Mitten warmers

Here's an instructable to make mitten warmers or cold packs. What I love about this particular post is that it gives many different options, depending on your craft talent level. It starts out with the "hardest" level and then gets progressively easier. Check it out!

Tons of great tips

Can be found here. Everything from the office, to the kitchen to the laundry room. Just go check it out!

The ReUseIt Network

Wow. I had no idea...

I was about to post the paragraph below and somehow ran across this. Apparently, the founder of Freecycle has some ownership issues. It's frustrating to me that personal politics/pride/greed, etc can sometimes get in the way of the big picture and sadly, this has come up for me about four times in the last week. We only have one planet to live on-we're all in this together, like it or not.


As I was surfing the other day, I ran across the ReUseIt Network. Unfortunately, there isn't one in Vancouver, WA (not surprising, really.) What IS surprising is that Portland doesn't have one either! What the heck? Maybe Portlanders are just using freecycle for the same purpose? Has anyone had any experience with ReUseIt? Is it different than freecycle? If so, how? I'm really curious.

More from RePlayground

Here's a lamp made from a plastic jug. This project reminds me of sails-it would be a nifty addition to a sea themed room.

And a fruit bowl made from toilet paper (and other paper) tubes.

One more: a reusable tote bag made from a sports jersey.

They have a great site-go check it out!

bottle = vase

From the wonderful minds at RePlayground: bottle vase.

Reused Barbie part jewelry

Part Picasso, part shiny, part morbid. You really have to see for yourself!

Ooh, new blog!

I think I'm gonna like this one! One of my favorite posts here. I added this blog to my roll on the right.

Reusable grocery bags

Via @HomeRecycler, 25 reasons to use reusable shopping bags.

Recycled Arts Festival

If you're not already planning on attending this, you should be! Over 70 vendors this year. I'll be there, as well as most of my colleagues. Make sure you get your buns (and the rest of you) to this festival!

Reusing playing cards

This project is really cool. I wonder what else playing cards could be used for? I bet lots of people have some pack that is not quite full (not playing with a full deck?) that could be repurposed.

A world on fire

Click here to read an 8th grader's essay about the world from her point of view. I really enjoyed this essay. Hopefully, you will too.

Reusing cereal box liners

I've started saving and reusing cereal box liners. So far, I've used them to store foods in the freezer (I used a rubber band to secure the open end) and I've pounded meat in them. Here's 13 other creative ways to reuse them.

How do you reuse cereal liners? Have you never thought to reuse them? Will you now?

Reusing newspaper for planting seeds

This looks like a fun little project for seed starting. I should have my co-workers son (who loves origami) try it out. If I try it, I'll post pics. If you try it, please let me know how they work out!

Dumpster diving, anyone?

Probably a bit different than what you're thinking...

TP roll faces

This is not a tutorial, but I think these are awesome.

reusable snack bags-tutorial

Packing a waste-free lunch? Here's a link to reusable snack bags.

I mostly use reusable tupperware type containers*, but once I teach myself to sew**, I think I'll try some of these.

*Once, back when I used to frequent the Dollar Tree a heck of a lot more than I do now, I found very small containers with lids-10 for a buck! I wasn't sure at the time what I would ultimately use them for, but I'm glad I bought them, because I use them for countless items now.

**I'm becoming more and more convinced every day that I need to learn to sew. My good friend Amanda tried to teach me once, but we tried to pack too many things into that one weekend and I ended up learning some, but not enough, from her. I have quite a few other friends who understand sewing, so I need to just bite the bullet and buy a machine and get crackin'! (I'm trying to pace myself with projects, though, to only do one or a few at a time, as I'm notorious for starting projects and then giving up when I'm at about 70%***)

***This is why the dog bed project was so awesome for me. I finished the entire project in a weekend. That's unheard of (for me)

****I'm footnote happy with this post-can you tell? :D