Since I'm not being very industrious at all with creating anything, I decided to share with you how industrious my mother was and the unusual things and various things she created (or at least to me they were!). When going through her things, I found this huge paper bag and a smaller box full of chewing gum wrappers she had collected. I think others from her office where she worked saved the wrappers for her as well as she saving them. I knew that she had in the past made trivets from these wrappers and she showed me how to make these chains from the wrappers as a child, which I thought was great fun! See how my love of creating came from her?
When I found this huge paper bag and little box of wrappers with some projects started, I just couldn't throw them away. They're still at her house and if no one else wants them, I will take them.
Then when I looked in her tiny little hall closet where she kept her sheets, blankets, etc., on the floor I found a vinyl blanket zippered container with four place mats (pretty large place mats, too!) in four different colors that were finished. I took two, this green and white Spearmint gum one and a yellow Juicy Fruit one. I am keeping the Spearmint one here for Paige to use and gave her mother the Juicy Fruit one since "lellow" is Paige's favorite color.
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Here is a close-up of the mat. I plan to buy some of that decoupage-type liquid that you pour over puzzles to preserve them and make them "spill-proof".
I have seen purses made in this fashion from something that looks similar but didn't know what. I'm not talking about the Capris Sun bags. These looked very similar to what my mother did. One day I was shopping and saw a young mother with a bag like that and asked her about it. She told me that it was made from candy wrappers and they usually were priced in the $200-300 range! She said she got hers at market so got a better price and that everyone stops her and asks about her bag. So I guess my mother was ahead of her time, huh?
If only I could call her up and tell her :(
5 comments:
I remember making these things as a kid. I still know how to make a long chain, but I don't know how to put them together in a rectangular shape. I think it's wonderful that you have found these and shared them with your family. Now you'll have to teach Paige how to do it!
I'm trying to figure out how to put them together into a rectangular shape, too, plus she hs given me round one, turned "UP" as trivets. I guess she glued them? This is where I would normally just pick up the phone :(
How cool! Let me know if you figure out how to make it into a rectangular shape. I remember that a high school girl taught me to make these while we rode home on the bus (I was in elementary school. She told me that when you finished making one it was supposed to be as tall as your future husband. I got all of my friends to bring me wrappers because I didn't chew gum.... Well, I made one that was over 8 feet long and my DH is nowhere near that tall. I wound it up in a into rug...gluing as I went. It took longer to make than it lasted! I didn't think about making a trivet.
Sherry I can show you how she did it.
Marty, maybe we can get together sometime and you can show me if I can't figure it out. There's a whole bag and another box full of gum wrappers and some things she was working on, too, that I left at her house. I thought you might want them. If not, I'm not throwing them out. I want them.
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