KaoticKrafter: Playing with Plastic and A Favorite Blog

Ok, I have to tell you that one of my favorite blogs is Just Jingle. Jennifer just cracks me up! Aside from being hilarious, she is a great source of inspiration. Every time I visit her site, I find something new to try out.

My last visit lead me to playing with plastic. And a hot iron. Together.

Someone out there is probably cringing at the thought of putting their iron on plastic, but that is just what I did.

A very important tip: Use parchment paper in between your iron and the plastic, and everything will be ok (no, I did not put my iron right on the plastic, but you just never know).

Do you doubt me? Check out what happened at our house. (Not that they look all that different, but I have front and back pics of each 'sheet' we made)

Attempt number 1: Grocery store bags and take out food bags (I am in the mood for Applebees all of a sudden...) (edited 3-14-10: We did end up eating at Applebees the night I posted this!)

Attempt number 2: Just grocery bags, but that reminds me, I was suppose to go to Wally world today. Oops.

Attempt number 3: See below.

Attempt number 4: This sheet was made using a blue garment bag like you get when you buy a dress or suit at one of the bigger department stores.

Attempt number 5: This is kinda my favorite, can you guess why (see hippie comment below)?

Well, the process was simple (after I made a stop at this site).

I made a few sheets of fused plastic, then stopped. Why? Well, being the earth conscious hippie that a few of my friends have started to call me (and I love), I stopped using plastic grocery bags and started making my own. What does that mean? I don't have a lot of plastic bags in the house. I will now be saving all my bread bags, produce bags, and clean used ziplock bags. I wonder if I can use chip bags...

Anyway, I did manage to make two things already using my new plastic sheets (Attempt number 3).

A little story behind the sheet of plastic we made and used for these two items (I of course forgot to take pictures of the sheet before I made it into something).

So, the story. As I was screwing up the first attempt (I managed to majorly shrink the plastic because I think my iron was either to hot, or I left it in one spot for too long). Anyway, as Emma was watching me mess up and listening to me complain that some of the layers were not sticking together, she offered some advice, "Maybe if we use some glue, or glitter glue..."

I did happen to have one of those clear garment bags that you get when you pick your clothes up from the dry cleaners as well as a few other clear bags. And what house with kids would ever be complete without glitter? So Emma's advice set off a fun light bulb and the result was this plastic which made these fun and functional bags:

Bag #1 - The clutch (I think that is what it would be called, but I really have no idea...) I am not a big fan of carrying around my wallet and such in a clear bag, so I used a scrap piece of hot pink satin to line this bag. It took me a while to decide on how to close this bag. I thought velcro might look tacky, so I decided to try a button. The button makes me a little nervous because it is after all plastic. I was worried that the button hole would just keep ripping, so I sewed a button hole (which I kinda suck at and have never really figured out how to use the button hole feature on my sewing machine). The pictures are not the best, but you can see the glitter.

I wanted to try making a bag with a zipper (zippers and button holes are kinda in the same category for me). I know there has to be an easier way to sew a zipper on, and I will one day look into it, but I was to lazy to do that today so I just made it work. Emma tested the zipper out for me so I figure it will hold just fine.

I was kinda excited with the zipper bag. I thought to myself, "This will make an awesome make-up bag!"

Then I realized that I only use my make up maybe once a year (except the mascara; that I use about 5 or 6 times a year). Not really worthy of such a cool bag. So, back to the original bag they went.

I already have my first request for a bigger bag. Emma is always looking for a way to coral her massive and every expanding herd of horses and ponies...