Say Goodbye to Wrapping Paper

Merry Christmas! We just got our first snow last night - just in time for a beautiful White Christmas!

We're in the late morning Christmas lull after opening presents. Our daughter is down for her nap and our son is playing happily with a toy. I feel very blessed this Christmas! We tried to keep things simple this year. We only got our kids two good quality toys and one book each. I think it was just the right amount, especially with how young they are. It's so easy to get caught up in the materialistic side of gift giving, but if you make the effort, things can be as simple as you want to make them.

Also, we don't really do Santa, so that, for us, makes it easier and simpler to focus on Christ for the holiday. We used a simple scripture advent calendar which was short and perfect for our young kids.

One of my goals for this year in simplifying was to do away with wrapping paper and to wrap gifts just with fabric bags. They were very simple and fast to make, but I did learn a few things to do and not to do and so thought I'd share. Remember - this is not an exact science! No measuring was done.

1. To start with, over the last few months I slowly collected pieces of the least expensive Christmas cotton fabric at JoAnn's. Searching the remnant bin is key, because you find all sorts of good cotton Christmas remnants of various sizes, and sometimes it's the more expensive fabric for a good bargain. I got various sizes cut: 1/4 yard, 1/2 yard, and 1 yard. It's really whatever sizes you want, but I wouldn't do less than a 1/4 yard because they get harder to sew.

2. When it was time to sew, I just left the fabric folded like it comes off the bolt, cut the widths I wanted or just left the 1/4 yard or 1/2 yard like it was. (For the smaller bags I cut the 1/4 yard in half width-wise and then I just had to add a bottom seam to one of the bags.) Then I flipped the fabric so the right sides were together and sewed up the sides, the salvage edges at the top and left open. Then I folded the salvage edge down about an inch and sewed all the way around to create a channel for the ribbon drawstring to go through. I left a 2" gap near one of the side seams for the ribbon to go into.

3. Then I flipped the bag right side out, threaded a ribbon through using a safety pin pinned into the end to get it through, tied a knot in the ribbon, and then I was done!

4. About the ribbon: I learned the hard way that only two types of ribbon work for this bag - the satin kind and the grosgrain kind. (it's the kind that has a bumpy weave)

Bags

Do not use cording! It doesn't not draw the bag closed very well. And don't use ribbon with any sparkly metalic-looking ribbon. Mine just fell apart! Wired ribbon also probably won't work that well either. These types of ribbon just don't slip smoothly through the channel for drawing the bag closed.

Bad ribbon. Bad! Too much metalic.

Good ribbon! Nice and satiny.
Don't you just love the gingerbread boys? The peppermint candy look so yummy too.

Lots of bags!

5. I also learned that more small and medium sized bags were the way to go. I think we had too many big ones. I did make one large bag made from a whole yard of fabric, but we didn't have any presents that big, so we didn't use it. Most presents tend to be on the smaller side, but it was hard to know that at the time I was making them.

The pros & cons:
The downside to these bags is that there is no hiding what's in there. It's very simple to feel through the fabric unless you disguise the present in something else like a box. Also, the security isn't the greatest. There is no tape keeping curious fingers from slipping the bag open, unless you wrap the ribbon around the top a few times and tuck it in. We put our presents out Christmas morning, so we didn't have that problem.
You also have to store the bags, but they lie flat, so it's not that big a deal.

On the other hand... The great thing is- no clean up! No mounds of crinkly annoying paper to fill up your garbage can or the landfill. You can reuse these year after year and they make adorable bags to give away too. The fabric and ribbon aren't too expensive, especially if you get them on sale or clearance. Also, you can get the cutest fabrics! Just take a look at those adorable snow penguins in the picture above.

