reduce, reuse, recycle. repeat.

Paper or Plastic? Neither please.

2010-02-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

A lot of places are selling reusable bags in place of the usual paper or plastic because they are making the effort to become more green. Following the reduce, reuse, and recycle philosophy, using a cloth bag encompasses the reducing and reusing, which is far more green than to simply recycle those plastic and paper bags.

Another selling point: some retailers will give you a discount on the bags you bring in. Both Target and Martin's offer 5 cents off your total for each cloth bag you use. Other retailers like Aldi simply do not offer bags for free, thus you must bring your own or purchase them. Some cities have even banned plastic bags or require the individual to pay a tax on their retail bill.

So that leaves me with getting crafty again. Since I have a bunch of fabric laying around I decided to put the effort into making my own tote. I already have a few tote bags that I use when I go grocery shopping, one's actually an old beach bag, the others are the ugly ones you can either pick up from the grocery stores or freebies I picked up at a business expo with company logos.

To make it I used 2 yards of coordinating fabric (I had purchased a long time ago when I had dreams of making myself sleep pants or something.) Since I didn't want to purchase any other materials, I just doubled up the fabric so it's 2 ply thick.

I looked at a lot of free patterns online, and just decided to make my own, using a paper bag as my guide. It was much more difficult than I had anticipated, so I will have to devote more time over to make more.

This can really be done recycling lots of other materials: old sheets, place mats, denim jeans. I even found a tutorial for fusing plastic bags together to form a very sturdy sheet of plastic that can be sewn into a waterproof bag, which I will try this summer when I can have a ventilated work space.

I started another bag using one of my felted sweaters....I need to clean out my sewing machine though from the loose fibers before I can finish it, it kept getting stuck on me...

Reuse: ads, catalogs, and magazines

2010-02-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

Paper beads aren't new. I can remember making paper beads in Girl Scouts as a kid. For those I remember using wallpaper samples and wrapping paper. You certainly can use these items, but in the true spirit of reusing what I had on hand, I went through magazines, catalogs, and Sunday ads.

Materials:

Colorful paper (as mentioned above, any type)

Glue stick

tooth picks

cardboard to create template (cereal box works great)

To begin, I created a cardboard template of a long skinny triangle, about 8 inches long. Then I traced this shape onto my paper, moving it around to ensure I was getting a range of colors. After cutting out quite a few of these flip over to the backside and cover from tip to tip with the glue stick. Using the toothpick, take the widest edge and begin rolling. If you wrap it too lose your beads will be very wide, if you wrap too tight, your beads will be hard to slide off the toothpick. Gently slide the bead off and allow to dry over night before stringing.

I made a bunch of beads and in complete Liz fashion, I left them sitting for too long without doing anything with them. My husband reminded me I had not posted anything recently on my blog, so I pulled these back out and made a new lanyard for my ID badge for work, as well as 3 bracelets.
I used stretchy beading string for all. The lanyard is spaced with 2 clear beads between each paper bead. For 2 of the bracelets I alternated a glass bead with the paper beads. The wider bracelet was done by weaving the stretchy string in both ends. I don't have the knack for explaining this, I've always been better at doing things than explaining!

Bathroom renovation

2010-02-14T10:31:00.000-05:00

I can't take much credit for this project, as my husband did the majority of the work. Also, it couldn't have been completed without the help of my father's tools, and my father-in-law's assistance.

Before: linoleum, plastic shower curtain, rotting wood towel bar, ugly curtains, plain wall color

After: Tile, new blinds, fresh paint, new towel rack, fabric shower curtain

Beer Bread

2010-01-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

Still haven't spent much time crafting this week other than my dishcloth project for mom, but still trying to save the world in the mean time.

In the effort to not throw away food items I've bought, I'm once again baking. During the fall I bought a 12-pack of Blue Moon Harvest Ale...thinking it would be a good seasonal beer. We really weren't big fans of it. The expiration date is nearing, so I want to use it up, otherwise, it would have been a complete waste.

Easy Beer Bread (I wish I could give credit for the recipe, but it was something I copied down off the Internet by hand a few years ago)

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 12oz bottle or can of beer
2 tbsp melted butter or margarine

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease bread loaf with butter or pan spray. Ass dry ingredients into a large bowl, slowly pour beer and mix until you obtain a sticky dough. Spread into greased loaf pan. Spread top with melted butter. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly before turning out of loaf pan. Cut and serve!

We used to order beer bread and cheese from The Mishawaka Brewing Company when they had a restaurant. Unfortunately they closed the restaurant. They usually gave way to much cheese and we took the left overs home. This was a nice spread for this beer bread recipe. Maybe I should attempt to find a beer cheese recipe next?

Who knew reducing was so yummy?

