Up-cycle that Toy…Soldier!

Up-cycle that Toy…Soldier!

We all shed a tear when Andy gave away his precious friends at the end of Toy Story #3! It was sad to see a toy given away because it became useless to the person who once love them. Some of us can’t bear it even if it means giving it to someone else to play with.
But…what to do with them? Put them in boxes and just let them sit there?
How about instead we think of ways to reinventing them!? It’s called Up-cycling!
Anyone can do it. There are no rules. All you need is a bit of inspiration and creativity!
So get out your glue gun, drill and light kit and let these images inspire you!

Everyone has some dinosaurs laying around…don’t they?
You can glue them to two pieces of wood and paint them to make bookends.
Drill a small hole in their backs and make a charm for a necklace.
Drill many holes in it’s back and make a toothbrush holder.
Cut a larger hole in it’s back and pot a plant!
Decapitate it and glue a plate on it’s body. Then glue the head in the center of it.
Drill a small or larger hole and you have a candle holder!

Take that old dress up doll torso and cut the back of it’s head off and paint it all stone-like. Then pot a plant in it! A bit of moss or a fern will make it look like hair!
And who doesn’t love a Day of the Dead…anything?

How about a Picture frame or mirror frame do-over? They are usually pretty plain looking. So glue your little buddies to it and paint it! You can do all one solid color or a rainbow of colors!

For a cool looking lamp you can glue toys to a plain lamp in a fun scene or, you can buy a lamp kit for very cheap at your local hardware store and run the cable through a toy making it a lamp!

You can’t go wrong with Legos! Make a peg board to hold your keys. Make a container for kitchen utensils. Or make a row of them for a charging station. The possibilities are endless with these building blocks!

You put some change in a machine and get a little toy..now what are you going to do with it?
Here are some neat ideas!
Most of them are hollow. So cut them in half and glue some corncob holders to the inside of them. Everyone at the cookout will be talking about them..I promise ya that!
Take some old jars of jam that are finished. Clean them out then glue your little friends to the top, then paint! Makes a great place to store little art items!
Drill a hole in their backs and make key-chains out of them..or things to hang from your rear-view mirror!
Cut their heads off and glue them to a piece of wood. Just like you hunted them down yourself, then stick a magnet on the back and walla! You have refrigerator magnets!
Cut them in half, mount them on a slab of wood and use them to hang jewelry!
Cut them in half and glue screws in them and use them for knobs for your dresser..

o.o of course in writing all this I realize I am telling you to dismember them and cut them up. So maybe Andy was right….>.>

Either way have fun and make something cool! If you do..Send it to us at: toysoldiersunite@gmail.com
We just might add it to the Toy Soldier Art Gallery! ;)