PLASTIC SODA BOTTLE FLOWERS!

You will need: One Clear 2LT Plastic Soda Bottle. Scissor, Pearl paint for plastic only, hot glue gun, blow dryer and a rhinestone or glass stone for the middle of the flower. 1) Wash out the bottle and make sure it's dry. 2) draw petals in 2 different sizes on the bottle, you may want another bottle depending how big you want your flower to be. 3) Cut them out. 4) Paint only the back side of each petal. 5) Use the hot glue gun to glue the petals together. 6) Wait 5 minutes to set. 7) Turn of the blow dryer and start heating up the flower until you get the effect you want. 8) Hot glue gun the rhinestone in the middle of the flower. 9) if wanted to hot glue a pin backing or a link to hang it on a rope for a necklace.

OCEAN IN A BOTTLE

What you need

• Empty two liter plastic bottle with lid
• Clear vegetable oil or mineral oil
• Water
• funnel
• Blue food coloring
• Small star fish, shells and other sea creatures
• One tsp glitter
• White craft glue
• Hot glue

What you do

1. Wash and dry two-liter bottle and remove all labels
2. Fill bottle halfway with tap water
3. Add a few drops of blue food coloring and swirl around to mix
4. Add glitter
5. Add sea creatures
6. Fill bottle the rest of the way with vegetable oil using a funnel
7. Be sure that rim and cap are dry, then apply white craft glue around the rim. Seal cap.
8. Use a layer of hot glue around the outer edge of the cap for added protection from leakage
9. Turn bottle on its side and gently rock the bottle to create a “wave” inside your ocean habitat!

RECYCLE YOUR OLD BEACH TOWEL.

With very little alteration, you can turn one of your beach towels into a tote.

Beach-Towel Bag How-To
1. Start by folding one-third of the towel over on itself.

2. Topstitch along the two sides. Fold the free flap down, and tuck it into the bag.

3. Cut two 12-inch lengths of colorful grosgrain ribbon. Fold one piece of ribbon in half lengthwise, and sew each of its ends to the top edge of one side of the tote bag to form a handle. For reinforcement, sew the ends of the ribbon with a square containing an "X" of stitches. Fold the second piece of grosgrain ribbon in half lengthwise and attach it to the other side of the bag, as before, being careful to leave the flap free to open and close.

RECYCLE YOUR OLD BEACH T-SHIRT

CRAFT MATERIALS:
	White T-shirt, washed
	Rubber bands
	Orange fabric dye
	Sink or bucket for the dye
	Rubber gloves
	Blunt-ended scissors
	Cardboard (for inside of shirt)
	Black permanent marker
	Black fabric paint
	Paintbrush
Time needed: Under 1 Hour

1. Pinch and gather up a portion of the T-shirt fabric, then add a rubber band 1 or 2 inches from the point of the pinch. Wrap the band around several times until it's nice and tight. Create similar sections with rubber bands all over the shirt and sleeves.
2. Prepare the dyebath according to the instructions on the package. Thoroughly wet the shirt with water. Wearing rubber gloves, submerge the shirt in the dye. Let it soak until it looks a shade darker than you want it to be.
3. Still wearing gloves, rinse the shirt under warm running water. As the rinse water becomes less orange, change the water temperature to cold.
4. Once the water from the shirt runs clear, carefully cut off the rubber bands. Dry the shirt.
5. Insert cardboard inside the shirt, then use a permanent marker to draw jack-o'-lantern features inside each circle. Fill in the shapes with the marker, or use black fabric paint (which stays black longer).

BABY CLAMS ALL OVER THE BEACH

The kids and I spent the afternoon cleaning our mile of beach after seeing the birth of Millions and Billions of baby clams. It's such a great feeling to know that you are keeping the beaches clean so they have room to grow!

MILK JUG GHOSTS!

CRAFT MATERIALS: Clean plastic gallon milk jugs Black permanent marker Craft knife String of 50 clear low-wattage holiday lights Time needed: Under 1 Hour 1. Draw ghost eyes and mouths on the jugs. Tip: Leave the caps on while you do this, so the jugs don't dent.

2. Use the craft knife to cut a half-dollar-size hole in the back of each jug
(a parent's job).

3. Arrange the ghosts near each other and string the lights between them, stuffing several bulbs into each of the jugs.

Transform a handful of plastic grocery bags into a great pumpkin!

Materials Needed: 8 Plastic grocery bags Newspaper 1 Paper towel tube Orange paint Green paint Glue gun Paint brush Scissors Instructions:

Cut the paper towel tube to about 5” long. Take about 3 pieces of newspaper, lay them in a single layer, and fold them over until they're about 2” wide by the length of the paper.

Glue ends to secure the folded pieces of newspaper. Make about 6 folded strips. Set aside. Take the bags, at the center of the bottom, and pull through your fingers to make it 'flatter'. ... Read More

Glue each bag, from the center bottom with the handles up, next to each other all the way around the paper towel tube, about 3” from the top.

This combination should resemble a pompom. Begin gluing the strips of newspaper to the tube, starting at about 3” from the top.

They should be over the glued ends of the plastic bags. Wrap the strips around the tube, gluing as you go around. When you get to the end of one newspaper strip, add another piece so they are end to end.

Now, pull each bag down by the handles, over the newspaper ‘rib’, to the bottom of the tube and then stuff the handles up into the tube.

Repeat this for all of the paper bags. As you pull down more plastic bags, it gets a bit harder to stuff the handles into the tube so Donna suggests using the end of a pen to shove them in.

To finish your grocery bag pumpkin, pinch and slightly fold in the top of the tube with your fingertips. This will be the stem of your pumpkin.

Paint the pumpkin (grocery bags) orange. Stain the stem with green paint that has been mixed with water to give it a more realistic look.