Recycled T-Shirt Journal - with Donkey Kong, Harry Potter, and other Nerdy Things

My husband loves to wear witty, ironic, awesome t-shirts, but he tends to go through them pretty quickly. Once the armpits get all weird and crunchy the thrift store won't take the shirts, so the clothing is destined for the trash.

There are hundreds of ways to reuse t-shirts all over the interent, but if you are a never-ending DIY-er like me, you have a vast collection of refashioned t-shirts dresses, t-shirt quilts, and t-shirt shopping bags.

I wanted to figure out another way to reuse the cool graphics of the shirts that could be replicated quickly and would appeal to the masses. 

I also kept seeing Star Wars and Nintendo shirts at the thrift shop that were fifty cents and size XXL, so I grabbed as many nerdy shirts as I could and started selling the finished journals at a local coffee shop. Maybe you can do the same.

We all have piles of shirts that we don't wear anymore, but for sentimental or hoarder reasons we are unable to get rid of a single tee. I'll show you how to use an old shirt to make a cool fabric-covered journal, and BONUS! These make great presents!

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Harry Potter House Points Necklace Set

For this Instructable, the only thing you'll need tools-wise is a pair of pliers.

Parts:
Necklace Chain
Necklace Findings (namely loops to attach the pendant to the chain)
Earring Backs
Seed Beads (the color of which is whatever house you want to make)
Bead Landing - "Found Objects" - Glass Capsule (comes in a pack of two)

See the pictures for images of the parts. Note that if you cannot find the Glass Capsules, you can make them using a small glass tube and bead caps.

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Harry Potter Papercraft

Paper craft is a lot of fun, I particularly like the models that move.  I wanted to try my hand at making my own movable model.  When I came up with the idea of making Harry Potter with a moving arm it occurred to me that it could be even better if I incorporated an LED into the wand.  So as he raises his arm to cast a spell the tip of his wand lights up. 

The arm is moved using a lever in the back and the wand is lit up with a 3mm LED.  As the lever is pushed in it strikes the inside surface closing the circuit, thus turning on the light.  I used conductive fabric for the contact points of the switch and conductive thread running between the LED, switch and battery.  Alternatively, you could use conductive paint, tape or regular wire.  The template is available in the next step as a pdf file, print full size on 8 1/2 by 11 (Letter) card stock.

Paper model:
Scissors/utility knife Glue Tape Papercraft model pdf (see below) Cardstock and printer Electronics:

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