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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Prompted by the challenge “Create Against the Clock” at Inspire Me Thursday, Annabelle and I spent this past Sunday afternoon playing with tempera paints. Since I’m hoping she’ll learn a bit about color blending and the color wheel in the coming year, I brought home red, blue, yellow, and white and black paints from the craft store so that we may create other color variations.  For paint containers, we used old plastic food containers (like hummus, butter, and yogurt containers), and for tools, I invested in high quality brushes since they’re likely to get a lot of use.

Here’s what we made:

In 10 minutes, Annabelle achieved this brilliant masterpiece. Not too shabby, if I do say so.

In a little under an hour, Annabelle and I applied purple tempera to a dried, unfinished wood paper organizer that I picked up from a freecycler.

And while Annabelle worked on her 2 paintings, I played with her stamps to make the “mystery box” sign for her box by the same name. It is essentially a homemade version of this mystery box, although far less expensive. To make your own mystery box, repurpose a cardboard box (I used the one that my Nikon arrived in), cover with paper, paint, and other decorative materials. Ask your child to help decorate too.

Playing with the mystery box is a way for toddlers and pre-schoolers to focus on their sensory awareness, by “guessing” or identifying objects in the box based on texture, shape, and feel. For now, Annabelle loves putting her stuffed animals inside the box and playing peek-a-boo with them.

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Congratulations to Ruth, winner of the reJAVAnate reusable bag! As a one cup a day coffee drinker who’s committed to being earth friendly and stylish, Ruth has promised to make good use of reJAVAnate’s upcycled burlap bag (thanks to HopeAlso for introducing the term upcycle to my vocabulary =)).

Again, congratulations Ruth, and thank you to everyone who participated. Look for more free giveaways to come!

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Congratulations to Bronwyn of Melbourne, Australia!  She is the lucky winner of the Green Mamma & Creative Kismet Pillowcase Tote giveaway.

Thank you again to all participants.   And, thank you to Regina for crafting such a stylish bag.  Again, being green doesn’t mean you can’t be hip–bringing our own shopping bags in place of plastic or paper bags is not only an environmental statement, but a fashion statement too!

Stay tuned for another great giveaway here on Green Mamma.

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This week I enjoyed one of the frenziest (that’s a Green Mamma coined word) weeks ever on Green Mamma thanks to Regina of Creative Kismet and her ingenuous pillowcase tote giveaway. As a featured Green Friend of the Week, Regina taught me (and I hope other green people) a couple of new ways to live in an environmentally friendly way. Regina is the first actual person I’ve “met” who drives a veggie car! All around, she is one of a kind, and I’m glad that I stumbled upon her web-site a few years ago. Also, thank you to new visitors for stopping by and leaving a comment and to the regulars, who’ve been making the rounds at Green Mamma for a while now. Aside from all the excitement on Green Mamma, our family enjoyed a more upbeat week too. Here’s a little bit about what happened and why we’re all a little more grateful:

1. Music. Thoreau said, “Music is perpetual, and only the hearing is intermittent.” After experiencing two weeks with muffled hearing in my right ear, I am happy to share again in the beauty that is music and sound (even if it is the ever so endearing sound of my daughter’s shrill and frustrated scream). I hear everything now, and with both eyes, I delight in the sight of my daughter dancing and swaying to hip hop music. Holding up both of her hands in the air, and bopping her head to the beat, she is a true example of one who appreciates the sound of music.

2. The Great Tim Russert. On Friday afternoon as I drove home from an Attachment Parenting meeting, I heard the news that Tim Russert had passed away. For some reason, I cried. Of course, I never met Tim Russert, but I knew him as a dedicated journalist and correspondent on NBC’s Today Show and as a moderator on Meet the Press. I joke to friends that Washington, D.C. and its uber-political culture is infiltrating my sense of self; ever so slowly I have become something of a news junkie (I mean c’mon, I flip on MSNBC and CNN to relax at the end of a long day). Tim Russert was a familiar face to me each morning; I listened to him report on the primaries while I exercised or fed Annabelle breakfast. I always considered him a fair journalist. I trusted his point of view, his take on how events would play out. Right now I worry that ethical news coverage in the U.S. may suffer without him, but at the same time, I am grateful that he served as an example and a reminder that the media can have integrity, can be straightforward, and can be fair.

