Friday 30 October 2009

Dead mouse? Great gift!

If you think that only people who are despised would receive dead mouse as gift, then you have obviously not heard about Jeanie M. She is a taxidermist who can create angels out of the dead that you wouldn't mind displaying in your home.

Check them out on her site at Mouse Angel.




Thursday 22 October 2009

Share this. It's free!

Who need books when you can learn online? Denise shared some educational sites in her slideshow.



Go help save some trees. Take the lead for free lessons or create your own to add.

Bad bags days? No more!

I don't buy reusable bags. Sometimes I get them free from exhibitions attended or with stuff purchased. My children get them from the school they attended.

Take a look at these reusable bags we have on hand.

Do you like the colour enough to go shopping with it?

Some can't even take the weight it is supposed to!

Even if it is reusable, would you continue using it if you can't wash the stain off it?

I am sure you are facing the same problems. Do you have a solution to these problems? Me? You bet!

If the kids don't fancy the colour of their reusable bags to use them, slip them into another that they would consider taking.

Here is a lacy bag that I crochet.

This is how it looks with reusable bag tucked in.

The kids are more likely to handle their reusable bags with care if they like the colour and the design. So, while the reusable bag is still new...

...reinforce the handles by running stitches where they join at the bag.

Here is another crochet bag design I created for reusable bag.


With this design, I can slip the handles of the reusable bag through the handles of the crochet bag.


That should keep our reusable bags from landing in the trash bin any sooner. How do you like that?

I hope that producers of reusable bags should rethink how they design their bags so that they not only will last longer but will be fashionably, the bag of choice.

Friday 16 October 2009

Bad photos? Great for creativity!

On photography, if there is one thing I have picked up, it is that it's nearly impossible to take a good image of every member in the group posing for the photo.

So, what do you do with digital photos where you can see someone displaying an odd expression, strange gestures or weird postures? Maybe it has something to do with the camera or bad lighting, since no one is going to admit that they are bad photographers. Yes, there are going to be photos that will not land up in the photo album. But wait! Don't delete them on sight!

Once you have gotten over those distractions, you will notice that you can still make partial if not full of bad photos with some creativity of cutting, editing and pasting. Check out what I did with my lot.



So, did you get the green ideas here? Miss them!!!?? OK, here they are:

1) By deleting your digital photos, you are wasting your batteries.
2) By creating your own greeting cards digitally you can save some $ and the environment going paperless.
3) Remember my posting on "The Pain. About Relationships" and how broken families can create wastage? So, make your relationships work by learning to express your love.
4) You will discover many little images of facial expressions that will make great photo ID for the next social media that you sign up for.

So, remember that you don't have to waste batteries taking more photos for that perfect shot. Just go through those bad photos.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Today is Blog Action Day


Here is what I have to say about climate change.



Are you talking about it too?

Thursday 8 October 2009

Transforming my lanterns

So the mooncake festive event is over. What did I do with the lanterns I made? No, there is no museum in my home to display stuff I have made. I have not reached that status yet.

Here is the lantern for my son dismantled for storage. It can come in handy if there is a fancy dress party for my son to attend. I can turn it upside down and let him use it as a hat.


I would also consider sending my creations to the recycling bins if they are no longer in their pristine condition. But before I do that I usually keep a record of how I have them made.

Check out what I can do with the lantern I created for my daughter.


I can join the pieces together and transform them into a container for storing my electrical plugs.


Make a few more of that and I can use them to store undies for the kids. That should save me the hassle of folding them neatly in their drawers to have them all messed up after each bath. Now that's a neat transformation I will work on.

You think a square container looks better or a round one?



Maybe I should tone down on the colours...


If you are wondering what these containers are made of, you have definitely missed my earlier posting.

Saturday 3 October 2009

Another Lantern for Mooncake Festival

I thought my son is too old for lanterns until he told me he wants one too after checking out the one I did for his sister.

So here is the model I created for him and it is made up of a cardboard box for a monitor.



It is obvious that I have been inspired by all the traditional stuff I saw during...


...my trip to Beijing.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Green brooms sweep clean

I just got back from a trip to Beijing and I noticed that the parks and places of interest I visited are very clean. How did they managed that? Nothing high tech. Just some sweepers with brooms they improvised from bamboo stick and branches.

Image search at PicPoke.com

Image search at PicPoke.com

Here is another version of a bamboo broom.

Image search at PicPoke.com

What else can one do with a bamboo broom? Check this out.



Bamboo plants don't grow in your country? There are alternatives.

Lantern for Mooncake Festival

We are celebrating the mooncake festival this Saturday and I have created a lantern for my little girl.


How much do I have to spend for materials? Nothing! It's made up of plastic bags that I have cut into strips to crochet into...

...granny squares...


...to decorate an empty container for cooking oil, with its top cut off.

Here is a closer view of the lantern.


May you have a wonderful time eating delicious mooncakes and drinking good tea by your lanterns.