fire and flowers

I was thinking back to when I used to work with an afterschool program, many years ago.  The director was a very resourceful person, and we were always saving trash to make art.  So, here’s an idea using trash to come up with a fun little trinket.

Materials:  You can buy shrink plastic material which you can run through an inkjet printer, or you can use what I used – trash.  This was a plastic lid off of a pre-made salad, you will also need a permanent marker, hole punch, scissors, and I used a jump ring and chain to turn it into a necklace.

Directions:  I found a dahlia clipart piece and printed it to the size I wanted.  Put this design under the plastic and trace it, cut around your shape, punch a hole if you are wanting to string it onto something and bake at 325 degrees for approx. 5 min.  Your cooking time and temperature may vary a bit, so, check your design every few minutes.  If your piece looks done but is not completely flat use a spatula to flatten it while is is hot.  I would suggest cutting off a small corner of your plastic container to make sure it works before spending too much time drawing out your design.  I tried using compostable containers, but they just curled up. I finished mine up by adding a jump ring and small chain that I had laying around.  This is a great idea to make keychains out of – what grandma wouldn’t love to get a handdrawn image.