Puppy Leash

Dog leash made from braided plastic bags. Perfect for travel if you forget a dog leash!
Use the braiding method to create this simple and easy to make leash. Once you have a braided rope of desired length and thickness, you can either knot the leash on to the dog's collar or double back one of the ends and attach a metal clip to hook on to the collar.

Braided Bag Strap

Have a bag that needs a new strap? Plastic bag braided ropes work great! 

Using the braiding method, weave 3 plastic bag ropes. Braid these ropes together to create an extra durable and strong bag handle that looks like this: 

Attach the rope to your bag using either knots or metal clasps that you can attach to the plastic and clip to the tote bag. Experiment with different colors and thicknesses by changing the width of the strips cut and the type of plastic bag used.

reduce. REUSE. recycle. Bracelet.

Making friendship bracelets but out of string? Plastic bag bracelets are easy to make using the braiding method and are especially fun to make if you have colored plastic bags or bags with designs on them!

To make a thin bracelet, use the braiding method but cut the bag into thin strips. You can adjust the thickness of your bracelet by adjusting the width of your cuts in the braiding method. To fasten, you can either tie the bracelet on or sew on a button to one end that the opposite end loops can fit around. 

Halloween Ghosts

 Plastic Bag Ghosts! 

Reuse all those white plastic bags to make a cute and fun to play with halloween ghost. I did this craft with the Best Buddies students who loved seeing a common item used for a different purpose. The craft was a great hands on way to show that items normally thrown away can be reused in many different ways.

 1. Lay the plastic bag flat and cut off the handles and down the sides. 2. Lay the bag flat again, unfolded at the middle, and cut apart. You will be left with 2 rectangles of plastic bag. 3. If there is any coloring or print on the bag, you can cut this part off to have an all white ghost. 4. Cut strips into the plastic squares, leaving 2-4 inches uncut at the top. 

5. Inflate a white balloon and tape the uncut portion of the plastic bag around the balloon so that the strips are hanging down. 6. Draw a face on your balloon ghost and decorate for halloween.

Attach ghosts to a string and let kids run around trailing ghosts or throw ghosts up  in the air and play a game to see who can keep their ghost flying for the longest!

Poor Man's Coaster

Poor Man's Coaster

Using the braiding method (shown on the braiding page), create two plastic bag ropes. Lay one of the ropes in a zig-zagging position of desired width. Weave the other rope through the zig-zagging rope using a simple under-over weave. Once you reach one side, weave back in the other direction with the same weaving method. Repeat until you reach the end of the rope. Try to match the two ends in the same corner so that you can knot them or glue them and cut off excess plastic. 

Spiral Coaster

For an easy and quick to make coaster, coil one braided strand into a circle and secure using a glue gun.