Hey all,

I have loads of CDs lying around my room - scratched or some that I just don't want. Singles that I'll never be able to get rid of. So does anyone have any ideas of something "crafty" which I could do with them? I figured I could use them for something. What, though, I just do not know. Think anyone could help?

-Lauren-

Make a mobile for out in the yard.

Hang them on trees and bushes at Christmas time.

Layer them like roofing shingles over a largish surface.

Work them into Kris's credit card mosaic from another thread.

OOOOOOOooooh, try melting them like the records in the craft section here. Bet that doesn't work though they'd make good little bowls.

Drill holes and add jumprings to make clothing articles out of them, like the old "mod" vinyl disk dresses and vests from the late sixties.

I think I need to eat some chocolate, this is giving me major brain fuzz. <g>

Beth

i've heard you can make a disco ball with old cds. get a styrofoam ball the size you want (and depending on how many cds you have) and cut the CDs into squares and glue them on. i've never done this, so i don't know what to use for cutting CDs or for glueing, anyone have any ideas? i'd like to do this myself, i just haven't gotten around to it, i have a lot of those free AOL cds.

allison

or another thing i've been thinking is to glue a round piece of felt on one side and using them as coasters. don't know how well this would work either, just something i was thinking.

i like that dress idea.

My sister puts them around the walls of her room, where the walls meet the cealings..

and I make them into picture fraimsby cutting out the circle in the center and leaving the shiny side

i made one without a styrfoam ball (easier, looks more like one of those collapsible kids toys, not quite round):
i made mine with drinking straws, duct tape and whole cd's. tape a long stripe of cds together (little tape strips so it doesn't show through the cd holes - tape on the not sparkly side) which makes the circumfrence of your disco ball. reinforce with straws cut in bits to hold against the corners (it won't be perfectly round). work on one half at a time, on each side of your stripe, attach a cd in between two of the stripe cds (basically making another ring of supported cds which is slightly smaller than middle ring (use two angled strips of tape to connect the rings, and the same method to connect your new ring). Mine's at home or i'd tell you the number of cds per rings that lets you end each side with one cd nicely. i hope that made sense. The ball ends up slightly ovoid, but looks really cool, and if it's hanging you can't see anything but the cds. =)
-monk

This would be a thrift/craft combo idea. I used a bunch of mine as reflectors in my solar oven. A solar oven is made out of two cardboard boxes and foil and you can cook food in it outside. You can learn more about it at www.solarcooking.org. Basicly I used a bunch of AOL CD-Roms to line the inside and they reflect the sun to make it really hot. (Works a bit better than just the foil.)

perhaps not the craftiest idea but they make great frisbees.

diva, or whatever lol- frisbee? wouldn't u give yoruself a major gash? you could also use CD's for like....hmmm...you could hang a few from the cealing as decorations, or sell them to your little sister for $5 and say they're perfectly good!!!! :-)

i have gotten really into writing on old 45s....like old beatles 45s and beachboys..i use a silver pen that can write on hard surfaces (you can get them at craft stores)..i write on the perimiter going round and round and round.....it looks really cool.....-kitty

You can use them as postcards. Just write on the shiny side with a sharpie, plop a stamp on the other side, and you might want to use a sticky label to address it if there's too much graphic stuff on it.

I've discovered that the post office will send almost ANYTHING so long as it has the correct postage. (Spagetti-Os labels, tin cans pressed flat)My poor postman.

If you really like the cds but they're scratched, take paste (not gel!) toothpaste and gently smoosh it on the cd with a paper towel going from the center to the edge (like rays of the sun). Then you wipe it off a couple times the same way, center out, with a damp paper towel. I've saved serious gouged cds that way.

I LOVE sending weird stuff through the post - especially to friends in communal houses, it embarrasses the hell out of them...

Tie a stamped, addressed parcel label round a plastic toy animal, roll your letter inside a toothpaste box, screw six pages up inside an egg box, write a letter on a stripey yellow 'J' cloth...and any cheap toy that is in a blister pack can be used as a 3-D postcard!

Kris

What the hell are you doing writing on Beatles 45's!?!

Shame on you!

More ideas for scratched CDs...

if you can get hold of a clock mechanism (from a hardware store) or even dismantle another old clock, they make pretty cool clocks. Old vinyl records work even better for this, though...

alternatively they do make good coasters too, especially for big parties. Just as long as someone doesn't try to play them in your hifi once they're covered in goop and booze...

I just came upon about 500 cds that I need to get rid of, and it's been a little while since anybody posted on this. These are all fabulous, but I wanted to see if anyone had thought of anything new.

500 is a lot of cds.

With time, you can cute the holes much larger, glue them all on top of each other, stick a cork in the bottle and have a vase?

how easy are cds to cut anyways? I just use mine as frisbees! *L*

Coleenie

500? Hello used cd store and some extra $$$ for other crafty adventures!
--Jen

Blah. I wish I could sell them, but it's 500 of the same cd, a promo single that nobody would ever buy.

i'm picturing a big sparkly lamp. you could glue the cd's together in a big stack (however tall the lamp needs to be), make a base, run the wiring up through the holes in the cd's and then top it off with a bulb fixture. you can buy all the parts for lamp making at most craft store, or you could cannibalize an old lamp from a thrift store. and i think that the cd's, once glued together, would be sturdy. you could even make the shade out of cd's, although trying to picture that is difficult. it'd be a really funny juxtaposition if you used an ornate base, like old iron or something. you could make a bunch and sell them!

geez, i think i've had too much sugar today...

heather

wow, heather, not only was that an amazing idea, you said juxtaposition! *hug*

i was thinking, and i'd like it for my room, glue them around in a giant spiral on your ceiling and see if yuo can get some floor lamps tilting upwards. it could deflect the light in interesting patterns in a big room...also, it'd be cool if you wrote on them with a glow-in-the-dark pen or something an stuck them 'round thee ceiling, too. hmm, ideas ideas...

Make a giant wall calender. Get some of that gummy temporary hanging stuff, and hang them up in a big grid on your wall, and number them with a sharpie and write yr appointments and yr friends birthdays and such on them. It'll only take a year and a half to use them all up! :o)

hey my mom used to give me all the aol cds and stuff and i tape em together and make them into bowls... its really kewl.. i gave some away as presents!!! ~heehee~

the other day i just started cutting up those dumb internet cds, (it does take a while) and then i put all the little peices in a bottle and it looks really sparkly and kewl. but i dont kno if any1 looks @ this thread anymore so i hope it can help sum1!!!!
:-)))))
*~lizzy~*

I use mine for coasters... no felt needed

also, it is fairly easy to cut the cd's up, and I have seen someone make a disco ball with them, its really easy..... just as someone said above, cut them up into tiny squares and glue on a styrofoam ball, then hang it and shine a light on it, and voila!

you can make a cd curtain out of them kind like a beaded curtain only w/ cds of course