The Ultimate Christmas Recycling Craft

Steve thinks I have a problem. Specifically, he thinks that I "hoard trash." Clearly, he doesn't understand how important it is for a kids' craft blogger to have a large stash of cardboard tubes, corks, plastic lids, and empty Tic-Tac containers available for craft emergencies. Obviously, I don't have a problem. I have a perfectly normal collection of valuable crafting materials.

Yet, for someone who accuses me of "hoarding trash," Steve is my biggest enabler. He changed a burned-out light bulb the other day and asked me if I wanted it. Of course I did. Because otherwise, I couldn't have made this:

I'm assuming you spotted the light bulb right away, but can you find any other "trash" in there? Look closely! Did you spot an empty spool? A plastic lid? A Tic-Tac container? I used all of those and more in this project that I'm calling The Ultimate Christmas Recycling Craft. "Hoarding trash." To that I say, "Hogwash!" And anyway, I'm USING the trash important craft stash, not hoarding it.

To make my creation, I painted the light bulb with Classic Green Folk Art acrylic paint (affiliate link here and elsewhere). It took two coats to get good coverage. I added a coat of brown to the empty spool. When those were dry, I added self-adhesive enamel dots to the tree and glued a craft foam star in place. Then I attached the spool to the light bulb using Supertite. I'm a relatively new convert to Supertite. It has the holding power of hot glue, but is repositionable for much longer than hot glue and obviously doesn't have a cord or heating time. I always get it on my fingers though, so I probably should be using my Hot Glue Finger Caps with it, now that I think about it.... 

Anyway, here's a look at my workspace midway through the project. As you can see, my next step is gluing a scrap of felt to a plastic lid. It BARELY fit, but the whole point of my project was to use up stuff, not cut a new piece. 

Once I had my tree skirt, I glued the tree in place. I decorated the presents by wrapping ribbon scraps around them. Finally, I glued them under the tree. 

Clearly, I use recyclable materials cleverly, not "hoard trash." I challenge each of you to make your own version of The Ultimate Christmas Recycling Craft. It's a lot of fun!

Creativation VIP Swag Bag Challenge Hop

Welcome to the Creativation VIP Swag Bag Challenge Hop!

So what's the Creativation VIP Swag Bag Challenge Hop, you ask? Each of the VIP Creators who attended the Creativation show received a huge bag of products donated by 26 of the exhibiting manufacturers. Each of us is using the same products from eight of those manufacturers to make something original. You can hop from designer to designer to see which direction each of us went with the same materials. As you do, leave comments on each video or blog post as you hop, because the sponsors are giving away 7 *fabulous* prizes! The more places you comment, the better your chances of winning!

These are the eight items we used (affiliate links here and throughout the post): Hero Arts stamp set, Sakura pen, Westcott scissors, Supertite adhesive, Izink Diamond Paint, The Crafter's Workshop Medium, Joggles Art Parts and Charms, and a Paper Rose die. In most cases, we received more than one color, style, product etc. from each manufacturer, so you might see some variety in what we used.

While I use some of these items semi-regularly in my crafting, I can count on one hand (one finger?) the number of times I've used metal dies and texture pastes. And metal body parts are definitely not one of my frequently used supplies! Ah, but what fun is a challenge if it isn't challenging, right? Right!

Ready to see what I made?

I let the dresses, metal arms, and a sentiment from the stamp set guide the direction my project took. Here I played with the placement of the two girls on the die cut, which I cut from a pale grey cardstock. 

Once I had the basic concept in place, it was time to prepare the components. I spread the modeling paste onto a square board, using a palette tool. When I got it just the way I wanted it, I pressed the die cut shape into it, then lightly covered it here and there with the modeling paste. 

Before I put away the paste, I put the thinnest coat possible on the two metal arms. I wanted to paint them skin tone and was hoping the paste would both smooth out the metal and allow acrylic paint to adhere to it. Success on both counts! While I had the skin tone paints out, I painted the heads to match the arms. 

I used the Izink Diamond to color one dress green...

... then used Izink's spray ink to color another dress blue. I punched a heart from the grey cardstock scraps and colored it with Izink pigment ink. When the inks were dry, I added Stickles on top of the blue dress and the heart. I matted the stamped sentiment with another piece of the same grey cardstock and added silver Stickles to that. When it was dry, I matted it again with a piece of grey cardstock that I colored with the Sakura pen. I outlined the die with the pen as well, then colored the edges of the board before adding black Stickles on top. 

Time for the hair. I have this cool twisty DMC floss that I used to make the girls' hair. For the blond, I wrapped the floss around three of my fingers, then cut it along the outsides of each finger. I put glue on the head and wrapped the floss up and over so it hung down the back. 

For the brunette, I unraveled the floss first to give her curls. I wrapped the floss around two fingers and then cut it and glued it in place. 

I attached the heads to the dresses, then glued everything to the base.

Here's another look at my finished piece:

So, about those prizes...

We are giving away 2 Supertite Glue packages, a Hero Arts $25 Gift Card, three Joggles $25 Gift Cards, and A Vintage Girl $25 Gift Card! Comment below by March 8th for a chance to win. We'll be announcing the winners on March 12. We recommend subscribing so that you'll know if you win.

Now hop along to the next VIP Creator, Ann Strecko Koeman!