Something else we did new this year were homemade gift tags. (You can see them in the first three photos.) There are four of us, so I found four cute Christmas/wintery symbols of the same theme through Microsoft Clip Art and copied and pasted a lot of them into a Word document. (You can search for snowflake, snowman, candy cane, Christmas tree, Christmas ornament, Christmas lights, Christmas mittens, Christmas bell, holly, Christmas candle, Christmas star, Christmas gift, Christmas stocking, and Christmas poinsetta to find ones similar to mine above.) Then I printed them in color onto white card stock, cut them out and punched a hole in each one.

The cool thing, was that the kids didn't know which symbol was theirs. I think this helped with not encouraging the "look at all of my presents" mentality. All we did was put who the present was from on the back of the tag. The kids had lots of fun hunting down their symbol once they knew which one to look for. I just looped the tag through the ribbon using the hole I punched out.

Well, I'm going to go and enjoy my Christmas candy and maybe go out for another round of sledding later. Have a wonderful holiday!

Well, I'll Be!

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/2011/07/mobile-washer-customer-review.html

Swiffer Meets NONdisposables

We've got this fake wood laminate in our kitchen. It's really smooth and a broom doesn't help very much when it comes to cleaning up hair and dust. Our landlords left their Swiffer broom when they moved out. I told myself I would never buy one of those - it only promotes the disposable mindset in our country. But there it was, waiting to be used and I didn't have a regular broom. So I used it, and I was dismayed to find that it did such an amazing job at getting up all this dust I could never even see! So, I unwillingly got sucked up into the Swiffer disposable culture and I've been trying to extricate myself ever since... Then came the fateful day when someone said 5 magical words to me: "Oh, I knit my own."

What?!? Knitted Swiffer sheet thingys?

Well, since then I've found out a couple more make-your-own Swiffer sheet replacements:

1. Used dryer sheets - Okay, so these are still a disposable, but you're reusing a dryer sheet that you would have thrown away anyway. My good friend, Jeanna, uses this method and she loves them. I don't like or use dryer sheets, so this wasn't an option for me. If you don't use dryer sheets either I suppose you could always get a friend to donate theirs to you.

2. Knitted or crocheted. - Just knit a simple rectangle from a fine cotton yarn, use it, toss it in the washing machine and reuse it again! Yippee!

3. Flannel - I have a lot of flannel baby receiving blankets that I somehow managed to never use. I've been wondering what I should do with them and now I know! I'll cut them up and a quick zigzag stitch should, hopefully, seal the edges enough to wash and rewash them in the washing machine.

In case you were wondering, here are the dimensions of a Swiffer sheet thingy = 8 3/4" x 10 1/2"

Now, go make your own!

Some New Dishes

I took a couple hours last Saturday to go by myself to an antique store in nearby Ellicott City, Maryland. It was wonderful to be able to take my time and not have to worry if my sweet little son was roaming around with curious fingers! The last time I was there I saw these awesome vintage Pyrex refrigerator dishes. I thought one would be perfect for storing homemade butter in. So I got it!

I just love how cheerful it is! I wish I could have gotten more, but a whole set was a little out of my price range. This will be perfect for when I make butter, though.

A long time ago I complained about my ugly blue mugs. Recently, as part of our purging stuff I took the plunge and got rid of them, hoping that the right mugs would come along later. We were browsing at the thrift store this past weekend and I saw them. The perfect beautiful little mugs!

I absolutely love the thin round handle, the smooth texture, the pale blue color, and I adore the shape. It makes me happy to hold one cupped in my hand (no pun intended) and sip from it. Aaah! A perfect fit! :-) And the perfect price too - 50 cents each! There were only 5 of them, but that's ok. We've got other mugs to fill in the gaps.

Homemade Christmas

We have been seriously decluttering lately. We've been giving away books, movies, clothes, and anything else we feel we don't need. It has been wonderfully liberating! We've got a ways to go and sometimes it's just finding the right home for something - like my old Civil War reenacting clothes that I sewed myself. You can't just give that to Goodwill!

