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  • 8 Ideas for Recycling Milk Jugs

    8 Ideas for Recycling Milk Jugs

    Gone are the days of milk men and glass milk bottles that were used over and over and over again. Now a days many milk jugs end up in the trash and landfills, some may make it to your recycling plant, but they don’t have to! Did you know you can reuse them at home in a myriad of ways? 

    8 simple ideas for recycling Milk Jugs and celebrating Earth Day

    A few years ago when I wanted to start planting but the weather wasn’t quite right, I decided to help the kids plant inside. We could have gone to the store and bought little pots for each of them, but why do that when we had a trash can with a couple empty milk jugs sitting in it? You can leave the milk jugs plain, or let the kids decorate them with paint, stickers, jewels, leaves, etc. This upcycling project will easily entertain the kids for a whole afternoon. What will you plant in your Milk Jug Planter?

    Milk Jug Planter

    If you don’t want to plant in the Milk Jug, One Creative Mommy turned one into a watering can. Again another SIMPLE craft the kids can help with. My kids are always fighting over who gets to water the plants, so I can easily keep 4 jugs out of the landfill by turning them into personalized watering jugs for my kids. Put them to work decorating again, and everyone will be happy this spring!

    DIY Watering Can from One Creative Mommy

    Dream Garden 101 teaches you how to turn a Milk Jug into an Upside Down Tomato planter. We love tomatoes, and growing our own, but when we rent there’s not always the space to grow a garden. This is a great space saver while still growing your own food, and teaching the kids about agriculture. Of course a little paint wouldn’t hurt to bring the planter more to life. She also shows how to turn a milk jug into a slow drip watering system.

    Milk Jug Upside down Tomato Planter from Dream Garden 101

    If you’re like me, perhaps you planted your garden a little early because you got too anxious waiting for the weather to warm up enough. That or maybe you did wait, and mother nature decided the weather should be weird this year! If that’s the case, Family Food Secure has a quick tutorial to turn Milk Jugs into a hot cap – or basically a little home for all your sprouts when the weather threatens a late frost. 

    Milk Jug Hot Caps from Family Food Secure

    Milk Jugs aren’t only good for reusing in the garden, though. Oh now! Check out these other really awesome ways to reuse your milk cartons. We all have a tupperware drawer (whether you use that brand or not…it’s just what I call those plastic food containers). Instead of losing lids, losing containers, or getting fed up with never having bottom and top match, just turn your Milk Jugs into a sandwich box! I found this idea over on Curbly.

    Milk Jug Lunch at Curbly

    If you have more of an inclination to dress up versus heading out to the garden, then this Storm Trooper Mask from Filth Wizardry is probably a better use of your empty milk jugs. 1 helmet uses 2 jugs! Imagine a whole family of Storm Troopers saving the planet 2 milk jugs at a time. 

    Milk Jug Storm Trooper at Filth Wizardry

    Finally, if you really want to get ambitious and save those milk jugs from the landfills, start asking your neighbors for their empty bottles, or plan on drinking a TON of milk for this one! A couple hands, and a few hours, and you can have a Milk Jug Reading Igloo just like the one Replay Report made. I’d personally be lost inside for the rest of my life. Toss me a book a pillow and a blanket, and I might consider living in it. 

    Milk Jug Igloo from Replay Report

    How are you reusing Milk Jugs?

  • 14 Crafty Ways to Reuse Pie Pans

    14 Crafty Ways to Reuse Pie Pans

    The holidays bring my favorite dessert – pie! What do you do when you find yourself with a stack of pie pans though? These 14 ideas are sure to inspire you to reuse pie pans in a myriad of ways. 
     
     
     

    Thanksgiving is upon is! Family, football, Macy’s Parade, and Food. Lots of Food. Which will usually equate to lots of trash as well. Styrofoam cups, paper plates, cans, napkins, and pie pans. So many pie pans!

