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.
