Recycled Rings

Do you know what these are (below)? Yes, they are the things from an orange juice carton! I have tons of them, I mean, tons! See, I don't drink milk, but I drink a lot of orange juice. I go through a carton and a half a week. And I pull off these little rings and chuck them in a basket. I have been saving for a while and needed to come up with an idea for an art class that I am teaching this fall at the community center.
First, I gathered up some supplies - odds&ends, gumball machine toys, iwako erasers, sequins, paper punches, fish tank stones, etc. I punched out some green and blue circles out of cardstock.
First, I glued the cardstock to the "ring" to give it a base.
Then, I added my "gems". This is a giraffe iwako eraser. You can find them all over the place.
This is a bunny that came in a generic Easter game that I found at Kroger on clearance after Easter. I think there were 24 bunnies in the game for a buck or something. I added a pom pom ball for added flare. Bunny's got a big ol' tail!

The dolphin is a Squinkie - they are cheap and the perfect size for this project, The hot pink bear was in a gumball machine. The orange dude is a Bonz, I think that's what they are called. You can get them at Target in a 3 pack by the baseball cards for $1.99.
This astronaut was in a dinky little set. I painted the plastic bubble thing that the Squinkies come in silver and ta-dah! He walks on the moon.
This is my favorite. I took some faux moss and 2 deer paper punches to create this on. The deer paper punch I found at Michael's in the Girl Scout Scrapbook section.
I used this scalloped paper punch to make the base of the the astronaut and frog's lily pad. I got this punch (have you guessed that I spend a lot of time in the scrapbook section of my local craft stores?) at Michael's too but have seen it at JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby.
I punched out 6 scalloped circles and ruffled them to make him look like he's sitting on the lily pad flower. He looked kinda boring just sitting there alone.
This is a fun one! This is a hamster sticker that I found at Target recently. The little hamster actually jiggles around in there when you move it. Funny, huh?
Here are my three favorite. I think kids - even older kids - would love this project. I know a certain 4 year old that will just melt when she sees them. But I was even thinking that this would be a fun girls-night-out project or a teen project.
Here they are - all my fancy jewelry hee hee Look at this bling. I think the preschoolers in my fall class are just going to have a ball with this project!
Happy crafting!
Mel