    Did you know about 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten at Thanksgiving? (source)  That is a lot of pumpkin pie, and I highly doubt that even half of those are made at home in a reusable pie plate. Add to that fact, that some people out there just don’t like Pumpkin pie – raising my hand – so then we’ve got apple pie, cherry pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, and my personal favorite cheesecake!
     
    I’ve talked recently about how we can reduce our waste by buying products in cartons, but what are we going to do with these pie pans?  Lucky for you, I’ve been brainstorming, and have a pretty awesome list to reuse pie pans. 
     

    14 Crafty ways to Reuse Pie Pans after Thanksgiving 

     


    Garden Stones.     Fill with cement, and add sparkly things like bead
    s for a bright garden stone. These make great Grandparent gifts too. 

    Bake more pies.  I think this is pretty obvious. Also a great way to make pies for neighbors or potlucks without worrying about getting your dish back. 

    Kids Crafts. Things like a bird feeder, addition to a costume (think tin man), a mask, Frisbee, boat, the uses are endless here. 

    Sensory Play.  Have you seen sensory play pins? Something like this Frozen Sensory bin could easily be recreated in a pie tin. 

    Pet Bowls for on the go. Keep one or two in the car, for travelling with pets. Fill with water for a quick drink on the go

    Make a Veggie Basket for the grill. (Source)

    Store leftovers.  If you get the tins with the lids, save those lids and use the tin and lid to store leftovers, or to keep your husbands dinner warm if he has a late night (or wife if she’s the one working)

    Husbands lunchbox. Again hang onto the lids, and send your spouse to work with a meal in a tin. 

    Recreate Cafe Rio favorites at home. If you’ve never been to Cafe Rio, this might not make sense. You get a huge burrito, with beans and rice on the side, all served in what looks similar to a pie pan, but with higher sides. Save some money and recreate these favorites at home. I suggest trying this Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

    Recycle. If you’d rather not keep them around the house, then please recycle them. Give them to a crafty friend, or put in your recycling bin

    Christmas Ornaments.  I found this fun idea over on Thrifty Fun.  It would be easy to recreate with kids.   

    Aluminum ornament made from a pie pan

    Key and wallet Holder.  This one is so simple. Just set the pan on your counter, and request everyone leave their wallet, keys, sunglasses, and other pocket junk in the tin. It will keep your counters looking cleaner, and no one will lose their keys. 

    Screw holder in the garage. Attach multiple magnets to the back of the pie pan. Hang on your garage wall. Whenever you have a loose screw, or nail, or bolt, with no place to put it, toss it into the pan, and it will stick to the magnets. Great garage storage idea from Mark!

    French toast.  This is a tip I actually shared a few years ago, and what inspired me to think further outside the box. I use pie tins (make sure they have no holes) and their lids to soak my french toast in before cooking it up. They can be washed and reused over and over and over again. 

    How will you reuse pie pans this year?


  • Earth Day Craft: Milk Jug Planter

    Earth Day Craft: Milk Jug Planter

    Monday is Earth Day!  I love this day to celebrate our planet, and give a little back. It’s also a great day for teaching our children. I know, I should be better about teaching them every day, but I’m not.  We’re working on that though.

    School days always get away from me, so I thought, hey let’s do a fun little learning crafty thing on Saturday. The girls were at first just ho humming, do we have to turn the wii off mom? attitude when I told them we were going to plant flowers.  (by the way, I’m a mean mom and they only get to play wii on Saturday’s).  Once I pulled out all the stuff, and had them run outside to find some rocks, their attitudes changed pretty fast.

    This truly is a simple “craft” that anyone can do, with very basic supplies. You’ll want to start with an empty milk jug. Wash it out as good as you can, and then using a pair of kitchen shears (or other good scissors) cut the jug in half, just below the handle.

     Step 1

    While you, the adult, are handling the scissors, send your children out into the wild to find some rocks. Not too large, but not too small either (unless of course you have a gravel pit, then by all means get a bunch of tiny rocks).
    Now that the dangerous scissor cutting is done, and you have a pile of rocks, layer the rocks in the bottom of the jug. I would go up about 1 inch for good drainage. You don’t want your plants sitting in too much water. 

