Ever wish there was a practical use for that drawer full of plastic bags you can't bear to toss in the trash? Here are ten creative objects made entirely from these evil fluttery pieces of grocery-carrying plastic. They may not be things we are all capable of making, but at least they are cool to look at.

It's hard to believe a garden this beautiful could be made from plastic bags, but such is the case for this light installation by Lluzinterruptus outside The Prado Museum in Madrid. "A Cloud of Bags Visit the Prado" was up for about 4 hours and included 80 recycled plastic baggies, which inflated with the wind. (Inhabitat)

Ryan Frank's Inkuku (Zulu for "chicken") chair capitalizes on an aspect of contemporary urban culture to create a unique piece of furniture. Frank put a modern spin on a traditional African craft technique by choosing to use plastic shopping bags and recycled aluminum as the materials for his piece. (Inhabitat)

Plastic Bag Chicken. "Recycled, fair trade plastic bag chicken figurine is handcrafted by disadvantaged crafters in the townships near Cape Town, South Africa." (wow imports)

Kate Ward's Re-Find Handbags. She writes: "Plastic bags are often disregarded, seen as disposable throw-away items in our modern day society which end up in landfill or polluting the landscape. Yet they are often made in beautiful and bright colours. Kate has chosen to celebrate the plastic bag by lovingly hand-knitting and stitching the discarded bags, creating contemporary art works as well as functional handbags." (kate ward)

We covered Camila Labra's unique plastic-bag-boots last year. The industrial design student fashioned these boots out of layers upon layers of plastic bags, and somehow found a way to make even the most unattractive item stylish. They're lined with cotton for comfort, and are practical too, as they're lightweight and waterproof! (botas dacca)

More shoes. Less feminine. Lusea Warner's Fan shoe made from recycled plastic bags is eco-friendly and a viable alternative for animal lovers, as the material looks and feels like leather (but, isn't.) (Lusea Warner)

Crocheted Grocery Bag Shoes. mleak at Crafters says of her creation, "I just improvised the pattern, but I think they came out all right! I have *no* idea how useful they will actually be as shoes (or more like sandal-slippers, really) but I'll see how they hold up outside. They seem fairly sturdy, though I'm really wondering if they'll melt on hot pavement. Guess I'll find out!" (craftster)

This 1950's dress made out of plastic grocery bags might look good with those boots above. Cathy Kasdan created this knit outfit for her thesis project at Kent State University's Textile Department. Cathy says: "The dress is all hand knit from grocery bags that were the result of actual trips to the grocery store. As soon as I told people I could use their old bags for a project they brought them in by the bag full, I received thousands! The plastic grocery bag came about in the 1950's along with futuristic optimisim about America, so I made a "typical" 1950's ensemble complete with pillbox hat and purse, not pictured." Craft)

How festive is this crocheted plastic bag stocking! Add this to our list of ways to be green this holiday season. Recyclecindy says: "People have been asking for a Christmas stocking pattern to crochet using recycled plastic bags for the last several Christmas seasons. So I finally tackled the project and finished up the eco-friendly stocking as shown in the picture." (myrecycledbags)

Fast forward a few months and this coil basket would make an ideal item for collecting Easter eggs. Lucky Ladybird describes her first weaving experience with plastic bags: "With no prior weaving experience I got some inspiration from fellow blogger Michelle of Conserve Plastic Bags. In one of her posts she suggested coiling the plastic bags and provided a link to nativetech.org, a fantastic website with detailed instructions on Native American weaving techniques. This is how I transferred those techniques for use with plastic bags." (luckyladybird)

What do you use your old plastic bags for?

via TreeHugger