Craft Hope Beanbag Project

http://crafthope.com/2010/04/behind-the-bean-bags/

Got some extra time? A little extra fabric? Make some bean bags for Crat Hope!
This is a great way to do some good in the world. Combine your love of creating with the love of kindness and giving.

Here is a tutorial on making the bean bags:

Mama Mel Loves...: Alphabet Bean Bags


- Dr. Suess, The Lorax


Here are the links that will explain the project with all the details:

http://www.loeproject.org/

From the Buzzy Blog:

Spring is Here!! Send in Your Photos for Free Seeds!

If the idea of purchasing on our website for free seeds didn’t appeal to you, how about this. Send me your gardening photos and I’ll send you free seeds! If you have BUZZY products, that would be ideal. If you send me a photo of your Buzzy grow kit (or even plants in your garden that came from Buzzy seeds) I will include a 2nd packet of seeds!

This is for a limited time only. You can submit your photos by emailing me at photo@buzzyseeds.com. Be sure to include your name and address so I can mail you seeds. Please note that your photos may be used on our blog or website.

I will accept photos for seeds until 5/1/09, so start now

http://www.buzzyseedsblog.com/?p=129

here are some of my garden shots

I find wishing and hoping for the best works well for me!

Recycle Your Grocery Plastic Bag

April 14, 2009 by Craft Passion

in Tutorial, Tutorials

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Do you have the habit of keeping your grocery plastic bags? I do, and have plenty of them in my carbinet. I know that I will find good use for them one day instead of throwing them away into the dustbin and loading the landfill.



I emptied them out on the weekends as there were too many to keep. Looking at them and noticing that some plastic bags are so beautifully designed, it seems like such a wastes, so I made this!!! Fused plastic sheet for various crafts, you can even sew on them. At this point of time the outlook of the plastic sheet doesn’t seems appealing to you but it will be a great art when you put them together with other material. I am going to use them to make a recycled tote bag!!!







Let me bring you to the tutorial on how to make these fused plastic sheets. I will keep the recycled tote bag for another post in few days time, so please come back and check for the updates.



Material



2 sheets of blank white paper,

A pair of scissors,

a thick towel,

iron,

plenty of thin grocery plastic bags, and

a well ventilated room

Method

Cut the grocery plastic bags into flat rectangle sheet, i.e cut away the handles, the bottom and side seams. Stack 6-8 pieces of equal size together. The most top and bottom plastic sheet must be white and blank.

Sandwich 2 pieces of plain white paper in between the plastic pile. The paper must be bigger than the plastic so you won’t iron and melt your plastic and stick on it.

Set the iron to medium heat and stroke across the plastic pile slowly and evenly.



The heat from the iron will fuse the plastic sheets underneath. Remove the iron and press against the pile with a thick towel to let it cool down slowly. Please don’t touch the surface directly as it is quite hot for your bare hand to handle it. As it cools, the plastic pile will harden and shrink a little, you will hear some creeping sounds. If you skipped this step, your plastic pile will shrink and roll up while it cools, as a result, you won’t get a flat plastic sheet.



Take a closer look of how it looks after the fusing. See, they are bonded together!!!

You need to try out a few times to get the right temperature. The photo shown below was my failed trial. The reason being was that I set my iron temperature too high and the plastics were melted and formed holes. If you find that you plastics are not fusing, that means your iron is not hot enough, increase the temperature or stroke it longer.





If you have any questions, please do leave comments below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Good luck.

want more ?

 

For a tutorial on how to create plastic bag fabric....go here:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=178442.new#new

Save the Monarch Butterfly

Free Milkweed Seeds

Help your kids save the monarch butterfly.

There are certain things I remember from my childhood summer days. The special trips we took as a family to the Catskill mountains were a favorite. I was growing up in a small suburb that was quickly turning into a city. We had a small patch of grass in the backyard and really scary neighbors who yelled at me. Needless to say, I avoided the back yard. So when our family spent summers in a little cabin surrounded by forest it was life changing to me.
Our first two weeks were unlike anything I have ever known. No electricity or running water. The utility companies were stalling because I think they had no idea how to navigate through the woods to get to us. Having no distractions from T.V. or anything else, my favorite activity was spending the day wandering down trails collecting huge bouquets of wildflowers. There were just never ending hills filled with them. Even though that by the time I came home they were a little wilty and bent, my mom would always find some place to put them on display.
So, why the trip down memory lane? There was one flower I should not have picked. It was big and beautiful. covers in orange flower buds. It was called common milkweed. Let me tell you this is a great injustice. This flower is way to pretty and special to be called that sad name. Remember those breathtaking orange and black butterflies that seemed to be everywhere? Well now they are disappearing. I am sure there are a ton of reasons why. The one thing I know is that milkweed is scarce. This is the only plant that a monarch butterfly will lay her eggs on. A food source for the caterpillars.
This spring please consider carving out a small patch of dirt and spread some seeds with your kids. They will love it. Worms, water, mud! What more can a kid ask for? Well, the joy on my little ones faces about 3 months later when we spotted our first monarch caterpillar was worth its weight in gold to me.

There are many sites that will send you milkweed seeds at a very low price. They are trying to get this native natural beauty back where she belongs.  Click the link on top for some free seeds to get you started, or get a jump with a plant.