    Step 2

    Next cover the rocks with dirt up to the top of the jug. I used some extra seed starter I had, but you can go out and get some backyard dirt for this project too. My kids I know would love any excuse to go dig up some dirt.  

    Step 3

    Now you’re ready to plant. I let the Princesses choose from a myriad of seeds, just because I already had them (thanks Mom!).  So in our recycled milk jugs we’re growing Marigolds, Sweet Peas, and Daisies. Once the seeds are planted give them a drink of water, set out in the sun, and wait for them to grow. 
    Since putting ours outside, the Princesses have been checking on them every few hours, to see if they’ve come up yet. So far the idea hasn’t worn off, and they haven’t lost their patience. I just have to continue to explain that it takes a few days for them to grow. 
    Next on our spring crafty list – A Fairy House!
  • A Potpourri of Repurposing and Organizing Ideas {Guest Post}

    A Potpourri of Repurposing and Organizing Ideas {Guest Post}

    He who was seated on the throne said, “ Behold, I am *making all things new!”
    Revelation 21:5
    **Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness; for they have been ever of old.
    Psalm 25:6

    I’m delighted to be offering this Guest Post on Adelina’s blog, as she is in the midst of moving this
    week!  I have moved MANY times and I know how stressful it can be –  My offering for today will be a
    potpourri of ‘do-over’ ideas for you –  ;-}

    I have learned through the years to ‘make Beauty from Ashes,’ so to speak, and I thought I’d share
    just some of my many Repurposed Items and ‘creative storage’ ideas.  Perhaps some of these may be
    helpful to those of you who are on tight budgets or in tight spaces – as I know all too well… I have
    been ‘repurposing’ items all my life – long before it became ‘fashionable’ to do so and I enjoy reusing
    ‘usable’ items, often making them more beautiful.

    So – there are times when I just have to acknowledge my Dutch Heritage…  Being very frugal,
    resourceful and drinking coffee all day are a few things I do that come from my ‘Dutch genes.’
    *smile*  Therefore, I have many empty coffee cans for which I continue to find ‘good use’ –

    My first project today is a ‘repurposed’ coffee can – decorated with scraps – and turned into a Gift
    Container for some yummy Christmas Cookies or candies.

    To cover the can, I stamped ‘sheet music’ in brown on parchment paper, inking the edges and then
    stamping snowy flourishes in silver in various places. (These don’t show up in the photos – sorry.)  I
    used the (www.PaperCraftingWorld.com) Bell .svg file – a scrap of red, one of ‘marbleized’ silver, two
    of plain silver and a snippet of silver ribbon to make the ‘Silver Bells,’ which I adhered to the red
    grosgrain ribbon wrapped around the can.

    I made a Recipe Card/Gift Tag for the top with a Circle Card file (I don’t know from whence I got it…)
    – topped it with a Scalloped Circle ‘wreath’ I made from the same file.  I punched ‘notes’ from silver
    scraps, placing them on the wreath.  I used the flourishes that were cut from the Bells under a red
    flower plucked from a red hydrangea stem, enhanced with a red, flower-gem center and silver
    ‘Scribbles’ paint.

    Another enjoyable passion of mine is ‘burning candles’ – for their relaxing scent, as I ‘burn mine at
    both ends!’  Therefore, I have several of these empty glass jars at any given time…

    These harvest-themed .svg files are from
    The pumpkins were cut with my Cricut/SCAL2
    and then embossed on my Cuttlebug. The
    pumpkin atop is for the recipe and a note –

                                                      

    These Christmas .svg files are from
    After cutting the pieces with my
    Cricut/SCAL2, I embossed them in my
    Cuttlebug and then adhered them to the jar.
    Both jars are ready for holiday Goodies!

