Here are three fun ideas (ranging from easiest to hardest) on some recycled wares gifts. Course, these are cool enough to spend the time making for yourself, too!

MAGNETS:

In case you haven't seen it – craft stores sell rolls of magnet backing that already has an adhesive strip. You can cut pieces and make pretty much anything smaller than your fridge into a magnet.

Bottle caps and Wine corks: – These can simply be made by attaching magnetic pieces to the underside of an already cool bottle cap. Make sure to wash the bottle caps, and use the flattest ones possible. You will have to glue on a small piece cork board or something between the cap and the magnet. For the wine cork we had to hot glue the strip of magnet because the adhesive on it didn't want to stick to that particular cork.

For fancier ones we used store bought bottle caps found in the scrapbook section of the craft store. The Elvis bust is simply a piece of confetti and some small sequins glued on to the top with some glue made to work on metal (also from the craft store). You could also use a hot glue gun. For the picture ones cut a small circle to fit inside the bottom of the cap and glue them in place. The magnet pieces can be stuck directly on to the top with ease.

We also used some scrabble tiles and simply stuck the magnet pieces on the back. Crafty indeed!

BOTTLE VASE:

Again, you can make these as simple or as complicated as you wish. First off you'll need a bottle of some type, washed and soaked with the label scraped off. You can use glass paints, spray paint, or anything that will stick to glass to color it. Cut out pictures (we like to use old magazines) and decoupage carefully into place. Allow the pieces to dry before adding touches of glitter paint where you want some extra bling. Create a unique centerpiece for a friend or a party!

"Hey, how did Bill and Ted get in that bottle?"

LICENSE PLATE CONTAINER:

We've all seen those license plate purses, a difficult but possible DIY project. This is much simpler but still very cool. You will need a license plate, a metal hand seamer for bending, glue that works on metal (or hot glue gun), and some cork board. Make sure your license plate is cleaned up if it's been on a car for a long time.

First measure the license plate and decide where you wanted to make the bends to make it square. Use a pen to mark where the bends will be. Keep in mind that it is harder to bend over a fat letter or number, but sometimes you have no choice in the matter.

My first bend I made about a centimeter into one side – where the natural edge of the license plate is. This piece will then overlap into the fourth side to make it fit snugly. I laid the license plate on the floor, so that I could use my whole body to help me bend each corner. Start at one end and follow along – you'll get into trouble if you try to do the opposite ends and then bend in the middle.

I worked carefully – bending upwards just a bit on one side and then the other. Keep the unbent part of the license plate flat against the floor and bend the corner upwards. If you need to you can put aside the seamers and press with your hands to get the bend complete – using your body and leaning into it.

The last bend is the hardest, but I managed to get it into place. You can use some glue along the edge to secure it, but my bends were tight enough to make it stick together without glue. Measure and cut out some cork board to fit snugly into the bottom. Use glue around the edge and push the cork board into place. Allow the glue to dry before using your container.