Eco Friendly Washing Powder Sheets

Are you looking to replace your big, bulky boxes of washing powder or the thick plastic bags containing capsules that leave glop on the clothes when you pull them out?

I have been using The Green Company's natural laundry detergent sheets since they reached out to me a couple of weeks ago.  I'm still in awe of the lack of space these take up!

How I made Heart Shaped Bird feeders for Valentines

What better way to show some love for nature on Valentine's day than with heart-shaped bird feeders.

Eco-friendly gifts with Turtle Bags

In January I went to The Top Drawer exhibition in London and not only did I fall in love with the Eco-friendly Turtle bags but also everything they stand for and are trying to do!

From bags to baskets, to beeswax and Christmas decorations, there is something for everyone at Turtle bags which is leading the way for eco and sustainable goods.  They have everything that I need to continue my journey to try and live a sustainable life.

Lands' End Clothing products and working on Sustainability

When I was recently contacted by Lands' End clothing, the first thing I did was review their sustainability policy on their website.  If there is nothing obvious on a website, we have to wonder why!

What is lovely about Lands' End is not only do they have a Sustainability Mission but also several blog posts on the site regarding sustainability, from how they are making steps forward, what to look out for regarding sustainable clothing and why you should care about sustainable shopping.

Are there sustainable toys?

Wiltopia is the first product range from PLAYMOBIL to be made from an average of over 80% sustainable material.

#Gifted

PCR plastic (i.e. plastic that has already been used by consumers and then fed back into the recycling loop), as well as bio-based plastics, are used.  Discarded recyclables are given a new life and provide the source of material for a colourful and extraordinary play theme. 

Eco-friendly pencils that can be planted

I don't know about anyone else, but pencils in my household either disappear, congregate in the "pencil" drawer, not an official drawer, but they've taken over, or are thrown out.

#Gifted

Sprout Pencils have come up with the answer to our need for buying new pencils when we don't really need them - plant our used ones!

How to be an Eco-Warrior

Are you keen to become an Eco-Warrior but not sure where to start or overwhelmed with the number of actions needed to become an Eco-Warrior?

 

RRP £12.99 • Hardback • ISBN 9781781454114

Earth-Saving Acts for Eco-Warriors may be the book for you.  This A5 in size book is designed to help guide you to living a more sustainable life with practical advice for fighting climate change.

How to make a butterfly feeder from materials around the home

I got an email from The Wildlife Trust which was promoting their 30 Days Wild project, and when I clicked over on to the website, I also found that they have a great activities page detailing various projects to make with your children.

How wonderful is that?  It's all for free and you can pick from making a butterfly table, a bird feeder, or even a wigwam for plants to name a few.

Waste conscious app which helps reduce every day unnecessary landfill

I've found that when working from home (and before lockdown 3), I need background noise during the day as a bit of company.  

What feels like years ago, when the children were at school, one of the guests on This Morning suggested an app called Olio for people who were struggling with feeding their children either from losing their jobs, having their hours cut or just struggling.

How to make coasters from face mask scraps

When I read about HOMELINK's  #homes4families campaign I knew I wanted to get involved.  

‘Makers’ of all ages and abilities are being invited to get creative at home, either on their own or with family and friends, in order to make and donate a handcrafted item for the home or garden as part of HOMELINK’s ‘Home is where the craft is’ community challenge. 

I made fandom coasters with leftover fabric pieces.

How To Turn Recycling Into Toys

The company Re-cycle-me's objective is to introduce more sustainable toys within the arts and crafts category. The overall goal is to teach children and parents to use household disposables and creatively turn them into toys and arts bringing awareness on the waste we produce. For example from a disposable paper roll, egg box or milk carton you can create animals, robots, cars, etc.

How to use fabric instead of wrapping paper

Over the past year or so I've seen quite a few articles regarding the use of silk scarves rather than wrapping paper to wrap presents up in.  This is due to many papers containing plastic and therefore not good for our environment.

North London Waste Authority are promoting how to recycle and reuse for Christmas

North London Waste Authority recently held an Upcycling Show in London promoting how to recycle and reuse household items ideal for Christmas presents.

What is the damage being caused by Fast Fashion

With the upcoming Black Friday, Pre-Christmas Sales and Christmas coming up, Zola Amour is making a bold stance on sustainability and sticking their fingers up to fast fashion with their #FUCKFASTFASHION design line.

How I made reusable sandwich bags

I decided it was time the family did away with the plastic sandwich bags .... for plastic sandwich bags.

Craft: Handmade Shell Candles

Making new candles from seashells

Pinterest is one of my favourite places to find craft ideas, so much so I have my own board that I created for Crafts I'd like to try.

My ever growing charity & car boot wish list?

Does anyone else have a shopping list/wish list when roaming around the charity shops and car boots?

I have several pins saved over on Pinterest of crafts I want to try, but as much as I'm trying to turn my whole house into one large haberdashery and car boot store, I don't always have the items ready to hand.  I know this is a shock to some, but some items I have to source!


I also have a lot of books with various little tags sticking out with projects I want to try, such as a veggie rack made out of colanders or an earring holder made out of a cheese grater, or a geeky twist to them.

So now I've got myself a list.  Well, actually I have myself a book which at the back lists my thrifty wants for when I'm out and about to complete my projects.  I have a photo of my list in my phone gallery, that way I don't need to carry around an A5 notebook!

Sometimes I forget why I need items such as a baking tray or 15 belts!!!  But, hey, I'm sure it's a good one, watch this space for some geeky take on a 15 belt craft project.......

