Blog "re-Gifting" Post : DIY Gift wrap

This post came from 12/18/12 I thought I would re-gift by reposting it! I like to wrap gifts, but chances are if you get a gift from me there will be an element of garbage on it, just to make it look good. That's right- I said garbage!
I make bows (using Jessica's "How about Orange" Tutorial) This year I forewent the used Frito bags and just went with newspaper. The "ribbon" is also from the same batch of newspaper.
NEWSPAPER-

DUCT TAPE-

Now that there are so many different patterns to Duct tape, why wouldn't one find a use for it for wrapping. I wrapped my cousins' boys (whom I lovingly refer to as Huey, Louie and Dewey) with duct tape as the ribbon and a bow made from same said duct tape!
GIFT BAGS-

Sometimes it just calls for a gift bag. I bought these plain Kraft paper bags at Staples, and just apply a stamp to them and  a bow!
PHOTO TAGS-

This year I found these cool photo frame gift tags at the Dollar Tree, so I perused my family's facebook pages for pics and printed them out in Black and white! There are some really good old pics in there!

What to do with old gift cards

Gift cards are a great present... but what to do with them when they are spent?

ReUp the account- a lot of gift cards can be recharged- Starbucks comes to mind... so register that gift card and re-charge it!

Ice Scraper- leave a used gift card in your car- they make great Ice Scrapers for Icy windows.

Guitar Picks- I have a fancy hole punch that punches out guitar picks out of expired credit cards, gift cards, store member value cards. The punch is available at PickPunch.com.

Dress- Lizzie Gardiner, who won an Oscar for best costume design for "Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert" designed and wore a dress made out of American Express credit cards to the ceremony.

Ways to Recycle Plastic Pizza Savers

Pizza Savers- Those little plastic things to protect the pizza from getting squashed by the box lid. In the olden days many pizzerias solved this by making their own- out of left over pizza dough, then baking it to put it the middle of the box. But modern times apparently seemed to call for something new made of plastic instead of something sustainable, that was easily eaten (if not argued over by your brother and sisters as to who would get this special treat!).  The best way to end the confusion about what to do with the leftover Pizza Protector is to 1- buy pizaza from a pizzeria that doesn't use them or 2- find a way to reuse them. I usually try 1, but every so often forget to mention not to add the protector to my pizza, so I looked up on the internet and found this blog topic by Sew Many Ways blog. She has some great ideas on reusing these little pieces of plastic pizza protectors... from using them to keep your bobbin's and thread organized (if your sew) to using them for drying items you painted to using them to keep your kindle/or smart phone in place


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Photo by Sew Many Ways blog

My name is Rob, and I am a food container recycling addict

LOL Reading Inside Urban Green yesterday, I found a post that read Yes, There is a cure for Food Container Recycling addiction. I have been spotted around town fishing used coffee cups out of the trash, as well as Big Gulp containers. I have no shame.
My name is Rob, and I am a food container recycling addict -

No That is not Rob- I am not that young, good looking, slim and I do not "play with my junk" as much as this guy!

Maybe after reading it I will attack some of the mountains of Food Containers around this house. See- all it needs is a 12 step program!

Window boxes

Well I finally got something I have wanted to do for a long time done... Put in a Shower? No. Clean the Garage? Nope. Win the lottery? Sadly no.... But I did manage to make a window box for the Picture window. Not hard to make to make, there are actually two window boxes, each is simply 3- 1" X 6" X 6' cedar fence boards with a 6" piece cut off each and re-used to make the ends, and I re-use pots to keep the wood clean. Besides flowers, there are herbs and window box romas and tumbler tomatoes planted in it
I only party down with the best at:

NW Flower and Garden Show 2011

Well I went to the NW Flower and Garden show this year, and I have to say for the first time in about a decade of attending I left kind of disappointed. Maybe it is because I look forward to the fantastic display gardens, or maybe because I look forward to finding new ideas and items for use in the garden. Or more likely I didn't see any gardens representing sustainability. Maybe the Dervaes' Debacle has all the designers scared - they are afraid of getting sued if they design a display garden representing urban homesteading. Maybe they don't want people digging in dirt and growing their own food. Whatever the reason, it was disappointing. There were however a couple of highlights as a few purchases: I bought a hoedag and a Nicolle Dass print:

Above: the HoeDag, Below Nicole Dass Print

What I wish for my backyard to look like

Interesting reuse for water bottles


I really want to make an edible version of this