Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Recycling The Plastic Container

The final product!
This craft is so easy a caveman could do it! Where have I heard that before.....?


I've been saving large plastic containers that previously held pretzel sticks, nuts and animal crackers. These are nice sized covered jars and it seems a shame to just toss them away. I saw something in a home craft magazine that was a variation of this using glass canning jars which have a two part lid. In that craft, the jars were used to hold a home sewing kit and the lid was covered in much the same way as I will explain below but padded so that the lid did double duty as a pin cushion. Pretty clever!


Start with a container like this.
I didn't have any canning jars available so I'm using the aforementioned plastic containers. 


Supplies: 

  • Any plastic container with a screw-on lid
  • 10" fabric square (approximately, for one jar lid)
  • Tacky glue sold in craft stores
  • 1/2 yard of ribbon for sides and bow (measure width to size of jar lid)
  • Other decorations are optional



Directions:

  • Remove the lid and on the reverse side of a small piece of fabric, trace a circle using the lid as a template. Cut fabric 1/4 inch larger and make slit marks from the cut edge to the pencil line all the way around about every 1/2 inch.
  • Using tacky craft glue, apply a thick line of glue all the way around.
  • Position the fabric over the plastic lid and  press slit sides to the plastic lid. (This will take a few minutes, keep working the fabric glue and re-stick if it still pops up) Note: the glue will dry clear so don't worry if it's a bit messy looking.
  • Cut a length of coordinating ribbon (satin o grosgrain work well) and adhere to the side of the lid. Make sure the ribbon is wide enough to cover sides.
  • When dry, make a small bow and glue that to the front of lid. Use other decorations (buttons, sequins, rhinestones) if you want to enhance further.
  • When you decide what the contents will be, make a label on your computer in similar colors for the side of the plastic jar.

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