up-cycled face cleanser bottle

another installment of "what the heck can i do with all these plastic containers?"
today's answer is "make a hanging succulent holder"

• i started with a facial cleanser bottle.

 

• i then cut off the end with a knife and scissors. i wasn't too worried about getting it perfect, as i plan to wrap it with fabric.

• since i knew i wanted to make a succulent holder out of it, i figured i probably better add some drainage holes. to do this, i stuffed the container with paper towels to hold its shape, then i heated up a nail (while holding it with pliers) and slid it through the plastic making sure not to go through the other side of the container.

• then i painted it with spray primer meant for plastic...

• and stuck it on a rake handle to dry.

• now to make it pretty... i used some spray paint i had left over from my bike project (bike love) and i found some corresponding fabric in my craft drawer. kismet!

• i folded the fabric under to create a nice edge for the bottom part, sprayed adhesive on the back of the fabric and carefully wrapped it around the container making sure to leave enough to also wrap around the top edge and into the container to hide my less than perfect trim job.

• next, i wanted to add a little flair to it, so i cut a keurig k-cup into a flower and spray painted that with the primer and then some chrome spray paint also left over from my bike project. 

• i added a cute little purple button i found in my craft drawer for a pop of color and hot glued a pop tab to the back of the container as a way to hang it.

• voila! now i have a cute little planter to hang a succulent in :)

reduce, reuse, recycle

this seems to be a theme with me...

a couple of things from today that made me happy: 1. i went to the bank to get quarters for laundry and they actually came in the old paper sleeves! i was so happy not to have the extra plastic to throw away. i think next time i go in, i'll specifically request paper instead of plastic if they have it. 2. i took our cans and bottles to the local CRV (california redemption value) recycling center and found out that they will recycle things even without a CRV code on them. they have to be drink containers, have a recycle symbol and you won't get money back, but they'll take them. i was thrilled! milk jugs and wine bottles were saved from the landfill (actually from my in-laws recycle bin) but happy day none-the-less.

now, here are a couple of ideas for the rest of the stuff i'm unable to recycle at our apartment complex.

1. you know those plastic nets that potatoes and things come in? my mother-in-law gave me the great idea of cutting them up and using them to scrub dishes! brilliant! they work so well and they don't get stinky like some dish scrubbers can.

the yellow one on the left has been cut and i've used the top part. if it gets grungy, toss it out and cut off another piece. these two bags are going to last me forever! 

2. my husband and i love sandwiches. we eat them almost every day for lunch. we've found these lunch meats that we enjoy by oscar meyer called carving board. they are chunks of meat, not puny little slices. they make delicious sandwiches and nice chunks for salads. cool thing is, they come in plastic containers that work perfectly for storing, what else? sandwiches! i've found that i can make my husband a sandwich, wrap it in a select-a-size paper towel, plop it right in there, snap the lid on and put it in his lunch. that way, i don't have to use a ziplock, the sandwich maintains it's shape and there's no danger of it getting moist from the ice packs he uses. really, you could use these to hold lots of different things: chips, cookies, left-overs to send home with someone and not worry about getting your tupperware back, crayons, markers, crafty bits, etc.

3. i'm always trying to come up with uses for the keurig machine k-cups. i'll admit, i still don't have the perfect solution. but, what i do have is fertilizer for my garden and a bunch of cute little rinsed out cups waiting to be turned into something fabulous.

have you ever opened one of these up? here are the guts:

 you have your coffee

 and under that a filter

(this one has been partially ripped out)

i have been taking the foil tops off and emptying the coffee grounds into a coffee creamer container that i cut the top off of. once i get a good amount of grounds, i will use them in my garden. (google "coffee grounds as fertilizer" for more detailed instructions.)

i then take out the paper filter, rince my cups out and stack them nicely in a counter wipe container that i've saved. i'm thinking since the cups already have a hole punched in them, i'd like to try making a string of patio lights. maybe cut them into daisies? i'm not sure yet. i need to find some little christmas type strand of lights and give it a try. whatever i end up doing with them, i'll post it... granted it turns out worth a damn.

anywho, those are my tips for the day. hope i've inspired you to get creative to keep a few more items out of our landfills. let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions or have any items you'd like help thinking of an alternative use for.

chirp, chirp, cheap, cheap, cricut

any cricut lovers out there? this one's for you!

i happen to love my cricut, but i did fight getting one for a long time. my mom bought a small one and when she decided she wanted a big one, she offered me hers, i declined. about a year later, my mother-in-law did the same thing. this time, i said sure. even after i got it, i still wasn't convinced i'd use it that much. i've always loved crafting and making things, but i kind of felt like it was cheating. silly, i know. i started out thinking i'd just use it for scrapbooking, but i love it so much, i've started making cards as well. heck, i even made art for the wall in our old bathroom to match our shower curtain. woodland creatures, of course :)

that being said, there are two things you should know about me: 1. i don't like waste and 2. i don't love spending money. so, two of the things i really like about the cricut are that i can always get my paper either on sale or with a coupon and that i can start anywhere on any scrap of paper, i don't have to use a new sheet every time. one of the things i wasn't too happy about was that once a cutting mat ran out of sticky, i'd have to buy a new one. that meant, i had to spend money and i had to throw away unrecyclable plastic. double boo! but, not any more. here's a step by step on how to wash and re-stickify your mats. it's easy, really. and you probably have some of the items already.