    I’ve found many ways to reuse baking sheets – These are old ones that I spray painted, used
    discontinued wallpaper for the backgrounds and then .svg files as decorative elements, further
    decorated with gems, flowers (from the Dollar Store) and magnets for memos.

    I also use some cookie sheets and pizza trays that I picked up at the Dollar Store while working on
    scrapbooking pages or other projects.  Arrange elements on them with magnets until you have the
    whole page designed and decided upon.  Then you can secure them to the pages with adhesives.

    I have turned simple lunch sacks into
    Mini-Albums to keep memories –
    turning this – into these –  They include
    many pages for photos and pockets
    for memorabilia –

    As far as organizing my crafty supplies, I’ve repurposed things for this, also.  Here are just a few of
    my ‘bright ideas.’

    I got the box at Michaels, cut my
    ‘business/blog name’ on my Cricut
    and adhered it to the front of the lid.
    For the dividers, I cut pizza and cereal
    boxes to fit, covered them with cream
    parchment paper and punched tabs.
    Some days it’s filled with cards I’ve
    made, some days it’s not – Time to
    make more!

    I covered empty soup cans with the
    corresponding color to my Timeless Twine
    spools.  I put my baker’s twine in a Sugar Jar,
    of the ‘restaurant style,’ that I picked up at
    the Dollar Store.

    I made a cutting board lap desk from a
    postal box covered with Kraft paper.
    It’s lightweight, portable and I’ve found
    it to be quite handy for years.

    I saw a post recently about using knobs attached to wooden dowel pieces with Velcro added to hold pieces of felt to use for ink blending…  I looked around and decided to attach the felted ‘furniture leg pads’ that I
    had in a drawer to wine corks and lids that I’d been saving – FREE!  I also use makeup sponges for blending
    inks –

    Another idea for corks and lids:  glue them together and glue on the little foam shapes to make simple stamping fun – for you or for children!

    Jars and food containers can also be reused as ‘serviceable,’ too – I use many of them to hold laces, ribbons, chipboard shapes, buttons, pins, any decorative elements –

    I use all manner of food containers for
    various crafting implements –  Here are
    vegetable containers in which my felt
    marking pens fit perfectly and stack
    nicely on the ‘box shelf’ which is their
    home –

    I keep track of all of the Punches I have in a $1  Kraft-page journal book I got at Michaels – I punch on cream paper and adhere in this book for a quick reference as to what I have while ‘projecting.’

    I will leave you with another ‘make-over-magic’ project I made this week – turning a lowly, plain Dollar
    Store mini clipboard into a sunny gift for one of my Dear Friends…!  The .svg file is from
    www.PaperCraftingWorld.com    I used Mod Podge to adhere all of the papers and gems and protect
    and preserve it while in use – The mini-pads come in several colors and I look forward to making a
    rainbow of these to have for quick gifts –

    I hope that some of this has been helpful to you!  I’d love to have you come by MY blog
    (http://aneleganttouch-lynden.blogspot.com) and see what I ‘cook up’ each week – adding ‘An
    Elegant Touch…’ to all that I do!  If you have some great repurposing or organizational ideas, I’d love
    to hear them, too –  Have a Lovely Day wherever you are and Thank You from Adelina and me for
    stopping by and sharing part of your day with us!  *smile*

    About the author

    My PhotoI am a mature, educated, creative woman – a Mother of two grown children – a Gramama of two precious grandchildren – a proud Blue Star Mother of a Marine Captain – a daughter of the King of Kings – a woman looking for her place in the world in the winter of her life…sharing what I do and who I am – with You – adding  ‘An Elegant Touch…’ to all that I do…


    Lynden Blossom

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    Thank You Lynden for sharing these wonderful tips and tricks with us! Your papercrafting is a delight to see, and I hope I can use some of these ideas around my new home!