As I unpacked our artificial Christmas tree late last month I realized that it was just taking up space year after year. We had been given the tree as a bridal shower gift from my old roommates since we were married around Christmas (just had our 5 year anniversary!). But we didn't need it. In fact, I didn't want it anymore. So, after this Christmas I'm thinking our tree will be the next to head out the door. Not to the dump, but hopefully to a home where they don't have a tree or wouldn't mind adopting ours.

I am really excited to reinvent how our family celebrates Christmas, not drastically, but by implementing thrifty, homemade skills infused with nature. Christmas is definitely about celebrating the birth of Jesus! But I also think that it is a wonderful time to celebrate the beauty of the winter and the Lord's creations. What better way than to bring the outside in with its bright greens and reds, its rich and piney smells. So, next year I'd like to either cut our own, small Christmas tree or buy a live potted tree. The live tree is the most environmentally friendly tree, which you can plant when you're done with it. It's nice if you have the land to do that. If you cut your own tree, I also really like the idea of once you're done with your Christmas tree, you can sit it outside and decorate it with birdseed ornaments as a winter treat for the birds. The ornaments provide food, but the tree itself provides shelter for nervous little birds who still want a treat without feeling exposed by feeding at a naked deciduous tree.

I'm also really excited to pare down on our store-bought ornaments and replace them with ones that I make with our kids. I remember my mom doing that with us. She had a box full of old Christmas cards. She helped us trace circles on the part of the picture that we liked, cut it out and then pasted it back to back with another circle. She threaded a string at the top and we had a pretty, 2-sided, custom-made ornament!

Here's a fun homemade idea. Besides the traditional popcorn-cranberry garland, here's a really fun idea for a felt ball garland from Jordan Ferney that you can bead yourself instead of having the standard metallic tinsel rope. I'm totally planning on making one of these!

Here are some more homemade ornaments from our very own tree that are easy and fun to make with kids.

Felt ice skates with paper clips for the skate part:

Beaded Wreath made by my talented step-mommy:

Pasta Angel - one of my favorites as a kid:

Cinnamon "Cookie" ornaments - mix equal parts Elmers Glue and ground cinnamon into a dough. Roll out between plastic wrap, cut with cookie cutters, gently press in beads if you like and let dry! Mmm! Nice and spicy!:

 Baby Jesus in a milkweed pod covered in glitter:

Paint your own homemade 1st Christmas ornaments!  They're inexpensive -less than 99 cents at Michaels:

Drum made from Q-Tips, Milk bottle caps, yarn and that plastic grid stuff you can sew yarn into... whatever it's called!:

 Clothespin reindeer with googly eyes:

Playdough Picture ornament (yes that's 5 year old me!):

Yarn Sheep made from a cardboard body, clothes pin legs and white yarn:

What are some homemade ornaments that you've made?

Reuseable Food Wrap

I've been wondering if I would ever find a solution to replacing our ziplocs and plastic wrap. I am a big fan of Press 'n' Seal, just because it actually sticks, you know? Well, I was browsing on Progressive Pioneer and found this link on how to make your own reusable food wrap, replacing plastic wrap forever! It's made using fabric and beeswax. Wow! I'd like to give it a try. It looks really easy!

Reuseable Food Wraps*

What you’ll need:

1. Scraps of fabric, preferably sheeting weight, torn into squares the same width as your cookie sheets

2. Pure beeswax (a few votive candles work fine)

3. Parchment paper or Silpat

4. Clothesline, rigged up wide enough to hang one or two squares of fabric to dry

5. Clothespins, safety pins or paper clamps

6. Scissors or a paper cutter

7. Buttons, beads and string, if desired

What to do

Preheat your oven to 150° F. Tear or cut your fabric to size. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, and place fabric on top.

Using a vegetable peeler, shave beeswax onto your fabric. Don’t use too much, though; you may want to do a test piece so you get a sense of coverage. (I think we got it right on our third one and it was about half as much as I assumed we would need.)

Place in the oven until all wax is melted and soaked in, about 8 or 9 minutes.

