Eating cereal and making cheerio necklaces are just about the only things that ever occurred to me when I thought of cereal; but this week the Inspire Me Thursday challenge was to grab an empty cereal box and get creative. Since it is the month of October and all things pumpkin and Halloweeny are on my mind, I thought it would be fun and practical to create cardboard Halloween hangings.

To create the pumpkin, the witch, and the son of Frankenstein, I collected 2 cereal boxes, used gesso on the printed sides, sketched my subjects (I got ideas for their looks from a flyer), painted with tempera, and then used a good old sharpy to outline for emphasis. Meanwhile, Annabelle assisted with this project and created several of her own paintings; below you may admire her work:

For more ideas on homemade fall and Halloween decorations, check out my Fall Window Clingers post.

What have you created or how have you decorated to set the scene for Halloween?  Will you celebrate with a spooky and scary Halloween, or a happy kids’ ween?

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Decorating our home for Halloween is one of my favorite ways to kick off the holidays. Since Annabelle has been having a great time exploring her artistic talents (making window clingers and other art projects are fun and meaningful ways that our family spends an afternoon or evening together), I thought we might try several fall decorating projects. To get started, I checked out ideas for fall window scenes and decided that we would use pumpkins, leaves, and bats. I found this great page full of templates on MarthaStewart.com, and selected the bat template. Basically I traced the bats and Annabelle helped to cut them out. For the pumpkins, I freehanded the shape and turned them over to Annabelle for her choice coloring skills.

To create our leaf window clingers, we played around a bit. For starters, we collected leaves, pressed them for 2 weeks in large and heavy books, and then got busy with our art. Using non-toxic tempera paints, Annabelle used her fingers and paint brushes to paint the leaves. Later, I pressed these painted leaves as well as a few au-natural leaves between wax paper. The other paper leaves are those created by tracing or pressing down on “real” leaves by positioning paper over the leaf or leaves.

Creating our very own fall decorations is wonderful for a couple of reasons; first, making our art inspires genuine creativity in us and our children, and second, homemade decorations take less of a toll on Mamma Earth. On a similar note, it looks like Mama Bird at Surely You Nest is on the same wavelength. She just posted her solutions to preparing for the holidays in “The Sweet Cha-Ching of the Holidays.”

Ooh, and I almost forgot! This post is my response to Inspire Me Thursday’s Paper Cut theme.

What a fun way to cut, play with color, and connect with the family! Happy fall decorating!

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To wrap up the Talking Trash project I thought it would be appropriate to literally wrap something up. I found a magazine bead project in Earth-Friendly Crafts for Kids by Heather Smith with Joe Rhatigan, and so the other night, our family spent an hour or so tearing, cutting, and wrapping pages from old magazines. Since our daughter is nearly 2, she needed a lot of help with this project; actually, her role in this project was primarily to help cut and glue. To make your own magazine paper beads, you’ll need:

magazines

scissors

pencils

blue

string of some sort

wood, metal, plastic, or glass beads (optional)

What we did

Basically we tore out colorful pages from old magazines (that will be recycled or donated to the used book shop) and then cut triangle strips from the pages. The base of the triangle determines the width of your bead, so cut the size of your triangles accordingly. After cutting several triangles, we rolled the triangles, starting with the base, around a pencil until the entire triangle (except for one inch) was wrapped. Annabelle then helped with dabbing glue along the last inch of the triangle and then I finished wrapping the triangle around the pencil, pressing the paper snug and rubbing away excess glue. I allowed the beads to dry overnight and the next day we pulled them onto some string.

Other Projects

Before I removed the drying beads from the pencils, I have to say that the pencils were quite attractive. I think that leaving a few magazine wrappings around a pencil is an easy way to jazz up boring yellow pencils.

I have also seen baskets woven out of magazine wrappings and I have seen other kinds of jewelry too. A more skilled artist (or anyone with a fair amount of patience) might consider creating a door curtain, frame decor, or a belt.

Overall, this project was a lot of fun and could be modified for various ages and abilities.

What kinds of recycled art projects have you completed or might like to try? If you have already created art from trash, please post a link to your work in the comments. Thanks!

