Upcycled Challenge: Newspaper to planter pots #freefromtrash

Ok so apparently I am an idiot when it comes to paper crafts.  I have tried twice to make these "fancy" origami newspaper planting pots (just google it for tons of picts and tutorials) and have failed both times.  Now I'll admit that I have a tad of a lack of attention to detail when it comes to crafting.  I have considered naming myself the " Good Enough" Crafter.  The last step of all these tutorials says just pop open your pot and fold down the sides.  Well mine doesn't POP open. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.  So I'll resort to the "good enough" method:

Take a sheet of newspaper.
Cut in half top to bottom.
Fold in half left to right.  This will make the beginnings of two containers.
Roll one strip around a baby food container
Squish up bottom. Remove glass container.
Fill and plant.

I think it came out pretty cute for starting seeds or rooting cuttings. And bonus you can plant it right in the ground.

 

 

 

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.

Ways My Kids are like Dogs

Some people said when we were pregnant that raising kids is like raising puppies.  We definitely had some trials and tribulations with Biggie when he was a puppy, hence he is not crate trained (sleeps in bed, spoon-style with the hubby) and is spoiled rotten.  I've noticed a couple of similarities between the two and here is my list:

1. They like to beg.  This picture pretty much says it all

2. They nip.  Jack has 7 teeth and Greyson has 4.  Just in the past couple of days Greyson has been grabbing my head as is he's going in for a kiss and has bitten my cheek.  Oy - teething in dogs and babies is a real challenge. I remember Biggie once ate a hole in the wall when he was a puppy.

3. They use the dog door.  OMG - he didn't go through and we're working on baby-proofing the kitchen

4. They sleep in bed with us.  Notice the black pug dog has gotten ousted by the baby.

5. They like to lick plates clean

6. They love chew toys.  Actually the kids like these better than the dogs. (And no I don't let him chew on it for any length of time)

7. The "Come" but only for treats

Upcycled Challenge: Magazine to Paper beads #freefromtrash

This type of craft has been around forever and is so easy and the results are really neat.  My really good friend just started making bead bracelets and I was inspired by her to start making my own beads.  Maybe I can make a cute piece of jewelry with these.

Materials:
Magazine pages with interesting graphics/colors
scissors
glue stick
mod-podge (optional)

Cut triangles from the magazine page about 1/2 inch at the widest part and tapering to a fine point.  I cut my triangles going across the width of the magazine (about 8 inches long or so).  Apply glue to the back side of the triangle and start rolling a very fine tube starting at the wide end.  Continue rolling up the whole triangle and make sure the very end is secured well with glue.  Mod-podge for a long-lasting bead.

This is what I started with. It was a full page ad that looked like burning embers.

 And this is what they become.  This is a very close-up. The beads are about 1/2 inch long

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.

Upcycled Challenge: Straw to Seed Storage #freefromtrash

I have to admit that I don't have a lot of straws hanging around. The kids are only 10 months and haven't mastered the sippy cup, let alone the straw.  I did manage to collect a few this 4th of July (the neat ones with the spoon on the end) which we used to each some delish italian ice, but somehow they disappeared before I could come up with a craft for them.  Luckily a friend that came over today left her plain old clear straw here and as I was looking around the garage I noticed my random packs of heirloom seeds just hanging wide open.  Those paper packs you get seeds in aren't great for re-storage especially if you don't use all the seeds and even more so if they happen to get wet. That is exactly what happened to my Chioggia Beet seed pack and I resorted to storing the seeds in another paper envelope.

Well, how about using the straw as waterproof, resealable seed storage.  This is really easy and I am SURE someone has done this already somewhere on the internet but I swear I didn't even google it.

Materials:
Glue gun (i found it!)
Straw
marker  (fine tipped)

Clean and dry straw.  Cap one side with a blob of hot glue.  Allow to solidify.  Fill with seeds.  Cap open end with blob of hot glue.  Allow to solidify before turning straw on side.  Label straw with seed name. DONE.

