I Am Recycling Last Years Christmas

No I am not exchanging January with a repeat of December in my calendar, but I had to act fast for phase one, if I am was going to succeed.

At my job we get a lot of Christmas cards from connections, service companies, suppliers, organizations... you name it... and everywhere Christmas cards are standing on display during December. I decided to "rescue" some of them from my floor only when they were just about to be thrown out after the calendar page had turned to January and people slowly returning to their work space. Colleagues were confused as some Christmassy motifs were disqualified as I was more on the lookout for suitable patterns - however they did understand that it was for crafting purposes.

This evening I took the plunge and did some initial work on 2015's Christmas project - tearing, cutting, punching etc. resulting in a total of 188 objects (more than I had hoped for). Now my final project is not quite decided, so I will just leave the objects for a couple of months while an idea is brewing in my head.

A friend teased me a bit: "If you had just left that pile of Christmas cards on your crafting desk, people would think, that you were a hoarder of things - the piles of the objects tells a different story - your crafty mind is working overtime again!" :o)

I feel good about it - not only have I save a bundle on supplies, but have also reused something one more time instead of going directly into the paper recycling container (the unusable leftovers after today's cutting etc. have already gone to the recycling bin).

The Christmas cards I receive at home?! Untouched as they are stored in a box with those from Christmas past for keepsake an a trip down memory lane.

Today's batch of cards = 44 new objects

4 Minute Showers

My 4 minute hourglass is placed on the mirror right next to the shower.

We have to keep down the use of water to a minumum, instead of just using it carelessly. Spotted this little hourglass in a local chain store, where they are campaigning along with Danmarks Naturfredningsforening (Danish Society for Nature Conservation) that 4 minutes showers should be sufficient.

Bought one and was convinced that my showers took way longer time than that. Imagine my surprise when I discovered, that I actually use less than 4 minutes on my showers :o) The big time-stealer seems to be all the other of my daily rutines connected with the daily shower.

Wish that more people would consider to buy one of these, as it is a cheap way of testing time consumed in the shower - those using too much water could reduce their waterbill if only showering for 4 minutes... and help preserve the amount of water.

Upcycled For Christmas

When I went to the craft fair a couple of weekends ago, I heard a lecture about creativity. Quite interesting that financias crisis always seem to spur peoples creativity, but also the tendency to start reusing instead of buying new things constantly. It is not "IN" to buy-and-throw-away - but it is "IN"/trendy to reuse items, and create something with your own hands. Insert a little laughter here, when I claim, that I have not been untrendy the past 5-10 years, I have merely been ahead of time.

Got this box with something inside a couple of months ago, and decide to save the box, as it had potential for being upcycled. It just so happended that I this week realised, that I was in need of a box, hence the mentioned one getting a purpose.

An old friend of mine, who also loves receiving letters in the post, celebrates her birthday next Saturday. Wanted to give her something personal, that I know she will make good use of : homemade Christmas cards.
Had thought of stamping a lot of images to use on the cards, but the purchase of the die Reindeer w/Antlers gave me an idea and a chance to use a lot of the redish/white designpaper from Panduro hobby.

Maybe these seem simple, but I like them all and actually have a hard time parting with them. Have considered, if a sentiment should have been stamped on them, but decided agains it, since the birthday girl is to send these to receivers ,who speak various languages (just like her). Included some of my gifttags to the box  and some of this years Christmas stamps in the box.

Hope she will like the box and the items inside.

World Wide News Clippings

Whenever I am shopping at IKEA, I swipe my IKEA FAMILY member card - everytime a member does that, a donation is made from IKEA to some preselected charity. I go to the local store 1-2 times a year, as they have great prices/selections on (tea) candles, napkins, baking forms (cupcakes/muffins), wrapping paper etc. Having signed up for the memebership - which by the way is for free - you get to receive the IKEA FAMILY LIVE magazine.

This photo caught my attention - first as "Why are they having a vacation photo in the magazine?!" Then I realised, that it was made out of the FRAKTA bag (yes everything at IKEA has it's own name). The magazine was mentioning Adrian's blog, so I ventured over there to have a peak.

She has also made a dress from a bag - what a fun idea :o) Suddenly my mind is wandering to episodes of Project Runway, where they have to make clothes of non-fabric items.

I own several of the FRAKTA bags as it was great at the time, before I bought my own washing machine hence having to go to the buildings laundry room to do all the washing of my clothes. 18 year ago I had the first encounter of this type of recycled bag, and luckily it has spread out, as I have getting a plastic bag at a store.

This makes me remember a blog that I follow, which mentioned receiving a tote bag made out of pet/bird food bags. It is made of the same material as the FRAKTA bag, but this lady mentioned that the creator, had saved the food bags, cleaned them thouroughly and made some nice tote bags. How many people would actually think of saving a food bag and make it into something that is usable and nice? Definately a person with a creative mind.

