Give me a finger.

The children and their parents were laughing and having fun at Bandar Sungai Long Buddhist Society Saturday Playgroup because two little boys were showing their fingers.

Their mummy was beside them telling a fish story, as she encouraged them to lift their arms up and down so that everyone can see the puppets, placed over their fingers, in action.

The parents were so impressed by all manners of sea creature finger puppets that I have decided to look out for some "how tos" so that they can create them for their children. As the puppets are so small, I am sure that they will not have any problem getting leftover fabrics to create them.

Don't have that on hand? What about that piece of worn out little jumper that one of the children has outgrown?

These patterns are from Free Kid Crafts:

Pig Finger Puppet

Rooster Finger Puppet

More ideas from BillyBear4Kids.com.

How about creating the children's favourite TV character?

Something sinister like Batty Finger Puppets?

Don't enjoy sewing? OK, create with paper, using these templates from Disney.

Winnie the Pooh

Beauty and the Beast

Disney Lion King Finger Puppets

If you have been collecting children's story books by Jan Brett, be impressed by what she has to offer to go with her "Town Mouse Country Mouse" book.

Other places for the children to stick their fingers in.

Jack and Jill

Humpty Dumpty

If you can knit there are three patterns for you to choose, designed by Mary J. Saunders

There are more patterns at this Finger Puppets Links if you need some inspiration first.

Need green fund? Look for "birds of a feather".

Discovered your "eureka" green idea and want to make a business out it? Don't let your dreams die off just because you do not have the fund to start it. There are organisations out there looking for people like you.

Where can you start your search for them? If you remember that "Birds of a feather flock together" then you are on the right track. Get a little notepad and pen ready and start looking through your local newspaper.

These are what you should look out for:
1) Name of companies who have won "green" awards.
2) Name of the "green" awards.
3) Your government or local state green campaign.
4) Names of companies with green "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR).
5) Name of companies who organise "green" contest or projects.
6) Names of organisation who are involved in looking into environmental issues.
7) Look out for key words associated with these organisations or related to them.

Following are some keywords I have picked up.

Green Projects and Campaigns in Malaysia:
charity recycling day
construct greener building
save the river project
tree planting mission
green leaf campaign
Shell Gourami Business Challenge
Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution
Taman Negara Eco Challenge
Malaysia Design Council
aqua culture
harvest rainwater
love our rivers
recycling padi straw for mushroom cultivation

Green Awards:
Responsible Care Awards
Hibiscus Award

Look out for words that are tagged with the word "eco" or "green". Here are some examples:

friendly
environment
living
trends
innovation
competition
nominations
recognition
rating
product design
buildings
conservation funds
government funded
waste grant
fact sheets
sustainable business
biodiesel
biomass
natural resources
fuel-economy
e-waste
tourism

Once you have all these noted on your notepad, you are ready to do your search on the internet. How do you work on it?

1) Key in the name of the company to find its website.
2) Read about their "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR).
3) Are you able to start a green project based on what they have posted?
4) If you already have a green project do their "CSRs" relate to it.
5) Don't forget to take a look at their links for useful resources as they may provide links to agencies you are looking for.

If you do not have names of green conscious organization to check up on, you can locate them by doing a search using the key words I have provided above. If you are trying to locate a government agency, after each keyword, add the tag ".gov" or ".org" for organisation.

Can your green project be commercialized? Whatever way you want to run your green project you can try seeking funds or grants to make it more successful.

1) On the websites of companies you have located, look out for links like, "Applying for Grant or Fund".
2) If you cannot find it, look to see if they have a link to "sitemap" and check their list of postings to see if there is anything related to "grant" or "funds" or "scholarship".
3) If you are trying to locate the organisations who provide green funds in your own country, just add the name of the country against the name of the key words you are searching for.

Other search options you can try:

1) Search "corporate social responsibility grant" or "corporate social responsibility green".
2) Search name of green writers you discovered from newspaper or articles or newsletters. Their articles maybe posted on websites that will provide more leads.
3) Join forums where members support keeping the environment green. As a member of GreenYes Forum, I am able to read many useful articles posted by members.