Remove from oven and pick up with clothespins (careful, it’s a bit hot!). Hang to dry about 5 minutes.

Use a paper cutter with a decorative edge or pinking sheers to cut a pretty edge.

Check out the Abeego website for closure ideas or just get creative!

*From http://www.granvilleonline.ca/gr/blogs/goods/2010/01/08/make-your-own-reuseable-food-wrap

Homemade Cleaners

This is a great post from Chickens in the Road on green, homemade cleaners. Check it out!

"Paper" Towels!

Thanks to a suggestion from one of my readers, Julie, I made some paper towel replacements from old clothes - in this case old t-shirts. T-shirts are perfect because you can cut them up and they don't ravel. They're washable, but you don't feel too bad if you have to throw one away. Yippee!

First Cloth Diaper Thoughts

Today is the first day of my daughter wearing cloth diapers. Well, she's wearing her very first one right now and I have yet to change it, but I just had to share my first thoughts. Already, I love them! With the cloth diaper on, her little tush is so soft! Unlike the annoying crinkly paperness of the disposables. It's something so small, but it's amazing what a difference it makes. Just holding her wearing the cloth diaper makes me 10x happier. Who knew?! Maybe it's the cloth fiber vibes whispering "No more disposables in the landfill. Hooray!" haha!

It's taken me awhile to get our little girl into cloth diapers. I've been buying a small batch every paycheck until I've been able to build up enough to hopefully have some for a few days. Then I had to find the right detergent (unfortunately, my homemade stuff won't work). And finally, I had to wash and dry them 3 times to get them absorbent - just like you have to wash new towels a few times. I was a little nervous putting on the very first cloth diaper. Was I ready? Was I going to have a headache scrubbing the first messy diaper? Where am I going to put the soiled diapers? (Our apartment is much smaller than our last place...) Are they going to stink up my house? Was her diaper going to be completely huge and bulky? Questions to be answered shortly, I'm sure.

Well, I started to put the cloth diaper on - backwards. I laughed at myself and started over and even though my little girl was fussing and squirming I got it on and... it was beautiful! Hooray! Now maybe I'll get my husband to do the first cloth diaper change. Heh heh heh.

Goodbye, Plastic!

I am really excited about these thrift store finds of glass baby bowls (a.k.a. reclaimed ramekins. haha!) I've been contemplating my use of plastic and the recent BPA scare and I've realized that I rely on plastic a lot in my food storage and kid-dishes -- a lot more than I'd like to. So, I've decided that I'm going to slowly replace the plastic kids dishes with glass (for me to feed the baby from, not for her to eat out of on her own) and also to replace our plethora of plastic storage containers with as much glass and other safer alternatives than the cheapo Gladware stuff I've been using. I've really disliked how those plastic containers discolor and warp and get ugly from being microwaved. I really don't like to microwave in plastic containers. I just looked at what the food did to my containers and then I wondered what the containers were doing to my food. And then I thought, Yeah, it's time to switch over. I'm excited to start buying glass containers with lids for food storage in the fridge. And I already use canning jars to store bulk food items like couscous, rice, sugar, and my cornbread mix.

I've also read about a lot of fun products like stainless steel flatware for kids, cute wood and stainless steel baby dishes, and even stainless steel sippy cups! And at the store the other day I saw a cool, if rather heavy, glass water bottle with a silicone cover. It looked pretty cool. Not to mention there are those stainless steel water bottles that you see everywhere now. I'm glad I'm not the only one on this line of thinking! It sure makes it easier to find better alternatives.

Now I just need to be weaned off plastic bags and paper towels. I'm switching to cloth diapers, I might as well analyze the other "disposables" in my life, right. Do I need more cloth rags maybe to replace paper towel dependence? Can I use rags in the microwave? (We put a paper towel over food so it doesn't spatter everywhere.) Paper towels are great for cleaning up greasy stuff, but I suppose cloth could do the same.