3. Daily To Do’s. I remember the early weeks of being a mom, at home and alone, trying to figure out what to do with the beautiful little girl that the universe had entrusted to me. Most days ran into each other, and it stopped mattering that sleep and wakefulness didn’t coincide with light and darkness, or day and night. Around the time that Annabelle turned 2 months, life returned to something that I might call “normal.” All of the sudden, I had the energy to start getting out of the house, to begin showing my daughter the world, to try and network–making friends with other new parents, and to once again, work to accomplish things.

As a full time mother, it is important to me that I set goals for myself and review my progress. Taken from an article in Discovering Motherhood, I write the following daily list to help me stay organized and focused when I’m on the job as a mom:

1. Household Chores; 2. Appointments; 3. Contact; 4. Milestones (that Annabelle has made); 5. Groceries; 6. Daily Menu (although weekly menu planning is helpful for budgeting); 7. Special Projects and; 8. Personal and Professional Goals

Making the above list helps me look forward to the day, keeps me from procrastinating, and gets me to focus and think about events that I think will be challenging; for example, on days when I know that our family will interact with challenging people, my personal goal for the day is to see the best in people, stay positive, and smile. My daily list also prevents me from forgetting about important upcoming events, like birthdays, talks I want to attend, and visits from family. All together, my daily list helps me to be good at the work I do, which is raising a good human being and making a home for our family.

4. Father’s Day. Yesterday was a special day for my husband. It was his second Father’s Day with Annabelle, who, as anyone might guess a daughter can do, has a rare power for lighting up her dad’s face with a smile.  To celebrate, we met up with friends, spent the day outside, and honored my husband’s father (who recently passed) by making spaghetti and clams, a favorite of my father-in-law’s.  I also thought about the other great dads who’ve made a difference in my life, including my own dad (who passed away 5 years ago and who I miss everyday), my mother’s boyfriend Joe (who is a dedicated dad to his own kids and is a wonderful friend to my mom), our friends who are loving dads, and many more.  Happy Father’s Day Dads!

5.  The Iffy Cocktail that is Our Neighborhood Pool.  Admittedly, our public pool frightens me, what with its mix of R.W.I.s and high levels of chlorine, but I can’t help but be thankful for it.  Since purchasing our pool passes, our family visits the big water hole (as we like to call it around Annabelle) each day; my husband romps around with Annabelle, encourages her to kick and swim, and then does laps.  I splash and play too, but I mostly enjoy making conversation with the other parents and kids.   And to maintain our family’s safety, we detox after each visit, breathing deep and rinsing all the chlorine and other “stuff” off with a shower.

So, that’s it in a nutshell.  Until next week’s Gratitude post,

Green Mamma

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As promised, here is the beautiful tote that Regina of Creative Kismet designed for green folks who are jonesing for a reusable and fashionable shopping bag.   In order to win this bag, leave a comment by next Thursday on this post or on this week’s Green Friend of the Week: Regina/Creative Kismet from Arizona.  On Friday, I will select and announce the winner.   Happy commenting!

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“My name is Regina and I am a thirty-something.”  So begins the introduction at Creative Kismet, one of my favorite blogs. Authored by a talented artist, nurse, and hip green mamma named Regina, Creative Kismet is a wonderfully inspiring place to learn about crafting, kids’ art, recycled art, homemade gifts, stamping,  vegan eats, and much more.    Regina and her family are ingenuous environmentalists who not only find ways to take care of the earth but also manage to do so in a stylish way.   Here are a few pointers from Regina of Creative Kismet:

1.  Reduce, recycle, and compost. Regina is mindful about the purchases her family makes and pays special attention to the packaging that products come in.  Her tip for reducing waste: “Look at packaging and  . . .  [only] buy  things with recyclable containers.”   In addition to recycling product packaging, her family composts food waste.