Here is one I received from a fellow member:

$100,000 PRIZE FOR GOVERNMENTAL TRANSFORMATION
From IBM and the Ash Institute at Harvard's Kennedy School
For further information about the selection criteria, or to nominate a group,
visit http://www.transformationaward.org
Or Contact
Christina Marchand,
Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation,
Tel: (617) 495-0557
Email: christina_marchand@harvard.edu.

Good luck in your new venture. Share your success stories so that others can reuse your green ideas in their homeland.

Pop by this link again, as I will be including links to grants and funds providers. Following are some organisation discovered through the above processes:

In Australia:
EPA NSW Waste grant fact sheets

In Canada
Stewardship Ontario

In UK:
Arts & Business

In USA:

Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Environmental Education Grant Opportunities

Fulbrigh Full Grants

South Carolina Recycling Grants

Recycle Guys Awards Program

S.C. Business Recycling Assistance Program

Useful Articles:
Fortune Profiles The Greening of Corporate America By Mark Brandon

10 Tips For Grant Writers

Fundraising Articles

Wikipedia: About Angel Investor/Business Angel

Useful Resources:
In USA

Award Directory Search Resource by GreenBiz. A comprehensive directory of local and national award and recognition programs that honor companies for being environmental leaders. (If only it works).

SchoolGrants! Your one-stop site for PK-12 school grant opportunities


Locate Grantsmakers In Your Field

Green Zone Resource Guide: Scholarships, Grants and Research Fellowships

EPA: Funding Sources for Communities

Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs and access to approximately $400 billion in annual awards.

Technology Funding Sources

Find who are the donors and grant makers:
Charity Navigator, independent charity evaluato
GuideStarConnecting people with nonprofit information.

Campaigns
In USA:

Patagonia’s 2006–07 environmental campaign

Awards
In Malaysia

The CICM Responsible Care Awards

The Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award (PMHA)

Malaysia Design Council: Good Design Award

In UK:
The Conservation Foundation's Projects

In USA
2007 CAFR Recycling Awards Program

The Goldman Environmental Prize annually awards US$125,000 to environmental heroes from each of the world's six inhabited continental regions.
http://www.goldmanprize.org

Empty bottles? Before you discard, check this out.

I received this gift from my friend, Eric, from Beijing.



It is a snuff bottle with a picture of my husband and son painted on it. I think this is a neat idea. Instead of throwing away the champagne bottle, you can find an artist to have your photo painted on it to commemorate the event you opened it in celebration.

Here are some useful "How-Tos" from wikiHow.

How to Create a Reverse Painting on Glass

How to Cut a Glass Bottle

See what other artists are doing with glass bottles and containers.

Ann Mitchell and Karen Mitchell

Love playing with sand? Then be inspired to create with it by Andrew Clemens' Sand Bottles Art. If you think that there is no prospect in this business then check out what collectors are paying for his work today.

Changed your mind? Here is an easy tutorial to start out with from KidsDomain. On this site, kids are taught to use Kool-Aid, artificially flavored drink and cocoa (hopefully from expired package) for colours.

So, now that we know that it works without sand, what else can we use to create this form of art? How about gratings from:

Plastic?
Glass?
Organic material like sugar cane or sawdust or wine stopper cork?

For other sources of natural dye, experiment with some flowers and plants. Here are some ideas to play with:

Onion peel (boil for 1 hour)
Redwood or red wine
Coffee or tea infusion
Expired health drinks like Spirulina and Chlorophyll

Seeking forgiveness? Before you give up, look for a little bottle.

I was introduced to use Propolis by my family doctor, as it is a natural antibiotic produced by bees. The product works for my family and that started my collection of the small empty bottles.

See the holder I have created for one of the bottles.



It is made up of wire and plastic from an electric cable cut off. The handles are from the strings taken off an old paper bag. How can you make use of it?

