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Posts Tagged ‘recycle’

Simple All-Occasion Upcycled Gift Bag

Posted in Crafts, Creativity, Learn Something New Every Day, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 2, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Color Coordinated Upcycled Gift Bag

Here’s a fun and easy project that you can easily do in under 30 minutes the next time you need a gift bag.

Have you visited a shop or restaurant that uses plain white or brown paper bags for their products?  If you keep your eyes open you’ll find that there are some that do this instead of paying for printing on their larger size bags.  Every time I get a blank bag (or even one with a smaller graphic) I save it for future upcycling.

Today I needed a bag for a baby shower for Baby Boy Bryson, a new addition to our extended family, so here’s what I did.

  1. First I pulled a medium size white bag from my stash
  2. Next, I looked through my supply of fabric ribbon and found this great blue & purple plaid.  Perfect for a little boy.  (Shop for ribbon at craft stores when it’s on clearance or you have a coupon.  Also watch for ribbon attached to cards and other products that you can rescue.)
  3. Then I searched through my scrap-book paper and found a thick striped sheet in shades of blue that coordinated with the ribbon.  A nice baby print would be great too.
  4. Open up Microsoft Word (or an appropriate program) to create a single large letter (or word of your choosing).  Select your preferred font and size large enough to fill the page and/or one side of the bag.
  5. In MS Word you can choose the option to show/print the letter as an outline only.  This is the best way to show the pattern to be cut out of the printed paper.
  6. Print the letter/word on your scrap-book paper and cut it out.
  7. Center and attach it to the side of the bag with your favorite paper glue.
  8. Fill the top of the bag with tissue paper (would have been more striking if I had a light shade of blue that matched the ribbon).
  9. Tie your matching ribbon in a bow on top of the bag.
  10. If you need a tag, cut a circle or creative shape out of the scrap-book paper too.  Punch a hole in it and tie it on with a small string or matching ribbon.
  11. That’s it!  You’re ready to go.
  12. Imagine all the possibilities…unlimited color schemes, print a word instead of a letter, trim the bag with lace for a girl.  Or what about using the same idea for mini-size wedding or birthday favor bags?

Have fun and post a link to your own creations in the comments section!  I’d love to see how you make it even better.

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50 Ways to Help the Planet

Posted in Around the House, I'm a Fan of..., Learn Something New Every Day, tagged , , , on January 6, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Amy posted a link to “50 Ways to Help the Planet” recently.  So many of them are very easy, so I thought I’d post some of them here.  For the rest of the list, visit the link above or at the end of this post.  (List is provided compliments of “Wire and Twine”)

 

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.
Don’t like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don’t want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you’re pouring your morning cup ‘o joe.

 

3. DON’T RINSE
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and save up to 20 gallons of water each load. Plus, you’re saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

 

4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don’t pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

 

5. RECYCLE GLASS
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose.

6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
By the time a child is toilet trained, a parent will change between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in U.S. landfills each year. Whether you choose cloth or a more environmentally-friendly disposable, you’re making a choice that has a much gentler impact on our planet.

 

7. HANG DRY
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you’ll save money.  Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

 

8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM

If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
Only launder when you have a full load.

 

10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.

The other 40 tips are here.  Take a look and see how many of them you can put into practice in the new year.  How many of these are you already doing?  I think I’m at least at about 50% of these practices and trying to incorporate more every year.  Your grandchildren will thank you for it.

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Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on June 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Wow! Check this out if you’re looking for ways to help save the planet.

I saw these clever recycled bags in a magazine, went to the Terracycle website and was amazed at all the cool recycled products that they offer.

They started out making liquid fertilizer from worm waste and now, among other things they have bags made out of recycled grocery bags & drink pouches, flower pots made out of old crushed computers and fax machines, rain barrels and compost bins made from old wine barrels , cork boards from wine corks and even more.

You can even pick up some extra cash for your local charity along the way if you’re really diligent and want to send them your old wrappers. It could be a great fund raiser and awareness raiser for groups of all ages…

Check it out. Their prices seem pretty reasonable too. Sadly, I don’t find the rain barrels on their online catalog, maybe because the shipping would be too much. Apparently though, they have some items in stores in the area…we’ll see what we can find.

I’m thinking of ordering one or two of their bird feeders.

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