Recycling plastic apples for the tree...

The faux caramel apple with glittery finish.

Turning plastic apples into decorative candy apples for the Christmas tree is an easy way to reuse something for a better purpose. After all, who uses plastic apples to decorate with anymore? But in a Christmas display these look good enough to actually eat!

Supply List:

• cotton balls
• white school glue
• permanent ink marker
• plastic apples
• masking tape
• copper/caramel colored acrylic paints
• Elmer's gold glitter glue
• wire for the hangers

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Use the permanent ink pen to draw a wavy line around the apple, marking the place where the caramel is molded over the surface.
2. Mask off every thing above the line.
3. Glue and bind with masking tape the wire attaching it to the plastic apple stem. 
4. Now unravel your cotton balls and layer white glue and cotton on top of the masked areas, so that these will give the faux melted caramel dimension. 
5. Layer the batting over the stem as well and twist it onto the wire. Let dry.
6. Paint the faux caramel with acrylic copper paint or something comparable. 
7. Squeeze Elmer's gold glitter glue on the painted surface to add a little extra bling.
8. Shape the wire into a hook.
   

Left, plastic apple. Next, ink pen marks for the caramel. Center, masking taped surface.
 Right, after the cotton batting was layered over the tape with glue,
I let it dry and then painted it.

See more ways to transform fake fruit into something special:

• Dressing up millinery fruits for The Christmas Tree
• Transform Doll Sized Candied Apples