The art of recycling for a greener environment starts with seeing trash as "abandoned material" so that we can create "Abundance from the Abandoned" in "Amazing Ways".
Do you know that you can get paid to recycle your old paper?
If you do a search for “recycle paper near me”, you should be able to find a company that will collect your paper.
At my bike shop, I recycle:
-cardboard boxes and paper. -metal parts from bicycles.
On my request, the guy who collects my recyclables will give my staff some pocket money.
I also send packaging material taken off bicycles delivered, like bubble wraps and plastic sheets that are clean and still in good condition, to a courier service company, right next door.
However, there many ways you can make use of them, if you do not want to recycle them or have to pay a fee for collection. If they are blank paper, you can make notebooks out of them. I shared how it can be done in a question I answered on Quora earlier at the following link. From there you can learn to bind the papers together into a notebook:
You can use the notebooks you make to start a journal because journaling is good for your emotional wellbeing. If you are feeling down and do not know how to start journaling, read this book by Lee Crutchley, "How to Be Happy (Or at Least Less Sad): A Creative Workbook". I found a review about it shared on VaneesBabySteps YouTube channel. At the end of the video, she flipped through the book which will give you an idea how you can go about journaling your thoughts so that you can be less sad.
If you are not someone who likes to write, you can also journal in bullet points. I saved some ideas on how you can do it on my Pinterest board, “Bujo (bullet point journal)”.
Following are other ways you can make use of your notebook. You can use it:
-to record recipes
-to draw or doodle in it.
-as a travel/souvenir collection book.
-as an accounting book.
-as a scrapbook to stick your photos or cut out of images that inspire you.
-to jot down ideas and develop your writing skill as an author.
Are you good at crafting? If there are prints on them, you can use them for paper-mâché projects to make practical items like bowls and planters to decorative objects, such as, sculptures, masks, and ornaments.. You can learn the process from the following question I answered earlier.
If you have read my posting about how you can store your grocery plastic bags and wondering why you should do that, it is obvious that you have not read my past postings :(
Anyway, if you are one of the Malaysians who have been annoyed by pet owners who do not pick up after their pets during their walks in public areas, you can give them your thoughts and a reason for them to keep their plastic bags and their 1.5L soda bottles.
Why? Because you can share with them how they can make their own Eco-friendly poo scoop and this is how it looks and works.
So, the next question is...
Will you share this with your friends and start the ball rolling for poo free parks?
I found a new site to pick up free tutorials. It's Pinterest.
I followed the instruction shown on this image but decided to use a punctured tube found in my bicycle shop to work on instead of buying a strip of leather.
If I continue to make sections of this, I can sew them up and make myself a smart looking bag.
I will definitely show it off if I have time to complete this project. Look out for it in my future postings.
If your children are sociable, they are bound to be invited to lots of parties. If they are still schooling, think of the number of students each one of them have as classmates. Add them up and you know that you will have to spend quite a bit on gifts for them to bring to parties they are invited to.
Other than storing up on gifts when sales are on, here is another way to save cost. Make your own gift boxes. You can start by keeping the empty plastic bottles.
The small gift boxes mean smaller and less costly gifts to look out for, right?
If you are thinking of buying a broom, maybe you would like to check this video out to see if you could make yourself one. After all you should not have any problems getting the material you need to start making it.
I have been doing some spring cleaning and have decided that some of the odd bits and pieces of toys that got separated from the main sets, most of which have been given away, have to go. Dumping them is no easy task though. Just think about the years of attachment my children have hanging on to (hiding) them.
Maybe we should start a project together so that we can incorporate these toys into our "work". My son shared an idea with me this morning when he showed me some photos of miniature gardens grown in broken pots.
I did a search and found the same photos posted at Ella and it was one of the ideas they found on Different Solutions.
My neighbours spotted snakes in their compound! What should I do to protect my family against being bitten by one?
I called the MPkj personnel covering Zone 8 in Kajang about it and was told to call Jabatan Bomba at "994" if assistance is required to capture the snake and for some guidelines on what to do on sighting one.
I also did a search on "snake like to hide in" and came across a link to "How do snakes hide?" and found the following answers:
1) Depending on the snake they usually are hidden in grasses (lallang) or small tight spaces like under parts of rocks and some even live in trees. (Oops, there are lots of trees, tall weeds and rocks where I live.)
2) Probably somewhere warm and dark. Popular hide outs are under floorboards, in unfinished basements, under beds, or under shelves. (Seen this often on Discovery Channel.)
3) anything that they can go under................ (That sounds scary.)
My neighbour told me that snakes eat frogs and that is worrying as we have a water feature in our garden that attracts them to breed there.
So, how can I encourage my neighbours to work together on getting rid of stones or tall lallang that are often see in vacant units in a new estate? Herb Spiral to the rescue. What's that?
Find out in my next posting.
Remember the Recycle Ike Contest I wrote about last October? Here are the winners and their proposals on how to make use of green debris created by Hurricane Ike:
First Place Team Biochar from Rice University Bill Hockaday, Jeremy Caves, Caroline Masiello, Kyriacos Zygourakis, Richard Johnson, John Gaunt, Michael Keller Biochar
"Stoltman said the market for recyclables is so bad many haulers are having a tough time covering collection costs. So to get around the downturn of the prices, Stoltman's company has rented a huge warehouse in Rogers and is stockpiling sorted paper, plastic and metal."