So of course this method of storage depends on your seed size.  Beans and Peas won't fit in this kind of straw.  And depending on the size of number of your seeds you may need more than one straw to store all your seeds.  I was also thinking how easy it would be next season to cut off one end, dispense the number of seeds I need and the reseal with a blob of hot glue.  Maybe I'll even get my beet-planting method in good shape for next year.  I only managed to get like 2 beets this year.  So sad.

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.

Cap'n Crunch "Rice Krispie" Treats

I don't eat sugary cereal.  I was raised on cheerios and oat bran.  But sometimes you just need a little bit of fun in your life.  So while I was thinking of dessert ideas for the boys' upcoming 1st birthday party, I ran across Trix rice krispie treats on Pinterest.  I thought they looked interesting and they reminded me of the dot pattern in the front of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book...something like this...

photo courtesy of Cravings of a Lunatic

Eric Carle's Dots

 I was intrigued.  I thought maybe I could make the treats and then use a butterfly cookie cutter to make them into butterfly treats.  I decided I needed a test run of the recipe (of course i do!) and for some reason the name TRIX escaped me when I ran to the store but I DID find Cap'n Crunch ALL Berries.  I decided they fit the bill - round, colored, sugary.  They'll do.  I also modified the recipe found at Cravings of a Lunatic as follows for an 8x8 pan of very thick treats.

1 bag (450ish grams) marshmallows
5 cups Cap'n Crunch All berries cereal
1/4 cup butter

Put butter and marshmallows in a bowl.  Microwave 1 minute and stir.  Microwave another minute and stir to make sure all butter is melted.  Add in 5 cups cereal and mix to coat well.  Spray an 8x8 pan generously with pan spray and also spray the back of a spatula or spoon.  Dump cereal into pan and flatten with spatula.  Refrigerate until solidified.

Here is the finished product.  It was pretty tasty, I'll have to admit, and very sweet.  ALMOST too sweet.  And a lot of the marshmallow ended up at the bottom, probably because the mixture was a bit too warm when I put it in the pan.  These are obviously too thick for cookie cutter-ing so the next batch will be in a 9x13 pan. I am also feeling like they are missing some yellow so might have to throw in some Kicks or use the Trix or mix everything together!!  What do you think??

Permission was granted to use individual photos from other websites. 

Thanks to Kim at Cravings of a Lunatic!!

All other photos are property of www.experimentmom.blogspot.com. Please contact me at jenniferlgardner1@gmail.com for permission to use.

Upcycled Challenge: Coffee cup as circle template #freefromtrash

I was all set to skip coffee cup because i just couldn't think of anything creative to do with them.  My husband brought home two from the kitchenette at his work (yes, dirty) and I while I was working on another challenge project, it hit me.  If I cut the bottom out of the cup, it can serve and a see-through circle template for cutting out little pictures or whatnot for scrapping etc.  I always just grab whatever circle thing I have that is the approximate size to use as a template, but if you can't see through it, it can be a tad tricky to get the image centered.  Here I used a paint bottle. ugh - off center

So I cut the bottom out of the coffee cup and now - perfectly centered circle.  You could also use a toilet paper tube or paper towel tube, depending on what sort of diameter you need. It may not be fancy but it does the job!

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post.

I was featured!! and Photo Friday

I am so excited!  Last week I joined the Sweet Saturday Blog hop hosted by Jessica at Healthy Mommy, Healthy Baby and this week she compiled some of the cute ideas (crafts, recipes, upcycling etc) that folks had posted and my Very Hungry Caterpillar Bug Jar Favor was featured!!  Click here to read the post.  Thank you so much, Jessica!!

I also wanted to post a few cute picts of the boys from 4th of July.  For my new readers, I have twin 10 month old boys, so we are entering so exciting times with them almost ready to walk!  Enjoy.