02/01/2012 - CD Cover Wallet

February is here and I have one month down of my New Year's Resolution! Hooray! This is a project I have been meaning to do for a long time. CD covers have the coolest artwork and when we consolidated our CD collection a few years back I save all the covers and neat artwork and gave away the cases (but now regret that :). I tried experimenting with fusing newspaper bags in the past, but would give up before I let the plastic get hot enough to melt. I had seen an awesome pattern for a fused newspaper bag messenger bag in the, sadly now defunct, Ready Made book which made me want to experiment with it. I am happy this finally worked and this process is pretty much like a homemade laminating machine, so if you want something laminated, this is an easy at home way to do it.

Reclaimed Material: old CD Cover, newspaper bags
Other/New Material: bias tape
Tools: scissors, iron, ironing board, sewing machine, thread, measuring tape, scrap cloth

How I did it: I sandwiched the CD cover inside the newspaper bag and then covered both sides with the cloth and used the iron to melt the plastic. I melted three layers on both sides of the cover, then repeated these steps on two more sheets that were included with the CD. I cut the outside of the wallet to 8.5"x3.5", then cut the next sheet to 3" and the last sheet to 2.5" using the same width of 8.5". I sewed the bias tape along the top edges of each of the these sheets, then stitched a little center left on the two shorter sheets to make little pockets. I made sure the pieces were flush along the bottom then wrapped the bias tape around the three remaining edges. I folded the piece in half and ended up with a rockin' wallet.


What I would do differently: Next time I will use parchment paper to melt the plastic bags to the paper. Also, I am going to use a thinner bias tape.

01/25/2012 - Plastic Lid Quote Magnet

This wasn't as ambitious as the previous project, but was still fun. I was originally going to make a photo frame, but changed my mind when I saw this neat picture in an old newspaper and the car reminds me of my new home, Oregon. This is an easy craft for everyone. 

Recycled Material: plastic lid, newspaper, cardboard
Other Material: clear nail polish, magnet
Tools: X-acto knife, glue, Sharpie marker, paint pens

How I did it: I used a lid from an empty raisin container and cut out the inside, leaving about a 1/8" border from the rim. I then cut the cardboard and newspaper to fit tightly inside the lid and glued the paper to the cardboard. I used the paint pens and Sharpie to add small touches of color to the picture then popped it into the back of the lid. There is probably a better way to do this, but I squeezed some good ol' Elmer's glue along the edges between the cardboard and plastic to hold it in place and wiped off the excess. I cut a magnet sheet to fit and glued it onto the back of the cardboard and let it dry. The picture was still missing something so I painted it with clear nail polish. I liked the effect because it pulled the newspaper print from the back side and gave the car a little more personality.
 
What I would do differently: I cut the plastic by hand, but next time I will use a straight edge to get a nice cut.

01/22/2012 - Plastic Boa - oooh la la

Let's play dress up! I made this fun boa for my daughter who likes to dress up from being a princess to being an explorer. This is a surprisingly easy project that just about any age can do...you just need lots and lots of newspaper bags (thanks Mama Jan for saving them for me!). At the office building I worked at in Illinois, my coworkers and I used to grab all the bags (we didn't take their newspapers) from the other office suites on our way in everyday, so we amassed quite a collection. This doesn't have to be just for kids to use...this could be fun if you are trying to save money at a bachelorette party.

Recycled Material: plastic newspaper bags
Other Material: none
Tools: scissors 

How I did it: The first thing I did was take two of the plastic newspaper bags and cut them lengthwise so when I laid it out, the length doubled. There were seams on both sides that I used as a cutting guide. I bunched both pieces together lengthwise and tied them together to use as the base, leaving about 2" hanging off the knot and made the length about 4'. At first I started tying whole bags onto the base, but realized I would run out before I covered the entire base, so I folded the bags in half lengthwise and cut them in half. I then folded the smaller piece in half and tied it once around the base. I continued this until I covered most of the base leaving about 3" or 4" on both ends. I knotted the ends about 3 times in the same place to keep the smaller bags from sliding off and made sure that the knots of the smaller bags at the ends were really tight. I used the scissors to trim the bags down so they were all even and also to cut down the bag bottoms that were still intact. Once I trimmed the pieces down, I fluffed up the pieces and had a fun, flirty boa. I stashed the trimmings to use for a plastic fuse project later on down the road.


What I would do differently: This is a pretty easy project, so there isn't much that I would have done differently, other than paying attention to the order of colored bags. One side has more color than the other, but this is what happens when I am on a roll. This could be done using grocery bags or any other thin plastic bag, but would require a lot more cutting. This project is actually quite fool proof and easy to change anything you don't like. Once I get more bags, I am going to make a matching tutu.