’re called but you can get hinges to fix them together so they fold at the joins, rather than needing a pocket recess/recess space.

Similarly, you can use them to make a concertina room divider and there is a lovely Instructable which explains all. The same principle could be used to make a sun-screen/privacy shade for the garden.

They can also easily be transformed to get rid of the dust-attracting louvre slats – a flat piece of wood over the top of the slats modernises them quickly or, if the outside frame is pretty sturdy, knock out the slats and replace with cute gathered fabric for a country-cottage feel.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had a short but sweet (ha!) email to Compost This from Matea:

Can I put sweets gone sticky in my compost bin?

As with many “can I compost this?” questions, there is no fixed answer that applies 100% of the time in 100% of the situations. In a basic open heap, I’d say no – the sweetness may attracted unwanted insects and if it’s only breaking down slowly, you might end up with a sticky lump in the middle of your heap. Even when it does breakdown, they won’t add that many nutrients to your compost heap – in the same way they’re not exactly nutritious for us to eat either.

In other situations though, sugar can be good for a compost heap – it encourages bacteria growth in bins otherwise lacking (bins filled with leaves usually need more help than bins filled with a mix of stuff including kitchen waste) – so in that situation, you might want to add your sweeties. To avoid the sticky lump thing, you could try heating them up and making them into a runny sugar water solution. Said solution can also apparently be used to perk up weak plants – a soak for bare roots – or even, moving away from compost, overworked bees. What else can they be used to perk up?

Any other uses?

(Photo by BarBloke)

We’re finally having some damp-proofing work done on our lower ground floor – in what will become our awesome office. I say “finally” because it was supposed to be task #1 when we bought the house, finished before we moved in, but we’ve been living here for four months now…

The room is damp because it’s partially underground on one wall but, more importantly, it was used as a bedroom for years and was made completely draft-proof. The chimney was blocked up, then covered with a wall, the floor was completely sealed with asphalt, all the windows/doors UPVC double-glazed and the outside walls were sealed with render – the damp air had nowhere to go but sit in the walls. Stone-built Victorian houses like this used to breathe, were built to breathe – but they suffocated it.

It’s already improved loads since we opened up the chimney but the work we’re doing now will stop the problem happening again. Unfortunately though, it involves a lot of destruction and mess – all the old water-logged plaster and plasterboard (drywall) has to be pulled away and replaced. The last lot of rumble we generated became filler for the sloped area we’ve levelled up in the garden but we don’t need any more for that. So what else can be done with it? Can it be used for anything more productive than its ability to take up space?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that about 15% of it is wasted during manufacture/installation and new stuff – offcuts – can be reclaimed and repressed into new boards. Can this be done with old boards too?

UPDATE: Oh, it seems plasterboard is now classed as hazardous waste in the UK so it can’t be landfilled – does that have an impact on its reuses?

• Lynsey from SwirlyArts has been in touch to tell us about two of her recent reusing projects – turning a unwanted old diary into an expenses notebook and how to make pretty padded envelopes out of old books & bubblewrap, as an alternative to boring Jiffy bags.
• The Cottage Smallholder is having a reusing/recycling gardening competition this month – how are you reusing/recycling things to get ready for the next growing season?
• Speaking of getting organised, check out My Tiny Plot for a great idea for keeping up with seed sowing – it’s not strictly a reuse but it could be — an old floppy disk box/card file would be great for this.
• Mrs Green on My Zero Waste has written about a new initiative to recycle crisp packets in the UK.
• I really like the aesthetic of cardboard for home decor so love this idea of making wall art using toilet roll/kitchen roll tubes.
• Julie on Crafting a Green World has written a great round-up of baby projects made from old tshirts.
• And finally, make a feature wall at home a bit different – don’t use generic feature wall wallpaper, use old books (or music scores) instead. As a booklover, I don’t know if I could take apart a still-could-be-read book for such a purpose but it’s a great idea for books that are falling apart.