Homemade Pencils

Why buy something when you can make it yourself? You'll be potentially saving money, learning a new skill, and can be something for you and your children to do together.

I've been toying with the idea of including pens and pencils with stationery gift sets in my store. While I was trying to figure out how to do this I came across this really neat tutorial on how to create you're own twig pencils from Boys Life Magazine Looks simple enough!

It'd be a great summer project for you and your children to get together to do and once school comes around they can use their one-of-a-kind pencils in the classroom.

Perhaps the next time I go on one of my walks around the park I'll take a baggie with me to collect twigs and try my hand at making a few of my own.

Vinegar

It wasn't until recently that I've discovered the magical qualities of vinegar and it's many uses. Did you know that pouring hot vinegar over used paint brushes cleans them and makes them like new again? Me neither! Today, I even found a website with 131 uses for vinegar. Here are just a few that I found the most useful for me. But feel free to visit the site to see what useful for you.

Gardening

Prolong life of flowers in a vase with 2 tbs of vinegar and 3 tbs of sugar per quart of water

Bugs and Animals

Eliminate animal urine stains from the carpet by first blotting the spot with a cloth and then flush several times with warm water. Apply a mixtures of equal parts vinegar and cool water; blot, rinse, let dry

Deter ants. Spray vinegar around entrance areas for ants.


Cars and Tools

Polish car chrome with vinegar

Soak rusty tools in vinegar overnight

Health and Beauty

Relieve itching and other bug bites by applying vinegar straight from the bottle

Relieve dry and itchy skin. Add 2 tbs to bathwater

Laundry and other Clothes Care

Add 1/2 cup to rinse cycle to get rid of lint

Immerse bright clothes into vinegar for 10 minutes to keep colors from running

In the Kitchen

Soak wilted vegetables in 2 cups water and 1 tbs of vinegar

Aren't these amazing tips? All you need is vinegar in your home and you can use it on ANYTHING it seems like!

Repurposing

 Now that my Dream Home Series is over and gone ( I can only have so many rooms!), Thursday is now all about being "green" and I don't mean green with envy! Although some of these posts may make you a little envious and have you thinking, "Why didn't I think of that!" From upcycling to saving money to repurposing and everything in between, Thursday will have your mind reeling with ideas and inspiration to improve on your "green" life.

There's so much junk and trash in the world and then people just keep buying stuff so people keep making stuff and more stuff gets bought and so forth and it just keeps building! That's why repurposing is just so cool; it's taking something and turning it into something else that you need. For our first post in the new series I have some pretty awesome pics of repurposed items that I found online that I just HAD to share!

 This is so cool! If your living in a house or apartment where the landlord won't let you paint the walls, this will definitely add some color to your walls.

Ah, yes, the pet bed made from a suitcase or similar luggage, I remember when these first became popular and they were EVERYWHERE on Etsy

 This is just too cool, and very functional! You can store what you need inside your table!

I love picnic baskets, so when I saw this my jaw just dropped. You could do this with a suitcase, too.

 Great idea to display your jewelry for those craft shows, or if you don't do craft shows it'd be a great jewelry box. Love it

Add a hinged lid to these drawers and you've got a storage chest! Upholster that lid and you have an ottoman or perhaps a seat! This may be my next project!

This is pretty awesome, shutters turned into a bookshelf, why didn't I think of that?

This is great for the crochet/knitting enthusiast

Which is your favorite?

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"Green" Easter Grass

Isn't this prettier than that fake stuff?

So I was watching Kathie Lee and Hoda the other day and they were talking about a very "green" Easter grass (literally) for baskets.

Instead of using store bought grass for your baskets, why not grow wheat or rye grass in them instead? Just line the basket with plastic and add a few stones in the bottom for drainage, add soil and plant seeds accordingly. In ten days you'll have a beautiful lush basket. Don't forget to water.

I like this because it's eco friendly, you don't have that fake grass that gets everywhere (seems like months after Easter we were still vacuuming it up). Once the egg hunt is over you can use it as centerpiece at the dinner table for days and it's just prettier.

If you don't want to put the money into buying the soil and then the seeds and then having to grow it ahead of time; here's another idea that is virtually free. Save up your junk mail and newspapers, paint them green or another easter-y color (even white would pretty!) and run it through the shredder or have the kids help you cut it up into thin strips; you can even have them help paint the paper and who says the paper has to be painted a solid color? Let them finger paint on it! This DIY will save you a few dollars, and give you and the kids something fun to do together.