creative jewish mom

Soda Bottle Treat Box Shaped Like An Apple!

As  you may know one of my great creative joys is coming up with fun craft projects that use recyclables. I have been know to hoard plastic bottles, tp rolls, techina containers, and milk cartons, for starters, all in the name of making just for example, treat boxes, party decorations, centerpieces and even planters. With Rosh HaShana right around the corner in another week and a half, now is a great time to think about sweet treats (healthy or not so healthy, your choice) to usher in a sweet new year! Of course, if you have a birthday, or would like to give a teacher appreciation gift, this soda bottla apple treat box is perfect and truly easy to whip up, even in numbers. Of course, you'll have to have the necessary number of plastic bottles on hand, but if you are short, pop on over, I likely have some extra! If you would like some additional ideas for making party favors, gift containers or baskets from soda bottles, hop on over to my soda bottle recycling crafts category.

Recycled Bottle Organizer With Art Scraps

Looking for a fun way to use up some painted paper scraps or unsuccessful art, and get organized? These reycled bottle organizers are just the thing. Of course you could choose to make a paper vase with your artwork, as I did for Passover, but the little scraps? Put those in a pile to make plastic bottle organizers that can also be used as little gift baskets. Whether you choose to punch holes in your bottle and thread some ribbon for a nice decorative touch, or use tape, the results are so much fun and perfect for storing art supplies, though I just realized they'd be equally great on a summer picnic or party table to hold silverware or napkins! I've used this idea over the years, and it is always wonderful. The shiny plastic makes whatever you put behind it look amazing, and so this is also a great way to display children's art, or use a child's art to make a gift for a loved one. So many ways to use this idea, so lets get started!

Woven Recycled Bottle Basket Craft

I am so excited to share with you this recycled craft that is made entirely of recycled materials, with the exception of hot glue! Let me introduce a fun craft project for all ages: woven plastic bottle baskets using plastic bags. These little baskets are perfect for Purim or any of your spring celebrations, and so much fun to make! I used 1.5 liter soda bottles as that is what we have on hand, but certainly one can make much larger baskets using much larger bottles. So gather up those plastic bags, and those recycled bottles and lets get started! Oh, and just by the way, I also made some 'grass" by cutting up plastic bags into tiny pieces!

Soda Bottle Organizers With Hand Printed Cherry Blossom Paper

Cherry blossom crafts or in our case actually Almond blossom crafts are so much fun and a perfect way to add some color to a dreary winter! With the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat (the New Year for the trees) coming up in another three or so weeks, now is the time to get crafting for the holiday, right?  And since I can always use more little containers to hold brushes and pens and other supplies while I'm in the middle of a project, I figured that these soda bottle organizers would be a perfect way to enjoy the cherry blossom paper that I stamped! Not to mention that these recycled soda bottle organizers are a great way to showcase children's art or a piece of your favorite paper, as the shinyness of the plastic bottle makes everything look great.

The Apple Gift Boxes From Recycled Soda Bottles That Didn't Quite Happen

Yes dear readers, these are not apple gift boxes from recycled soda bottles, but rather the tops for apple gift boxes from recycled soda bottles! I was laughing at myself as the holiday of Rosh HaShana was nearing, that probably no one else on the face of the earth would be trying to craft like a crazy woman, while preparing Moroccan salads and bean soups and the aforementioned chocolate bark with little fish, as well as ice cream sandwiches (all of which were to take to the homes of various neighbors with whom we spent the holiday.) Oh, and of course, the house needed lots of neatening as well.

So in the end, while i had planned on packaging that delicious chocolate bark in little apple gift boxes, I quite simply ran out of time, and instead we placed the pieces in little cardboard cupcake holders and then wrapped up a trio in cellophane tied with a cute t shirt yarn ribbon. No one guessed that they were supposed have received an apple gift box, so we certainly won't tell them!

For complete instructions on how to make these apple gift boxes, check out this post. I must say though, i much prefer the leaves and the stem here, not quite so stiff as my attempt a few years back. And with these apples i will be using hemp chord instead of ribbon, it really works with the natural look of the stem.

Now I have to decide whether to continue making these apples to use as succah decorations, or to save them for next year? Stay tuned, the crafting for succot crunch is on, and hope to share with you all the craziness, are you ready?

 

Paper Clip Mini Mobiles That Make Adorable Decorations Anytime!

When we were picking up school supplies last week I just couldn't resist these colorful paperclips as I was quite sure they could be used for something, but what other than a chain? Well, here you have it, my first paper clip craft, mini mobiles made using just paperclips and recycled plastic bottles! I know, you didn't expect this one to be a recycling craft, but yippee it truly is!

Now, these little paper clip mobiles, modeled after my idea of a cute chandelier, aren't very large, but they sure are adorable, and if you make just a few to hang over a child's desk or even over a baby's crib (way out of reach of course) the results could be just fantastic!

