• Categories

  • "Green" Living ideas
  • Children's Activities
  • Children's Crafts
  • Crafts
  • Garden
  • Halloween
  • Happenings At Our House
  • Home Décor
  • MYO Gifts
  • Organize
  • Party Décor
  • Party Favors
  • recipes
  • reuse aluminum pie pan
  • reuse boxes
  • reuse broken appliances
  • reuse cans
  • reuse chopsticks
  • reuse clementine box
  • reuse glass bottles/ jars
  • reuse ice cream containers
  • reuse lamp
  • reuse paper
  • reuse plastic bottles
  • reuse sweaters
  • reuse wood garage door
  • reuse x-rays
  • Sewing
  • Uncategorized
  • Valentine's Day

• Archives

  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

• Newsletter

  Get eco friendly craft ideas delivered straight to your inbox.

  Email Address (required) First Name (optional) Last Name (optional)

  We'll never spam or give this address away and you may unsubscribe at any time

To make your own clipboard, you will need to find a thin scrap board. If it isn’t the right size, you will have to cut it to fit standard office paper. If you don’t want to bother cutting your board, ask around until you find something approximately the right size. Paint it with spare paint from your shed or leave it natural. When it dries completely, attach a clip like the one in the photo. The clips can be found at office supply stores.

These clipboards make excellent frames for displaying artwork. The clips already have a hook which makes hanging up easy.

Also see: Adding pictures to clips, clipboards made from scrap wood, and salvaged laminate flooring clipboards.

You can choose to add a picture to your clip. This picture of a fox was too cute to put in the recycle bin. Cut to size and glue it on. Seed catalogs are also a good source of attractive images.

Also see: Clipboards made from scrap wood, salvaged laminate flooring clipboards and using clipboards to display children’s artwork.

This clipboard was made from left-over laminate flooring. Do you know someone doing some home improvement? Find a good piece and attach a clip like the one in the photo. The clips can be found at office supply stores. Reuse one-sided paper: here the paper was cut in half to make a smaller sized stack.

Also see: Adding pictures to clips, clipboards made from scrap wood, and using clipboards to display children’s artwork.

To make your own clipboard, you will need to find a thin scrap board. If it isn’t the right size, you will have to cut it to fit standard office paper. If you don’t want to bother cutting your board, ask around until you find something approximately the right size. Paint it with spare paint from your shed or leave it natural. When it dries completely, attach a clip like the one in the photo. The clips can be found at office supply stores.

Clipboards like these have a lot of uses. Drawing is just one.

If you are using your clip board to leave messages you may want to attach a pencil to your clipboard with a piece of string or ribbon. This clipboard was made from the top of a wooden box of liquor and the string was found at a second hand store.

Also see: Adding pictures to clipboard clips, salvaged laminate flooring clipboards, and using clipboards to display children’s artwork.

 

Happenings At Our House: Summer

It smells good, looks good, and tastes good.
Home-made salsa has to be one of my favorite edibles in the summer. I really look forward to the time of year, with the help of the sun, tomatoes ripen. Most of the ingredients for this tomato salsa come straight from my garden: tomatoes, onions, parsley (provided by my kid’s garden), garlic (friend’s garden), and hot peppers. A splash of olive oil and a lemon are the only store-boughts. Perhaps I’ll get a lemon tree someday, but I’m going to wait to see how well my lime tree grows first.

My Fresh Tomato Salsa

6 or more large ripe plum tomatoes or garden fresh beefsteak tomatoes (Whatever is ripe in your garden)
¼ cup chopped onions
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (I prefer parsley over cilantro.)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil -optional
2 or more teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
I hesitate to write amounts here. Taste it then add more of this and a bit more of that. This is art.

1. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Dice and place in a medium-size bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. I sometimes add a can of organic black beans and/ or some organic frozen sweet corn. Let sit in the refrigerator overnight so flavors can mix. Serve with tortilla chips and refrigerate leftovers.

 I make it just the way I like it. Go and make some just the way you like it!

Happenings At Our House: July

This morning when I was outside checking for squash and zucchini to harvest, I took time to cut some flowers off my hydrangea bush nearby. This hydrangea that I planted a year or so ago is looking great. No shortage of blooms on it. I can’t locate the tag I got with it but I think I’ve identified it as Hydrangea paniculata. It is so nice to gather a bouquet of flowers that are as clean and fresh as a summer’s day. Corny but true. When landscaping, don’t overlook white flowering plants or underestimate the beauty they add.

Happenings At Our House: May

 

I have always tried to keep in mind the needs of the wildlife in my yard. I admit that it is for my enjoyment as much as it is for them. I plant flowers for the butterflies and hummingbirds because I love to see them fluttering about. I have also included plants in my landscaping that have berries that the birds eat during their migration. I feel good about that. Furthermore, I find it charming when I see a few deer cross through our property or a snapping turtle laying her eggs in a spot behind the Japanese maple tree in front of the house. We keep most of our land in its natural state, wooded, to maximize wildlife habitat.

Hence, my family decided to have our property certified by the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat^TM program just before Earthday 2008. We proudly display our NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat sign along the side of our long gravel driveway.
Interested in certifying your own backyard as a haven for wildlife? Here is the link. National Wildlife Federation website. They are the same people who make the award winning Ranger Rick magazine for kids.

Collecting nature’s treasures such as wildflowers, butterflies, and seashells can be both fun and educational. However, sometimes collecting can hurt the very species that we admire most. Use good moral judgment when collecting. Being conservative may be sufficient, but in some cases it is better to take only pictures. A rare item can be more attractive, but if it is a living organism, removal can be environmentally harmful. Solution, take digital photos!

Wildflowers.
Do you love wildflowers? I do. But did you know that many species are threatened or endangered? If you don’t know which flowers are safe to take, better to collect photos not flora. Also, teach children not to pick any plant in public areas. Explain to them the cumulative effects of everyone picking just one flower at frequently visited places. Remember that these public spaces are something we all share. So every plant, flower, and butterfly is something that belongs to us all.

Photo of Trillium flower I took in Virginia.
Trillium flowers are unique. Picking the flower of a trillium plant removes its only leaves. The plant needs these leaves to make its food and it will be left seriously weakened. Collect photos not flora.

Seashells.
Collecting seashells at the seashore is a wonderful pastime. It never gets old. When collecting specimens remember to never take shells that belong to a living creature: obviously. In addition, never strip the area of shells as they are future homes for hermit crabs and other critters. Hermit crabs are part of the food chain. Having said that, enjoy gathering all the “treasures” you can find but when it is time to leave, pick only your favorites. Enjoy the thrill of the hunt, but let your conscience be your guide in choosing what to keep. And why not be the first to have a photo collection of shells?

Here is some of the “loot” we collected one day at the beach. When it was time to go home, we picked out our favorites and put the rest back.
Want to know how we made this fun collecting bucket? Fun In The Making shows you how. http://http://www.funinthemaking.net/2008/06/26/recycle-your-plastic-laundry-detergent-bottles-into-cool-beach-buckets-and-scoops/

Butterflies.
You could use a net to capture butterflies as they frequent the flowers around your yard, but the greatest care must be taken to prevent injury and they should be promptly released after a close-up look. Alternatively, photos are a harmless way of collecting. The challenge of photographing different butterflies may become a passion of yours resulting in many peaceful hours spent in lovely gardens. Sounds good to me!

My kids and I raised caterpillars and this is the butterfly that one transformed into. We kept this beautiful butterfly just long enough to snap a few pictures. Gather photos not fauna.

• Search

• Sponsors