Mrs. Olafsen and her dog, Hercules (he made it from from  the McDonald’s Happy Meal milk bottle and a light bulb-pictured at the link.)

A big welcome to Jeanne from WildWoods Art who brings us a lovely tutorial on making a recycled wreath for Halloween! Jeanne is a big Halloween inspiration!

Who doesn’t like to hang a pretty wreath on their door or fence in celebration of a Holiday or Season?  We’ll make such a wreath and it will even be out of recycled plastic bags!

Hi! I’m Jeanne Gripp of WildWoods Art. I am a self-taught Folk Artist who delights in making items of whimsy. I try to incorporate cast off items in as many of my creations as possible.
This wreath is made from a metal coat hanger and plastic bags. I used the plastic sleeves that a newspaper would come in to protect it from the weather. Regular (clean) plastic trash bags or shopping bags can also be used.

Supplies needed:
metal coat hanger
pliers
scissors
plastic bags – I used orange and black for Halloween

Step 1. Bend coat hanger to form a circle. Use the pliers to help form the curves. Using the pliers, bend the hook of the coat hanger to form a closed circle. This will be the loop from which the wreath will hang.

Step 2. Cut plastic sleeves or plastic bags into 2 1/2″ x 5 1/2″  strips. Because a wreath always looks best when very full, A LOT of strips will be needed !

Step 3. Tie plastic strips onto wire form. Over and over again! I make my wreaths while watching TV – it’s a very mindless activity. (Both watching TV and tying on the strips!) I like to use a double strip when tying onto the form. Push the strips together as they are tied on and alternate the ends. This will add to the wreath’s fullness. Do not pull the strips too snug or you might stretch out the plastic and cause it to snap.

Step 4. When the wreath is full, a bow will need to be made. Cut a 8″ wide strip of plastic approx. 54″ long. Double over the strip so it is 4″ wide. Doubling over the strip will  help your bow to ‘stand out’ and not flop over. Take this strip and tie a large bow around the ‘neck’ of the wreath (just below the loop you made for hanging).

VOILA` ! You now have an all-weather wreath. The color of plastic used for the wreath can be changed to suit the Holiday – green wreath with red bow for Christmas or even pastel colors for Spring or Easter.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this! Stay tuned for more Halloween fun, all month long: Halloween at Dabbled

How to make a cute little elephant purse by recycling old sweaters.. I did this as a Christmas gift last year. It’s simple to make, cheap, and was much loved by the recipients. This is my own design, and I encourage you to try it yourself and add your own spin!

Related posts:
Another version of the Ele-purse. (This one is sturdier and more colorful).
See all recycled sweater projects here.
A reader does her own take on the elepurse – Nifty!
July 08 – The Baby Elepurse

The Process:

In case anyone wants to try it, here’s how i did it. And please do, just give me credit ;). I’m sure someone with more skill could do a much better job, and this is a very creative project, in that you could vary the materials, face, or construction and come up with a very different outcome. Be warned, this was a no-pattern trial and error experiment, so the directions may not be the best I’ve ever written. If I do it again, and anyone is interested, I might make a pattern.

I picked a sweater from the ones I had bought. This one was a light green lambswool, either a ladies or girls size.
The original idea was a backpack, but I didn’t know how long to make the straps, so I decided to go with a bag instead.

The Sweater collection:

the “body”
I started by cutting a square out of the bottom, leaving one side seam intact. I reversed it, and sewed it into a pouch (if i’d done the backpack idea, this would have also been when i added the straps in). The bottom finished edge of the sweater serves as the open top. The size could vary dependant on the size of the sweater (and the desired end result), but i made the pouch just slightly wider than the top of the sleeve of the sweater. Stitch a ribbon or whatever you want to use as a handle on either side of the pouch. If I’d been feeling ambitious i might have tried making the strap out of the sweater material, but I wasn’t.

the trunk/head
I cut the sleeve off straight at the shoulder. Since this sweater had 3/4 length sleeves, I used the whole thing, but basically, you need it to be a few inches short of the length of the pouch. Turn the sleeve wrong side out, and center the seam in the back. Now to make the trunk skinnier: About half way down the length of the sleeve, mark with pins. Come in about 3/4 in (depending on the size of your sleeve) on either side of the finished sleeve end, and mark with pins. You want a couple of inches between the pins. Then one each side, sew diagonally from the end pin to the middle pin. Turn rightside out and see if it looks vaguely elephant head like!

Turn the pouch so that the front is showing. Turn the trunk so the back is showing, trunk pointing up.
Slide the top of the sleeve into the pouch about 1/2 in and sew in place to the back of the pouch. The head and trunk should form the flap of the purse now.

the face
I just guessed on the ears. Trial and error gave me a 45 degree triangle, with one side rounded off, and folded a bit to make them stand up. Hard to explain in writing :). I just tacked them on the sides of the head, and covered with buttons. Then added buttons for eyes, and that was about it! More embellishment might be fun too.

Finished project, and other versions: