Thimbleina

More junk re-use

 

Master T has his last day at his forest/playschool tomorrow so he wanted to take some cookies in for the kids which we have made. Now for the container part so that we don't have to remember to bring one back with us in the midst of all the excitement.

I bake most of our bread in a bread machine each day and those of you that do will know that this requires dried skimmed milk powder of which we go through quite a bit. So what to do with all those containers that it comes in, as I hate putting them in the bin as they can't be put in our recycling. So apart from making into stilts, pen pots and holders for coconuts on the coconut shy I have found a use for them. When we bake for people as gifts we use them and cover them in wrapping paper or brown paper then draw things on them and the make ideal cookie containers when you are giving as gifts

Recycling carrier bags

 

I made bunting for the kids' wendy house in the garden to brighten it up a bit so that they play more in it this summer holidays.

I used old carrier bags from places like clothes shops - you know the thicker ones, some of them if you look inside either have another colour or you can use them inside out so that the writing doesn't show. If you cut the flags on the edge of the carrier bag then you just need to fold over the string and I used double sided sticky tape at the top and at the sides near the point.

Voila! waterproof bunting.

Green bags

 

I saw these type of bags at a local farmshop at the weekend. The ones in the shop were green net and were something like £5.00 for 4. I thought I have just the material for trying to make one of those so yesterday I ran one up out of some cotton muslin that I had and added a string to pull it together. I am going to give this one a go to try and save using plastic bags for loose fruit and veg. It might go down okay at the farmshop, but I am shore to get strange looks at the supermarket (they will probably look for a barcode for the bag to charge me for it - the supermarkets are not overly green in this neck of the woods, you could take your own bags for putting the shopping in then they will wrap the things going in it in little plastic bags - it is like you really must be having withdrawal symptoms not using plastic - here have some sly little ones no-one will know)

I'll let you know how I get on with the material and the strange reaction to them. 

Repurposing for Hallowe'en

 

I spent some time yesterday making Lady A's Hallowe'en costume. The hat was made from a velvet skirt of mine the wire to make the frame was from an old plastic cheap one that had ripped. The polo neck jumper is one of my old ones with the body slimmed down and sleeves and bottom of the body cut down. The skirt is an idea I have seen on a few blogs in the past, a piece of elastic around the waist and then strips of fabric tied to the elastic, the fabric was a mixture of fabric I had in my stash and a lining of an old dress. Lady A wore it all yesterday afternoon so I think it might be a hit with her, she just wants a broom she says, so I'll have to see if I can find some twigs to make one on one of our walks.

 

A game that we played at the weekend involved fish cut out of newspaper and a piece of cereal box to use to flap at the fish to get them to the finish line, although I think in this photo Lady A may just be cheating a little! But it was fun.

Eco friendly and stuffing fish

I received a parcel from one of the company's in the online shop list of stores that I like - Spirit of Nature. I thought I'd show you this label as I love packages that are sent in recycled packaging and this great label is just so quirky I love it. Why can't more businesses send parcels in reused packaging? Does everyone really need pretty packaging which more often than not gets damaged in the post? Anyway while looking for more labels to put on my envelopes that I re-use (sometimes I just recycle paper that only has print on one side) I came across this website - 'Its not easy being green' which is written by the Strawbridge family that were on the BBC doing a programme about how they endeavour to be as green as possible - take a look and look at the links for green eco friendly products or inspiration.

Inspired by Artful parent Lady A made a stuffed fish which was filled with more newspaper out of the recycling bin. By the way since made this fish has been carried everywhere in place of Rosie/Lily dipstick.