Hey Loverlies welcome to this episode of Bloo on Green.
I have to admit I really had to think about this one. I was going to make something but have put it aside for now as other things came to mind over the last 2 days that really made me realise that being Green isn't just about recycling things to make other things, or rather upcycling as it is now poshly known as !!!!
There are many ways to recycle and make use of what you have about you or what others no longer have a need for. We think nothing of hand-me-down clothes for our kids, but for some reason many of these same parents turn thier noses up at going to the charity shop or second hand clothing store. Some of these shops are treasure troves of gorgeous fabrics and kids clothing and even grown up clothing at prices that we should NEVER go past!!! For example the Barnados shop in Plymouth near Sainsbury's ALL the clothing is 99p !!! 99p!!! you can't buy a cup of tea for that in most places now and I bought a brand new never been worn before pair of jeans from there !!!
Our local Brainwave charity shop is amazing!!! It's where I find most of my fabrics and bits for my kitchen and house in general. When it came to Yule we were able to obtain beautiful carved wooden trays and other bits and pieces for the kitchen for under £10 and it meant we were able to serve up everything for everyone and have spare serving platters etc. ooooo not to mention the beautiful glasses we got as well. £2 for 6 !!!
These are all items that normally would end up as landfill yet someone had the smart idea to set up these little charity shops and I tell you what I would much rather give my money to them than to sme massive corporate that is churning out too much stock and charging massive amounts for it!!!
The great thing I love about these shops is that all the items in there or many of them were once loved by others. Each and every item in there has a history and for the fraction of the cost of an antique shop we can decorate our home and get the essentials and sometimes fun things too ...
Vinyl records appear to be disappearing slowly and only known and loved by collectors. The second hand shops round here tend to flog a box of the for £10 .... a box being LOADS !!!! I love the thought of this, we can keep the ones that are worth keeping and turn the others into cyberpunk armour and other melted vinyl crafts!!!
The wonderful little shops are like treasure caves and you never know from day to day what you will find. Today we were there and purchased a complete set of encyclopedias for £2 and 3 board games, a couple of other books and a matchstick blind, something I have been looking for for months that I could afford so we can make the felt for my partners grooms party for our Handfasting.
So there you go, recycling doesn't always have to be about the crafts we make or the things we do, it's about helping others as well. Which makes you feel pretty damn good about your choices when making purchases for your home or those in it.
Think twice before spending a massive amount on something brand new that just goes into the pocket of some corporate bell head !!! Look into your local second hand shop or charity shop. See what you can find and do some good at the same time.
xox Love and Light xox
Showing posts with label upcycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label upcycling. Show all posts
Friday, 4 May 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Bloo on Green ~ In which a little town in Devon is saved from the evil empire and I makes some scoops for flour and whatever else
Happy Thors Day me Loverlies!!!
Well what an exciting day yesterday was !!! In fact you might have even seen our loverly little town on the news. There has been a big fight between the towns people and MVV/Gilpin's who want to put an Incinerator Bottom Ash sorting facility across the road from where we live. In fact its less than 100 metres away. Not to bore you with the details but yesterday was the hearing for the development management commitee to rule on the planning permission. Well guess what !!??!! WE WON!!! YAY!!!! 6 votes to 5 but we won !!!
This now means that our beloved Greater Horseshoe Bat population won't be at risk (and just by the way it is the biggest population of them in Europe) and our kids aren't going to be breathing in the horrific dust and dodging trucks to cross the road.
Anyone who says that locals can't have a say and change things haven't tried!!!
One of the wonderful spouts of gibberish the MVV were using was to say because of our attitude we don't want to recycle... WELL REALLY!!! This Thursday slot is about to prove them wrong!!! and I will continue to prove them wrong for the rest of my days!!!
Due to this I wanted to find a way to reuse our milk cartons. A really useful way that can be very helpful and show there are many ways to reuse those things tha tend to get chucked out to the recycling.
Today we are going to make scoops.
Scoops have millions of uses, of course scooping in their main use but if you are clever you can use them as a tool to help you with all kinds of jobs. In the garden, in the kitchen, in the bathroom all over the place really and if you are really stuck for a dustpan a homemade scoop works for that too.
So here we go ... How to make a homemade milk bottle scoop :~
Right well first off wash your chosen bottle out thoroughly the last thing you want is to have a stinky stale milk smell happening.
Next draw your cut mark around the bottle as shown here :~
Then cut around the line carefully either using scissors or a stanley knife, please be careful though 5 fingers are better than 4 at this stage!!!
Once this is done you should have 2 pieces of your bottle that look like this :~
The large piece is your scoop and from here you can use it for whatever you see fit or need it for. This can be done with ANY size milk bottle so you can have teeny ones for flour and sugar or medium ones like this for compost or using in the bath for your hair.
"What do we do with the top bit???" I hear you cry, well this is quite fun actually because now you have a very useful funnel that fits quite neatly over the top of a squash bottle or inside a jam jar or anything else you might need.
So there you go 2 for the price of 1 haha
oh and as for the lids, keep them safe somewhere we will do something with them another day.
Have a fantastic rest of the day, enjoy finding uses for your scoops and funnels.
xox Love and Light xox
Well what an exciting day yesterday was !!! In fact you might have even seen our loverly little town on the news. There has been a big fight between the towns people and MVV/Gilpin's who want to put an Incinerator Bottom Ash sorting facility across the road from where we live. In fact its less than 100 metres away. Not to bore you with the details but yesterday was the hearing for the development management commitee to rule on the planning permission. Well guess what !!??!! WE WON!!! YAY!!!! 6 votes to 5 but we won !!!
This now means that our beloved Greater Horseshoe Bat population won't be at risk (and just by the way it is the biggest population of them in Europe) and our kids aren't going to be breathing in the horrific dust and dodging trucks to cross the road.
Anyone who says that locals can't have a say and change things haven't tried!!!
One of the wonderful spouts of gibberish the MVV were using was to say because of our attitude we don't want to recycle... WELL REALLY!!! This Thursday slot is about to prove them wrong!!! and I will continue to prove them wrong for the rest of my days!!!
Due to this I wanted to find a way to reuse our milk cartons. A really useful way that can be very helpful and show there are many ways to reuse those things tha tend to get chucked out to the recycling.
Today we are going to make scoops.
Scoops have millions of uses, of course scooping in their main use but if you are clever you can use them as a tool to help you with all kinds of jobs. In the garden, in the kitchen, in the bathroom all over the place really and if you are really stuck for a dustpan a homemade scoop works for that too.
So here we go ... How to make a homemade milk bottle scoop :~
Right well first off wash your chosen bottle out thoroughly the last thing you want is to have a stinky stale milk smell happening.
Next draw your cut mark around the bottle as shown here :~
Then cut around the line carefully either using scissors or a stanley knife, please be careful though 5 fingers are better than 4 at this stage!!!
Once this is done you should have 2 pieces of your bottle that look like this :~
The large piece is your scoop and from here you can use it for whatever you see fit or need it for. This can be done with ANY size milk bottle so you can have teeny ones for flour and sugar or medium ones like this for compost or using in the bath for your hair.
"What do we do with the top bit???" I hear you cry, well this is quite fun actually because now you have a very useful funnel that fits quite neatly over the top of a squash bottle or inside a jam jar or anything else you might need.
So there you go 2 for the price of 1 haha
oh and as for the lids, keep them safe somewhere we will do something with them another day.
Have a fantastic rest of the day, enjoy finding uses for your scoops and funnels.
xox Love and Light xox
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