FUN LITTLE PURSE: recycle crafting

These fabulous purses are so adorable that even I have a hard time believing that they originally were slated for the recycle bin.   This project does have some steps that have to be done by an adult, but the beaded handles are fun and easy for children to do.  As a matter of fact, my five year old did the ones you see here.

SUPPLIES:
  Oval shaped plastic shampoo or conditioner bottles.
  Wire
  Beads
  Leather punch OR a drill with various sizes of drill bits
  Needlenose plyers
  Xacto knife
  Scissors
  Ruler
  Dry Erase marker

Step 1 THE BOTTLE:

As was mentioned under supplies, the bottle you pick should be oval in shape.  Any variation on oval will work.  It is just the perfectly round bottles that you want to stay away from. 

BE VERY VERY CAREFUL OF YOUR FINGERS, PLEASE.

First cut off the very top of your bottle so that you can give it a good cleaning and peal off any advertising stickers.

Comments

[beader1986]

These look like the perfect party favor for my daughter's 4th birthday party. It will be a my little pony party, so they will coordinate to the ponies really well!!! Thank you for the great idea!!!

[mamalaoshi]

I just made three of these (I knew there was a reason I was saving all those empty bottles).
I found that the bigger the bottle, the harder it was to cut because the plastic was thicker. But it was a lot easier than I thought to cut the edges smoothly. I just used scissors and it worked fine.
Also I have these drinkable yogurt containers that are square that I cut to made a variation of a take out container- cut a semi-circle on each side with a slit.
And I tried using wired ribbon for a handle on one- also looked very cute.
I'm planning on using these as little gift bags, that is if my daughter will give them back to me.

[cdawisconsin]

I'm smiling because my daughter took all the ones I made too =)

[porcupinemamma]

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing!

[katysface_job]

They are adorable! The semi-transparent one is my favorite!

[cdawisconsin]

Thanks. You know, that is the first one I made, so it's my favorite also =)

[cgubbels]

So adorable !! just curious before i start.. are the plastic cut edges safe or lil ones? has your daughter ever gotten cut by the edges or anything? thanks!!

[cdawisconsin]

Thanks and the edges are not sharp. If you have any jagged edges, you can easily smooth them out with a scissors =)

[sparkleponytx]

I love your ideas! Very clever and so cute. Kudos. I want to make some with/for my granddaughter. I think she will love this craft.

[cdawisconsin]

Thanks =)

[Laurpud]

Those are so cute, & clever too! I wish my girls weren't in their 20s!

[craftyv]

Absolutely Lovely. your "extra' ideas are great too. I am looking for appropriate bottles right now. Bye.

[Mama Yin]

You have really blown my mind with this idea. They are so flippin cute. Thank you so much for this post. My lil one will adore owning one if not more of these purses. =) Getting to work on this right now!!

[cdawisconsin]

I am so glad you like it and would love to see a finished picture.

[sunshiine]

These are really cute!

[mole1]

Wow!! How did you get the printing off the bottles? The purses look super clean.

[cdawisconsin]

Not all, but many bottles have the printing and information on a very thin sticker and it is quite easy to peal off. I stick to that kind of bottle for this project. Thanks for the comments.

[ChrysN]

Cute! What a great reuse project.

[tcup120]

I wish I had thought of this when I was younger! Well that or my parents - I will make these cute little purses anyway.. and... oh that is so cute!