recycled plastic bag wreath

Nothing fancy here.  We shop for groceries at a store that uses plain brown plastic bags.  Sometimes I'm lazy and ask for those instead of paper.  (They're easier to carry the 100 feet or so from the car to the house.)  I've been donating them to thrift shops instead of throwing them away. (See?  I can be responsible every now and then!)  BUT...

Isn't this a much better use for them?!

This would work for Fall - add leaves, twigs, whatever floats your boat.

Or Winter - add twigs and pine cones with a little white paint to look like snow.  Maybe some red berries...

I'm on a roll!  Since there is that craft fair to do in a month, perhaps I'll save a few more bags and make another one.  They're easy, if  time-consuming.  Make one while you're watching The Sound of Music.  (or Downtown Abbey, or whatever...)


Here are a few instructions:



First find a metal coat hanger - the flimsier the better.  Then make it round.  A pair of flat-nosed pliers work well for getting the ends straight.  (Please excuse the fuzzy picture.  It's kinda hard to take a picture with one hand, and work with the other...)

 

 (New instructions:)  To allow the wreath to sit flat against the door or wall, place the circle against the side of a table at the beginning of the hook neck.  Bend it so the neck and circle are at right angles.  Then do the same just above the twisted part, making the hook parallel with the circle. 

Next, flatten out the bag and cut off the seam at the bottom and the handles.  Cut off the writing.  Save the handles that don't have writing on them.   (I don't know why some of these pictures are sideways.  Just cock your head to the left, or use your imagination...)

 

Fold in half  lengthwise and cut along the fold on both pieces. 

 Fold in half lengthwise again (this will be a different 'lengthwise' now.) 

I guess I could have said fold in quarters and cut all the folds.  That would work, too.  Just so you have pieces about this size.

(I made a second, smaller size by folding the long narrow pieces into 3 sections in this step.  Gives the wreath a bit of dimension.)

 Scrunch 2 pieces in the middle thusly.

Tie on the hanger and fluff out the ends.  (In the picture, only one end is fluffed.)  Tie all the pieces from the same direction to keep things neat.
If you chose to make different sized pieces, alternate them along with the handle pieces: long, short, long, handle, long, etc, etc, etc.

Your job is now to decide on decorations.  Have fun!  If you make one, please post a picture to share!

This is one made from fold-top sandwich baggies.  Cut the sides of the fold, so that both top pieces are flush, and not folded over.

UPDATE:  As I was surfing pictures of plastic bag wreaths, I came across this at Crafts n Coffee

Go ahead... make my day!  Tell me where you found the link for this post.  And are there any changes I should make to the directions to make it more clear?  Because I know what I'm doing, but you may not...  

Rambling for the day

Have you had one of those days lately?  You know, where there isn't anything wrong, but things are just -blah?  Yeah, I've been having them a lot lately.  Today is no exception.  It might help if I got up from this computer. lol

Sunday was a productive day.  PR and I went to church, expecting to be numbers two and three of the congregation.  Four, five, six and seven arrived to convince the visiting preacher that we really don't mind listening to him preach when our pastor is out of town.  Then we went to went to Lowes and acquired some stuff we needed to work on the trailer.  And worked on the trailer.  (That's a never-ending task.)  The evening was topped off by PR working on his cross-stitching and me making a baggie wreat - well, the baggie part; the decoration remains to be done.  This is last year's project.  (Naturally Me Creations has the tutorial that I used as a springboard for the one I made last year, and am working on as we speak.)

All that crafting was to the accompaniment of The Sound of Music.  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've watched it!  Pretty good movie, if ya ask me.

Monday - well this is what I looked like for a few minutes.

Under the trailer there was a patched hole in the underbelly cover.  It needed some spray foam to seal out the wind.  And my head/eyes needed protection.  Those large plain food storage bags just fit over my head.  Of course, one must be careful about getting it over the nose.

This is what I looked like last winter while fixing that hole.  Monday was a bit less dramatic.  No orange hat or Carharts.

After that I called a back friend who was returning my call...  I had to ask her something.  Well, after asking her how she has been.  Have you ever dropped something on your big toe?  And then everything in the universe seems to be strangely attracted to that exact spot on your toe?  Seems like my friend was having that kind of a day.  After a weekend of migraines.  So, I couldn't complain too much about the foam that got smeared around on my wrists.  At least the foam doesn't hurt.  Peeling it off for days is much less painful than a big toe that hurts every time you bend your foot to walk.

The reason I called was to get her opinion on an alternative medicine practice.  Her opinion was the same as my original reaction.  The reason I wanted her opinion is that it's really easy to justify something, and even say God confirmed it, if it's something you might want to do.  But her instant 'Oh, be careful about that!' was enough to convince me my initial reaction - the same as hers - was right.  Sometimes it's a good thing to get a second opinion, ya know?  And do ask someone you know will tell you like it is, not simply agree with you.  I'm glad God puts those people in my life. 

And today, it's 4 pm, I'm still sitting in front of the computer, havent' taken my happy pills, nor eaten anything.  Oh yeah... eating.  That reminds me... what shall I fix for supper tonight?  I saw a recipe for crockpot stroganoff - but no time for that.  Maybe I'll just thaw out the tube of organic ground beef, make up some stroganoff from that and the remaining sour cream, and put it over speghetti squash (the heat from the oven will feel very nice, I must say.)

For finding a place to live (that's a story I should tell on here), a place to get away from it all (that's a story, as well and actually, that's a better description of the place we live), for craft projects and good movies, and for friends who tell me what I need to hear, it's so much fun Watchin' God!

Have a won'erful October day!