Friday Fun!: Project B.O.X.E.Y

As a fitting end to Makedo week we decided to kick off a big Friday Fun project (Codename: Project B.O.X.E.Y, because we're all secretive like that). Which is to use some of the Makedo bits we've been talking about all week to bring our mascot (and overlord) Boxey to, proper 3D, life!

Now, this project is no small undertaking (mostly because we're only allowed Friday afternoons to mess around) so it going to take us a few weeks - we don't have any arty skills either, which is quite a hinderance. But what we do have is determination, and an overwhelming desire to not work Friday afternoons. That last fact cannot be overstated.

But, enough with all that talk, lets get up to speed with where we're at:

Well, first thing we needed was a plan. So we got scribbling away and came up withe the basic idea of what Boxey would look like in 3D:

It turned out that, whilst Katie was better at the technical stuff, Matt had all the squared paper. 

With plans in hand we hunted and gathered all the spare boxes we could find (luckily we've had a lot of deliveries recently, so we've got quite a few boxes knocking around):

Everything we could possibly need to make our very own Boxey.

We then quickly threw caution to the wind and began chopping away at our various boxes:

Very quickly.

But, as of day one, we are currently a sucess! We've built the basic body shape and found a head for the little box-man, now we've just got some of the details to do... and the arms... and the rest of the body... Ok, there's quite a bit left to do. But that's what next week is for! Here's where we're up to as of today:

Not much to look at now, but soon he will be king.

Anyway, thats thats all from us, just enough time for the usual sign-off. You can find you can find all the stuff to make your very own Boxey (or anything else, for that matter) on our website here. 

To celebrate the start of our project, we've decided to extend the length of our discount code another week! So, until the 9th of April you can get 15% off of all makedo items using the code FRIDAYFUN (restrictions apply). 

As always you can find our shop Here, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Makedo Week: Elephants, Dollhouses, Flowers and Shops

If you were here on Tuesday, you'd of seen the first four of our Makedo kits and, last but not least, here are the last four of our boxed kits (clockwise L-R)Dollhouse, Elephant, Shop and Flowers.

Just like yesterday it's a hard task choosing a favourite set from these, but if we had to make a decision (and thankfully we don't) we'd have to go with the Shop kit. With this kit, and a few boxes and odds 'n' ends, you can set up your very own ReRetail! Or something else, but I'd make a ReRetail. 

With that, we're almost at the end of our Makedo week here on the ReRetail Blog. But fear not dear reader! We've got something special planned for tomorrow's Friday Fun. I can't say too much right now, but it involves Makedo. And us. Ok, so, that wasn't a great hint.

You can find Makedo on our website here, and rememeber that until the 31st you can get 15% off of all makedo items using the code FRIDAYFUN (restrictions apply).  During the rest of the week, we'll take a look at some of the items form our Makedo range

As always you can find our shop Here, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Makedo Week: Cars, Planes, Robots and Space Planes!

 











We thought we'd kick off the product showcases with the makedo's range of 'boys toys' which are the (clockwise L-R)Plane, Car, Space Pod and Robot.

 Although all of these kits are innovative and a whole lot of fun, a personal favourite around the office is the Robot kit. Not because it helps us pretend our dream of having a robot butler is coming true. Well, maybe a little. These are all fun ways to teach kids (both big and small) about recycling and reusing products. Check back in Thursday for the rest of our Makedo range (and we've got something special planned for our Friday Fun this week. Stay tuned!)

You can find Makedo on our website here, and rememeber that until the 31st you can get 15% off of all makedo items using the code FRIDAYFUN (restrictions apply).  During the rest of the week, we'll take a look at some of the items form our Makedo range

As always you can find our shop Here, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Makedo Week: Makedo? MakeWho?

What's a makedo? Well, let us fill you in.  Makedo is a neat way of turning old boxes into new things to play with!

Or, if you want a more technical description, Makedo is "a connector system that enables materials including cardboard, plastic and fabric to easily join together to form new objects or structures." (That's from the manufacturers website, because, what am i? A word-scientist?)


In short, the Makedo system is a way to turn a couple of boxes, some paper plates and old CD's into a car! (among other things).You can find Makedo on our website here, and rememeber that until the 31st you can get 15% off of all makedo items using the code FRIDAYFUN (restrictions apply).  During the rest of the week, we'll take a look at some of the items form our Makedo range


As always you can find our shop Here, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Friday Fun!: Cup Critters

Because it’s Friday and it’s the start of summer (well, it’s sunny outside), and nobody likes working on a Friday afternoon we here at ReRetail made a management decision to put our collective feet up and have a bit of a rest.