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As you may have noticed, I have been making a few changes to my site. First, I am excited to have added a photo page that takes you to my photostream on Flickr. Most of the photos included in my posts on Green Mamma are my own, unless noted otherwise, although I sometimes have a tendency to overdo it and force too many pictures into one post. My solution is to create compact and precise posts (photowise– I can’t make any promises that my prose will become less chatty) and to place other photographs that I want to share over at Flickr.

Other changes include a new page for books that takes you to my bookshelf at goodreads. I am an avid reader and consider books the greatest escape (words can take us so far in only an instant). Plus, I delight in new ideas and love indulging my daughter and husband’s appetite for books too. So far my list of books are shelved on children’s, crafting, fiction, green living, moms’ book club, Montessori, parenting, and friend recommended. If you have any book suggestions for me, let me know. I love, love, love to read.

You might also have noticed with my Talking Trash Project that I am trying to awaken my inner artist and inspire my family to get crafty too. We had a lot of fun spending afternoons and nights making things out of either trash or found art materials. My daughter is a natural born body artist. Whenever we bring out the paint, she is quick to dip in an arm, elbow, or toe and get started in making beauty come alive. I notice that my husband is a more reserved artist who gets much enjoyment from watching the two women in his life create something from nothing. Don’t tell him that I told you, but he is a budding sketch artist too. Just last night he drew a fine alligator.  So, you can expect more on our family’s art adventures, and I will do my best to tie these posts into ways to be a green artist or artista povera.

Other technical changes include my experimentation with my site’s header. To create it, I used 3 photographs of the woods behind our house and combined them using Photoshop Elements (believe it or not I let an entire year pass before picking up my P.E. manual to learn how to use it). I am also playing with the fonts, colors, and sizes of things. My web art skills are amateur at best, so please hang in there with me.

As always, there is so much that I want to do, but in time, I will get to it.  Change seems to be the theme of my life right now and considering that we are at the cusp of a new season, it would be rightly so.

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Coinciding with my talk trash project was my husband’s 3*the birthday. Since he’s already going green in so many ways, I thought Annabelle and I could go one step further and wrap up his birthday gift in an eco-friendly way. To box his new bike shorts, we placed them in tissue paper and an old strawberry container (I happened to give in to a craving for strawberry’s on a recent trip to the grocery store). We then spent several afternoons crafting our own wrapping paper out of old newspaper, a tempera wash, and accentuated tempera designs (including Annabelle’s hand and foot prints). And what would any gift be without a ribbon or bow? We used pipe cleaners left over from another project to give these packages that special bling.

Painting newspaper and creating gift packaging are some of the more earth friendly and fun ways that our family goes green. How do you get your kids in on some environmental action? If not in creating things, what other kinds of activities does your family participate in to care for our planet? I love hearing from you. Thank you for sharing!

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Designing my very own art notebook was not only a fun way to spend an afternoon but a terrific way to repurpose an old notebook and scrap paper in a fashionable way. An added bonus is that this project coincides with Inspire Me Thursday’s notebook theme. Many other paper and collage artists who posted at Inspire Me Thursday also created covers with impressive techniques and skill, so you may want to stop over there for more ideas on how to make your own notebook cover.

This project not only repurposes scrap paper and other whimsical odds and ends for a new life in art (I considered using old scrabble letters for “Dream, Create, Love, and Inspire” on my notebook) but is a wonderful way for artists of all ages to express themselves and create a place where they may draw, brainstorm, and journal on a daily basis (aside from their blogs of course!).

Inside my old notebook, I discovered my amateur collage work where I played with acrylic paints, stamps, and magazine photos.

Overall, the best way to manage used and unwanted paper (including notebooks) is to recycle. However, if you have the urge to make art with paper, these are some fun ways to give something old a second, more beautiful life.

What suggestions do you have for repurposing paper? Do you use magazine, newspaper, cards, and even old book pages to create new things? I am always ears for new projects, so please share away.

