Upcycled Phone Case

Many a time, we buy things we’re never going to use, or, we’re gifted things we don’t really like. Whether it’s a birthday, or some other holiday, or we shopped for something we don’t care for, a lot of the time, we’re left with junk. However, if you know that piece of something you believe is junk can be a blank canvas, keep it, and use it. Blank canvases can be made out of anything, whether it be a blank t-shirt or a piece of stretchy string or, like here, a phone case that needed a bit of love and life.

It started with a coat of paint mixed with Mod Podge, then happened with a Sharpie to create the design pattern, and then a coat of Mod Podge over everything once it looked like what I wanted it to look like. Never underestimate a good coat of paint, or markers you can use to upcycle what used to be trash.

Not everything you don’t like has to be trash.

A lot of it can be upcycled into something new, so why not get something creative out of it? 

Again, anything can be a blank canvas.

When I realized I never used this phone case, and was never going to use it because I didn’t care for the pattern, I knew I could turn it into something I would use that I would use until it was no longer usable. That’s normally how I treat my belongings. I keep them until they’re too worn out to keep.

A couple coats of paint, drawing of the design, and coat of Mod Podge later, I have a phone case that used creative energy. Now, there’s less trash going to the landfill. I also got to show a phone case I never used, love.

Next time you’re gifted a t-shirt, or a purse, notebook, phone case, pen, mug, or anything else, before you regift it, or throw it away, ask yourself if you could turn it into your next canvas. If you can see uses for it, and you have a place in your craft drawer to put it, keep it. You might save your next blank canvas from the garbage. It’s especially important if you look at it and understand a clear path or goal with it. It’s much easier if you have something you can turn into a better version of itself, like the phone case featured in this project.

Next time you find something you want to throw out, ask yourself how you can use it and save it for later. If you have no room to put it, don’t keep it. Also, remember to clean trash out of your drawers every once in while of everything you know you won’t use. Once you begin collecting what you know will go to use, not only will you be expanding your repertoire of your projects that are purely you, but you will have more space filled with what you have a plan, or inspiration, for.

Art supplies can be anywhere and anything, but the most important part is knowing yourself well enough to know what you will actually use, and why.

Your craft drawers, and your art, will thank you.