Dec 24, 2011

Upcycled & Recycled Crafting ~ The Peppermint Fairy

I've been so excited to finish this project!!
Its been on my plate now for 2 years, and it really had me stuck.
I didnt think it would end up as great as it did ..

Meet the Peppermint Fairy!

with gingerbread in his cocoa, mushrooms and moss growing on his hat...



he pays tender care to his peppermint tree...
the source of his power as a Peppermint Fairy!



as he flys overhead and around, his little feet tinkle with the sound of bells
and peppermint candies fall to the ground


Best of all, our delightful fairy man is made mainly from upcycled and recycled materials!
His wings were from a garden butterfly decoration, I just added much more gold glitter and poly varnish to make them more fairy-like and crinkly


All of the ribbon (on his hat, belt and feet) is from scraps that were saved from previous gift wrappings, given and received..
but his biggest secret ...


that hes just an empty 591ml bottle of coke!

I filled him with glass stones to make sure he weighed enough to not topple over.
his head is a christmas santa ornament, hot glued onto the cap.
(make sure you have the cap on so the legs are lined up in front if you are doing this)
His arms are fuzzy pipe cleaners that have been folded in half and wrapped in ribbon, held in place with wire around the bottle neck


His hands are upcycled from a Halloween necklace.
I had to paint and glitter them to make them a little less creepy looking
The long dangly fingers are perfect for his size.

This candy cane I got from a bag of decoration supplies left in our laundry room.
People bring things and leave them there when they are still working or in good enough condition to escape being thrown out. The little bow on his hat and the holly and mushroom on his beard are also from this found bag of goodies.




His legs are paper towel rolls that I cut and taped back together with movable knees.
His pants are an old christmas stocking that I decided it was time to recycle.
I cut flaps in the coke bottle with an exacto
(smaller that the diameter of each individual leg)
and then just shoved them in as far as they could go.



his clothing is a cut sock just fit over the legs and the bottle,
(I did buy new $1 socks for this, but you could use a sock that is missing its mate)


his feet were made with recycled canvas that we had on our balcony
(graciously sewed by my hubby, since I cannot work a sewing machine and he offered since he was already on it making something)



And there you have it!
I'm so pleased with how he turned out, and even more pleased
that he uses materials that are considered to be waste.
Everything has potential, you just have to be willing to see it :)
Merry christmas!!
~kelly xo