Recycle, Reuse & Re-Purpose Blog Hop

Happy Earth Day!!

Welcome to the Recycle, Reuse & Re-Purpose Blog Hop in Honor of Earth Day! Every year, The United States and over 100 different countries join together in the celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd. Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide. On Earth Day, we remember to appreciate nature and learn ways to protect our environment. Find ways that you can help keep the planet clean and help protect our environment!

Today our Hop is Hosted by Tina from Crafty and Green. She Loves to Craft Green!! What a Great Way to Share our Love of the Earth by having a Fun Blog Hop! You should have hippity hopped along from Amanda at http://Oldenough2beakid.blogspot.com/, but if you just stopped by my blog to visit today, I don't want you to miss a single thing!! Please start at the beginning which is Tina at http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com.  If you've gotten lost along the way, the entire lineup is:

1. Tina- http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com
2. Amanda - http://Oldenough2beakid.blogspot.com/
3. Lisa W.-http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com
4. Gill - http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com
5. Lori - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
6. Ann Marie- www.creativeramblings345.blogspot.com
7. Cheryl - http://cardsbycg.blogspot.com/
8. Kimberly ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/

What's a Hop without some fun Candy to go Along with it?  We have some wonderful sponsors for you:

Scraptastiscal Kreations- $20 Gift Certificate

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Crafty Sentiments Designs- 3 Digi Stamps

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Simply Silverton- A bath kit in the fragrance of the winners choice-

Two 4 oz bars of soap, 7 oz body Souffle, and 16 oz of Bathsalts.

(Natural organic soaps and body products)

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Rules to be Eligible for The Blog Candy:

1.) You MUST visit each blog and leave a comment on every blog in the hop

2.) You must become a follower of Crafty and Green if you aren't already!

3.) For an “Extra” Entry for the Blog Candy, Please Friend Tina at CraftyandGreen on Facebook

Now, Onto My Project:

For many years, I never thought of myself as a “green” person. Thrifty, frugal, creative-these are the things I thought I was…well, in my case…it was almost the definition of green. I make my own laundry detergent and store it in repurposed gallon bottles. I make my own handmade paper for crafting….using my scrapping scraps. Glass jars become vases or candle holders or the containers for Christmas gifts. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to do a project (or two, lol) for Earth Day. I started this challenge by doing something very simple. You’d be surprised how many projects you throw in the trash or recycle bin. For one week, I collected things that would ordinarily go in the trash or the recycling bin, then sorted through to see what I could make.

The first project I made is something I have needed for awhile, but couldn’t find just what I wanted in a store. I tend to pull my supplies for projects 3 and 4 at a time, so I can keep the projects moving. This leads to piles of stacked paper, embellishments, dies, all sorts of things taking up my valuable assembly space. I wanted a project organizer. A place where I could put everything for a project, but compact. I will say that originally, this project was going to be a desktop file box, but I just happened up a box that held 3, 2 qt. containers of Almond Milk at Costco, and it just happened to be 12 1’4 “ in width.

We know just how rare it is to find a box that fits 12” x 12” in the recycling bin, so I jumped on the chance to make this Project Organizer. Its’very simple to repurpose actually. I angled the sides with my crafting knife, the proceeded to cover with a decorative paper and embellishments, including a name plate and bow. Embellishments had to be simple, and flush, since I intend to have 3 or 4 of these on my desk at a time. The great part is that this box is sturdy enough, it will hold a lot of paper without flipping over. I also scoured my stash of kept trash for smaller boxes-pasta boxes worked perfectly. I cut the height down to fit inside the lowest point of my large box, covered with the same paper and hot glued them to the large box. Now I have a place to separate out my embellishments, smaller pieces of paper, markers, etc.

My second project includes doing one of my most favorite crafty things. Fusing Plastic. I did this for a previous project and was amazed at how easy it was. And it is such a versatile material. You can use any kind of plastic packaging, except acetate, such as frozen food bags, bulk snack bags and plastic grocery bags. You fuse the plastic together by ironing a couple of layers at a time between parchment. Once 2 layers are fused add 2 more, and so on, until you reach the desired thickness. One of the learning curves is learning that thicker also means stiffer once cool, so be prepared to work with rigid material if you go thick. The hot, fused plastic is very pliable when freshly ironed, and can be shaped or folded at that time. To make pliable again, simply place between the parchment and reheat with the iron. So, I took my shopping bags and trimmed them down, and select a really thick, colorful french fry bag for my appliques. I fused together a total of 8 shopping bags to get my plastic base. I folded the sheet of fused plastic in half and began marking my lines. I used my sewing machine (yes, you can sew and even die cut this stuff!), and sewed on a zipper and the sides. I turned the sewn bag right side out. The flower appliques on the outside are made by die cutting the french fry bag with Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die and coloring the white side with permanent markers, I then placed a hard, heat resistant surface inside the bag, and placed the flowers on the outside of the bag, and ironed on over parchment. I then used a piece of clear plastic from a vegetable bag to cover to protect the colors in the applique. Now, what used to be 8 of those pain in the rear grocery bags are now a very useful zippered bag. My bag measures 9” x 6” x 1 “, and is not only expandable, but also durable and very, very strong. I plan on using mine as a travel bag.

I hope you have enjoyed my projects and how versatile many of our trash and recyclable items are. To purchase both of the items I made, I would have spent $20+. I spent a total of $2.98 on the zipper, and gained two useful end products that will be around a long, long time.

Thank you so much for joining me today to celebrate Earth Day. Now, Please Hippity Hop on over to the talented Gill at http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com to see what she has created for your viewing Pleasure!

Until next time~ Craft Happy-

Lisa Woodward

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