Mother's going GREEN Day 20 - Those darn plastic bags

Even though we long ago said "NO PLASTIC BAGS" one or two always make their way back into our home via my husband. As soon as he walks in the door he apologises - but he did not have any fabric bags with him and they just gave him a bag anyway is his excuse. It is a challenge to teach an old dog new tricks. First off I have suggested to him to just say no - no to plastic bags the cashier does not take any offense to it; and also at all times to have a bag ready. But I guess for some men remembering to take a bag with them everywhere they go can be quite a feat.

These plastic bags are like cockroaches - always around and no matter what lengths you take to get rid of them they always seem to be there and like cockroaches they will probably be around long after too - give or take a few hundred years.

Today, I told my husband that I am not getting rid of anymore plastic bags he accidentally brings home. I will be reusing them in several ways. I have found a website that gives you detailed instructions on how to make "fabric" out of them (he might be wearing a rain jacket soon from the bags he brings home). There is also many websites that offer crochet patterns for plastic bags. I love to crochet so I might be doing a bit of that with the bags. I already have 2 crafts that I will be utilizing the plastic bags in my children's Eco-craft Friday's. So my dear hubby better watch out - he might soon find himself among a ton of creative re-incarnations of the "plastic bag".

Some serious facts about the plastic bag:

• Well over a billion single-use plastic bags are given out for free each day.
• Each year billions of bags end up as ugly litter.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
• Production requires vast amounts of oil.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

The above facts and more plus possible solutions can be found on the following website: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php

Treehugger provides some pictures of 'plastic' fabric clothing and some links to places on how you too can make your own fabric or perhaps your next crochet project - just visit the following link: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_plastic_bag.php

Mother's going GREEN Day 18 - Childrens Eco-Craft

Today (Friday) is Mother's going Green craft day and today's official craft is "Watering Cans" but as it turns out there was a surprise second craft "One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap" - I was in need of some wrapping paper for our Fathers Day gifts.

Watering Cans

You will need:

- Empty Milk Jug (saved from the recycling bin)

- Sharp instrument to make holes (I used one of the handy dandy tools on my Swiss Army Knife)

- Paint

- Paint Brushes

- Sheet of paper or Newspaper

Instructions (with adult help if required – you probably will need it for using the sharp instrument):

- Lay down the newspaper or craft paper on your work area.

- Set the empty clean milk jug down and make some holes on the top side of the milk jug opposite the handle (see picture).

- Make anther hole on top of the handle which will allow for air to go into the bottle as water comes out.

- Paint the jug (be as creative as you can be – anything goes) – allow the jug to dry.

Once dried fill with water screw the lid back on and you have a one of a kind watering can. (I found having the lid on was great for my younger kids as with a normal watering can they tend to pour all the water out from the top – with the lid this stops all of that and the water comes out in a nice ‘sprinkle’

Enjoy watering your flowers and plants.

One-of-a-Kind Gift Wrap

Take the paper that you painted your jug on and use it to clean your brushes by brushing off the excess paint – allow to dry – you have instant gift wrap.

In fact you can use this idea with any painting craft you do. Instead of throwing away or recycling your “drop” paper just turn it into gift wrap. The excess paint will add some colour to newspaper and a truly unique piece of gift wrap.

A little 'reusing' history on our "drop paper":

We received it in a package, the items were protectively wrapped in it. Then it became our 'drop paper' for our craft project, acted as our 'paint brush cleaner' and finally our gift wrap. Talk about reusing!!!