DO-IT-YOURSELF

🌎 Happy Earth Day! 🌎

Disclaimer: Please note this post may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a commission if checked at no extra cost to you. Though the opinions remain mind. Privacy Disclosure- Here

Do you have a singer you enjoy listening to? One that when you hear their music, it makes you happy? Well, one artist I love listening to is John Denver. He is an artist who loves the outdoors; in a majority; of his songs, John Denver sings about the great outdoors. When you listen to songs like “Take Me Home, Country Roads” or “Rocky Mountain High” you feel his love for nature. If you know me, I love helping our planet and enjoy being in nature. I love the outdoors and have been going to the mountains since I was a baby. Growing up, my family made so many memories of being in the great outdoors. I had many memories at Trinity Alps Resort and Tahoe. When I am with mother nature, it makes me happy. When I am around mother nature, I enjoy taking care of her. I love taking photos of nature with my camera as well. On April 22nd, we will celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day is one of those days that I believe should be celebrated every day. Mother Nature is beautiful, and we should take care of her. She provides us with many beautiful things we can enjoy for years. Growing up, I remember celebrating Earth Day in fourth or fifth grade. It had such an immense impact on my life. When I was a kid, I used to hate seeing people litter. I do not enjoy trash at all. I try at home to reduce garbage and recycle always.

I am the type of person who would not do well as an environmentalist. I would have too much to say that the environmentalist would disagree with. I live in California, and it is known for Earthquakes, fires, and this year’s flooding. When mother nature is mad, she will let you know. I have been; through an earthquake back in 1989. It was the scariest feeling ever. I still get chills thinking about it. Anyone from the Bay Area will tell you what they felt that late afternoon the day the earthquake hit. When it comes to taking care of our planet, I believe; in so many different things. I do not think the environmentalist would be too happy about my thoughts or opinions. California has had way too many fires. I do not believe in saving trees to protect them. Fire is good; for a forest. My brother is a firefighter and knows a lot about the forest. My brother-in-law is a tree expert. He knows about trees because he worked with the parks and recreation. I believe in cleaning up our forest and having controlled burns, which are healthy for the forest. I am not a fan of clear-cutting in a forest. Driving through Oregon once, my husband and I saw a forest in Oregon that had been clear-cut. I feel we have too much growth in the United States which has a huge; impact on our environment. We need a lot of water to provide for the newly built houses. Having clean water is also something I stand firm about. Many towns and cities in the United States have compromised drinking water; with toxic chemicals. Some examples are Flint, Michigan, and Parkersburg, West Virginia. Watch the movie Dark Waters, and you will learn so much about the dangers of toxic water. After seeing the movie, you will despise the plastic industry. Once our water becomes highly toxic with chemicals, there is not much you can do about it. Having your water filter is not always the solution to the problem. I am a proponent of having clean water because we need water to survive. Water is something I do not take for granted. We should do the same about mother nature. Today, in honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share some ideas that we could do to help our environment.

I do want to make it clear, that these all of my own opinions. I do not ever want to make or force anyone to ever feel as if they have to do any of these ideas in their home. I just wanted to share some of my ideas in honor of Earth Day.

Things we can do to help our environment:

Do not buy disposable items.
I try not to do this as much as possible. Instead, use reusable items as much as possible.

Items in the home; I do not buy:

KITCHEN:
Paper napkins- I don’t buy paper napkins for everyday use unless I was having a party or barbecue. For a dinner party, I like using cloth napkins. When having dinner at home, cloth napkins get used.

Paper towels- I do not buy paper towels. If I am at someone else’s home, I will use a paper towel if they do not have any napkins. Instead, rags at home are all I like to use. Old towels and shirts make great rags. Old socks make great rags for when you decide to do a do-it-yourself project like staining wood.

Paper Plates- For birthday parties, I will use paper plates. If having a nice dinner party, I will pull out my fancy dishware. Usually, I like to eat off of regular everyday ceramic plates. I will keep the same dish, wash it, and use it for a week.