Reuse for shredded paper

2010-01-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

Upon talking with a co-worker, who recently had her cat neutered, I found that paper from my paper shredder makes good kitty litter. Apparently the dust from kitty litter is not good for recent stitches. I'll keep that in mind if I ever get a cat...key word, ever. In the mean time, if you want free kitty litter let me know, I will empty my shredder bin for you!

dish cloths and bread dough

2010-01-24T16:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't done too much crafting this week, other than I am working on some new knit dishcloths for my mom, since she keeps asking me to make her some new ones (and she gave me the yarn to make them!!) It's one of those easy things to do when you are watching TV since there's virtually no counting stitches involved...just a few. I like to give them as gifts, and end up keeping the ones that I've made big mistakes on. They still work, but when I'm mindlessly knitting, I can drop a few stitches here and there and neglect to fix them. Or I'll make myself ones with left over bits of yarn from the nice ones I give away. All in all, they still work great for clean ups. On that note, they are reusable, unlike kitchen sponges. Those things smell and harbor bacteria. I like to bleach them after they begin to stain, but even if they lose their pretty colors, they still pick up messes really well. Since it's 100% cotton yarn, they absorb really well. Just a toss in the wash and dryer with your bath towels and they are ready to be used again.

Anyway, I have been on a baking kick today. This morning I made banana bread because I had a bunch of bananas that didn't get eaten quick enough. Probably because I hate eating them when they are still green and let them ripen too long. That bread has been partly enjoyed by Daniel and myself, but I think the rest is going to be taken to work for others to share. I've been doing well this week on my new diet, so giving it away is for the best!

Easy Knit Dishcloth directions:

Things you need:

1 ball of knit worsted weight cotton in any color
Size 8 to 10 1/2 needles

What to do:

Cast on 4 sts.
Row 1: Knit one row.
Row 2: K2, YO, knit to the end of the row.
Repeat row 2 until there are approximately 40-45 stitches on the knitting needle.
Next row: K1, K2tog, YO, K2tog, knit to the end of the row.
Continue decreasing until 4 stitches left. Cast off.

If you make a few of these and have left over scraps of yarn, make an eclectic one like I did above with left over red, variegated greens and blues. Not the prettiest color combo, but it works just as well!

You can use these for cleaning, or as a washcloth. The "nubs" created from the knit work well on dirty counter tops after cooking, washing dishes by hand, or even dusting (since it's cotton, it won't scratch). I've also been told they make good washcloths and help exfoliate, but I've never tried....maybe the next ugly one I make will be purposed for that.

3 followers, really?

2010-01-19T17:28:00.000-05:00

Special thanks to Mom, Lori, and of course my husband for being followers on my new blog. I will try my hardest to keep my crafts up to date on here.

I had a plethora of ideas today when I was at work, unfortunately, I didn't write any notes to self to remember. I know I have a bunch of things to post that I have done in the past, on the cheap too, so those will come eventually!

Furniture

2010-01-18T17:49:00.000-05:00

I went through a painting obsession after my first year of college. Knowing that I would be moving from the dorm to my parents house, and eventually into my own apartment, that summer I started getting crafty. I had certainly outgrown my hearts and floral decorated day bed, with matching bedside table. I didn't want to take this stuff into an apartment...it would have been sufficient, but...childish in taste. I got a plain bed, and already had 2 dressers (mismatched) and no bedside table. I picked up a wooden table at Goodwill for about $4 with my student discount.

So I had my "new" set up. I had to make it match, so all the wood got primed with a chocolate brown paint. After that dried, I gave it a coat of "crackle glaze" and let dry. On top of that I added a cream colored layer of paint, which resulted in the weathered look. To keep the paint from simply flaking off, I added a clear coat, which gave it an even more aged look simply because it was an old and slightly yellowed.

These pieces of furniture currently reside in my childhood bedroom at home now, but it was a fun project. It tied my furniture together without having to buy all new stuff. If I were to to it again...I probably would have stopped with just the main pieces. I unfortunately got carried away with the crackle paint look and did a few other projects, including the CD tower shown, a mirror frame, and a few wooden chairs. Spaced out, it looks pretty neat, just don't over do it!

Felted wool sweaters

2010-01-16T18:38:00.000-05:00

It happens to the best of us. You obtain a great wool sweater, wear it, and forget that wool shrinks when washed improperly. This creates an instantly felted item. On the other hand, sometimes you mean to shrink an item, but forget to check on it in the process of felting...and end up with something utterly useless.

Example: I spent a lot of time knitting a sweater for my dachshund, Ollie, using 100% wool. This was the first item I ever attempted to knit outside of your average scarf or dishcloth. It came together really, really nice, but it was a bit too big. Knowing that wool shrinks when washed, I threw it in with a load of towels into the washing machine. I tend to become preoccupied with other things, so I imagine this is how I ended up with an ugly, thick thing that could have passed as a shin guard with arm holes. Please enjoy the pitiful look on Ollie's face.

I'm currently working on another project, utilizing felted sweaters. I purchased a rather large stack wool sweaters from Goodwill, tossed them into my washing machine and ran them through a HOT soapy cycle, then machine dried. Not all of the sweaters felted as planned. That's okay, I'll find something else to use them for!

As mentioned, this is a work in progress. Cutting the squares has been time consuming. Right now I have 7 blocks of 4, roughly laid out. It's pretty messy. It might not get finished anytime before the next snow fall, but it's eventually going to come together.

New year, new blog.

2010-01-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

It's a new year, so I decided to start a new blog. I love doing creative stuff, finding good deals, and as my blog title may hint, I try to be pretty green. I will be posting some stuff from time to time to show off these tidbits of my life. I encourage feedback and ideas! Thanks!