It's a gamble for haulers to rent space to store recyclables. What if the price for recyclables continue to plunge? How long can recyclables like used paper be stored before pests like rats get to them?
Can you see another disaster happening? What if it becomes too expensive for haulers to collect used paper? Will we have to discard them?
Can one disaster be used to resolve another. Martin at Make Papercrete shows you how by making building material out of waste paper.
Now haulers who can't afford to rent space for their scrap material can consider offering their more perishable used paper to organizations who are working on building homes for those displaced by natural disasters.
As an incentive for haulers to give away their scrap paper, allow them to advertise on one side of the wall of new home.
If you are someone who love buying shoes to match the occasions or an attire, here is an idea that will save you some money. Designer, Sophie Cox, named her invention, the "Convertibles".
The "Convertibles" are actually heels that you can screw off and on your shoes, depending on how elevated you would like to be for the moment. That means that your pair of shoes can have a variety of style in height of heels. Wear them low heeled in the day and switch them to high heels for an evening out right after work.
And when you travel or go on a holiday, you don't have to bring along that many pairs of shoes anymore, just suitable heels. When your legs are too tired from walking, just switch to a pair of more comfortable heels.
Since most shoes wear off from the heels first, being able to change them at a twist should make your favourite pair last longer too. Let us hope this idea kicks off and while we wait for "Convertibles" to come on the market, let's learn how to repair our high heels at home. For those who prefer visual tutorials, watch your cobbler repair your heels the next time you visit.
Note: I get my free shoes image here from TinyPic and reduced usage of batteries:)
You don't have to buy strings to create. Crafters can also use:
1) raffia strings taken off packed food 2) strings taken off paper bags 3) strings taken off bags of rice 4) strings from Chinese sausages (not for Malay friends though)
In Malaysia, if you take time to go to the market after closing hours, before the cleaners start clearing the place up, you will find lots of material to work with. Like the sacks used for storing potatoes and such.
And if you considering a Vermicompost or worm compost, the website of The Adventures of Herman the worm should be a fun way to generate an interest of students in school to start one.
Don't miss out the many other useful information that you can find on Urban Program Resource Network. If you go to "Just for Kids", you will find the link to the award winning program, "The Great Plant Escape", where children can help Detective LePlant find clues that will uncover the importance of plants in their life.
Here is a good video of how you can start one at home posted on YouTube by : Kitchen Gardeners International.
How about reviving the traditional art of leaf fronds folding, which is called Puni, in the Philippines. Rheeza shared on SlideShare what it is about with instruction on how to create a bird with leaves.
They are the fibres removed from corns I have been eating.
They have dried up as I have kept them for a few weeks now. They still look good, doesn't smell and feel soft like cotton fillings for your pillows. If you keep enough, you can use them to stuff soft toys with.
Need pin cushion before you start? Need colour scheme to work on? I have that all covered, of course. Just click on the links for free tutorials.
You can also check out LiveJournal for some ideas of the kind of toys you would like to create. Just remember that the smaller your soft toy is, the more scrap fabrics you can use.
So, can you make a living making soft toys? Mariska did with her cute Fluffels...
and she is sweet enough to provide free tutorial on her blog for creating a Duck.
If you work on it, your profit is most likely higher since you use waste fibre from corn and scrap fabrics, right? Should you hide the fact that you are using waste material? Of course not! After all it may be the reason why they want to buy your toys.
There are people out there who just want to be owners of eco friendly creations.
What can you do with fruit boxes with holes for ventilation cut into them?
The mooncake festival is around the corner, so, I created a lantern with one of them.
Calvin love it. So, what am I going to create for my little girl? Is this OK with you, Callie?
I made them with this sheet found in the fruit box.
Like it? Oh, great! Now all I have to do is to decorate it some and add handles. What material am I going to use? Abandoned material, of course! Watch out for my free tutorials on Creative Recyclers.
I think that colours are the most important aspect of craft. The better you are at matching colours, the easier it will be for you to work with scraps in your craft. Here is a "Quilter's Color Wheel" I discovered on SlideShare that you will give you an idea on how you can work with the colours of the materials you have on hand.
If you are sewing, you will most likely end up with scrap materials. Since pin cushions can be handy, might as well learn how to make one with your scraps.
You have the fabric and the visuals, now what? Learn to stitch or all those work created by artists on public domain, from years before 1923, will be lost and forgotten.
No fabric? Find them in:
1) clothes your family have outgrown 2) scraps from tailors 3) samples from fabric suppliers or manufacturer 4) netting or clothe packagings 5) Caps
When you have a budget to meet creating costumes for your children's school concert, what can you do about it?
The kindergarten my children attended, charged RM50 for costumes required for year end concerts. Most of these creations are not suitable for street wear when they were returned to them after the event.
I have volunteered to create chef hats out of "mahjong" paper and wings of parrots out of plastic bags for children performing "Burung Kakak Tua". It is a pity I did not have any pictures of these to post on my blog but you can be be inspired by Ennio Marchetto.
At Instructables, you will be able to find a few costumes to create for your children for concerts or for some fun at home.
Explore using other kind of scrap materials. For more ideas, do a search on the web for "diy costumes for kids" or "diy (?) costumes". Type in the material you intend to use where the "?" is or go to the local library to find such books in the craft sections.
