Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Plastic


I am going to leave you with this article that is at our local Art Museum. Enjoy!
http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2009/12/30/getting-over-the-nurdle-hurdle/ If you are around Indy you should go check it out, we are.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas time

Have a very Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

Friday, November 27, 2009

gift wrap

Wrapping Christmas Gifts
Gift wrapping paper is how we usually wrap a gift, that or a gift bag full of tissue paper. Yes I am one of those what is the easy way out kind of girl, but I do dress the package up so it looks like I spent a little more on the gift.
This year I have also wrapped most of my gifts in the cute little Christmas tree paper. But I am going to try to think of some “green” gift wrapping ideas. I have read some magazines that have shown some cute ideas along with some of my own.
First off I love the magazine Ready Made, it has some really cute ideas. I am giving my sister in law a stack of cooking books for Christmas and I wanted a creative idea to wrap them. I found that you could take an old shirt (I am going to use flannel) and wrap up anything. I think this is what I will do with her gift. Then I will add the cookie cutters on the outside for a bow like feel. And to give a hint onto what is in the gift. What about an apron.
Taking a paper mache box and decoupaging it, and decorating it, and using that box to put your gift in. You could use this method more than once.
Another one I a lot of the time I use. I put my gift inside a basket, bowl, box, etc. This way their wrapping is their gift too!
Some other ways of wrapping online were
-a cigar box
-http://www.furochic.com/
-cereal boxes into gift wrap, you can cover then with any sort of paper
-wrap the boxes in old maps or even new ones that you never use for that matter
-wrap with magazine pages for those small presents
-sew a bag, a reusable one, out of cloth, they are not that hard to make, give it a try
-http://www.squidoo.com/ecofriendlygiftwrapping
-http://www.wholeliving.com/article/eco-gift-wrap
-http://www.dannyseo.com/ some books I found that are definitely going on my want list

Hope these are some great ideas that you can use for that last minute wrapping.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

O christmas tree O christmas tree

Decorating your Christmas tree is the topic for this post. My friend has a two year old and was wondering if she should even decorate her Christmas tree, I told she should, all she had however where breakables that she did not want to put on the tree. So I did some suggesting on what she could use around the house to decorate her tree. Here are some suggestions:

***Take some flowers of any type and put them on the tree. Stick then into the tree, then if they fall they will not break.
***Try putting different kinds of candy by stringing them as garland.
Make a fabric garland for added color or paper towel rolls that are painted different colors and cut them to make and string garland, or even construction paper garland. Use old cloths that are lying around or need to be sent to Goodwill, sting them onto a rope to make it rustic.
****Make cardboard ornaments and let the little guy decorate some of them. Who cares what they look like, they helped make them. Then later on when they get older they will really appreciate them. Use old cereal boxes that you have lying around. Make different shapes paint them or cover them with decorative scrapbook paper, using mod podge of course.
***Pine cones, good for ornaments and garland, put some glitter on them to add sparkle.
***Use scraps of wood for ornaments.
***Get the kids involved look at this fun site.

Hope these are some fun ideas for you to look at. Thanks for stopping by!

Im dreaming of a green Christmas

So I have been very busy recently. My brother just got married last Saturday so most of my focus was on that. I have wanted to blog for a good while now. So today I finally am getting the chance. After spending most of my morning out and about on this Black Friday, I have come home with almost nothing. But that is okay with me. I like to make things. I like to have a story behind each of my gifts. I like to pray for each person that I am making that item for. I did get two cricut cartridges for myself which were on sale at Michaels so that I could make some cute things with them. I am excited about those.

So onto my handmade Christmas. I have a lot of ideas for handmade and a "green" Christmas. Here are a few ideas:
1. Going to make ornaments out of cardboard and paper. Decorated with glitter.
2. Artwork
3. Candles from my mother-in-law
4. Making a random assortment of cards. So that they could use them through out the entire year. Using recycled papers. I found this one here, for a possible card.
5. A shirt cape for my nephew
6. Fabric flowers for my niece
7. Old crayons to new ones
8. Baking
9. Rolled up Magazine frames
10. Another apron made out of a curtain,vintage buttons, and a table cloth, I made one for my friend a while back and it turned out so cute.

There may be other things I will make but that is what I am going to leave you with for now.

Ill leave you with a few things to go and check out:
**An interesting article and website that you should check out Fave Crafts
**Who would of thought, Have a computer geek that you need to get for, check this out
**Craft Critique

Sunday, October 25, 2009

A green Halloween

A green Halloween, what do you mean? Well I just happened to find a cool article about Halloween fun. I found this website Green Halloween that has a lot of fun and creative stuff to do for Halloween. If you click on kids, you will find articles about how kids are helping going green, games, printables and so much more. Click on parents and you can find out how to make a Halloween party by going green, party games, crafts, and many other cool things.

Here are some other Halloween ideas for going green

Don't go and spend a lot of money on a costume that a child/adult will be wearing for one night. Make something that you already have. The possibilities are endless, have fun and be creative. Ex: Smartie Pants, cowboy, witch and Martha Stewart has some really cute and inexpensive ideas for costumes.