Whilst we’re resting, and because next week is our 'Makedo Week', what better time is there to break out one of our fantastic new Cup Critters and see what we could make?

Firstly, after some arguing and bargaining, we decided on the Cow/Chicken set, which should look like this:

Those two on the left

Here’s all the bits you get in the set:

I dunno, it doesn't look very cow-y or chicken-y.

…And after putting our degrees to good use, we ended up with these two:

Thats better!

So we decided to take our new friends for a tour around the office, but they were far too interested in eating all of our Smarties and just standing around

At this point it was getting late, so they had to call for a lift back home.

Well, I think thats just about enough from us about the newest additions to our office. If you liked these little guys as much as we did you get pick up a set here. 

If our little story wasn't incentive enough, until the end of march you can get 15% off of all Cup Critters (and all the Makedo items we have in store) using the code FRIDAYFUN (restrictions apply). 

As always you can find our shop Here, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

ReRetail on Ethical Community.Com

We here at ReRetail just love opening things, almost as much as we like  searching out new recycled stuff to fill our shelves with ('new recycled'? Well, it's new to us anyway). Which is why it surprising that it's taken us so long to open up a shop on Ethical Community.

From their website;

"[Ethical Community] simplifies the often complicated process of shopping ethically by explaining what each products ethical credentials and certificates mean. Shoppers can also learn more about each seller by interact with sellers reading interviews and interacting with them via the sites own social network, where they can learn more about the story and people behind the products they buy."


So if it's ethical, recycled, vegan or Fair Trade items you're looking for, we suggest you check out Ethical Community. While you're there, please check out our store.

As always, you can find us on Twitter, FaceBook or our Web Store.

Coming Soon!: Paper High Elephant Dung Notebooks

The first of our (Blog Exclusive!) Sneak Peeks is our Elephant Dung Recycled Notebooks from Paper High.

These notebooks are handmade in Sri Lanka from 'Pachyderm Paper', a mix of elephant dung* and recycled paper, and are in support of the Millennium Elephant Foundation (a home for elderly and disabled elephants).

The notebooks contain approximately 60 pages of paddy husk paper and have a brass elephant design on the front. The notepads are also both eco-friendly and Fair Trade.

So, with these you can support a good cause and have a rather nifty notebook to keep all your thoughts and ideas in, like that novel about space-elephant cowboys you've been waiting to write.

Because these notebooks are coming soon, they're not quite in our shop just yet, but the should be in a couple of days. Once they're up they'll be here.

Once they're up we'll put the word out on our Twitter. And like us on Facebook, if you want more of this, but with a blue bar at the top.


*Don't worry, they don't smell. Because of science!

Product Spotlight: Scent Unikue Soy Candles

For the first Product Spotlight we decided to focus on one of our newest products; Scent Unikue's range of Soy Candles.

"What are Soy Candles and why are they better than my regular candles?" I hear you say and that's a very good, if suspiciously pertinent, question. Soy Candles are made from Soy Wax and are non-toxic, biodegradable and a fantastic alternative to paraffin wax candles. The flame produced from Soy Wax has extremely low soot emissions and burns cooler and slower, which means the candle has a much longer burn time (up to 40% longer than a similarly-sized paraffin wax candle!).

And thats not all, because these candles are made from Soy Wax they are suitable for Vegans (they have also not been tested on animals) and when you're done with them, the jar can be washed out (Soy Wax is soluble in water) and recycled/reused.

In the shop we currently have three different sizes of candles and we have the following 'flavours' available:

Apple & Cinnamon, Lilly of the Valley, Pineapple and Coconut, Sun Washed Linen, Sweet Pea, Mango & Papaya, Mimosa & Mandarin, Vanilla, and Jasmine & Honeysuckle.

They can be found on the shop here

Hello and Welcome...

Hello and welcome to the ReRetail Blog!

We're just moving in at the moment but once everything's up and running correctly we will jump straight into the new and best product showcase posts (quite a task, we've got loads of cool things to choose from!)

We just thought that this, being our first post and all, would be the best place to tell you a little about ReRetail:

ReRetail was formed by us (Matt & Kate) in late 2009 as, primarily, an eBay store with a skew toward environmentally friendly products and services. This served us well and kept us busy until (flash forward two years) we decided to branch away from eBay and open our own, proper, web store. After a couple of sleepless nights and hectic days, we managed to get everything sorted and working (check out our site here!).

And that's a, slightly abridged, summary of our history as a company. I think that's covered most of the stuff you'd want to know about us...

Except, who's that little box-y bloke who's all over the place? Well, that's Boxey, he's our mascot and general overseer/ruler. He's made from boxes and tape.