As the bottles are opaque, they are very useful for storing seeds. So, start your seeds collection. On earth day you can let the children give away the bottles of seeds to their friends and neigbours so that there will be more greens in your neighbourhood.

You can also use it as a tool to seek forgiveness. Do you remember being hurt and how difficult it was for you to listen to the explanation of the offender? You most likely walk away each time he or she tries to.

If you have hurt someone, seek forgiveness by placing your note of explanation inside the bottle and hang it where he or she will see it. Be creative, do whatever you can to tickle and draw his or her attention to the bottle.

In the note tell the person how sorry you are and how his or her sorrow is affecting you. Request that he or she hang the bottle at a particular spot to signify that you have been forgiven. The thought that you have taken the trouble to create it should soften their heart a bit.

Forgiving, can make life better. Read some points I have picked up through my experiences and from reading, "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus", by John Gray.

Read some writing tips from Lilia Fallgatter if you need some help writing to someone you care about. Watch and listen to how others are managing their relationships and how love and forgiveness impact their lives.

He's given up fishing? Quick! Grab his tackle box!

I do not know one fishing tool from another and I don't care what's its called but they sure make cool jewellery when my husband gave up fishing. See if you can recognise what I have managed to salvage from his tackle box.



Of course, I did not miss out using those fishing lines. Or do you call them fishing wires? Anyway, they do go so well with my evening wear.



Here are more earrings to match.



Do men use tiger tail for fishing? It sure looks and works like one when I use it for my necklace.



Hmmmm.... What other hobby tools does he has that I can steal? Ooops, I mean salvage.

Waste? Waste them not.

I have been reading up some gardening tips and have discovered that there are some garden friendly waste that have been tried and tested by fellow gardeners on the web.

Looking for my weeding solution, I have read that leftover beer and soft drinks have worked. With the children around, my concern is that it may attract more ants to the garden. Hot water and salt should work but that may also kill some poor insects lurking around, which is against my religious practice.



Should I take the time to pull them out? It will be a time consuming and tedious job but my consolation is that I can create fertilizer out of that collection by soaking them in water. But then wouldn't the seeds from the solution sprout more weeds? If you would like to play around with that, make sure you wear gloves while handling the solution to avoid infecting your nails.

I rather like the idea of covering up the area with a piece of plank to block out the sunlight and let them die off gradually. But what a sight that will be. So, what did I opt for? Garden stones...



...and decorative concrete slabs.



These look very neat in my garden and I have the option of growing my plants in a variety of decorative flower pots so weeding is easier to manage.

You can read more about what I have discovered posted at the following link:

A to Z Guide For An Environmentally Friendly Garden

So even if the expiry date of your product tells you to discard it, consider experimenting with it in a little patch of your garden. It could be your best eco friendly solution to your gardening problems.

Don't waste the new use for waste idea either. Share it with your fellow greenbeing friends.

Hair? Before its shorned and forgotten, check this out.

Someone lost her horse and has kept some cuttings from its tail to remember it by. She posted on Jewelry Making Forum wondering how she can create a jewellery out of the tail to wear as a keepsake.

That started my research on what can be done with hair and here are some interesting facts I have discovered.

Asian hair of Chinese and Indian origin are preferred source of procurement for producing hair extensions. Their strength can better withstand the hair-processing operation of acid stripping, twisting around wooden poles, baking into textures before the final process of coloring and polishing.

Other than supplying to artists, braiders, and weavers to work on as hair extensions, how else can hair be used? Here are some techniques to explore working on using strands of hair in place of material suggested:

Floss Friendship Bracelet

Macrame Friendship Bracelet with Baeds

Or, you can learn some "Basic Knots" from Heather's website and create your own braiding design.

Working on clearing "abandoned material" again, consider using the following to hold the strands of hair:

1) Clear plastic tubing
2) Perfume bottle given out as samples
3) Talisman holder

Other than the business of hair extensions, can anyone make a living using hair in other ways? Yes, there is. You will be surprised to see what HuaXia TaiMaoBi Centre in Singapore can do with your baby's hair and umbilical cord.