Plastic Water Bottle Flowers

 This is the project I have been working on for a while. I have seen other plastic water bottle flowers out there, but they were pretty basic. I wanted something unique, so these are my original creation. I am still "tweaking" them a bit and trying to find the best use for them. I have been blessed with donations of water bottles from family members, so I have many more to make. I did use these on my Halloween Trash Bag wreath, although they were hard to see.

 I think they would look nice in a flower arrangement, centerpiece, in a frame etc. I will keep you posted.


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Have a wonderful Halloween!!

Recycled Shampoo Bottle Friends

Don't know what to call these but they are fun conversational pieces anyway. My 3 year old likes to play with them in the pool and the tub (watch the edges) and my teenagers like to torture them with various piercings. Either way I saw life in them and just couldn't pitch them in the trash.

It was too cold to go in after them today here in AZ so we will have to wait for them to float to the side. I am sure they will enjoy their midnight stroll on the "barge". Just hope I get to them before the dog does.

Lessons Learned

The past week the girls and I much anticipated the weekend. We planned on making a Capri Sun tote bag and maybe even a wallet. We looked and surfed around and tried to find some ideas. Well, Saturday came and NEVER ended. I was up until 3 a.m. trying to finish this darn thing. My daughter wanted to bring it to school Monday morning to carry the treats she is bringing for the class Halloween party. No pressure.

Here is what I learned:

• My 1992 Sewing machine needs a tune-up...even more so now!!
• Regular weight thread and needles don't work for this project.
• You can only use the seam ripper so many times on Capri Sun pouches ....errrr
• Sewing the handles on before the trim might be better idea
• Leave one side panel un-sewn...is that a word?? lol..., sew on the bottom panel then the other side panel...I had to take my side panel completely apart.
• Use a bit of bleach water in the pouches, rinsing them with water and waiting for them to dry just doesn't cut it.
• The old cut up jeans I used for trim were cute but bias tape or wide ribbon would have worked just as well.

Anyway, I will make a few more of these....once my sewing machine is working again. I think they will be nice gifts to give for teachers, my fellow nurse friends, the girly cousins in our family and who knows who else. I will try and  do a tutorial on the next round.

Have a great week!

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Sheep and a Smile

This was such a fun project. I was surfing around and found an awesome family site called http://www.looledo.com/ I am amazed at the projects this man has created. Plus, he has a tutorial for each one.

They are all right up our alley, since we love recycled crafts...mainly because they are very very inexpensive. (Usually) 

We made one small one and one large one. I have to say that we tried to spray paint the straws so the legs were black, but it was a big mess and we were a bit impatient. We caved and used the unpainted straws instead. My husband suggested placing the straws on a long nail hammered up right into a board prior to painting them. He is so smart. 

These sheep have endless possibilities. You could add a ribbon, a bell, even color the cotton balls.



"Mommy, can I keep them?"

I hope you enjoy trying this craft and please visit "The Professor" at www.looledo.com

Also, check out our other links, tutorials and linky parties and please leave a comment if you stop by. I think I am finally getting the hang of some of this blogging stuff. : )





Pizza Box Chalkboard

Well, we had pizza again. You know what that means: Cardboard Crafting Time. First it was our ghostly trio, now this.

I didn't have to buy anything , we just used the supplies we had on hand. It was a fun Saturday project. I love Pink and Black together and with two teenage girls in the house, this has quickly became a coveted piece. It was fairly simple. Click HERE for our tutorial.

We used our Shopping Bag Flowers for this project.

Just for fun I took this picture below when I visited my son Brock at Fort Jackson South Carolina a few months ago. I have been dreaming ever since. Okay...maybe it is a bit extreme...but I LOVE IT!!

I am still learning, but very much enjoying blogging and sharing with everyone. Hope to hear from you out there and share share share! Have a great weekend!

Trash Bags, Flowers and a Hanger, Oh My!!

Trashy Halloween Wreath 2011

So, as I look around the house, this is what I have. Hangers, black trash and shopping bags, and our unpainted  flowers that we have been working on for awhile. If I paint the flowers orange, I can make this work.

Here is what I ended up with for my first attempt. I like it, but I am thinking once I can get out to the store, I might buy some ribbon and add a few bows. I am told that I am supposed to post this as a tutorial...lol...here goes.

Click Here for the TUTORIAL

Happy Halloween

Recycled Shopping Bag Flowers

I saw a tutorial to make poms on Martha Stewart and thought I would alter it a bit with what I had on hand. I did try the tissue paper at first, but it ripped easily and could have quickly got expensive. So, as I looked around I saw an endless supply of plastic shopping bags waiting patiently for the garage sale I will probably never have and thought I would try it out. This is what we ended up with. I love them and now we are looking for shopping bags, especially colorful ones, everywhere we go. As we work with them some more I am sure we will find an even better method. Let me know what you think.
**UPDATE**Click here for the tutorial.

My 3 year old brought me home a lonely bouquet of fake roses from the dollar store after a trip to Grandmas house. So, I added the target flower, some Diet Coke Aluminum can frills, and my daughter added in the plastic water bottle flare.

Here is another we created. We had an old peanut butter jar sitting around and stuffed the flower in there. I added a straw to make a stem. I should have added something in the taller vase for the pic, but you get the idea. : )

Here is another variation. I made a pineapple cream cheese carrot cake for a party on Sunday and added in some yellow shopping bag flowers.

 Another variation with blue tissue paper and brown shopping bags. More on the tray later. : )