by Marissa Plains

Created on: October 14, 2009

Teens love fun and funky decor accessories. Keep your teens busy on a rainy day with this fun recycled craft project. Gather up a pile of old CD jewel cases and recycle them into a funky night light!

Gathering Your Supplies

For this project, you will need about a 14 jewel cases. The two you will use for the top and bottom should have opaque trays, but the other dozen need to be transparent. (Colored cases work, as long as the inner trays are see-through.) If you are using slimline cases, you will need an additional 14 clear cases.

You will also need:

Three old CDs or CD-Rs An Xacto knife or utility knife A string of 15 to 20 clear LED Christmas lights Heavy-duty glue A Sharpie

Preparing your CD Jewel Cases

In order to put the lights inside of the jewel cases, you will need to create a hollow core through the center of the stack. This is the most difficult part of the process because the clear plastic of the CD jewel cases is very brittle and cracks easily. You must be very careful and take your time when cutting the plastic.

First, disassemble all of your cases except for one of the opaque cases and one of the clear cases. Remove the front of each case, then carefully remove the CD tray. You should have three parts for each case.

Carefully cut around the center of the CD tray, using the raised line around the center of the tray as a guide. Cut slowly, making many light passes to gradually carve your way through the plastic. Just before your cut goes all the way through the plastic, flip the tray over and finish the cut from the opposite side.

Use the trays as a guide for where to cut holes on the other parts of the cases. Line up the tray against the other pieces as it would sit when assembled and trace the cutout circle onto the front and back parts of each case with a marker. Use these marker lines as a guide for cutting your remaining pieces. Cut using the same method, flipping the jewel case parts over and carefully, gently cutting the remainder of the way from the opposite side.

When cutting the opaque piece for the bottom of the stack, keep and set aside the center portion that you cut out of the tray.

Once all of the jewel cases are cut, reassemble them.

Assembling Your Lamp

Insert two of your CDs into the two uncut jewel cases with the shiny bottom sides facing out. Glue these two cases together bottom to bottom, so that the spines of the cases are facing the same direction with a CD visible on each side.

Place this assembly on your work surface with the opaque

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>