 

Nature Needs Us

Maybe in more ways than we realise.

Mother Nature is a powerful lady constantly reminding us, that we can not control her. She sets the agenda, when it comes to extreme weather like hurricanes/typhoons, monsoon rain, tornadoes etc. but also from the ground: vulcanos and earth quakes. In those occations we watch it like a dumb struck audience often contemplating: What could we have done to foresee this?

There is however something, that we could do for Mother Nature: We could take good care of her. More and more countries realise, that recycling/reuse is very important - we need only to step back in time to WWII, where a lot of countries were recycling aluminium (cans etc) as this mateiral was in extremely high demand..... Our buy-and-throw-away mentality has luckily been somewhat slowed down during the financial crisis - hopefully this will continue.

World Wildlife Fund was established this date (today) 50 years ago, to created awareness about the wildlife and endangered species. They have an important pledge to all of us - to help safe nature's resources. For instance, the event EarthHour last month is one of their initiatives. I am a partner of the local chapter - a partner is one that donates a small amount of money (about 17 $) every month to one of their projects, so this is a cause very close to my heart.

I am not asking you to sign up with WWF - however if you do, that would be awesome - but to consider if you have sorted your garbage, as a lot of things could be reused/recycled... and often more items that you realise.

The Fair Pages

A sustainable alternative to the yellow pages - not a printed book with contact details - But an online directory of companies offering sustainable products that is friendly to the environment - Doesn't it sound great?

I just hope that the entries in this directory will increase rapily and that most of the products will be affordable thus creating an even larger attention to suistainable things.

The address - well you are just a click away.

Year of the Forests

Are you thinkings: Is she going to live in a forest for a year? My answer is "No", but for 12 years I lived right next door to one.

UN has named 2011 as International Year of the Forests to create awareness about how to use forests in a suistanable an conservating manner. A way you can support this is to look out for the recycled logo when buying paper etc. Recycle the paper (and cardboard) whenever possible. Also look out for the FSC certificate when buing wood furniture - IKEA is using more and more FSC certified wood in their furniture and more companies are joing them in this effort to created suistanable forrests.

Did you know, that paper can be reused 6 times, if recycled?

When I create my cards, I use a lot of paper. Some of it are reuse of papers from magazines, books etc. Every scap not used (yes even the paperwaste from punching holes in to paper before putting it into binders), are collected in used envelops an tossed into the container for recycling paper.

Reusing Material to Something Usefull or Perhaps Art

It always amazes me to see, when people are reusing some kind of material into something completely different.

One often used thing, is Coca Cola cans - the iconic logo makes it very easy to recognize to most poeple in the world, as you can buy it almost everywhere. I saw this elephant last year in British Museum's giftstore:

You might have encountered the bags from Ecoist, made by candy/gum paper etc. - Maybe even seen Dawn Griffith's how-to regarding making pop can pins out of .... yes cans using a die cut - or even been lucky enough to see an exhibition by Individuals.

 

Toy car like this (I bought it a while ago) is made in places, where both resources and money are scarce, so the people simply use the material at hand, that they can get for free: cans, wrapping paper etc and using their imagination to create items like this. I talked to a lot of eldery family members this week, and they all remember having toys (somewhere in the 1930s to 1950s) like this, as they were affordable, and it made them smile when they saw my little decorative toy... Guess they were going down memory lane.

Earth Hour 2011

Tomorrow - Saturday 26 March 2011, a lot of places in the world celebrate/honour Eart Hour 2011 - and in every timezone it is going to be between 8:30PM and 9:30 PM.

Everybody can participate by turning the lights out in that period, and enjoy candle lights etc instead. A lot of monuments (Eiffel Tower, Paris - Empire State Building, NY, USA - Pyramids, Egypt etc.) will also have the lights turned off during this period - all making a statement, that we need to take more care of our environment, climate and ressources.

One year I wandered around in a big city, where I was having my vacation - along with thousands of people eager to see their city without all the lights, suddenly seights seem a bit surreal as you are soo used to all the lights. Another year I lighted up my appartment with candle lights, and actually forgot to turn on the lights after 9:30 PM as it was soo cosy.

The initiative behind Earth Hour was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia and is supported by WWF - World Wildlife Foundation.