Paper Cups- I use these parties only. I will usually keep one glass and use it all week.

Plastic Utensils- My husband and I sometimes would get take out and get plastic silverware. I have an entire bag of plastic cutlery for barbecues or parties collected from these restaurants. Once, the bag is used up I plan to not buy any utensils. I am trying to avoid eating out all the time.

Things I do at home:

I like saving water. Taking shorter showers. Set your timer for five minutes and take a quick shower.
Place a bucket in your shower to catch extra water wasted. Use that water for your plants.
I like to reuse a lot of stuff. I have been doing this since I was a kid. As a child, I created pencil holders out of aluminum cans. I love to take old broken jewelry and make earrings, bracelets, and necklaces out of them. My niece will make keychains with old broken jewelry.
I have unsubscribed from most of my junk paper mail. There will be a future blog post about this. I highly recommend doing this! Junk mail is a waste of a tree and paper.
Reuse paper as much as possible. I have been doing this since I was a kid. I used to cut up old art projects; to be thrown away in the trash can, and I would reuse the construction paper for another project.
Write notes on a whiteboard or a chalkboard.
If you got the outdoor space, plant a beautiful garden. I live in a condo and would plant pots on my deck.
Do your laundry one day a week or during off-peak hours. Check with your utility company for off-peak hours.
Plant a garden. If you got a backyard, plant a beautiful garden. Do you have an apartment with a deck, then plant using pots? Are you living in a condo or a town home with an outdoor deck or patio? Plant and a garden using pots. If you live in a building, see if you can plant a rooftop garden; if access; is to your roof.
Buy secondhand. I love doing this and have found some unique finds at a thrift store. It helps our environment when we buy secondhand.

Online sites and stores I recommend:
Poshmark– I use this all the time to buy premium denim jeans. I purchased a dress from that website too. I always look for clothes on Poshmark that are new with tags. There will be a blog post soon on how I shop on Poshmark.

Craigslist– I have used this website to help my dad sell items. He’s had a lot of luck on Craigslist selling stuff.

Facebook Market Place- I have sold stuff on the Facebook marketplace; and have purchased things from them too. My brother, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law buy from the Facebook marketplace regularly. They find some deals on some great items. My mom has had a lot of luck selling items on the Facebook marketplace.

Offer Up– I have used offer up and have searched for items I might need.

Free Cycle– Years ago, I heard about this website. I have not used Free Cycle but have looked for things to see if they have anything I needed that was free.

Buy Nothing– I do belong to this group in my area. People give away free items.

Sacks Thrift Store– I love this thrift store! They support the local community. This store is very organized. I have found some great items in this store that I love.

Alphabet Soup– I love this thrift store! They support the local community. This store is very organized. I found some great items in this store that I love.

I was in a Catholic church once in Canada checking it out. I believe, the book you see in the photo below was from the Catholic church. Catholic churches give out free stuff all the time to read. I love it! I learn so much when I read stuff I get at church.

In my area, they do give out free trees. They come to your home to inspect the spot where you want to plant the tree. With the Arbor Day Foundation, they give out gifts like address labels and stickers. They also give out coupons, one of which is for ten free trees. Check your local city to see if they offer this.

On all my travels, I collect things from nature. I love the beauty in nature and being able to photograph with stuff I have collected.

I also love to photograph nature with my old Canon Camera. I need a new camera and lens badly but work with what I got until, I can afford a new camera.

Springtime brings me so much joy! I love flowers!

The famous California poppy! A flower I love because every year they regrow back in the area’s where they are planted.

