101 Things To Do With Bubble Wrap - #2 Thanksgiving Decor

Yes, I’m still trying to burn through all the packing material I brought home from the stockroom a month ago. You’ll recall from my last post – assuming, of course that you avidly follow my blog and did indeed read my last post, that two of my Etsy Sisters, ReallyBadKitty and DRyan327 took all the bubble wrap. However, they left me with a HUGE bag of foam sheeting. So, what to do? What to do? I don’t know!

Well, a week ago, while I was successfully avoiding all the things I should have been doing by catching up on my blog reading, I ran across this little gem of a Thanksgiving project. Hand Turkeys! How stinkin’ cute are these?! The grandparents usually get some kind of something from the kiddos on every holiday (Hallmark holidays included.) I thought this was pretty darn perfect.

We made sets for ourselves and both sets of grandparents. I think they’re so cute, and we had a lot of fun making them. Of course, I did the sewing, but the kiddos stuffed them and glued the feathers on (with a tiny bit of direction from me.)

Now just what do these turkeys have to do with all that packing material, you’re asking? Well, guess what those perky little turkey fingers are stuffed with. G’head! Guess!! That’s right! Foam sheeting! We cut the foam sheets into little pieces, rolled them up and stuffed the fingers with them. It was the perfect stuffing material – faster and easier than batting. I even ran some floral wire through the sheeting so you can bend the fingers this way and that. We stuffed the bodies with those beanie baby beads so they’ve got good heavy bottoms. They sit very nicely on the mantle.

So, that used up a quarter of a sheet. Now what do I do with the other 100 sheets of foam I have? I’m still fishing for ideas!

Have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!

101 Things To Do With Bubble Wrap - #1 Pawn it off on your Etsy friends

Actually, it’s the Etsy friends that got me into the bubble wrap mess to begin with. OK, ok, I can’t blame my inability to fill landfills w/packing material entirely on my Etsy friends. Hmmm…or can I? Last I checked, this was MY blog and I could do with it what I want. Yeah! So there ya have it!

It’s all ReallyBadKitty’s fault. With a shop name like “ReallyBadKitty”, could it be anyone’s fault but hers?!?!?

Sure, she makes pretty little bouquets...

...holiday décor ...

...and cute hair clips out of buttons, but don’t let that fool you. She’s bad news!

And then there’s that Purple Toes Jewelry chick (aka: DRyan327) – she was a witting accomplice.

Those smoking rabbit earrings should’ve been a dead give away that this gal was nuthin’ but trouble. Poor bunnies!

And just look what she does to watches!!

Grandpa's pocket watch never saw this coming!

All joking aside, I met these talented ladies when I joined the North Dallas Etsy team earlier this year. They’re both jewels and I’ve had such a great time getting to know them and the other Team members. And yes, they took all the bubble wrap and will be using it to package up their wares. So when you buy stuff from their shops, you’re not just getting a great handmade treasure – you’re helping save the planet one bubble at a time. How much better can you feel about buying something?!

So the bubble wrap’s gone, but I’ve still got a ton of foam sheeting. I’m still looking for ideas on what to do with that. I have to admit, I really like Haptree’s suggestion of turning a room in the house into a padded cell. Goodness knows I could use a room like that!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I have a part time job at Pottery Barn. One of my favorite things to do there is work in the stock room. It's quiet in the stock room, and fairly orderly -- nothing like my day to day life as a stay-at-home-mom. In the stock room, I'm in control. I get to decide what box gets opened and where the contents get put. I get to line everything up all perfectly straight. Oooooo...I just love perfectly straight.

One of the things I don't love about working in the stock room is the realization that big retail = big trash. Seriously, the amount of trash that is generated is scary. The cardboard gets recycled, so that’s OK. But everything else...all the bubble wrap, the foam blankets, the styrofoam, all the packing material goes straight into the landfills. And I’m talking MOUNTAINS of packing material. It’s bad…really bad.

I’m a firm believer that everything ought to be used at least twice, so I’m always trying to find something to do with all this packaging. I’m forever bringing home huge sheets of styrofoam and bags of bubble wrap. It makes The Man more than just a little crazy, but the kids usually love it. Last week I came home with two big bags of bubble wrap and foam blanketing. Now I’m trying to figure out what to do with it all. Ladybug was more than happy to help me out. 

After using the bags as lounge chairs for a while, we emptied them and made a nice big moutain to play in. It was great for jumping on, hiding in, crawling through and kicking all over the place.

Of course, we popped plenty of it -- with our fingers, our feet...our bottoms (hee, hee, hee.)  We also practiced our scissor skills by cutting some of it up.  Cutting the foamy blankets was so much fun, Ladybug decided to see if it was just as much fun to cut up her skirt.  Fun for her.  For me, not so much.  Oh well...live and learn. 

So we've lounged on it, played in it, popped it and cut it, but now what?  I just don't think it's trash yet.  I'm keeping some of it for packaging up my Etsy products, but I'd have to be making hundreds of sales a week to go through this stuff.  And while that would be nice, I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.  So I'm looking for ideas.  What would you do with all this stuff???