You don't have to give out the sugary substance. Try making something for your little trick or treaters. Give them pencils, small coloring books that you can easily put together, a tooth brush for all the candy they did not get at your house, and even playdough. If you still want to give candy try giving them organic lollipops, a pack of crackers, apple slices, use your imagination.

Don't forget your reusable trick or treat bags. Make something special that each year you look forward to using that bag.

Remember these tips
Trick-or-Treating safety

* children should be well supervised by an adult when trick-or-treating. Older children should trick-or-treat in large groups in well known neighborhoods.
* carry a flashlight
* stick to well lit houses in familiar neighborhoods only
* follow traffic signals and rules of the road
* drive slowly
* avoid taking shortcuts across backyards or alleys. Stick to the sidewalks of well lit streets


Have a great day!!!

Friday, July 3, 2009

FRESH

Something to leave you with this weekend.
FRESH click to check out this site


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Get the kids involved

Recycling and kids go well together. We need to teach our kids to recycle, giving them more understanding that if we don't recycle how much this earth is going to change.
Here are some great websites to teach children about recycling:

(Departmental of Environmental Protection)

(kids recycle)

(recycling works)


(recycling crafts) Look at this website. It has so many ideas for making crafts. You could get your kids involved for making things new from old things. And kids think that it is cool.

Just some more ideas:
Another great idea is to use old tissue boxes for trash. I right now have a cold, so I took the unused tissues out and started putting the used ones back into the box as a trash can. Clever huh?

Recycle plastic water bottles by cutting the tops of them off and using them as mini plant pots. You can decorate the outside of them very cute. Have children put them together and give them to their mothers or grandmothers as gifts. Simple and easy and recyclable.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

gifts

Trying to find a great gift. These sites are very helpful then. You cant go wrong with a gift like this, and on the plus side they are all made from recyclables.

http://www.almostexclusive.com/ look for the seatbelt messenger bags

www.uncommongoods.com Great website for gifts.

http://www.eco-artware.com/ art that you wear, sit on tables, hang on walls.

http://www.printglobe.com Want to print on something, you should check out this website.


I will have more gift ideas to come. Check back soon!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

cup and books

Just some magazine and book ideas along with a really cool cup. I really want that cup.

Magazines and books
www.thegreenguide.com
http://www.earth911.com
Kids books
www.swa.org/pdf/books_for_kids.pdf - you are going to have to type this into your address bar yourself becuse its a pdf file.

I found this in a magazine, the website is www.momastore.org But look up I am not a paper cup. What a great idea. If you are a coffee or tea drinker this just might be for you. I think it would be fun to go into starbucks and ask them to fill that cup. :)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

plastic trash bags and composters

The plastic trash bags that we use take a long time to decompose. Perfs makes plastic bags and trash bags that break down into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass within two years. http://perfgogreen.com/

http://findacomposter.com/ this is a place that you can compost in your area. There is nothing in Indianapolis Indiana if you live in that area. But there are other Indiana locations.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

More eco-friendly websites

http://replayground.com/
This is a great website that shows how you can make old things from new. Look under the DIY portion, there are many ideas on how to make different items using common household objects. For instance a wallet is made from a box of cereal, a sun catcher is made from an old CD, and a really bizarre one is an umbrella made into a skirt. Check this website out. It is full of fun things to look at and maybe you can try something out yourself.

http://www.terracycle.net/index.htm
You just need to check this website out. I cant really explain it you will just have to go and take a look yourself.

Know any one getting married. Well pass this site along to them. http://portovert.com/home This site has a lot of wedding ideas with eco-friendly tips.

I still have more to come. Have fun checking these things out.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hello!

Going green and doing something for our environment means a lot to me. No I am not a tree hugger, but I sure want to help out or environment. God made this beautiful world and we should try to save the natural beauty that this world has. I have been doing some research on different ways that we can
“go green”. I really like to buy local which with this whole “going green” thing, this can help on the buying and shipping of products.. For example; less material being used in the packaging, gas for the trucks to get the products there, less waste in the land fills, and many more reasons. Recycling Wonders is just a blog that I can put my thoughts into. Share some information that can help you and show you different ways that you can help our beautiful earth.

Here are somethings that I found:
www.preserveproducts.com
hundred percent recycled and recyclable products
less water, less greenhouse gases, less oil, less coal, less natural gases, and less electricity being used to make these products. Thats amazing. Now take a look at other non recyclable companies. Some of them dont care how much of these “things” they use, just as long as the product sells.
You can buy there products on their website. They are fairly cheap and have bright colors, and of course the best part is is that they are recyclable!

Recycling is a term being used more today. Getting bags at grocery stores that you can recycle instead of throwing plastic or even paper bags away. This interests me. I have two of those bags in my car for reasons when I dont say I need a bag, and then I put the item in the recyclable bag in the car. This is a great idea but at the same time, I don't have enough to take with me to the grocery store and pack all my items up in those bags. That is something that I need to get, and then I know that I will have trouble remembering to put them back into my car when I have unpacked them.

Here are just a few things this time. Come back later. I hope to update often. I have so much that I want to share. And remember to check out my other blogs.