Thanksgiving Crafts: A Waste Not Pilgrim

Turn garbage and recycled goods into fun and adorable crafts. This whimsical pilgrim woman was fashioned from a plastic condiment bottle, a little felt, tempera paint, and lots of imagination.

You will need:

Empty condiment bottle with lid white felt film canister lid 12″ strand of raffia small fruit and vegetable buttons tempera paint in black, flesh, pink, and gold black marker hot glue gun scissors

Instructions:

Note: If using craft glue instead of Tacky glue, extra time will be necessary to allow glue to adhere. Be patient, or your project will fall apart. Hot glue is recommended in this case, particularly for adhering the fruit and vegetable platter.

Prep Peel all labels from empty condiment bottle, wash and dry. You may need to soak the bottle in warm water to help lift the sticker “goo”. Paint condiment bottle black up to neck. Paint the neck of the bottle with flesh colored paint for the face. You may need two coats of flesh to cover completely.

Collar Using white felt, cut a rectangle large enough to overlap “shoulders” on both sides of the bottle when folded in half. Using the cap from the condiment bottle, trace a circle in the center of the felt rectangle; cut out. Cut a triangle out of the front to form collar (see diagram). When black and flesh paint have dried completely, carefully slip collar over and down the neck of the bottle, resting it snugly on the bottle’s shoulders. Glue the front and back of the collar in place to keep it stationary. Tie 12″ piece of raffia into a drooping bowtie and glue to the front-center of the collar.

Face Replace bottle’s cap. If cap is not white, pain it with white tempera paint after putting back on the bottle. Let dry. Cut a 1/2″ wide strip of white felt. Starting at one shoulder, glue in place as bonnet strap by running over the top of the cap and back down the other side. Trim to fit and glue in place. With black marker, dot on eyes and draw on a nose and the mouth. Dip paint brush into pink paint, dab several times onto newspaper or paper towel to remove most of the excess paint. Blot onto cheeks. Add a small touch of pink to her nose as well. Frame face with hair by using gold paint.

Harvest Platter Fill center of the underside of a film canister lid with hot glue. Place various vegetable and fruit buttons into the “platter”. The craft pictured used apples, carrots, corn and tomatoes. Using hot glue, adhere platter to front of bottle. Paint on round hands near platter with flesh colored paint.