recycle project no. 11 - egg carton turned into a heart

I'll be the first to admit that even before Valentine's day is here I start getting sick of seeing hearts everywhere. I've decided not to be such a heart hater this year, as you can also see by my header, (plus little C loves them) so here is our latest effort in putting together a recycling project. It may not be the fanciest but at least we got together and made something for fun and I finally got the idea of using an egg carton in some sort of wall art piece.



Materials
- One egg carton - not the styrofoam kind (cut and use only the bottoms of the egg carton)
- Red paint
- Background card stock

I cut the bottom 3/4" of each egg holder, we painted them and glued them on card stock. When everything was dry we also painted the spaces between the cut egg holders. That's it!

I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the process. It was too dark here to take anything decent.

Tips & Variations
- Make sure that when you cut the egg holders that all your edges are on the same level. If they're not it will be difficult to glue them to the card stock.
- We only used one egg carton because our frame wasn't large enough for something more elaborate but I would be willing to bet that this will look better if at least two egg cartons are used. As it is, I think the frame we used is still too snug. I like to have a nice wide border around a piece like this.
- If you don't have a handy frame available attach a ribbon to the heart and hang it on its own.

Enjoy!
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25 comments:

  1. Cute! I could see myself making something like this. At first I thought you had red egg cartons where you live. Though I have seen pink ones!

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  2. i love this too!

    i am so interested: i've noticed you frame alot of your work - do you rotate your work, or do you leave your artwork up once and for all?

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  3. Thanks Melissa. Your comment made me realize that I hadn't mentioned that we didn't use styrofoam egg cartons. We used the cardboard type versions.

    And thank you Lucky. Actually we have three frames that we rotate the work out of. We don't have a lot of free wall space but we do have a small space that is only dedicated to the recycling projects I work with my kids.

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  4. I absolutely love this. It is right up my alley. I love to see different things for Valentines.

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  5. this is fantastic patricia! I just shared it on babycenter. I figured you wouldn't mind, seeing as you're becoming a regular over there in my posts! :)

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  6. Thank you both! And thank you Molly for your post. Of course I don't mind! :)

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  8. I loved this so much I entered it over at the Winter Bazaar, I hope that's okay with you :)

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  9. This is FABULOUS. I have an empty egg carton in my recycle bin SCREAMING to be made into a heart. Thank you for an easy, afternoon activity.

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  10. I always enjoy how you take every day items and turn them into something brillant. This heart is no exception, very clever.

    jessica

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  11. I think the best touch is that you framed it!

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  12. I love the project but especially the fact that you framed it.

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  13. this is cool one, i will spent some time to do it and show you then ya.

    by the way, i have added you link in my blog, love to read your blog and website.

    cheers,
    jamie
    www.theprezzie.blogspot.com

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  14. Terrific project! I love the shade of red... it seems so deep and intense. Did you use a certain type of paint, or was the egg carton a certain color to get that result?

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  15. We loved doing this. Thanks for the great idea!

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  16. Thank you all! I'm so glad you like the project.

    Boliyou - We used acrylic paint. I think the color stayed rich because of the egg carton itself. You'll notice a slight change of the color where I painted between the egg carton pieces. The paper absorbed the paint differently there.

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  17. So cute! Thanks a bunch for sharing this idea.

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  18. The hardest part is to find the non-plastic cartons - I love egg carton crafts. I hope it's okay that I added a link to this green Valentine craft from Kids Valentine Crafts at Squidoo.

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  19. im gonnahave to borrow this idea for a valentines day craft!

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  20. this is so cool! I'm gonna size it down a little and use it for a project with the preschool reading group at the library this week! I think we'll glue them to paper plates and put a ribbon in them to hang on the wall. thanks for sharing this is a great original idea!!!! :)

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  21. I have a 20 minute allotment for a Valentine Craft for 4th graders. Do you think this will be enough time? Does the paint dry fairly quickly on the Egg Carton? I am hoping yes, because this is the only project that I love!

    pauline

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  22. Pauline - I think it may take 20 minutes to cut, assemble, glue and paint but that won't allow time for drying. If I remember correctly it took a good while to dry because my daughter added a lot of paint. If it's added thinly then maybe you have a chance. Why don't you make a test project and time yourself?

    Good luck and thanks for your interest in the project!

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  23. Just stopping by to let you know that I've featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
    http://funfamilycrafts.com/egg-cellent-heart-art/

    If you have other kid friendly crafts, I'd love it if you would submit them. :) If you would like to display a
    featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.

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  24. Was that a regular frame or shadow box that you used?

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