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Friday, June 13, 2008

Creative Uses for Tchotchkes

Last weekend after attending two bazaars, a kid's birthday party and a community fair we acquired enough toys to host our own carnival. The picture above reflects only some of the loot, the rest of it is dispersed around the house (waiting to be stepped on in the middle of the night). Usually I just donate or throw away the toys when my children lose interest. But this seemed so wasteful and I just new I could use them for a craft project. So here's just one project I came up with for all those cast away toys.

I turned these two dollar flip-flops into something a little more fun. All I did was glue the toy sharks to the sandals with E6000 glue(this glue is water resistant and flexible). When choosing a toy to glue to the sandal look for something that is soft like rubber, has give, and is water proof.

Here's some other uses for those cast away toys:

Ice Treasures - I did this with my son's preschool, they loved it!

The Attirbute Game - Good to take along to a restaurant

I Spy Bottles - another hit at my son's preschool

Toy Bowling - tested this out too, easy for little hands to setup by themselves

20 comments:

mushroommeadows said...

Those are quite some designer flip-flops! LOVE IT!

Amber M. said...

What great ideas...I love the ice treasures. We'll be doing that one next week for sure!

Those dolphin flip-flops are so cute.

Renna said...

What a cute idea! :-)

Toxiferous said...

Those flip-flops are adorable! I've seen you mention that E6000 glue in other posts and I think this one has finally convinced me to get some. :)

ms firefly said...

my favorite would be the i spy game. what brilliant ideas again!

Marie {Make and Takes} said...

Great ideas for the toys. I'd never thought to make them into decorations. Love the flip flops! There will be less throwing away these days.

3XMom said...

thanks..these are GREAT ideas.

Anonymous said...

you are seriously the most clever chickie i know. those flip flops are genius.

Joy said...

I love that! I also love that E6000 glue but never thought of using it that way. Thank you for sharing your crafts!

Vanessa said...

I feel like such a copy cat, I thought my I Spy bottle post that I just did was so orginal :) Oh well, but that is the best idea for flip flops, I am going to copy cat that one for sure :)
-Vanessa from www.inevergrewup.net

Meredith said...

Love this idea!

I have only used the little plastic figures to top cupcakes, but I like your idea much better : )

Amy said...

Those are precious- love it!

Kaye said...

Thanks so much for all of the awesome game ideas!

Christina Joy said...

I love that you are obsessed with E6000 like I am! Being pregnant is sooooo hard since I can't use the gooey goodness- that whole, "this substance is known to cause cancer in the state of California bit..." Cute ideas! My first time to this blog!

Ann @TheAssetEdge said...

I love all your flip flops & all the other ideas for knick-knacky toys - thanks for the links!

Montserrat said...

Holy smokerolies! Did you know that I received 274 hits just today from this post? I forgot to count the other days' hits. Wow! Thank you.

My girls want to decorate their flip flops now after seeing yours.

Donna(mom24boyz) said...

I wonder if there is a way to make those popular decor buttons for crocs? I love the I spy bottle and the toy bowling. I will definately be trying those ideas out! Thanks for the suggestions!

Lucy said...

Thanks! those are great ideas. I will have to try them. Life is getting way too busy. I don't get to visit here often enough anymore. I must do something about that! :o)

ILikePaperCutting said...

inspiring, this is the best zakka site ever

Anonymous said...

Little plastic items also make great earrings. If you poke a hole in them with an awl, you can hang them on a long post. This works well for those little plastic rings they sell at different times of the year (spiders, bats and skulls at Halloween, for example). Just cut off the ring part with a wire cutter or tin snips, poke a hole, slide it on, and there you go.

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