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“And God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that they were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” -Genesis 1:10

#earthday2023 #mothernature #johndenver #recylcereducereuse #saveplanet #earthdayeveryday #ahandmadestory

Upcycled Oatmeal Container

Disclaimer: Please note this post may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a commission if checked at no extra cost to you. Though the opinions remain mind. Privacy Disclosure- Here

In my latest blog post last week, I did a pantry makeover on my parent’s pantry. Here is where you can find this pantry makeover post. When I decided to makeover my parent’s pantry, I decided to upcycle their oatmeal container. I had done this project in the past with an oatmeal container; I had in my kitchen in my own home. The oatmeal container was boring, and it needed a little sprucing up. This project anyone can do, even if they have zero crafty experience. The project costs $1.25. If you own an oatmeal container and want to spruce it up, then; try this project. My parents like to buy oatmeal for various things. Sometimes, my mom has oatmeal for breakfast, and when I am visiting, I sometimes enjoy having oatmeal. My dad likes to have oatmeal for baking. When I was making over my parent’s pantry and de-cluttering it, I wanted everything in the cabinet to look nice. I got this bright idea to cover the oatmeal container in this dollar tree wallpaper sheet. Then I decided to label the container. I wanted my parents to refill the container when it got low on oatmeal.

Growing up, I loved to upcycle a bunch of different things. I was upcycling stuff long before it was popular and before the internet existed. I used to save aluminum cans. I would wrap wrapping paper around the aluminum can. I would glue scraps of wrapping paper to the can to make pencil holders. I will share a photo of one my brother upcycled years ago in the 1990s. I got him to do the project too.

Below is a picture of the pencil holder my brother made when he was a kid. He drew the picture. This pencil holder and all the pencils inside of the holder is at my parents house.

Here the picture:

Upcycling was something I loved doing growing up. I loved saving scraps of construction paper from old-school projects that would eventually end up in the trash. I always liked using scraps of wrapping paper for different craft projects, especially when it came to upcycling cans to make pencil holders. I always make pencil holders for people in my family as gifts. Upcycling is still something I enjoy doing all the time. Growing up, I continued to do upcycling projects.

How to upcycle your oatmeal container:

These are the wallpaper sheets from The Dollar Tree. They come in different styles and colors. The oatmeal container is not that attractive looking, and it needs an upcycle.

On the backside of the wallpaper is a line. Fold the wallpaper on that line. What is good about this wallpaper is that it is the perfect size for this upcycle project.

Now you are going to cut that strip of wallpaper off.

As you can see in the photo, this sheet of wallpaper will be the perfect size for this project when you turn the sheet of paper horizontally.

Now, it’s time to take the backing off the wallpaper. First, I placed the wallpaper on the front of the oatmeal container. I didn’t empty the oatmeal when I did this project. If you want to make this easier on yourself, empty the oatmeal into a large bowl.

Next, it’s time to trace a circle around the oatmeal lid.

In this photo, I decided to cover the entire oatmeal container lid. Unfortunately, my plan did not go the way I wanted it. I had to make a new circle. Trace a circle around the oatmeal lid, and then cut out that circle. Since the oatmeal container has a lip, I could not cover the entire; container lid with the wallpaper. Only; the center of the oatmeal lid; was covered with wallpaper. I ended up using; a razor blade to carefully cut out the center circle of the wallpaper. I took the backing off the wallpaper and stuck it to the middle of the oatmeal lid. Then, I took my fingernail and pressed the paper down around the center lip of the container so I could make an outline I could use to cut with a razor blade.

Now, this is what the container looks like. Much better than before. Would you agree? Now, we can label this container.

Lastly, it is time to label the oatmeal container. I got these labels from Amazon. They are great and stick perfectly to the container.

Now, you can enjoy refilling the container with oatmeal. I created a similar project; several years ago and used the container to store all my hair scrunchies and bows. I glued a artificial flower on top of the lid. I don’t have a photo of this a since, I am away from home putting this post together.

Supplies Used:
Dollar Tree Wallpaper. 
Here is one that is similar: 
Gold Woven Geometric Removable Wallpaper, 16x11-in.
Chalkboard Labels

Cost for the project:
$1.25 
$5.47

Total: 
$6.74 plus tax

Google Definition:

up·cy·cle

verb

reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
“the opportunity to upcycle trash, or turn it into new products, was vast”

I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use. – Mother Teresa

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!

#ahandmadestory #reducereuserecycle #oatmealcontainer #upcycleproject #dollartree #amazon #diy #easyproject #craft