In the 80’s and 90’s many of us amassed huge collections of our favorite movies and TV shows on VHS. They were lots of fun, but with DVDs and Blue-Ray discs now ruling the home video market it’s hard to know what to do with all these tapes sitting in our basement. Selling or donating your old tapes can be tough to do, so why not swap them for something new and useful! While we don’t support trading them here on Swap.com there are still many ways to reuse those old VHS tapes, here are five of our favorite VHS crafting projects:
1. Turn them into Bookends – There are all sorts of fun craft projects you can do with your old tapes in order to re-purpose them into something that’s useful around the house. One of the simplest projects is to turn them into nice looking bookends. All it takes is a little glue and an old CD and you’ll have a nice way to hold up your books (or old VHS tapes!)
2. Make a bag – Everyone could use another bag to haul their stuff around, why not make one out of your old VHS tape? The tape ribbon inside your cassette makes for great raw material you can use to knit, crochet and sew together into most anything. A bag is a great way to start but there are plenty of other uses for it.
3. Make Jewelry – Tape ribbon can also be easily fashioned into fun jewelry like bracelets or brooches. All it takes is some basic macrame skills and before you now it you’ll have some funky and hip accessories for your favorite outfit.
4. Make Decorations – Tape ribbon also works as a great stand-in for gift wrap ribbon. It’s elasticity and glossy finish makes it the ideal way to top off any package colored with blacks, whites or grays.
5. Make a Fly Swatter – Keep the bugs away this summer with a homemade fly swatter that you can fashion out of a few old tapes and a plastic stick. Those bugs will never know what hit them!
Do you have any other recommendations on how to reuse your old VHS tapes? Let us know how you’ve swapped you old tapes for new creations on our Facebook page or in the comments below!
(Photo by: Rob Pearce)
Swap.com Mobile is a free iPhone is app that lets you scan items into your HAVE and WANT lists, manage your account, see what you can get for your stuff, and participate in swaps.