Come join us whereever you are :o)

Photo:

WWF supporters and the Panda mascot in front of Parliaments buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Earth Hour 2010

Credit: WWF - Canada / Patrick Doyle

TAD 2011 - Day 4: Pillowboxes

Remember, when you were a kid, at the most fascinating thing about some presents was actutally the wrapping/boxes they came in? It even warms my heart to this day, when I see family or friend's kids react the same way. As an adult, I have actually realised, that I can still be exited about the wrapping.... "Oh I need to save this - it could be very good in some creative project some day" - sounds familiar? Well was about to throw out a catalogue, when I realised that there were some cool full page pictures inside that wouldl be perfect for that pillowbox stensil, that I bought last year, but hadn't used.... until now that is :o) P.S. Found out, that I didn't submit this yesterday, I must incidently have hit the draft button instead... Mr. Sandman did the entertaining last night after a very looong day at work.

Recycled Envelopes

No no. It has nothing to do with reusing an actual envelope. It is about making envelopes from a scrap op paper thorn out out of a magazine, book, newspaper or catalogue... something you might have just trown into the recycle paper bin.

There is actually a lot of printed publications, that have pages with a full-page photo just screaming to be reused as an envelope. Well at least it is screaming in my little world. The middle envelope is a page from a Martha Steward magazine, and the others are from a supplier catalogue (from work - about to be thrown out) and a clothing catalogue.

100+ years ago, paper was sometimes scarce and very expensive, and at some point, people simply reused an envelope up to 3 times. A few more of my friends have rediscovered the joy of a handwritten note/letter, so I am in constant need of envelopes - and they really enjoy these colorful envelopes.

World Wide News Clippings

I spend a lot of time in airports, and in order to "kill time" I read a lot. Mostly books, but occasionally I pick up some of the news papers, that the airports/airlines offer for free, and often one article stands out.

KIMBERLY-CLARK TAKES SWIPE AT TUBELESS TOILET PAPER.

Effort could help keep 160M tons of trash out of US Landfils

Source: USA TODAY

WOW!! From Monday apprarently you can get the tubless toilet paper rolls in Walmarts and Sam's Club stores in the Northwest - and just imagine how much waste that could be eliminated if all toilet paper rolls were like these.

I love those kind of initiatives as 1) we do not have endless resources available and 2) way too many resources end up at landfills as waste. A lot of people already recyce a lot of cardboard - but how many recycle the cardboard tube in toiletpaper rolls, when it has run out of the toiletpaper?

Werkhaus Shop

Is it too early to do some Christmas shopping?

One a recent trip, I came across Werkhaus Shop - and within a few minutes I had purchased 5 Christmas presents..... yeah... something less to "worry" about at the upcoming season :o) Usually I am not that early with the gift shopping, but when you stumple across something, that just shouts out the names of friends and family members - there really no time to waste... and luckily there was enough space in the travel bags.

I love the combination of photos, retro style design and eco-friendly material - and by the way: if you do not have space for extra chairs, their stools are a great find - when dismantled they hardly take any space at all. They have more than 150 photos to choose from, so you can "personalise" your gift to the receiver.

Hence - my answer to the question is: No, never too early - especially when you come across something that is not available in the shops at home.

Reuse. Is that a better word than recycle...?

Nahhh... more people should live more by those words....

I made up a list on how I can contribute:

1. Preferably buy things in glass bottles rather than the plastic one - we have a special container for recycling glas.
2. Always bring a tote (either cutton or from recycled materials) when shopping groceries and other items - thus refusing the free plastic bag that usually come with the purchase = saving a lot of unessesary plastic bags
3. Replace old fashioned lightbulps with the new energy efficient ones - the old fashing lightbulps are going to be banned anyway
4. Recycle paper, cardboard, electrical equipment etc....
5. Turn of electrical appliances instead of using the standby function
6. Give clothes - that I have stopped using - to the charity second hand shops - provided of course that they are not torn etc.
7. When buying beverages in plastic bottles - make sure that they are part of the deposit system.

Maybe it is small steps - but we dont have unlimited ressources - and recycling also makes the need for bigger and bigger wastedumps smaller..

Everytime I fly on my own account, I always make sure that I pay to carbon offset my flights - the flights paid by my job, well it is their obligation to think of the environment. Actually the company do a lot of stuff for the environment .....

So did I do anything today from my list? Yep - my cooking today involved organic milk+butter+oliveoil+flour+apples - have engergy efficient lightbulps everywhere in my appartment, the electricity in my area comes from large windmills, I use my bicycle when I go to/from work.... and I could actually continue... normally I dont think about the environmently friendly things in my daily life, because now they are just integrated as normal parts of my day......

When I was a child, my parents did not have a lot of money - but I was not missing anything - and the huge vegetable garden provided for 80% of the vegetable that we consumed every year, and was taught how to use things and take care of them so they could last longer...

Back in 1990 my parents went to a conference about the environment - they allowed me to go with them, and that was my first encounter to the challenges we face today regarding the environment - I am not active in any movement but is just contributing with small steps in my everyday life..........