You'll Need:

• colored paper clips in 2 sizes (small and large)
• a recycled clear plastic bottle

How To:

I used the middle section of a recycled soda bottle, which I first pierced with a knife and then cut with scissors. One of the mobiles uses a slice of bottle that is just the height of the large paper clips, while the other one, top photo, uses a slice that is higher than the height of the paper clips.  If you choose the later you could try running a stripe of washi tape around your mobile, or even punching holes in it to hang more paper clips.

Have fun coming up with all sorts of variations, and of course one can hang little notes or drawings from them too......imagine the possibilities!

 

Passover Craft For Kids: Recycled Soda Bottle Elijah's Cup!

Here's a super simple recycling craft for Passover that I just whipped up, maybe to inspire my kids to make some more, but certainly to inspire you to do the same at your house! A recycled soda bottle and CD Eliyahu's cup decorated with washi tape (or a myriad of things that you have on hand) is a fun craft for all ages, and for the little ones, an adult can assemble the cup and then hand it over for the decorating.

Best of all, you very likely have all the supplies on hand! So make a bunch of these to add some excitement for the coming holiday, and you can even use them as little vases if you like.

You'll Need:

• a recycled soda bottle
• 3 soda bottle caps
• a CD
• washi tape
• hot glue or gorilla glue (to be used by an adult)

How To: Cut the bottom portion plus some off your bottle, make a cut with a knife and then finish cutting with sharp scissors. Decorate the CD before assembling, and one can decorate the cup as well, if desired.

Glue it all together in this order: CD, bottle cap right side down, bottle cap upside down, bottle cap right side down, bottle. You will have to use glue sparingly if you don't want it to leak out the sides, but if it does, that is okay, the main thing is to make a secure join. Decorate the cup with washi tape, and the neck as well. One can of course glue on buttons and little pom poms as well, or do tissue paper collage.

That is all for now, a huge list of things to do for Passover still awaits!

 

Recycled Soda Bottle Flowers For Shavuot!

This week at Crafting A Future, my !st and 2nd grade girls made these gorgeous recycled soda bottle flowers that sure do look like blown glass, don't they? We'll be using these flowers for a shavuot wall hanging that the girls have been working on, but I think they'd look great as is strung together with fishline or glued to a backing of some kind.

Wondering how we got such vivid colors for our recycled soda bottle flowers? Why tissue paper of course!And the other secret is to work on the inside of the flower, such that when you turn the work over the shiny plastic enhances the colors.

They really are so much fun, and so simple to make that you can whip up a bunch. Keep reading for the how-to.......

Recycled Plastic Bottle Flower Mobile Tutorial

A festive recycled plastic bottle cascading flower mobile can be yours with just some simple supplies, lots of recycled soda bottles, a bit of crafting! The flowers are quite simple to make and connecting them is even simpler. Of course if you'd like to cover a whole wall for a photo backdrop, that would be fantastic, just start saving those bottles, and work on making flowers say ten or so at a time. After the event you can make individual mobiles as souvenirs of the event or even give guests strings of flowers to take home with them!

You'll Need:

• recycled plastic soda bottles
• white glue
• tissue paper
• aluminum foil duct tape
• large plastic beads, like the kinds given to toddlers to string
• a piece of thick yarn, or cotton rope or the string of your choice
• a branch or dowel, or embroidery hoop as a base for hanging.

How To:

Make flowers according to instructions here. Cover necks of bottles with aluminum duct tape, as well as the tips of some flowers. Now for the assembly, which you'll do from the bottom up, for each string of flowers. Tie a knot in the yarn, slip on a large plastic bead and then thread the yarn through the neck of the bottle from the bottom up. Simple as that. Decide where you'd like the next flower to be, tie a knot in the yarn, and string on another bead, and then a flower.

Got it? The beads hold the flower in place. You can use something else, or even make holes in the caps from the bottles if you have the time, just the bead trick is so quick and simple, and looks good if the mobile will be viewed from underneath.

Hang strands of flowers from a painted white branch, as I did, or use a dowel or two crossed dowels or an embroidery hoop for a round as opposed to flat mobile. Here's a shot of the top of mine, hung in the succah:

I used heavy weight blue yarn as the string, because that's what I had on hand, and crafting my style is using what I have on hand! However, since you'll be making this with just a bit of forethought, I'd think white yarn or string with with a white branch might look just a bit more polished, you decide!

Enjoy!

 

Recycled Plastic Bottle Lanterns...Glossy And Gorgeous!

Recycled plastic bottle lanterns are so simple to make and the results are gorgeous. I posted this idea a few days ago, here, but I have an important revision to make, listening? The lanterns are so much more beautiful when one decoupages the tissue paper to the inside of the bottle, which is easy to do if you choose to make lanterns that are open on the top and bottom. 

Got it? And yes it's true the tissue paper colors do run when you're using glue, or decoupage medium, but that makes the whole thing look even more like glass, or translucent water color creations of some kind. 

Enjoy! And by the way, if you make recycled soda bottle flowers, then you'll have this portion of the bottle left over, so why not make some lanterns as well?