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Sunday, April 21, 2019

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--EARTH DAY REPURPOSING

Happy Earth Day!

Authors are often told to “write what you know.” Lois Winston, she who writes about me, did just that when she created me. Lois worked for many years as a designer and editor in the crafts industry, working for craft book publishers, craft kit manufacturers, and both craft and women’s magazines. Sound familiar?

At one point Lois worked as the editorial director and head designer for a company that produced craft kits and leaflets. One of the leaflets she designed was for crafts with an ecology theme. So today, in honor of Earth Day, we thought we’d show that leaflet and feature one of the crafts from it.

So much of our food these days comes in plastic containers. For years we’ve recycled tons of plastic, much of which is shipped to China for repurposing into new plastic items. However, China now has more plastic than they can handle, and has decided they will no longer accept many forms of plastic. Communities across the U.S. are either halting their plastics recycling programs or limiting them only to #1 and #2 plastics.

Rather than adding these plastics that are no longer recyclable to our landfills, why not repurpose them into decorative containers for gardening and storage?

Decorated Plastic Containers

Materials:
Assorted plastic containers in various shapes and sizes
Assorted scraps of fabrics
Assorted yarns
Scissors
Pinking shears (optional)
decoupage
brushes
sealer (matte, satin, or glossy finish)

1. Cut fabric into desired shapes. You can use pinking shears to cut out squares and rectangles of patterned fabrics or use scissors to cut out objects, such as flowers, from print fabrics.

2. Using decoupage and following the manufacturer’s directions, adhere fabric to plastic container, overlapping fabric as desired.

3. When decoupage is dry, apply two coats of sealer, allowing sealer to dry between coats.

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