• After you are done reading the newspaper, recycle it for other uses.NEWSPAPER image by huimin from Fotolia.com
  
  There is an abundance of newspaper used every day. In some areas it can easily be recycled by putting it into bins, but there are other ways to recycle old newspapers for a second use. Newsprint is messy but easy to work with and can be used for gift wrapping or to build other homemade projects.
  
  

Wrapping Paper

• Use newspaper as a funky and fun way to wrap gifts. It is a great way to recycle newspaper and add some character to your gift wrapping at the same time. Use the colored or black-and-white comics section for a pictorial touch or look for an appropriate headline to center on the top of the package. The black-and-white comics can also be painted or colored. Try adding elements to the wrapped gift like different types of ribbons, raffia, handmade newspaper bows, reusable fabric ribbon or the rubber bands the papers were bound with when they were delivered. Make matching tags with cut pieces of newspaper glued on a piece of construction paper or half of a plain white three-inch x five-inch card.
  
  

Papier-Mache Projects

• Cut half-inch to two-inch-wide strips of newspaper. Mix white craft glue and water or flour and water to make a papier-mache paste. Soak the strips in the mix. Make a mask by applying strips of the soaked paper onto a chicken wire framework you've created. Cover both sides of the wire. Paint and decorate it after the layers of papier-mache dry.
  
  Apply papier-mache to an empty potato chip container or oatmeal box. Make a face or bumpy surface with bunched-up pieces of soaked newspaper and cover them with strips of the soaked paper. Paint and varnish the dried piggy bank and the pop-on-the-box lid. Cut a slit. To add legs to your animal or pig, turn the tube sideways and attach leg pieces, and cut a slot on top of the animal once the strips of newspaper layers are dry. Paint and cover the skin areas with fake fur or leave the piggy bank unpainted and undecorated and just varnish the newspaper-covered container.
  
  

Desk Items

• Use a small empty box or food container, a cleaned jar or tubular box with a bottom. Cover it with layers of glue and water or papier-mache-mix-soaked newspaper strips. Make a few different-shaped containers that can all stand on a desktop. Leave the papier mache newspaper container covering as it is without painting it and varnish the pieces for a matching set of business-ready-looking desktop or drawer storage containers, a pen and pencil holder, a rubber band and paper clip box, a cell phone holder or a stamp box, or make a picture frame from cut-out cardboard and cover it to match the other desk set pieces. To match a color theme or a room theme, decorate the dried boxes using paints, photographs, bits of fabric or textured items such as buttons, international coins or postage stamps.