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On a rainy day or sick day, I love to curl up with Annabelle and read books in bed. Last week during an especially icky patch of rainy days, we read Kit Allen’s board book Galoshes which inspired me (and Annabelle) to build this nifty sailboat out of an empty milk carton. To create our sailboat, we followed these instructions from Create-Kids-Crafts.com.
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About 20 minutes later, our milk carton sailboat set sail in our bathtub. Sadly, the mast and sail could not endure rough waters (from a very nasty storm made by one feisty toddler); fortunately, the milk carton hull can survive almost anything–from large waves and storms to ship wrecks and sinking. Oh, and this boat sails beautifully too.

Creating toys from trash has been a lot of fun and has me brainstorming new ways to reinvent “stuff” from egg cartons to broken balloons. Another great side effect is that being creative beats boredom, lethargy, and relieves stress for me. I am happy to have stumbled upon these recycled art projects. More to come!

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An easy way to make old shirts new again (or consignment and vintage purchases re-styled) is to jazz it up with an iron-on. I originally came across the wonders of iron-ons while brainstorming how to create text in a homemade fabric baby book. While my fabric baby book is still a project in the works, learning how to create a one of a kind garment for myself and my little one has given me a no-sew option to updating old clothing.

When we choose to purchase used clothing or make donations to consignment and thrift shops, we are helping to reduce the cost of waste disposal as well as the natural resources consumed in the life of a product. From the U.S. E.P.A.:

Waste is not just created when consumers throw items away. Throughout the life cycle of a product from extraction of raw materials to transportation to processing and manufacturing facilities to manufacture and use waste is generated. Reusing items or making them with less material decreases waste dramatically. Ultimately, less materials will need to be recycled or sent to landfills or waste combustion facilities.

And when you refashion used items to suit your own styles, not only will you look hip but you’ll feel good about your threads too. Iron on transfers can be used on anything from onesies and tees to fabric bags, pillows, pillow cases, and fabric covered containers.

I created the iron on tee “Barack and Roll Baby” by sprucing up a photo of my favorite candidate for U.S. President with Photoshop Elements and then adding text.

What kinds of projects have you  created (or would like to) using iron on transfers? Do you have any easy tips for refashioning old clothing and stuff? I’d love to hear, as always.

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Repurposing jars and cans is one of the simplest ways to reduce packaging waste, and the bonus is being able to create adorable containers to use around the house. Over the weekend, our family created 2 paper covered paint brush and pen containers out of an old soup can and a nut butter jar. Since this project is super easy, older children and teens can have an afternoon of fun making stylish containers for their school and art supplies. Here’s what we made:

the sky is the limit pen container (for my hubby’s desk)

a daisy paint brush holder for my crafting table

a no nonsense toothbrush holder. Plus, I like how this (practical) glass jar looks too. Who needs the Container Store?

Of course, there are many, many ways to reuse and repurpose jars and cans. Later today I’ll show you how our family made use of glass jars to preserve food for the coming winter.

What are some of your favorite ways to reuse jars and cans? Do you or your kiddos create neat crafts with them? Has your family found a way to reduce jar and can consumption? I’d love to hear your ideas!

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A tell tale sign of any family’s commitment to the environment is whether or not they recycle. Since many communities and waste treatment facilities offer free recycling bins, it is always a wonder to me when I notice a house without one.

Recently I stumbled across one of the smartest ways to encourage recycling in every household: Pay as You Throw garbage collection programs. As a unit based approach to garbage collection, Pay as You Throw offers a financial incentive to households to reduce the amount of garbage they produce and to find alternative and environmentally friendly ways to manage their trash.

Coinciding with my discovery of the Pay as You Throw programs (in over 4,000 communities across the U.S.), are our children’s’ return to school. In honor of our kiddos going back to school (or resuming home studies) and inspired by SouleMama’s 30 Days of Summer project, I am hosting a 10 day mini project over here at Green Mamma to encourage creativity, recycling, and waste reduction.

Over the next 2 weeks, you can expect 10 days of trash talking; basically, I will share tips for repurposing household items, prolonging trash from entering the solid waste stream, and creating fun projects to do with your kids. As always, I am looking to learn a thing or two myself, so I welcome your comments and tips for reusing and repurposing old stuff to make new stuff and ultimately stopping lots of stuff from winding up in the landfill. I invite you to join me in my quest to talk trash. I’d love the morale boost and plus, it’s always fun to have some company when doing good deeds for Mamma Earth.

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