I really want to try the Halloween plant pots, so hopefully, that post will be up by October.  I've already written my witch's legs post which again was sourced from the local charity shops.

So does anyone else have a car boot wish list?  I'm not alone am I?
 

5 garden ideas for upcycling old tyres

We've had a lovely warm sunny day today, one that caused us to venture out into the garden and have a look around at all the spring work we need to do!

The grass needs cutting, the flower beds need weeding and my beloved potting station needs re-stocking for spring.

How to create a pallet potting station

Once the garden is tied up, one of the projects I want to get the family involved in this year is painting and upcycling old tyres.

We have a stockpile ready for the good weather at the weekend - so that's challenge number 1!  My second challenge is to decide on what project to undertake, so here are my top 5, but which one to choose?

Turn old tyres into garden planters

From Nip it in the Bud  

I love this idea, perfect if you have animals, small children or courtyards rather than a garden.  This option is one of my son's favourites as he very much wants to paint the tyres.  I do like the idea of replacing the flower beds with these - they can act as crash barriers for the children too.

Making old tyres into toadstools

Tutorial available at Grillo Designs

How fabulous are these!  I would very much love a couple of these in our garden, we have the room for these, I'm just not sure I have the expertise for it but am very prepared to give this a go.  If I find the wood, I think this one is perfect!

Create a tyre wishing well

Original Source unknown, image from Pinterest

How beautiful is this!!  If we had left over tyres this is what I'd love in our garden as a show piece, I think the purple just finishes it off nicely.

Create Seats from old tyres

Original source unknown, image from Pinterest

There are quite a few stool seats on Pinterest made out of tyres, but I'm rather loving these chairs.  They have a dream catcher feel to them, don't you think?

Creating animals from old tyres

Source unknown, image from Pinterest

This is the project I've settled on.  We have decking at the back of the garden, and I'd love to have this dragon created along the end of the decking.  My son will be in his element painting all the tyres with me, but orange is his favourite colour so we may be getting an orange dragon for the garden.  Reminds me of Nessy.

I've also created a Pinterest Garden Ideas board to help me waste an hour get some inspiration, you know, at 9pm when I'm just going to bed, just before I also put all my worldly problems to bed and write the most inspring posts in my head!...


 

5 ways to decorate your home with fabrics

Image from Adam Ross Fabrics

I mentioned last month that I'm currently taking an online course for upcycling, and along with this course are various reference books to read, what has become apparent is not everything needs to be remade, rebuilt or repurposed.

If you don't have the time, space or experience to turn a chest of drawers into a garden planter or a set of pallets into a potting station then you can always experiment with fabrics.

Update cushions with new covers

I had some spare fabric left over from creating a jewellery box last year and decided to make a cushion from this, with no-sew fabric glue and toy padding, this is actually a rather simple process.

Reupholster dated chairs

Study how a chair/stool has been put together.  Can the seat be removed?  Is the seat in good condition?  Remove the old material and use this as a template to cut out the new material; with the use of a staple gun, you can update your seating to match your decor.

Cover the Canvas

If you have some favourite fabrics such as beautiful chiffon, but not the confidence to create a cushion or reupholster a chair, then purchase some blank canvas' from any stationery/craft store such as Hobbycraft, Works etc and cover with your favourite material to make a visual piece on the wall.

Create a bed canopy

I love this idea and would like to try this out one day with the black velvet mini hearts chiffons as I feel it's the perfect colour for our room. There is a great tutorial on woohome on how to create this look, so watch this space for an update on this one!

Accessorising letters

Letters are very much on trend but may not be the colour of your room, so a perfect way to coordinate is to choose the colours and patterns and wrap the fabric around your chosen letters.  There is very minimal effort involved with this task.  Double sided tape works well to hold the edges in place and no-sew glue to create the hems.

So those are my top 5 ideas for decorating your home with fabrics, but there are many more ways to revamp your home, the only limitation is your imagination.

Do you have a favourite go-to for decorating with fabrics?

Collaborative post

#Beetlemania upcycling event

One of my favourite moments of 2015

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be involved with Gumtree's #UpcycleRevolution week and created my planter from an old set of drawers.  This year, upcycle guru Max McMurdo and Gumtree are back with a Beetle no less!  I'm gutted that due to work commitments and my lack of skills with metal and power tools, I was unable to attend this event!

Beetlemania - Upcycle style

Max has transformed a derelict classic 1974 VW Beetle he found on Gumtree into 24 pieces of amazing furniture and household fittings worth over £5k!!  (and you just know I want them all!!)   All items are now for sale on Gumtree and can be found from the upcycling hub.

As I mentioned, I was unable to attend this event this year, but Max was supported by a great team of upcyclers and bloggers who helped him to complete the project between April 12th and April 17th.

Best of all, all proceeds from these items will be donated to the Butterfly tree charity to provide classrooms, books, and toilets for the children of a rural Zambian community.

I'm torn with this project this time around though, purely because I'm a petrol head and that part of me is screaming 'nooooooooo', don't cut up that beaut of a car, stick it in the ground like the Bug ranch version of Cadillac ranch in America.....

But the upcycling side of me is like "whoa I need this lamp" :-)

Beetlemania - Exhaust lamp created by Max McMurdo

Do have a look at all the lovely products made from this old Beetle, and if you're at the Grand Designs Live in London between 30th April and 8th May please do tweet me your images @Rachaeljessblog, another event I'm sadly going to miss, but this time due to spending time with my wonderful little family.

Now, where's that tatty old table gone.......