Upcycled Waste Stream Wreath

[allyourown]

What I love about the holidays: the cool crisp weather, steaming hot cocoa, cranberry sauce, the desserts, and decorating! What I don't like so much is all the waste that follows the holiday season!

As much as I tell a cashier, "no bag, thanks" somehow I still seem to have accrued more plastic and paper bags than I am happy with. So when I was thinking about this challenge, I wanted to try and make something beautiful from these not so pretty things and give in to my wreath making kick too.

And voila, this Upcycled Waste Stream Wreath:

What I like the most about this wreath is that is has an earthy feel, reminiscent of acorns and snow, while being made of garbage! What do you like about it?

Ingredients:

• Embroidery Hoop
• Brown Paper Bags
• Buttons from an old shirt
• Plastic Bags

Tools:

• Mommy and Me Template
• Scissors
• Glue Gun
• Needle and Thread

Process:

• I cut 9 plastic bags to make 1" wide "plarn" (plastic yarn).
• I tied them all together and started to braid, each strand being 3 stands thick.
• I wrapped the braided plarn around the embroidery hoop and finished it with a loop, in order to hang the wreath.
• With the leftover plarn strips, I sewed rosettes of varying sizes.
• I cut out the flowers from the brown paper bags using the Mommy and Me template.
• They were assembled by sewing the button in the center.
• I then assembled the rossettes and flowers to my taste and then hot glued them in place.
• Finally, hang and enjoy!

[Brookie5686]

I love this and that fact that it's made from 'garbage' makes it all the more lovely!

[KLKing]

my Mom was impressed! She was skeptical when I said "Look what someone made out of trash!" All she could say was "Wow!, That's cleaver"! I think she really liked it. (She was at one time a florist by trade)
And so do I! I'm having sudden guilt pangs of all the stuff I throw away.

[Knickertwist]

So very, very pretty! Well done

[sweets4ever]

Wowwww!  What do I like about it?  EVERYTHING!

Wow, just wow.

[glasstapper]

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Amazing. What more can I say? "This rocks"

[littlebluegirl]

Beautiful.  I love the muted colour scheme, it makes it look very classy and something you could pay big bucks for in a shop. 

[smallsith]

what a wonderful way to use the things that i too feel guilty collecting!

[alwaysinmyroom]

At first I had no idea what I was looking at--paper? leather?

TRASH!???

Absolutely beautiful and so well done...very impressive that you recycled so much...love it!

[SoCraftyTal]

I like the composition of this wreath. It's minimal and unique, which I love! You used the Mommy and Me template from Paper + Craft in a creative way and your materials really take this project to another level. Nicely done!