I could see us coming off paper towels, but plastic bags? They're great for freezing stuff like meat, storing my bread, and for keeping food in the fridge fairly fresh. I do throw away any plastic bags I keep raw meat in. I used to wash my plastic bags, but it's such a hassle. I guess I just hate the idea of how much I'm throwing away, but I just can't think of any other realistic alternative for plastic bags. Any non-plastic suggestions out there?

Disposables = money + convenience - TRASH

Going Cloth

I did it! Yesterday I made my first official purchase of cloth diapers. That's right. We're switching over from disposables to cloth.

What made me change my mind? Well, a big part of it was my sister-in-law, Amber, who recently switched over and loves it. She did a lot of research and was really enthusiastic to share it all with me.

In my mind, I thought cloth diapers were like what I remember back in 1990. I remember changing my little brother's cloth diaper - pins and icky white plastic pants and all. I wasn't going to go through with that with my children! But after going over Amber's research I was surprised to find that things have changed a lot since then. And I only had to think about it for a few minutes to realize that the switch totally made sense to me and was in line with the way I feel and think. Cloth diapers are totally do-it-yourself and once I buy them I don't have to depend on the store anymore to make sure my daughter has a clean bum. Yay! And laundry is one of those things that I don't mind doing, so... cloth diapers here I come!

What you need for cloth diapers:
* Diaper covers
* liners or tri-fold cloth diapers
* diaper sprayer that attaches to your toilet!
* diaper pail with PUL liner
* a couple of PUL wet bags for soiled diapers when we're out and about

* plenty of homemade wipes made from scraps of flannel (who knew?! Now I know what to do with all the old flannel clothes I was saving.)

(Image from Nature Moms Blog)

She Did it Again!

My friend Holly did it again! She found another alternative to plastic bags: a totally cool sandwich wrap. Go check it out!

Make Your Own Snack Bag

My amazing friend Holly made up her very own fabric snack bags as a replacement for the plastic bag variety. You'll have to check it out. Her tutorial is great with lots of pictures that make following along really easy. Have fun! (And thanks, Holly!)

Reuse Tip

We just got some new twin sheets for our toddler son's bed (who is potty training - woo!). If you've ever bought linens of any kind, you know they usually come in those heavy duty, clear plastic bags with zippers. I've always hated throwing those away. I mean, a bag with a zipper? How useful!
Following my creative instincts, I've found a few ways to reuse those nifty bags. Here are some of those ideas:

*Storing toiletries for a trip. If they leak, who cares? The bag was free! Not to mention, the bag is washable.

*Random bottles. We have a myriad of cold remedies, medicine bottles, cough drops, etc. So, I have one of these zipper bag wonders designated as "the medicine bag". It keeps all the little bottles and stuff together in one place. And since it's see through I can see what we have and don't have. You could do the same with make-up, nail polishes, or vitamins, etc.

*Office organizer. Keep your pencils, pens in order. Or any other kind of office supplies. Use your imagination!

I'm going to go through all our photos soon to dejunk and organize. I've been considering using those zippy bags to organize photos, but I'm sure the plastic off-gasses, so I don't know if that's a very good idea. Hmm...

A few thoughts

I successfully canned some salsa the day after the cucumbers. I would have prefered to rest. This pregnancy has been exhausting, but I muscled through and finished the salsa because I didn't want my tomatoes to go bad. I really liked how the salsa turned out, but I'm not sure about cumin in the recipe. It's a weird flavor to me for salsa, so I might leave it out next time to see how it tastes.

Drying laundry by clothes rack has been wonderful and not the pain I thought it might be. I finally got another one this month and having two means I can do, at the most, two loads of laundry in a day. We also have a good length of fence which works wonders for the bigger and heavier things. We have had to use the dryer only twice since getting the racks and one evening I realized I had left wet laundry in the washer. Since the sun had almost set I was afraid I would have to dry the clothes in the dryer, but then realized I could just let them dry on the racks in the living room. It worked great!