  • Tuesday Tips – Window Cleaning

    Oh the windows, we all love windows right? I love opening the blinds and letting in some sunshine. What I don’t love is opening the blinds to find finger prints, and smears of who knows what streaking across the glass. Not to mention the same smears on the blinds.
    Maybe you don’t have kids and don’t have quite the same problem I do. But you still get dust sitting on the blinds. 
    Once again, browsing pinterest I found this great idea for cleaning blinds. This tip originated from Robin at Keep Home Simple (so glad I found her blog. I feel like she’s me….but cooler!)  Right back to the cleaning tip.  So Robin mixes equal part vinegar and water, then slips a sock on her hand and cleans the blinds.

    It’s really a brilliant idea. You can use whatever cleaner you like. I personally prefer just some really hot water to help pick the dust off the blinds.  The vinegar is a nice touch to help kill those smears from little kids hands.  The best sock to use would be one you don’t plan on wearing again. You know from that pile of unmatched socks that has been sitting in your laundry room for-e-ver!  I only had little kid socks to work with. Depending on how many blinds you plan on cleaning, and how big your windows are, I don’t suggest using small socks. They get dirty fast, and you’ll spend more time rinsing them out then actually cleaning. But if you have an adult sock, you can probably get a lot more clean at a time (pending on just how dirty you let your blinds get….yes there’s a big arrow pointing above my head right now…). 
    The biggest downside I found to this method, is you can’t easily change sides of the sock like you can with a rag. So you really do have to rinse it out to keep cleaning. Other than that, the blinds are much easier to grab and hold in place while cleaning! I’m even going to add a little my tip here, put a dry sock on your other hand, and you can dry the blinds as you wash them!

    Now on to those dirty windows! By the way, I suggest cleaning the blinds first, or you may accidentally streak dust onto your clean windows from your blinds (yes I found out the hard way).  My personal favorite window cleaner is Windex and Newspapers! Yes Newspapers. Most of us have them sitting in piles, feeling guilty if we throw them out. Newspapers make great window cleaners. They’ll leave your windows streak and FUZZ free. I don’t know about you, but if I use a wash rag I get little fuzzies all over my windows.
    Now here’s the thing. Today when I went to grab my newspapers, I realized I had a lot of brown packing paper. So I decided to give it a try. It’s my new favorite cleaning “rag”.  The packing paper holds up much better than newpaper allowing you to use less of it at a time.

    *While looking for a picture of the packing paper, I came across this article on FunInTheMaking.com with more ways to reuse that packing paper!

  • Gardening Compost

    I’ve seen that some of my friends, the lucky ones in warm climates, have begun their gardening. Since I don’t live in a very warm climate, and we had a late winter this year, I’ve resorted to just planning and dreaming about our garden this spring. I’ve got the space marked out I want to use, plans for Mark to build some raised square foot beds, and the veggies I want to grow.
    What I really want though is to be able to save more money, and waste less inside our home to help our garden grow. I’ve been thinking a lot about composting. I remember growing up my mom kept an old ice cream bucket under the sink where we scraped our plates. When it would get full we had to haul it out into the woods to out compost area. Besides being pretty stinky, it was so fun to see different things start sprouting in the compost from thrown out seeds – watermelon, cucumbers, and more. We periodically would catch a glimpse of some white tailed deer hanging out near the pile as well.

    The problem I’ve run into is that I no longer live in the middle of the woods. I’ve got neighbors that probably wouldn’t appreciate the stench from an outside compost dump. So I’m trying to find any laws, and ways I can successfully compost with neighbors. So far I’ve had no luck.  I did however find this CUTE compost bucket though

    You can purchase this particular compost bucket at The Foundary on sale through tomorrow. It’s 1.5 gallon square ceramic. It comes with charcoal filters, which I am assuming help with the smell.

    If you have any tips for composting please share!

    I’ve also come across this brilliant idea to recycle rain water.

    Why let all that rain go to waste, when I can save our water bill by using the rain to water my garden? Really it’s brilliant! 
    As much as I do love the winter, I’m ready for spring and gardening!