Recycle, eh

Happy Mother's Day!

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000

... to all the Moms out there! Hope your day is special and you are surrounded by love.

Cheers!

Tutorial: Vintage Cupcake Toppers

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:10:00 +0000

I recently had an article published in the Ottawa Citizen for a few DIY Mom's Day gift ideas and I've had quite a few friends ask me how I made a cupcake topper that was featured. For a how-to tutorial, go to my other blog. The topper images were copied from vintage dress patterns and are double-sided.

I also posted a simpler cupcake/cake topper tutorial earlier that kids can make. No scanning, printing, or photocopying required! For that tutorial, go here.

Mother's Day crafts upcycling ideas

Sat, 04 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I've been doing a lot of cleaning out the cupboards lately and came across a pile of cereal boxes and leftover wrapping paper so I thought I would see what I could find to reuse or upcycle these two items for Mother's Day. If you and the kids are still stuck for ideas, here are a few I found to recycle those empty cereal boxes and wrapping paper (or any kind of paper you have on hand). Any of these projects would be perfect for Mom and can be made without breaking the bank (she doesn't have to know about the recycling bit). All of these were designed and made by some very talented gals. Your Mom is sure to love any one of these.

Cereal Box Mini Notebooks

From Natalie over at Crème de la craft, here’s a easy-to-make, eco-friendly idea that kids can make (with a little help from an adult) for Mom made from (ta-dah!) empty cereal boxes. For complete (and easy-to-follow) instructions, go here.

Mini Magazine Notebook DIY

On the other hand, Else and Emma at their A Beautiful Mess blog recycle magazines into covers for cute little notebooks. They show you how here.

No-sew Desk Organizer

If you’re looking to help Mom bet more organized, here’s a project from Katy, at The Non Consumer Advocate, also made from recycling cereal boxes, and left-over wrapping paper. Here's where to go for instructions.

Cereal Box Drawer Organizer

Jen at I Heart Organizing has another version of a DIY cereal box organizer also reusing cereal boxes and various types of paper (use your own leftover wrapping paper instead of buying any paper stock). Here are her instructions.

Over at my Why wait for life blog, I have a link to our lady Martha's kids's crafts for Mothers Day, which shows you how to use kids' artwork to decorate Mom's store-bought gifts.

Note: For any of these projects, a responsible adult needs to be supervising the little ones.

More ideas for Mom

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:10:00 +0000

If you're still looking for ideas to make for Mom on her special day (Sunday, May 12th this year), head over to my Why wait for life blog where I've even managed to make a couple of things myself. Don't you just love this bird feeder from The Natural Wedding blog? A perfect way to repurpose something we no longer use (although tea is making a fast comeback here in Ottawa).

Earth Day Events April 22, 2013

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:15:00 +0000

Ready for a rant? April 22 is Earth Day and there are lots of activities planned world wide for this event - but, I ask myself, why just one day? Maybe I’m cynical, but shouldn’t every day be earth day? Hey folks, we’re on a increasing fast roller coaster ride to oblivion if we don’t pull up our socks and embrace living green for real. That's the rant. Let's check out what events are going on. Here are only a few.

Earth Day Events in Canada

Check out the events for Earth Day for your location here.

Ottawa

Here are the activities planned for the Ottawa area.

Capital Junk is giving away 1000 trees starting at noon on April 22. For more info check out their website.

Also on April 22, there’s going to be a celebration of Mother Earth on Victoria Island starting with a special ceremony and drumming at 1:00 pm followed by a feast at 4:00 pm. Bring along a dish to share, non-disposable dishes and water bottle, and a chair. No website but you can email for more information at earth.mothers@yahoo.ca.

From April 27 to 28, Living Green is hosting an Expo at the Ottawa Convention Centre at 55 Colonel By Drive. Residents of the National Capital Region will have access a wealth of information and discover local companies offering products and services related to environmental stewardship and health and wellness.

Go, participate, and vow to do green.

Worldwide Picnics hosted by Nature Conservancy

Our friends at the Nature Conservancy are celebrating Earth Day by hosting Picnic for Earth events in the US, South America, Italy, South America among other locations worldwide. Find one near you! If there isn't one in your area, why not plan your own and add it to their list.

As for me – I’m going to be figuring out how I can do more cutting down on my carbon footprint. Ciao!

Image: laviewboston.com via misspaq.blogspot.ca

Teacups revisited for Mother's Day gift ideas

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:50:00 +0000

Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12) is fast approaching and I've been on the lookout for vintage teacups to use for party favours at a Mom's day tea party. But in my quest, at a rummage sale last week and local charity shops, I didn't find any. So I had to scrap that idea. However, if you've got some cracked or discoloured ones on hand that you're wondering what to do with, take a look at some of these creative teacup projects. Any one of these teacup transformations would make a perfect gift for Mom on her day.

Teacup Cakestand

I just love this cakestand - I've made a few in my time but mine were always multi-tiered and didn't look anywhere as elegant as this one. This one was guest posted by Sarah at A Beach Cottage and her instructions are perfectly clear and easy to follow. Now, if I could make a cake as yummy as the one on the stand looks ...

Teacup Garden

Don't you just love these wee teacup gardens. This is want I was planning to make as party favours but since I've had no luck finding inexpensive teacups, I'll just drool over these two from Home Shopping Spy. No how-tos but it should be fairly simple to do - just remove herbs from original containers and plunk into teacups.

Teacup Lights

Another wonderful way to reuse mismatched (or matching) teacups and saucers but a heck of a way too complicated for me. Too cute - but hand me a drill and I'm liable to make myself more porous! So I'll just admire this from afar. Go visit Ideas magazine for the instructions.

Teacup Candles

Everyone on the web seems to be enthralled with these - even our lady Martha has instructions for teacup candles. I loved the ones I spotted at Hey Gorgeous Events. Who wouldn't want to get one or two of these as a gift. As for myself, I was intending just to add tea lites inside each cup because of my klutzability (not in the Pokémon sense - I'm just clumsy). But if you're more skilled at handling hot candle wax, go for it.

Bet Mom will be pleased!

Ciao lovelies.