Makeup Remover

I use very little makeup, but when I do I want to take it off at the end of the day! Last time I finished up my bottle of Neutrogena make up remover I decided to make my own. It's a really simple recipe and I've enjoyed not having to purchase more plastic bottles - every one counts!!!! I really like this recipe because it's gentle and inexpensive to make. It works perfectly too - check it out here. It's made of olive oil, baby shampoo and of course, WATER. That's what most of what we buy in single use packaging is, water. 

Box and Tray Upcycle

I bought a pair of cowboy boots and was impressed at how very sturdy the box and lid were. I made this little tray from the lid. I simply decoupaged with newsprint to even everything out, then I added torn up tissue as the top layer, in shades of purple. The dots are made with my 1" hole punch, I used some tissue paper for that too - giving it a contrasting pattern. This is a perfect little tray to corral all my incense and hookah stuff. It's finished with a little semi gloss varnish so it's water proof enough that it could hold drinks or tea cups if needed.  I used the same treatment to made a little storage box out of an empty soy milk box. I cut it down to size and used up one of the cut off pieces to make a little lid - it's attached with wire. I use it to store extra keys. Next time you get a sturdy little box in your life, think about reusing it for storage or other purposes. These make great Christmas or other gifts!!!

SIDENOTE: Did you know that tissue paper cannot be recycled? It's the paper version of styrofoam - sort of the end of the line. I like to reuse and upcycle tissue as much as possible. 

Cardboard Tube Flower Decorations

Toilet paper is one of those things I just cannot bring myself to work around in terms of single use - although I have looked into it here. Instead, I'm figuring out ways to use the cardboard tube left. I made these little flower decorations as gift toppers that can be used for Christmas tree decorating too. You can tell just by looking at the picture that I folded the tube, cut little rings and then glued them together with hot glue. I used a single hole punch to make a hole to add a little yarn through so they can hang from a tree, and glued on some embellishments in the middle of some. Pinterest has loads of ideas on how to reuse cardboard tubes, consider keeping them and turning them into art projects!

It's December folks - that time of year that most threatens our commitments to better eating and less consumption!!!!

Paper Art

paper hearts sewed down the middle and thumb tacked to the wall

I have always been drawn to paper, to stationary, journals, note pads, books, to post-its, ephemera, museum guides, maps, and old photographs. But my love for paper is doing battle with my desire to minimize and reduce rather than recycle. Last year I also challenged myself to Use it Up - that is, use what I had rather than bring more and new things into my life. Enter Paper Art. I needed some artwork in my living room, above the TV, and made the paper heart strands above. I made a little springtime wreath from egg cartons (I promise it doesn't look all that much like a 3rd grader made it...) and another from the pages of an old book. I also made a Christmas card from the pages of that old book. Paper is a beautiful, plentiful and diverse media for so many projects. I doubt I will get rid off all my paper, but I'm trying, one art project at a time....

Plarn Basket

basic instructions here

I would have totally taken basket weaving in college it they offered it! When I saw this basket making pin on Pinterest I decided to try it out. I had already cut out some 1" strips of bread bags for plarn that hadn't worked out for crochet plarn. So, I put them to use to make this kooky little hinged basket. At some point I'd like to make a bigger piece such as a tray, laundry basket or small trash bin. I really like how it turned out and it was a lot of fun to make and a great way to upcycle plastic bags into a functional little container.  

DIY Foaming Soap

foaming soap

My quest to reduce single use items has led me deeeep down a DIY path that has nicely overlapped with my desire to know what exactly I'm using to clean my house and body. One of the first things I figured out how to make on my own was foaming soap - those of you on Pinterest have probably already seen this, but here goes. Lest you think, like I did, that the soap itself is special, the magic turns out to be in the container...yeah, the one usually thrown away or recyled when the foaming soap ran out. Or, you could refill with a tell tale liquidy soap that can be purchased in yet another single use container. Totally seems like cheating when you learn that they are selling you watered down soap in a second container - especially when you read "instructions" that say "refill only with our product..." 

So, here's the deal. Once you use up the original container, you open it, pour in maybe a 1/2 inch of liquid soap (buy the biggest container you can of that so you are buying the least number of consumable plastic bottles) and then fill the rest with tap water. There you have it, handy and identically foaming soap. I use Dawn blue soap for dishes and Dr. Bronner's castile (almond and peppermint are my two favorites) for hand soap in the bathroom. 

Shredded Plastic

I cut up plastic bags to make plarn (plastic yarn - fyi see more on this old blog post). There's only so much plarn I can use though. And, there are smaller bags that are not conducive to plarn, such as bags used to hold crackers inside the box, or raisin bags that are too sticky and a different texture than used for plarn. What to do? Well, I've started cutting the bags up and keeping them to use as stuffing for some outdoor pillows I'm making. I'm accumulating the shreds in an empty milk container so it's convenient to cut them up as they empty in the kitchen (I think of it as plastic composting). I know the shredded plastic won't be as soft as polyfil, but it's waterproof and that's what I need. I'm thinking it will take me a year or more to have enough for one pillow (they are big - I'm upcycling two empty 50 lb bag of pinto beans). We'll see!

Toilet Paper Roll Gift Box

toilet roll tube covered in paper

I like to give handmade gifts, jewelry especially. This wrapping is perfect for any small gift and really easy to put together. First, I wrap the tube in a narrow piece of paper - this is a page from an old children's book. Then, I wrap the gift in tissue so it doesn't fall out as easily. Last, I tie it up with a ribbon, that's it! 

Plarn - Plastic Yarn

plarn rug in the making

My Grandma Rose raised 5 kids as a single mom during the Depression. They didn't have much and nothing went to waste. I admire the ethic that was borne of this hardship. My cousin Jackson and I discovered a shared love of our dear Grandma and of crochet. That comes together in the form of plastic yarn, or plarn. His work is tidy and patterned while mine is free formed and a lot less perfect. I'm pretty sure Grandma is smiling down on both. 

Plarn is easy enough to make as shown in this video. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Plarn is quite forgiving, even if the strips are not all the same thickness it works fine.
• If you don't mind a mottled look you can mix various colors and even thicknesses of bags.
• Stick to a simple stitch, because the plarn is thicker it's harder to keep up with fancy stiches.
• Once you tell people you need bags they are more than happy to save them for you, you can even get them directly from Target or your grocery store if you want a uniform look.
• Plarn lends itself to projects that require water proofing such as a soap dish, scrubbie, dog mat for the car, coaster, beach bag, picnic blanket, outdoor rug, and Grandma Rose's ever classic bathmat and kitchen sink rug!

If you are the least bit crafty I challenge you to take up crochet with plarn - get some projects going and then teach someone else how. If we all do our little bit, it makes a difference. 

Plastic Mesh - Reuse

My first posts come off as kind of boring now that I look at them, so I thought I'd share this quick little project to reuse and upcycle plastic mesh from various produce purchases. These were from citrus and potato sacks, plus some strips of plastic bag (the white) and mesh from a packaged turkey (the green). There are several ways you could put these little bits of engineered plastic to good use, such as a gift/bow decoration, or other crafty project, but I decided to make a scrubbie for my kitchen. I lay about 10 of them flat, put a zip tie in the middle and tightened it up as much as I could. Then it was a matter or fluffing and shaping with scissors - kind of like pom poms, remember those? I've used this little scrubbie for over a year now and it works great. I'm still saving mesh and have enough for the replacement when that's needed. What do you think?