Pages

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Grocery Bag Flowers

If there’s any craft I get really excited about, it’s one that recycles every day objects into awesome, new things! Flowers from grocery bags was no exception…even though I use tote bags for much of my shopping, I still have plastic bags growing out of my ears so I was stoked to find Silly Simple Living’s plastic bag flowers thanks to Pinterest!

I added a few twists to make these flowers make-able for anyone with stuff we all have lying around including…plastic grocery bags, paper clips, scissors, and masking tape. Use different colored bags for more diversity…I even left the wording on some of them because I liked the contrast on the “petals”.

First, take your grocery bag and lay it out flat. Cut off the bottom in a straight line and spread the bag out…

P1030091P1030094

Now, take the bottom of the bag and fold it up to just under the handles. Fold the bottom up again and one more time (or as many time as you want your flower to be small)…

P1030095P1030097

Fold one side of the bag over to the other side and fold it in half once again…

P1030098P1030099

Take a small round bowl, or other circular object (I used the lid of a mason jar) and trace that circle onto your folded bag…

P1030100P1030101

Now cut that circle out through all of the layers of the bag. Don’t worry if each circle isn’t perfect…it adds to the dimensions of the flower :).

Now take a few layers of circles (around 4-5) and fold those layers in half, and in half again and in half again so your circle is now folded in 8ths (I think!)

P1030104P1030106

Take your scissors and round the corners of the folded circle as seen below in the first picture so when you open your circle(s) up they will look like the second picture…

P1030107P1030108

Repeat with all of the circles you have.

Next take a paper clip and unfold it, then bend it like so…P1030110

This will be your stem. Take the stem and poke it through the center of each of the flower circles. Once all of the circles are on, pinch all of the layers against the loop on the paper clip stem and wrap a strip of masking tape around the bottom of your flower. This will help form the shape.

P1030111P1030115

Then you just bunch up the petals and separate them as best you can to give the flower the desired shape. These flowers would look so cute in a vase or on a spring wreath…I just love the simplicity and how pretty they turn out. All from a grocery sack!P1030403

I’ll be linking up to Get Your Craft OnNifty Thrifty Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, DIY LInky Party, Creative Share Blog Hop, Penny Pinching Party.

6 comments:

  1. Me too!!! These are cool. I'm going to have to try these. You might like seeing what my mom and kids did with some cereal boxes and some foam packing circles too :-) http://hobbiesonabudget.com/2012/03/30/recycled-crafts-use-trash-to-make-toys/

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a creative way to use up all those grocery bags!!!!! Very cute idea!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow!!! These look nothing like plastic bags!!! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. How pretty! Those would look so nice on a wreath.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, this is cool too. Dang woman, you're awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hail, hail. anybody who creatively recycles is in my good books. and if they make something really pretty, then they are in my very good books!!1

    ReplyDelete

Comments