Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Flowers Mobile From Plastic Bottles

I finished my spring flowers mobile quite some time ago, but things have been so hectic nowadays that I didn’t get time to post it till now.
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Can you guess what these flowers are made of?? (Of course you can – that’s plain evident) These were made of plastic bottles!
Recycling is the new buzz around the Blogland, and I’m into it as well. So this time it was plastic bottles – did you know that only 20% of the overall plastic bottles are recycled ever?
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That seemed just so awful, and I decided my next project would be from plastic bottles- everyone has so many of them around! So here’s the final product: Spring Flowers Mobile!
I’ll be honest – the flower making takes some time and lots of patience. But I guess all of us ought to recycle things in our own style. If you decide to make this, then you will need:
Plastic bottles –lots and lots (I used about 20)
An old butter or normal knife 
Strong scissors with teeth or Exacto knife
Acrylic Paints
Fishing line thread
Embroidery or metal hoop
Satin Ribbon
Lets get started! In order to cut flower shapes we need to poke a hole at the bottom of the neck of bottle. Some choose to drill a hole, but I hate heavy machinery, so I found an old blunt buttering knife which I put onto the stove flame for around 30 seconds, and poked into the desired place on the bottle..it does melt a hole as if plastic is merely butter!
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Easy Peasy! Now draw some flower petals around the bottle’s mouth and cut them by inserting your strong teethed scissors through the hole you just poked. This does take some effort in the starting stage, but slowly you get the hang of it. Don’t these flowers look very cute?a3
I also used the flower shaped base of the bottles by cutting around the shape. The middle part of the bottle looked like it could be used as well so I drew some flower shape on the middle part of the bottle as well and cut it.a4
Now for the fun part. Paint the flowers in your favorite colors..I guess its not difficult to guess which is mine!             a5
Right, I love blue! Now pile the flowers over each other the way you want them to hang from the mobile:                     a6
Now take a strong needle and thread it with some fishing line. Poke a hole through the piled flowers like this:          a9
Decide the length of the flowers to hang from the mobile and knot the ends accordingly.  Repeat the same for all the flowers.
Now take one flower pile at a time and knot the upper end of the fishing line onto the embroidery or metal hoop.  After you finish knotting all the flower threads, take a longish piece of satin ribbon, glue an end to the hoop and begin rolling it around the hoop. for more precise instructions regarding the making of a mobile, go here.
Now cut four equal lengths of ribbon and insert them into four opposite corners of the hoop so that they hold the hoop securely. Tie a knot and hang your mobile from a hook.  a8
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There, isn’t it pretty! Some might not find it that pleasant, but I’m mighty proud of my recycling skills!

I'm going to join fab parties this time, but sorry that I can't include all the party buttons as it makes the posts look very cluttered. I'll just be including the link to the party now on..hope that's okay with the party organizers!!


DIY Day @ ASPTL
Whatever Goes Wednesday @Someday Crafts
Make it Yours Day @My Backyard Eden
Penny Pinching Party @The Thrifty Home
Craft Schooling Sunday @Creative Jewish Mom
Show off your Stuff Party @Fireflies and Jellybeans
Get your Craft On Thursday @Life As Lori
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @Somewhat Simple
Great Idea Day @Infarrantly Creative
Craft Concotions Friday @That's So Cuegly
Creative Cats @Poppies At Play
Weekend Wrap Up Party @Tattertots And Jello

24 comments:

Lafe's Hidden Treasures said...

OMG this is just stunning! I may have to try this! Thanks for the tute! Have a great Tuesday! http://lafeshiddentreasures.blogspot.com/

avisiontoremember said...

That is super cute :) I would love for you to come and link up to check me out saturdays at www.iamonly1woman.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks soooo much for linking to this on craft schooling Sunday! I'm in the middle of saving bottles myself, so it's great to see someone elses' take on this project! Please visit the party again this week, would love to see you, and am so happy to have connected with another creative soul! all the best, Sara

Laurie in SC said...

I LOVE your mobile and I love that you recycled. I like making art from "trash" as well. I'm going to try something like this soon. I'd love for you to come check out my blog at

sceneofthegrime.blogspot.com

and let me know what you think of my projects!

Melissa said...

I think that it is super-cute - hmmmm need more time in my day to fit this in!! :)

{oc cottage} said...

How fun!

m ^..^

Ale said...

I don't believe it!! It's so gorgeous!!

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

I love those flowers! I would have never known they were plastic bottles! I love it! : )

Unknown said...

That is so pretty!!! I am so impressed with your patience. I would of ditched this project and let the recycle man take it out!! Great job!

I wanted to invite you to my first blog party on March 20th. I am hosting a "Gifts from the Heart Challenge" Where you show off your homemade gifts you have given people. You are so talented I know you have shared your talent with them Hope to see you there!

concretenprimroses said...

Its delightful. I actually cut a flower shape out of a plastic bottle last week and then thought "now what do I do with this?" Its been sitting on my desk. Now I know what to do!
Kathy

Jess said...

Wow that is cool. I love that you make crafts out of recycled items. Come stop by my Favorite Things Friday Party if you would like to join in!

Carolyn @ My Backyard Eden said...

Hi Sonia! Once they're painted, they're just beautiful! Was it very time consuming?

Thanks for linking up to Make it Yours Day at My Backyard Eden!

Angie - treasuresfortots@gmail.com said...

So cool! Love it! Come link at my party: Thursday's Treasures!!
http://treasuresfortots.blogspot.com/2010/03/thursdays-treasures-week-14.html

Lori said...

What a great idea! I love all the colors!!!
Beautiful!

Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life as Lori. Please join me next week for another great party!

Lori said...

Oh I'm following you now!

Kelli W said...

Your flowers turned out so cute! And what a great idea to make a mobile with them!

Infarrantly Creative said...

Those are really pretty. What a great use of those bottles. I would actually have to work hard to find those though since we don't drink bottled water. But we have enough friends that do. Thanks for the idea and linking up.

Andy Porter said...

Cool! I would never have guessed those were plastic bottles!

Amanda said...

Oh this i so cool! I love it!

Doreen said...

Hello Sonia, I'm so glad I stumbled onto your blog via my favourite craft site where Sherron put a link... http://www.voy.com/100606/125923.html
I love recycling so I was quite hooked reading about the plastic flowers and I have also started browsing a little through you blog and loved what I saw. Your creativity inspires me : )
I'll be back!

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

What a great "Green" project! Thanks for linking up!!

Amazing Flower said...

wow, you're so creative and also been nice for recycling plastic bottle into such an adorable creativity. fav!

Love from Singapore Florist :)

Unknown said...

hi. thanks for sharing such an interesting post.

Recycling Plastic Containers

Unknown said...

We often dispose plastic to trash which goes to landfills and never been recycled, instead reuse and recycle plastic, glass or cans. Save environment.
Recycling Plastic Containers

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