Green Craft Issue #3

I am proud to say that I have an article in the lastest issue of Green Craft Magazine! It just hit news stands and it chalked full of fabulous "Upcycling" ideas which are sure to inspire you!!

I love this one made from bike tires!!

Tee Shirt Obsession

I cleaned out my closet and now I have all these shirts that just sit in a pile~ Alot of them are white with those discolored underarm areas so you can't give them away and other's have holes so what to do with them??

Well I came up making bracelets with them. Not only are they cute but they are absorbant on those hot days~ maybe I should make a headband.....Hmmm my wheels are turning!

Grey Tee Shirt

White Tee Shirt ~ Then Tye Dyed

Now you can only use so much of the tee shirt to make bracelets so what to do with the rest?? Well make Tee Shirt Rag Rugs that what! I already have a few of these~ one in my bathroom and one in the bedroom.

Home Made Butter

Now for the life of me I can't remember where I first read about making home made butter but I thought or  I was lead to believe you had to have unpasteurized cream to do this so I search high and low but couldn't find it and thought I would have to find a dairy farm to get it! So when I read the book "made from scratch" she talked about it again and said to use heavy whipping cream but recommend a local dairy farm. So I was so excited to finally try my hand at it! I was nervous she said you had to shake it for 15 min but it "popped" sooner than that!!! Now I can't wait to eat some it tonight. I will have to compare pricing to see if all that shaking is worth it:) Also it's like Whipped Butter light and fluffy not what I was expecting so when I went to rinse it and I kneaded it it popped out of my hands~ so be careful if you give it a try.

Garden Gifts!

The one thing I was most excited about was coming home from vacation and seeing what my Garden had grown for me!! I was thinking there would be a ton of Green Beans but there was only a small handful but I did get 3 big Banana Peppers! I also discovered some Cilantro which I had grown last year but it didn't do so well so that was a sweet surprise! This is only my second year at having a garden and last year not just for me but for most folks in Michigan garden's didn't do so well we got tomatoes but they never turned Red this year I only planted 3 tomato plants and they are Monsters!! we had to fix them up since the tomato cage isn't able to handle them! I also planted potatoes for the first time~ my neighbor gave me some starters so I dug up some of them since the plants are still green~ I think once they start turning brown they are done! So tomorrows dinner will have potatoes and banana peppers!! I is so rewarding to eat something you've grown!

Shirtless Men

We spent our family vacation in Missouri this year and every where I turned there was a shirtless man! Some could pull it off and others it was best if they would have left their shirts on. To top off this trend we put up to an antique shop with this Gigantic shirtless statute!
I think I finally have broke my hubby to just go with my recycling efforts while on vacation.  So of course every bit is saved to be recycled but most hotels don't have a recycling program but I know to Google it and it usually not far to the local recycling center.  Although the lady at the center got a bit testy with me because the only took plastic bottles but I informed her I did not live there and her tune changed.  So recycling doesn't stop even when on vacation!

Made From Scratch!

I am not much of a reader these days~ there's just not enough time when I want to make things! But we were going on vacation and that is when my making time comes to a hault so I found this book and actually read it in two days between partys and theme parks! It's about Homesteading but in a more realisitc way~ chickens, Bees & Gardens as well as making clothing and a few other things but the first three things are what excited me the most since I already sew and spin yarn. My husband is a bit concerned now that I have demanded that I am starting a bee hive and we are getting chickens (but I have to make sure with our township first). For me it is not only a sense of raising your own food but the fact that I don't get all that packaging when I actually get it! I can get eggs without an egg carton and I can make pasta without have to recycle a cardboard box~ this is what most thrills me! This book not only gives you a run down on how to do these things it also tells her story before hand and let me tell you it's pretty comical!

A Must Have Book!!

Stick a Fork in it!

A few weeks ago I was at a wedding shower and of course I noticed the bottled water, plastic cups, paper plates, plastic silverware and then all the wrapping paper! well it took everything I had not to be the Recycle Police but I managed to pick the coolest table in the whole world to sit at and seems these ladies (well most of them ) had the same Love for our Mother Earth as I do! So as I was shoving all the plastic bottles I could in my purse I look up to see someone (OK she was only 4!) throw the plastic wrapping bag from a gift in the trash~ see I thought I could just discreetly go up to the head of the room after and snag the bag of trash that held all the wrapping paper~ so this just broke me and I had to weasel out of the corner and dig it out of the trash in the middle of this shower~ lucky for them they were to busy chatting to hopefully even notice but I doubt it! Oh well they can say what they want I am do it for them (and me too). I also asked what they were doing with all the plastic table clothes and now they are in my possession along with all the wrapping paper! But for the best part~ the plastic silverware well I just couldn't throw it away so I shoved it to in my purse and had the ah ha moment that night! and here it is a ring! I love it so and at my day job we have birthday parties were they use tons of plastic silverware!