Recycled Ornament Contest Winner Annoucement!!!

After looking through all of the entries, the other Amy and I have decided that the winner of our Handmade, Recycled Ornament Contest is Candy Glendening of Redlands, California!!! These are her mod house ornaments, which just blew us away. Here's a look at one up close:


Candy makes art quilts, so it's no wonder that she found herself with loads of brightly colored fabric scraps to work with. Here's how she made them:

Scraps of hand dyed fabrics
Peltex
Thread (for sewing and for the loop on top)
Needle
Scissors
Hot glue gun

(As a an art quilter I can always use the fabric scraps SOMEWHERE, I had this huge bag of small oddly shaped scraps of peltex that has been sitting in my closet for just such a recycling project as this!)

General instructions for making:
I cut each house shape out of the peltex pretty much by eye. Then fused the fabric to the peltex, inside in out. I then created small, abstract art quilts on each side by collaging more of the fused fabric and then free motion quilting for emphasis. I then fused the sides together using strips of the fabric, glued the roof on with hot glue and stitched a loop through the top!

You know that I'm a quilter, so I was naturally attracted to these- and the other Amy has been working with fabric since she was 10- but we were both really impressed by the execution and the idea. Congrats Candy! We'll be sending your prize to you asap!

And now for the two runners up!

The mini terrarium by Sarah Wolfgang of Des Moines, Iowa!
Sarah used a Gerber baby food jar, buttons (for the flowers! how genius is that!), wire, and Mod Podge. She was aiming to replicate a live terrarium and I think she did a great job, particularly with the jar sitting on top of a little log. She cut a hole in the top of the jar and pushed a loop of ribbon through to be able to hang it, and secured it on the underside of the lid with a knot.


And the second runner up is Becca Dulgarian from West Jordan, Utah for her paper mache Christmas Ornaments! Amy and I LOVE the polka dots and bright colors on these ornaments, and that she gave new life to things sitting in a thrift shop and around her house.
"I'm completely in my element when I can create something wonderful out of old material so when I got word of this contest I was thrilled! I am a GREEN girl and love how this project turned out!"

Ingredients used:
Recycled Glass Christmas Bulbs! (I bought a 24 pack at my local Thrift Store for 50 cents! SCORE!!)
Newspaper
Mod Podge and Water
Paint
Ribbon for hanging

Basically you rip thin strips of newspaper, dip them in a one part water, one part Mod Podge solution and cover the glass bulbs completely with the strips. Let them dry over night and then paint them! I used simple paint techniques and bold colors. I string mine on Ribbon and hang them through out my home on door knobs and cupboard doors! I also have them displayed on my Door as a Welcoming Holiday Greeting! (See the full tutorial here.)

We had a terrific response to this contest and I'll be sharing the rest of the entries with you between now and Christmas because they are just too good not to post. Check back tomorrow for a very special ornament from the next generation of crafters who's going to take the blog world by storm in a few years, I can just tell!

Special thanks to Amy of Mod Podge Rocks for being the most awesome co-hostess!