From This To That #1: Powering Through Powerade Bottles

This series is all about showing what my raw material sources get reduced down to after I harvest the parts I need for my crafts. The above photo shows two trash bags' worth of Powerade bottles. The photo just below shows what's left after I cut off the bottoms for paper mache molds, which incidentally fills less than one of those same trash bags. Not a bad start.

Recycle, But What About Reduce and Reuse?

We all used to hear a lot about recycling. We still do. 56% post-consumer material. Made from recycled sneakers. The list goes on. When we were taught the three environmentalist R's:  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, the first two got glossed over somewhat, and recycling took center stage. The concepts of reduce and reuse deserve more attention, so here are my definitions for this popular threesome:

Reduce:  This concept is twofold. First we reduce our waste output by doing things that don't create waste in the first place, like using a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water, using a reusable shopping bag instead of the plastic or paper ones you get at the store, or buying buying items in bulk where possible so there is less packaging to throw away. Secondly, we can reduce our waste by saving some of what we would throw away for later reuse or recycling.

Reuse:  This is all about using what you might normally throw away all over again, either for it's original intended purpose or for a different purpose altogether. If you use a plastic freezer bag to store bagels over and over again, you're reusing. If you use an old jelly jar as a vase for cut flowers, congratulations! You're reusing too.

Recycle:  This one is frequently more about what your local recycling center can do for you than what you can do for yourself, but don't let that absolve you of your environmental responsibility. Recycling plants need to expend energy to turn those tin cans into tinfoil, melt glass down to be reformed, and all the other things they do. It can be satisfying to expend some of your own energy to make old things new again. Using old newspapers (and even the hated "junk mail") as paper mache is a great example of recycling and no one will ever know what's in it.

So there you have it. I hope this goes to show how important all three of these environmental concepts are, and I hope you give them all the equal respect they deserve.

The Things We Don't Want To Keep But We Don't Want To Throw Them Away #1

I grabbed the Magic Grow Pellets from my pile and threw them all into warm water to expand them all at once. Boy, that was fun! Now to find something to do with my new fun shapes. I'm thinking some sort of jewelry.

The Things We Don't Want To Keep But We Don't Want To Throw Them Away

You know you have them. We all have them. Those bits and bobs that show up in kid's meals, giveaways, vending machines, or just little things we bought because it seemed like a good idea at the time. They hang around the house. They pile up in corners and on shelves. They collect dust. But no matter how useless and in the way they become, we cannot bring ourselves to throw them away. We think we will find a use for them someday or that we are obligated to keep them since we spent money on them, but these things are just dragging us down and keeping us from a clean and organized living space. My goal here is to find something useful or artistic to do with these objects. To that end, I am collecting all of them in one place until inspiration strikes me.

Family Friday: The Family That Plays Together Stays Together

This is our wall of Guitar Hero/Rock Band controllers. As it turns out, this is much safer (and better looking) than sitting them on the floor leaning against the wall. My favorite thing about these music-themed games is that, since you can pick your difficulty level individually, we can all play together as a family regardless of how many hours we have logged on. Derrick plays a lot, while I only pick up a guitar controller when we play as a family or when company comes over. Also, this is one of the few games we can get Shawn to play that is creative rather than destructive. And that ROCKS!

We're Putting the Blog Back Together

After a long absence, I am bringing this blog back to the foreground of my attention. I was discouraged by the lack of activity (comments, mostly) but since then I have refined my crafting focus and I'm ready to get back on the horse. So get ready for more crafting content I firmly believe that if you build it they will come. They have to. We're on a mission from God.

New Tags

Here are my new tags that I made for putting in my tote bags and purses. I used a custom stamp for the back and printable iron-on transfer paper for the front. This is a lot nicer looking and easier to read than the hand-stamped tags I was making. However, I am still using used light colored denim pants for the base material that these tags are printed on. I wonder what else I could stick them on...