So this issue we used balloons in our fashion shoot, not very right on but we thought the colours fitted the theme of our shoot and we decided to go for it. But rather than throwing them away afterwards we wondered what we could make out of them. After a few trials we decided on the balloon bunting, it’s colourful, fun and great for indoors or out.

• Scissors

• Cardboard

• Tape (there are lots of eco-friendly tapes available made from 100% recycled paper)

• String (we used the string that was already tied to the balloons)

• Your already used balloons

• Coffee and brownies from Tom Thumb 🙂

  1. Find some recycled cardboard, the thicker the cardboard the better as thinner material will fold-in on itself when the balloon is placed around it.
  2. Cut out a triangle template and use this template to draw around and cut out multiple triangles. Using the original template will insure they are all the same size.
  3. Depending on how long you would like your bunting will depend on how many cardboard triangles you cut out.
  4. Carefully snip the end of the balloon to allow the air to escape.
  5. Cut the balloon in half. 
  6. Take one half and wrap it around the cardboard triangle. If there ballon is stretchy then it will hold on to the triangle edges tightly, looser balloon material will require you to pull it tight and gather the excess material round the back of the triangle
  7. Tape the edges to the cardboard at the back. With looser material, roll up the edges to pull it tight and tape down one edge before moving on to the next one. With tighter material, all three edges can be stuck to the back using one piece of tape
  8. Repeat with the other half of the balloon.
  9. Once all your balloon-covered triangles are ready, lay them face down on the table so they are almost touching. Lay the string across the top edge of the triangle, about half a centimetre down from the top.
  10.  Hold the string in place with a little strip of tape.
  11. Voila, colourful bunting using recycled materials !

Encouraged by our craft making skills we then decided to make something out of a week’s supply of lunch and snack wrappers. We chose to make a plastic purse. Turns out these are fairly straightforward to make, all you need is an iron, greaseproof paper and plastic wrappers. Happy days.

  • Sharp scissors
  • A good iron
  • Greaseproof paper
  • Plastic wrappers
  • A freezer bag
  • A plastic bag
  • Velcro or fasteners
  1. Find a strong table, lay something down to protect it.
  2. Get a plastic bag and cut it open, use one half. Put a sheet of greaseproof paper under the plastic sheet.
  3. Cut your plastic wrappers into decent size strips or squares. Arrange on the plastic bag.
  4. Put your iron on the hottest setting.
  5. Get a sheet of greaseproof paper and place it over the the top of your plastic wrapper arrangement.
  6. Iron the sheet by pushing down very firmly. Make sure you cover the whole area.
  7. Repeat this a 2 or 3 times to layer up the plastic. Make sure when you put the new plastic on top of the old you cover it in the greaseproof paper before you iron it!
  8. Cut a freezer bag flat and use this to seal the plastic layers.
  9. You will then have a sheet of ‘plastic fabric’.
  10. Fold it in half, turn over the top to make a flap and machine the edges together. We cut the plastic fabric in half to make two small purses.
  11. You can then get velcro to fasten the flap or pierce the plastic and insert popper fasteners.
  12. Neaten the edges but cutting around the purse with a sharp pair of scissors. Enjoy your plastic purse!