Trash Monster

My little bear is getting bigger every day.  We did a fun photo shoot a couple weeks ago at a tulip farm in RI and the pictures came out SO GREAT.  I have to share them.  Our photographer was great to work with and Julius was so smiley the whole time despite it being past his bedtime.  He fell asleep in the car on the way back because he was so exhausted.  What a little trooper.

Shayna Lee Photography

Shayna Lee Photography

Shayna Lee Photography

You can really tell how quickly he is growing in photos.  From photos just a few weeks apart it seems to me that he is starting to lose those adorable baby cheeks.  Will thinks I’m crazy, but I think he’s starting to lose his round face.  Just compare the photos above to the photos below which were only taken 2.5 weeks apart!  Tell me I’m not crazy (for this particular reason)!?

Julius is a big fan of George!

Either way, the pictures below are from my latest reuse project – a mesh tub toy holder.  I’m proud to say that so far Julius’ toy holder has held up a whole month and is still going strong!  It’s completely made out of trash, so I was skeptical if he would like it, but put googly eyes on it, and it’s a winner!  I’m pretty sure he named it George.

Monster Mesh Tub Toy Holder

What you’ll need:

  • 2 6×4″ pieces of strong plastic that won’t shatter (mine were from a dish washing tablet box)
  • A giant zip tie – or some other piece of plastic or wire at least 25″ long that is firm enough to hold it’s shape when holding up several pounds of toys.  (coat hanger might work, as long as the ends are not sharp!)
  • large bag of plastic netting  (can use produce bags or otherwise – mine was from an Easter ham)
  • thick plastic shopping bag (mine was from express)
  • giant 1″ googly eyes (the only thing I bought)
  • 2 twist ties
  • hot glue gun
  • pattern here
  1. Using pattern, cut out 2 hooks from your pieces of strong plastic.
  2. Using a sharp tool (I used a cork screw) poke holes in the places indicated in the pattern.
  3. Use an Xacto knife to cut a slit in the place indicated.
  4. Insert one hook onto zip tie through slit.
  5. Insert zip tie through top inch of mesh bag.
  6. After you’ve gone 7″, insert second hook onto zip tie.
  7. Continue inserting mesh bag onto zip tie until you reach the starting point.  (I some how don’t have a picture of this.)
  8. Fasten zip tie and hot glue end of zip tie to secure.
  9. Bend zip tie to form a “D” shape with the hooks on either end of the straight edge.
  10. Cut a 1″ strip of ribbon from the plastic bag on the diagonal – strip should be around 5 feet long.
  11. Wrap plastic along the zip tie and through the weave of the mesh, hiding the 1″ selvedge of mesh. (I used clips to hold everything in place.)
  12. When you get back to where you started hot glue start and end of ribbon.
  13. Glue googly eyes in between the two hooks on the straight edge of the zip tie.
  14. Cut 2 pieces of scrap plastic from the leftover hook plastic in roughly the same shape as the googly eyes.  Coat in hot glue and glue to the back of each googly eye, sandwiching the zip tie.
  15. Hang on bath tub rack and insert twist ties through the holes you poked in the hooks to secure.
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