Five Crafty Projects to Upcycle Your Potato Chip Bags

Craft amazing things with the chip bags on this truck!My family is on a great big road trip this month, and yes, we are eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, granola bars, cups of yogurt, and bananas.

And yes, we are also eating the occasional burger and fries, the occasional fast-food burrito, the occasional bag of Skittles, and the occasional bag of chips.

I know, every time I bribe my girls into the next leg of our 16-hour drive with another bag of Goldfish crackers, that the biggest part of what I paid for, and the biggest waste, went into that packaging that we’ll just throw away at the next rest stop.

The good news is that all that shiny, crinkly, chip wrapper goodness is actually a quite viable craft material, and upcycling chip bags in craft projects is a great way to keep a little more trash out of the waste stream. Here are five projects to get you started:

chip bag braceletIf you have a favorite brand of chips, well, I’m not going to be the one to discourage you from getting your fangeek on. In fact, I’m going to encourage you by telling you to head on over to this chip bag bracelet tutorial, courtesy of Craftster member exousia.

The best part of this tutorial is the information on safely baking a full-size chip bag down to the dimensions that you see in this photo, so even if you’re not into jewelry, I’m betting that you can think of something awesome to do with a shrunken chip bag, can’t you?

[The image on this page is the property of Craftster member exousia.]

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Written by Julie Finn

I'm a writer, crafter, Zombie Preparedness Planner, and homeschooling momma of two kids who will hopefully someday transition into using their genius for good, not the evil machinations and mess-making in which they currently indulge. I'm interested in recycling and nature crafts, food security, STEM education, and the DIY lifestyle, however it's manifested--making myself some underwear out of T-shirts? Done it. Teaching myself guitar? Doing it right now.

Visit my blog Craft Knife for a peek at our very weird handmade homeschool life, and my etsy shop Pumpkin+Bear for a truly odd number of rainbow-themed beeswax pretties.

3 Comments

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  1. Thanks for the neat ideas. Not sure about making toys for little ones, who might chew on them. First comment makes total sense.

    Some of the other projects are worth trying. Thanks for the article.

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