2.  Eat french fries and fuel your car.  That is, a veggie car.  Regina’s family owns a 1983 Mercedes diesel automobile converted to run off of used vegetable oil from restaurants.  To learn more about cars with vegetable fuel systems, visit Greasecar.com.

3.  Get thrifty.  Regina’s family buys 90% of their clothing from thrift and secondhand shops.  Also, as a talented fabric artist, she finds great fabrics and linens that she repurposes and designs as curtains, clothing, bags, and much more.  Based on the work I have seen on her Creative Kismet website, it is obvious that she not only has a talent for crafting and design but also has a wonderful knack for thrifting.  On the value of shopping regularly at thrift stores,  she says, “You’d be surprised at how many great things you can find in good to new condition.”  To locate a thrift store in your zip code, visit TheThriftShopper.Com.
4.  Clean the green way.   For her home, Regina chooses animal friendly, biodegradable, and natural ingredient cleaning products, and uses homemade remedies for around the house.  Her favorite recipes can be found at Junie Moon : cleaning recipes.

5.  Eat good stuff.  Since part of our connection to the environment is through the food we eat, Regina and her family pay special attention to the foods they put in their bodies.  Of their vegan cuisine, she says, “We eat lots of good stuff, primarily vegan foods (lots of veggies, legumes and grains) and locally grown vegetables from our local CSA  (http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp).”  And when available, her family buys organic food.

6.  Get fanatical.  Of her family’s habit of toting water bottles and reusable bags, Regina comments, “We are fanatical.”  Each family member uses a SIGG bottle and kleen kanteen on a daily basis.

Her family not only takes the ideal of reusing and repurposing seriously, but Regina’s eye for design allows them to be green in a stylish way.  She explains, “We  make our grocery bags out of re-purposed pillowcases and we use them whenever we go out.”

This week, one lucky commenter will receive a free reusable bag designed and made by Regina.   To see samples of her work, click here.

7.  Breastfeed.  As an RN for mothers and babies, part of Regina’s job is to teach about and promote breastfeeding, however, she also believes that it’s good for the environment.  She explains, “Not only does breastfeeding have long term benefits for both mom and baby that last a life time, but there is less energy use, trash and plastic waste compared to that produced by formula cans/bottles, supplies and transportation of formula.”  To learn more, read the  Benefits of Breastfeeding.

8.  Pledge Handmade.  No doubt that friends, family, and anyone lucky enough to receive a gift made by Regina are delighted with the thought, care, and creativity of her works, but in addition, those who receive handmade gifts participate in a meaningful object that is absent of large scale manufacturing.  Handmade gifts and purchases also value the artists, local cultures, and the environment.  To learn more about the Handmade Pledge, click here.

9.  Landscape and reduce harm.  Regina’s family chooses drought resistant plants and uses drip irrigation for the landscaping in their yard.   She notes that the environment influenced her family’s choices, “With very little rain in Arizona, we have to be very careful about water usage.  Having plants that are native to southern AZ helps to cut down on water.  We also have planted mesquite trees to help with shading our home and keeping it cool during the long hot summers.  We are currently learning about rain harvesting and are hoping to have a system in place before the monsoon’s hit in August.”   To learn about how to design an eco-friendly and edible landscape, visit Treehugger.com’s “Bountiful Backyards.”
10.  Purge the plastic.  “I’m on a quest to reduce plastic in my home,” explains Regina.  As part of her quest to rid her home of plastic, she is getting rid of plastic cups and containers, as well as poorly made plastic toys.  Her motto is, “Buying quality products made from natural materials will ensure that it lasts longer.”  And what about those well meaning plastic gifts from friends and family?  Regina recommends asking loved ones to “kindly buy . . . toys that are made from natural materials and have some kind of learning connection.”  Among her family’s favorites: handmade toys, books, creative kits, music, and games sets.  Natural made products to check out include:

• Eco-artware.com
• OurGreenHouse.com
• ImagiPLAY

Thank you again to Regina and her family for sharing a little bit about their green lifestyle.   I am convinced that there is more that they do, so maybe we’ll get to learn more sometime soon.  In the meantime, drop a comment and enter to win a stylish reusable shopping bag made by the talented Creative Kismet.

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