Mayo Jar Windmill Trash Art
This whimsical mayo jar windmill is made from reused trash pieces. It consists of a plastic mayo jar, windmill from an old broken lawn ornament, a plastic cap from a one shot stain remover container (orange piece), an old broomstick painted blue, a tail from a lid of a 5 gallon pail of wall plaster. The yard ornament had one broken blade so David removed two more blades to even-out the windmill. He then painted the inside of the mayo jar white and left the cap blue.
After cutting out the appropriate size tail for the piece, the mayo jar cap was cut enough to insert the tail into the lid and then glued. The lid was then screwed back onto the mayo jar. For a stand, he used an old broomstick painted blue and capped it off with a cap from a small one shot stain remover container. The broomstick was then loosely screwed on from the inside of the mayo jar so it could rotate when the wind hits it. David makes his pieces to interact with nature as much as possible.
Mayo Jar Trash Art Right Side
Mayo Jar Trash Art Left Side
Knitted Doll Hat and Scarf
Although I have wrote about making these doll accessories in past articles, I also wanted to share them on Retrobellish. With the fall season upon us here in the Midwest, it’s time to take out the old sweaters and jackets again. It reminded me of when one of my nieces would always bring an old doll with her which she loved very much.
On one of my niece’s visits, she brought over her doll. The doll’s dress was white with a pretty pattern of light pink little blossoms. My niece looked through the trims that I kept in a tin and when she found some light pink lace trim, she asked if I could sew the pretty lace trim to the edge of her doll’s dress. In no time at all I hand sewed (using a simple straight stitch) the pretty pink lace to the bottom edge of her doll’s dress, as well as to the sleeves. My niece was so delighted and it only took a total of 15 minutes. Although most doll dresses are very beautiful, there may be some that over time (for a different look)could be enhanced by simply adding an embellishment or two.
The next time I went to visit them they were both so surprised because besides the cookies I brought, I brought another small box that I asked my cousin’s daughter to open as well. I was so pleased by the happy look on her face when she saw the hat and scarf I had knitted for her doll. It gave me great pleasure that she was so excited and it only took a couple of evenings to complete this project. So a way to use some leftover crochet thread (or yarn) is to make small embellishments for dolls or even doll clothes.
I used Fashion Crochet Thread (size 3, 100% Mercerized cotton), and number 2 size knitting needles. I cast on 7 stitches and knitted 60 rows. The fringe was made by cutting short strands (of the same crochet thread) and I used a size 00 crochet needle to pull the strands through the edge stitches and tied a knot around each of the strands (on both ends). I also knitted the hat in a similar manner, 7 stitches across, 17 rows in length, and whip-stitched both ends together. Using the same 00 crochet needle, I inserted thread through the edge stitches of one side to gather what would be the top of the hat and made a pom-pom for the top of the hat. I took the knot from the finished pom-pom and tied it through a loop in the center of the hat and made another knot to finish.
Knitting Small Doll Scarf
Knitted Doll Scarf and Hat Set
Doll with scarf and hat
Miniature Dollhouse Paintings
Small scrap pieces of canvas can make small pieces of art to warm one’s heart! One of the crafts I love to make are dollhouse miniature paintings in the 1:12 scale. They are very therapeutic to paint and are highly collectible. These paintings are painted on scrap pieces of canvas, museum board, and sometimes on small pieces of wood. I used to go to an art shop not far from home that also did custom framing, and they would put together bags of scrap pieces for crafters and artists to buy for small paintings — a great way to reuse the store’s scraps. Materials used for these paintings were museum board scraps and acrylic paints.
Miniature Dollhouse Paintings On Scrap Pieces of Museum Board