Monday, October 11, 2021

Upcycling Cardboard Egg Cartons

Welcome to fall, and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! 

While doing up some baking for the weekend, I added an egg carton to my pile in the garage. I usually buy eggs in cardboard packaging so I can recycle them. I also sometimes give them to a local egg farmer. But I got curious about other ways they could be used, and went on a little search. I found no end of kids' crafts, but I was pleasantly surprised at the number of projects I found that looked like fun for adults.

First up: flowers. Lots and lots of flowers! The shape of the egg cups lends itself well to making all sorts of them. Here are some of my favorites:


pinterest.ca/pin/86412886589592140

Once you have your flowers made, there are any number of options for display. Make bouquets or wreaths, glue onto picture frames or mirrors, hang them from branches or string them together into banners. 

You can also use LED string lights to create some beautiful lighting options.

aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com/diy-egg-carton-lamp

www.frugalcouponliving.com/diy-flower-string-lights


If flowers are not your thing, how about animals? I'm in awe of anyone who could come up with this next idea. The entire project is created from egg cartons:

rosijofarecon.blogspot.com/un-gallo-con-il-cartone


Or maybe this adorable hedgehog is more your style:

www.instructables.com/A-Hedgehog-Made-of-an-Egg-Box


The uniform shape of the individual egg cups makes them ideal for things like snowflakes. These would be beautiful as hung on a tree, strung together as a garland, or attached to a wreath. The original website does not appear to be working, but the process is fairly clear from the second photo:

www.pinterest.ca/pin/28921622576640544

elmundodelreciclaje.blogspot.com/estrellas-de-navidad

The cardboard from the cartons can also be used to make paper mache, which can then be turned into nearly anything. There is a simple tutorial for this at www.thesprucecrafts.com.

I also found these gorgeous tea cups, which are apparently made from "recycled egg cartons". Unfortunately there is no link and I haven't been able to track down the original post. It's unclear from the photo whether these are made from the egg cartons directly, or from paper mache, but my best guess is they are cut from the individual cups. Either way they are beautiful and look like fun to make:

homesthetics.net/16-creative-recycling-egg-cartons-ideas

If you have created anything from egg cartons, please share a photo in the comments!