1. start with an old used mat

2. wash it off, but how? at first i tried regular old soap and water with a plastic scrubber. that was taking too long and wasn't getting off all of the old sticky stuff. i tried a corner with nail polish remover and found out that was a bad idea because it not only took off the sticky, it took off all the guides as well, oops. 

 nail polish remover, bad.

i looked online and saw that you can use brake cleaner, but i thought, "hey, i have WD-40, let's give that a whirl." what do you know? it worked! 

after i sprayed the WD-40 and let it sit for a few minutes, i started scraping it with a pallet knife. it came right off. see that line of yellowy, lumpy stuff? that's the sticky coming off. i started at the bottom and worked my way up. once i got it all off, i washed the mat with soap and water to get the residual WD-40 off and hung it out in the sun to dry. (i wouldn't suggest drying it with a towel, it will get fibers on it)

3. i masked off the edges with painter's tape so that when it runs through the machine it's not sticky under the wheels.

4. and lastly, i sprayed it with a low-tack spray adhesive. this particular brand is easy-tack by krylon. wait a few minutes, pull off the painter's tape and voila! good as new. now my conscience and my wallet are happy.

happy crafting!

hippie guilt

went to target today to get a few things and had a real struggle... after i'd talked about reusing and recycling, i was trying to be conscious of what all i was buying that was plastic. it turns out it was a lot more than i'd hoped.

we went to target to get some toiletries, but then i thought, well, we're here and they have groceries, let's just get it all done in one trip. 1st pang of guilt: i had only brought one reusable bag with me. next, we went over to get some bleach. knowing i had a plastic container at home from my hair dye, i wanted to just buy a small jug of bleach. turns out, there's no such thing. not at target anyway. i then looked in the cleaner section and there started a debate in my mind. i could buy the much too large bottle of bleach to put into the small container from my hair dye i already had at home for bleach, or i could buy a cleaner with bleach in it specifically for the bathtub grout. they were both in plastic containers. the bleach was larger and cheaper, but the spray was more space saving (we have a small apartment, i don't need costco sizes of things) and convenient (that's a dangerous word, right jello biafra?). if they're both in plastic what does it matter? i decided on the bleach. i figured with the spray, the spray part was not recyclable and the bleach on its own was more versatile anyway. 

that brings us to the next issue: laundry detergent. i had 3 reasonable choices. 1. the regular old bottle of generic (i almost always buy generic anything for cost) 2. seventh generation detergent in a cardboard, not plastic, biodegradable container, or 3. method brand concentrated detergent in a small plastic bottle which i would later buy a flat plastic refill container for. here are how they each measured up. 1. cheap, $7.00 for like 60 loads or something, came in unscented (which is important for me, i'm allergic to everything and a lot of scents make me ill) 2. i liked the seventh generation cardboard container, but it was $15.00 and it was not unscented and 3. the method brand which was unscented and $7.00, but not as many washes as the cheap generic stuff. also, the refill containers are $20.00, but they are good for like 90 washes or something ridiculous. so, i opted for the method starter bottle. now, my struggle was with, ok, the method has the flatter plastic bag, but it's not recyclable, ugh. in reading the container they made me feel better by saying it took less energy and plastic to make it originally. 

shopping should not be this hard. these were real struggles i was having. so much so that i was taking these items off the shelves, walking away and then going back and re-thinking my decision 2 and 3 times. and this was just the toiletries part. groceries are in nothing but plastic! plastic yogurt containers, plastic lunch meat containers, plastic around the lettuce, around the bread, plastic everywhere! by the time we left the store i was guilt ridden, exhausted and cranky. my poor husband.

so, i guess the moral of the story is: i can only do so much, right? i recycle and reuse as much as i possibly can, i pick up random trash when i see it and i make a conscious effort to not buy overly packaged things. i'd be happy if everyone did that much, i should be happy i do.

what? no recycling?

when we first moved into our new apartment, one of the things that bothered me the most was that there were no recycling programs. i am an avid recycler, and preach the benefits of it to anyone who'll listen. this was going to be bad, really bad.

turns out, i'm doing pretty well with it. i put all food waste down the disposal (ultimately, i'd like to compost), i compress anything i can down to the smallest size possible before throwing it away (our big cardboard boxes we used for moving, we flattened and gave away on craigslist) i take the bottles and cans (just clap your hands) to the local crv recycling center and plastic that i don't have a secondary use for i take to my in-laws to recycle, thanks mama Jeanne! now, i need to figure out what to do with those pesky keurig cups, grrr.

but, really, it has made me use everything differently. i guess i used to think, it's ok to use more, i recycle! but now, i use a lot less in general. for instance, ziplock bags have never been recyclable so my usage of them wouldn't be affected anyway, right? wrong! i use tupperware-type containers for everything and when i must use a ziplock, it gets washed out and reused until it's falling apart. i must admit, i'm guilty of never doing that before. i did use tupperware-type containers, but i also used a plethora of ziplocks without feeling too badly about it. recently, i used a milk jug to make a watering can to administer my homemade, organic pesticide for the garden and today i used the empty bottle from my hair dye to put bleach in to clean the grout in the shower. before, i would have recycled these items and bought other plastic bottles to put these products in, why?

oddly enough, another thing i've realized i've improved greatly with is not wasting food. i used to make dinner and if it didn't get eaten that night we'd wrap it up and pretend we'd eat it another day, but never did. now, we finish everything! if there's left over dinner, it's now lunch the next day. i still may throw a heel or 2 from bread away, but everything else in our home gets eaten. granted, i know this is not a new idea, but one i didn't have much use or time for before.

really, i think it all has to do with what we've gone through in the last 6 months. when you go from having everything to having nothing, you really start to appreciate things more. i know it sounds cliche, but it's true. if today, someone came up to us and offered us our "old" life back, we wouldn't take it. life is what you make of it and for us, we choose to make it happy.