Green Capitalists - step by step guide

How to make paper flower pots from newspaper and then further exploit the enterprise.

This idea was originally from my chum "DJ Kirkby" on her post over "here" but I decided to steal it from her to provide her with the opportunity to sue me for copyright infringement. They're a litigious lot those Brits.


1. You will need a PVC pipe of the right diameter [small, medium, large] a cutting tool and some newspaper.

2. Chop the pipe to the desired height that you want your pot to be.

3. Turn the newspaper diagonally and fold in half for extra strength.



4. Fold over again to the same height as the pipe.

5. turn over the paper and roll the length of the strip around the pipe.

6. several time until you have a couple of inches of tail left.


7. fold upwards.
8. Tuck in the other end, squish it, to form the bottom.

9. tuck in the top tail between one of the folds.

10. Voila! Pots for free.

11. Make loads in advance ready to fill whenever you come across an errant seeding.





This was, necessarily, a joint family enterprise to take account of different people's skills and limitations. Those who were paper averse in the tactile defensiveness department relied upon the fine motor skills of their sister to help fashion the pots.

Then is was the boys' turn to identify the seedlings in the garden. It's easy enough to spot different coloured flowers but it's far more taxing to identify teeny tiny little green plants and to differentiate between them. However with a handy aide memoire clutched in their hot little puds, this too turned out to be easy peasy. Laminate both sides because you know it's going to get muddy and soggy.

N.B. make one for each child to avoid hic-cups.





Then all you have to do is wait a couple of weeks for the seedlings or cuttings to settle in.

After that teach the basic principles of capitalism to your socialists who pocket money is apparently deficient.




Then sit back and watch the competition clean up with baubles for the magpies amongst us.






N.B.B. This post is brought to you via the ability to enjoy outside play.

Got you pegged

A step by step guide to making your own peg bag or laundry hamper or toy tidy, it's that versatile! Reduce, recycle, re-use and go green all at the same time.

Level of difficulty = easy peasy

This is best made from sturdy material such as corduroy, canvas or heavy linen. Alternatively, use up anything you have hanging around including old clothes that are no longer wearable. Use a plastic hanger because then when it’s hanging up outside in the weather it won’t rust.




Cut out the shape, large or small depending upon how many mountains of laundry you tackle in the average day.





Look at your hand, if you are the one who will be pegging out the clothes and compare it’s size to the bowls in your kitchen. Use the right size bowl to draw a circle in the upper centre of the front of the bag with taylor’s chalk, or any other chalk come to think of it. [*] Keep it on the high side so that you can reach into the bag, as if you put it too low all the pegs will fall out.





Sew around the hole with bias binding.



Since bias binding is hideously expensive and comes in a really titchy packets, you can make your own either contrasting or of the same material. All you have to do is cut a strip diagonally [the bias] across the warp of the fabric. [or possibly weft?] Bias binding is stretchy and therefore more forgiving when you attach it.



Bind off the neck [top] similarly to prevent fraying.

French seam outside edge and reinforce the ‘shoulders’ and base seam if you plan to use a lot of pegs, as if they’re wooden they get much heavier when they’re wet.

Lastly insert the hanger through the hole.[*] Make sure that the hanger will also fit through the hole first before you attach the bias binding.

These natty little bags are also very handy for camping unless you want to sleep in a nest of Pokemon. They also double as laundry hampers. You can hang them on the back of your child’s bedroom door to encourage independence. If you use them for either of the previous purposes then it’s a good idea to add an open-able flap at the bottom of the bag for quick release.



I have tried doing this with old favourite t-shirts but the results are a bit too stretchy with far too much give, however, I think it’s perfectly feasible to make the bag out of a plain white fabric and then attach a large front square of the stretchy T-shirt as an appliqué decoration.











And if anyone gives me a tissue box cover or a peg bag for Mother's Day I shall be extremely miffed.........unless it's been made with tender loving care from smaller people with bigger souls.

Pain in the planet

The workings of the mind are always intriguing. As my autistic boys learn to express themselves verbally, all too often we get tied up in knots of confusion, or rather I do. Trying to unravel their enquiries is often time consuming and requires a great deal of patience. They have to be patient with me whilst my brain plays catch up and connects the dots which are obvious to them but minute and disguised to me.



“Eeoow! What is dat stinky smell which is being in my nose?”
“Yes sorry about that. It’s recycled clay.”
“Recycle? Recycle is stink?”
“Not always but in this particular instance, yes. It’s all the left over bits of clay. I stick them in an old pillow case, in a bucket filled with water. Then when it’s all smooshed together I can use it again, but it is rather smelly.”
“What for the other things that we are do then?”
“Er?”
“Dah two?”
“Which two?”
“Dah re-use and dah reduce.”
“What about them?”
“Are they being the stink too?”
“No they’re not stinky."
“An dah other one?”
“Which other one? We already have them all, re-use, reduce, recycle, that’s it.”
“No.”
“No?”
“What it is mean?”
“What does what mean?”
“Joyce?”
“Oh…..well Joyce is a name.”
“Who name it is being?”
“Well it can be a first name, like Joyce Grenfell, or it can be a last name like James Joyce.”
“I am like dah other joyce bestest?”
“Er…..you’ve lost me.”
“Dah other ‘re’ is not stink. I am liking dah smell of dah other ‘re.’”
“We’re back to re? What’s that got to do with Joyce? Do you know someone called Joyce whose keen on recycling……or……..something?”
“No. Where is your think today?”
“Think or stink? What are we talking about here?”
“We are have dah old ones.”
“Which old ones?”
“Dah re-use, reduce and dah recycle.”
“O.k. So they’re old are they?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s the new one then?”
“Dah re-joyce which is being smell nice and is being a nice name for a nice smelly thing.”





