I have a lot of wood scraps. Leftovers from building frames to pour concrete in, from building garden boxes, from building a mailbox base...from living in an old house and always having a project! I could never throw away any decent sized scrap. Which meant, of course, that I had a big container of decent sized scraps... Hmm. Had to come up with an idea. Wood scraps plus table saw plus partial cans of wood stain plus wood glue and clamps and varnish equals tea light holders.
Once I bought a table saw, the possibilities became endless.
A slight variation on upcycling wood scraps is re-purposing outdated or not-very-attractive wood picture frames. A frame with some discarded hardware and some combination of paint, fabric, cork, tile, paper, bottle caps, or any number of other possibilities and you end up with a functional and very cool looking tray.
One large broken tile, two mismatched handles, embroidered fabric samples, thin sheet cork, glue, and sealer.
Beer bottle labels (I love to peel them) and beer bottle caps (we save them all), along with a frame, two handles, some wood strips, grout, and sealer.