One unexpected side affect from using a clothes rack is that I have this delicious sense of peace when I put the clothes on the rack and glance out my window to see them drying in the sun. There's just something so silent and satisfying about it and I don't miss the dryer at all. I really was not expecting this feeling, but I think deep down, I have been craving the need to slow down and to appreciate the little things in life like the sun drying the clothes my family wears. It's something so simple but it's amazing the difference that it has made in my life.

Drying & Stuff

It's official! I am saving electricity!! After seeing our atrocious electric bill for last month (blasted, but wonderful A/C!) I decided to do something drastic. Yes, I turned off our A/C at least some of the time, but I also don't know why I haven't done this before - I bought a clothes drying rack. Now I can dry my laundry in the sun! WOOOO! And it's completely free, free, free, that amazing sun is.

Of course this does mean that I have to rearrange how and when I do my laundry and I'll probably have to buy one or two more racks, but what an awesome investement, don't you think??? One obstacle to clothes drying: I don't like the smell of sun-dried clothes. Call me crazy, but I think it smells weird. And your clothing comes out stiff. However, I heard of this trick. Sun dry your clothes and then toss them into the dryer for 5 minutes (with a dryer sheet if you so desire) and PRESTO! Soft laundry without the hours of electricity burning away. Genius!

Here is a picture of some of my garden bounty. See those tomatoes back there? I grew those!!! (Ignore the avacados. I have no idea how those got onto my counter... but they sure made an amazing guacamole!)

A Not So New Way to Recycle

Recycling is a word that makes you feel great or guilty. The word is pushed on us, calling for us to take responsibility for our actions and for our planet. Some people don't care and don't bother. Other people are obsessed. But most people, I think, are an odd mix inbetween - half-heartedly recycling, doing it enough to make themselves feel good without having it become an inconvenience. It's an interesting dance of balance about what you believe and feel comfortable doing and what society expects of you.

What do you think of when you think about recycling? Big blue bins waiting on the curb stocked full of washed out cans and cardboard boxes? How about washing out plastic ziploc bags to reuse them... Am I the only one that does that? It's a pain but so worth it. We save tons of money! Well, anyway, those are two way of recycling, but today I'm here to remind you of another way to recycle - reusing. Yes, washing out plastic bags is one way of reusing. Have you ever shopped at a thrift store or an antique store? Well, then you've reused! I don't think there's anything more fun than finding a sweet deal at a yard sale or a thrift store. Heck, yesterday I went a little crazy because I was feeling the bug. At the thrift store I found: handcranked metal meat grinder - $3, cast iron frying pan in good condition - $5, a heavy duty tub with a lid - $4, a very nice metal pastry blender - 50 cents! Then, at the antique shop I found: a set of 3 cheese graters that my mom used when I was growing up (they ROCK!) - $12 for all 3 (it would cost that much for a new plastic one), and a vintage, beautiful, pale yellow ceramic serving bowl - $9 (marked down from $21!)

As fun as finding all that was, my ultimate reusing feat (heck, they really just call it thriftiness) was reusing an old, despised laundry basket. This is what I did with it:

I cut holes in the bottom for drainage with a jigsaw. Then, I taped a plastic grocery bag to two sides (kind of as an experiment) and the other two sides I covered front and back with clear packing tape.

Then I filled it with dirt! It was the perfect, shallow planter for my lettuce. And it makes me giggle that I can see the dirt through the clear packing tape. :-)

It's a little silly, but I'm pretty proud that I thought to do this with the basket. See, thriftiness is a learned skill. My mom was excellent at it and she learned that from her mother. I used to be pretty good at it, but with a lot of moving around and school I lost touch with my inner creativity and imagination. It feels good to stretch it a bit!

Let me know ways that you have found to reuse things or any amazing finds you've had at the thrift store, antique store, or yard sale. I'd love to hear about them!