• Put old cassettes to new use as craft supplies.cassette image by Shawn Stallard from Fotolia.com
  
  If you have a pile of old cassettes you may wonder whether to recycle them or trash the once-popular musical devices. Instead of filling your garbage can, put those cassettes back into use in creative ways by repurposing them for crafts. With a few supplies you’ll turn music into another artform.
  
  

Place Cards

• Your old New Kids on the Block, Michael Bolton or Fab Five cassette tape may no longer have a home in your car or walkman, but you can still use the convenient casing for your next seated event. Cassette tapes make excellent place cards, as they’re sized small enough to fit on a dinner plate or table–and sturdy enough to withstand wine spills. To make a cassette tape place card, remove any of the decorative labels draped over the plastic casing. Since you won’t be playing the cassette again you can hand paint or spray paint both sides of the casing to match your event’s theme or colors. A silver gel pen or thick black marker works well to add each attendee’s name and table number to one side of the cassette tape.
  
  

Pom Poms

• A shoebox full of cassette tapes may seem like a not-so-useful collection, but turning those tapes into pom poms will give you something to cheer about. Break open the tape casings with a butter knife, hammer or wrench–careful not to slice through the tape itself. Let the tape unwind into long strings about the length from your elbow to your finger tips, cutting the tape into strips. Use as many tapes as desired to get the “poof” of your pom pom, then gather all of the ends in one hand and slide a rubber band about 2 inches in to keep them secure. Insert a dowel or drum stick into the gathered end to create the handle, then wrap with ribbon or other colorful material to mask the rubber band.
  
  

Tinsel Tape

• Prepare early for the Christmas season by creating your own tinsel tape. Instead of store-bought tinsel, which can break off and flake all over your home, make homemade tinsel out of cassette tape. After freeing the tape from its plastic casing, spread the lengths on paper towels, a sheet or a tarp you won’t mind getting paint on. Use green, red, silver or any other color spray paint to turn the tape’s black color to something more seasonal. Let paint dry, then use a stick or branch to move tape bunches around so you can spray the other sides. For extra holiday flair, spray tape with an aerosol glue, then sprinkle a canister of glitter over the piles. When they dry the cassette tape strands will sparkle.