Who knew fancy tea-bags could ever provoke such a debate?

All that glitters.......Magic Marker Best shot Monday

Hosted by "Tracy" at "Mother May I," but the photo-picture below will whizz you right there with one click.

Just call me snap happy.

***

It's that time of year.



Are you tempted?



Something for you, or maybe a friend?

Short of cash?

Well then this maybe the choice for you.

First you need one of these:-








Which you cut into rings:-










Bind with ribbon:-

We made several different kinds, this is bias binding.





Leave to dry - glue the inside first and then fold over the front. Do not use a hot glue gun or it will melt.






Decorate.

You can find more ideas int he book called Green Bling, turning bottles into Bandles by Heidi Borchers.

So that's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, apart from the bits that I left out.

The project was my suggestion to the boys, a birthday present for their sister. They recognized pretty and therefore appropriate. After that I was pretty much on my own. However, with a little persuasion they were fully present to pass the glue when asked, choose the colours and the 'gems.' They were particularly insistent that there should be no scratchy bits on the inside where there would be skin contact. The element of surprise or secret was a bit of a blow out, as their sister was present in another room to witness the ruckus and heated debate about her preferences, but you can't have everything in life and I suspect that she was quite impressed that they took such care.

I think that probably counts as a silver lining?

Thursday 13 – easy green Thanksgiving décor

Thirteen Things about recycled Thanksgiving decor

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants





You will need:
One pumpkin
One empty, clean orange juice jug
Template
One overhead projector film
Washable pen
Sharpie
Scissors
Large piece of waster paper or newspaper
An exacto knife
A cleaver
Chopping board
Sandpaper
Feathers, glue and glitter of your choice
A captivating activity
A thankful of patience

Whilst it might be fun to do this craft with your children, due to the prevalence of lethal weapons, it may be better to prepare all the parts in advance for them to decorate and assemble.

1. Take a large piece of paper and outline a tail feather shape.


[this is last years with the feathers already attached which makes it easier to see]

Alternatively, make outlines of your children’s hands in advance to add the personal touch. You can use more than one tail/ hand print if your children and their hands are very small, as stumpy tailed turkeys are not popular.

2. Cut the ‘film’ to match, set aside to decorate with children.

3. Split the juice carton in two, vertically, with an exacto knife. Take care to keep the handle part separate to form the neck and head.



4. Cut the two side panels into wing shapes

5. Fashion a neck and head out of the handle hook.





6. Mark the ‘face’ with a sharpie or leave this step to a child that likes to draw faces.

7. Take the sandpaper and remove all sharp snags from the pieces.

8. Take the washable pen and mark four cuts on the pumpkin, neck and tail at the ‘front/back/ top.



9. Mark two wing cuts at a semi vertical angle.







10. Take the cleaver and cut into the markings.



11. Insert each piece to check whether you have a good fit so that smaller hands than yours can easily push the pieces into the holes. If not, take time to enlarge the holes now before their pieces are decorated. Remove all lethal weapons from the visual scene.

12. On completion, gather children into a large open area with all decorating supplies available in duplicate. Forewarn children that glue takes time to dry, that they are at stage one and that stage two, assembly, will be later. It is now essential to minimize the use of glue. Glue use is exponentially related to drying time. Put visual timer in prominent position out of the line of fire of escaping glue, to illustrate that the passage of time is indeed despicably slow.

13. After the decorating stage, dig out the captivating activity, otherwise known as the ‘kill time whilst glue dries’ activity. Do not attempt clean up at this time. This time must be devoted to the captivating activity in another room during the glue drying. Now you will discover whether your captivating activity time is closely matched to your glue drying time. Do not attempt to speed up the process by use of the microwave or a hairdryer, as both these options are deemed cruel and unusual punishment to turkeys.

After approximately 30 minutes, assuming that you gained control of glue usage earlier, the turkey parts should be dry enough to handle. You will now learn if your choice of ‘captivating alternative activity’ was sufficiently captivating or too captivating. You will already know if it was insufficiently captivating, as you will be doing your captivating activity alone. If your activity was too captivating your children will continue the new activity. On no account will they now leave that activity to return to the previous activity to complete the turkeys. On the 57th occasion that someone asks ‘why?’ resist the fowl urge to shout ‘because it’s fun!’

Time to wattle off and recharge the patience battery!