A 'green' cleaner for your rubber stamps!

Here's another great article I found. This is the first 'green' cleaner for die cuts and rubber stamps. Yeah!

www.sbwire.com/news/view/29407

Great idea!

Reusing a cereal box!

Of course, cereal is the big breakfast around here! I do recycle my cereal boxes in the containers, but since I have a ton of magazines that I'm unwilling to get rid of right now, so I thought, "how can I re-use them?". Here's a project I started & will finish today and post finished pictures later. I took one box of cereal (see above) & cut it at an angle, like a magazine holder. I have 1 magazine holder and used it as a template:

I then chose a color scheme for my 'new' magazine holder & traced my template:

Sorry for the blurry picture! I then cut it out for both sides, cut out the spine and started gluing!

Stay tuned for the rest!

Yeah! Another manufacturer goes Green

I am so happy to share this with everyone! Die Cuts With a View (DCWV) has an earth-friendly paper line - The Green Paper Stack! Here's what they say about their product:

It's easy to reduce, reuse, and recycle with our adorable
Green Woodland Stack! This eco-conscious collection comes with 24 designs, all
printed on 70% post-consumer recycled paper that is also acid- and lignin-free!
Our darling designs include a forest of playful woodland creatures including
a watchful owl, quizzical bear—even a mischievous skunk! This collection is
perfect for adults and children alike. Stack contains 48 sheets.

Unfortunately I cannot copy their image, so you'll have to check it out at www.scrapbook.com and visit their store.

Let's support this manufacturer for doing something right!

Recycled Fish!

Ok, here's my latest eco-friendly embellishment:

A box of Rice Chex can go a long way! All I did was use one of my templates & trace the fish on the box. Then I traced the template on red & blue scraps of paper, cut everything out, adhered them using 3-in-1 Adhesive (that stuff is the best!), and voila! Two little fish to adhere to your card or scrapbook page. Plus, if you want, you can further embellish them. The edges of my fish are chalked for a little dimension. If I was using these instead of selling them, then I would add some of those little googly eyes. For now, these little buggers are for sale at my Etsy store:

RememberWhenCreation.etsy.com

What have you come up with using cereal boxes? I want to know!

Stay tuned for my 'new' magazine holder!

Gear up for presents!

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” -Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

When I talk about 'green' scrapbooking, I'm really doing the Earth an injustice. I'm limiting myself to just one little niche in my green endeavors - scrapbooking. What about the rest of the paper craft genre?

Even though it's only February, the holidays are here before you know it and everyone is scrambling around purchasing, buying, purchasing, buying, blah, blah, blah. So if you take some time now, you can be ready to MAKE some gifts come November. Here's what you can start saving:

• Cardboard - think of all the things that arrive in the mail or some type of cardboard packaging you get when you purchase something. Start breaking it down and putting it in a safe place. There are many projects we can do with this stuff.
• Tins and powder drink containers - we are big drinkers of Gatorade in this house. Every 10 days, I'm trying to do something clever with the container. Hold onto a few of these - I'll show you what we can do with them.
• Paper bags - some stores are going back to these instead of plastic. Throw a couple in the closet and we'll get creative with them.
• Shredded paper - are you shredding all of your confidential information? Good - you need to. Now bag some of that stuff and I have some ideas for it.

Stay tuned as next week I'll show you some project ideas with these materials.

I love all things recycled!

Here's a cool bag I found on Etsy.com:

This Etsy seller took a broken Coleman Lantern Chair and turned it into a fab tote bag! Here is a link to her store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=26639

I know this has nothing to do with scrapbooking, but I just love all things recycled and I want to promote our earth-friendly artisans!

New Uses for Toilet Paper Rolls!

Wow - this is an innovative idea from Paper Jewels blog. She is using the toilet tissue rolls to make little mini albums. Check it out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiLIG0gd74

I feel the need to save some rolls and make a mini album for the blog. What a great way to reduce waste & reuse an item!

Have any you made? Send them to me and I'll post them here!

Use for yogurt cups!

“Because we don’t think about future generations, they will never forget us.” -Henrik Tikkanen

I know in most areas of the country, you can throw your yogurt containers (or sour cream containers) in the recycle bin. However, what do you do with them if you can't? Or, if you don't have a recycling program in your town?

I have an old cutting board that I have designated as my painting board for chipboard letters or for painting the edges of papers, etc.

You can see where I have squeezed out all colors of paint on the left side of the board. So, in an effort to try & keep it a bit neater and not have lumps of dried paint on it, I decided to put my yogurt cups to use. Our county does have a recycling program, and trust me, I fill up our bins as much as possible. The beauty of using the yogurt cups is I can use them and wash them out & still throw them in the recycle bin.

If you are in a part of the country that doesn't have a recycle program, then you can keep a bunch of them & use one for each color that you paint with. Stay tuned for more uses of yogurt cups!

Recycling Ribbon

Don't we all just love ribbon? Maybe it makes us think of when we were little girls and our dresses would have ribbons on them or maybe our Mom adorned our pigtails with them.

Ribbon is a major embellishment in scrapbooking, and it can add up. So where can you find some ribbons to repurpose? How about this:

• Christmas or other gifts received throughout the year


• Clothes you no longer want


• Gift Baskets


• Thrift Stores!

I'm sure you can come up with some other ideas - share them with us by posting a comment!

Another Vendor Goes 'Green'!

The Queen Goes Green!

Queen & Co. has decided to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their packaging. Check out these very cool little buckets that their product will come in - can you image the uses for that??

Click on this link to read more about it: http://www.scrapbook.com/blog/view/135575.html

They also have some very cute products coming out, which are featured at CHA this coming week. Of course, all of us 'green' scrappers are trying to reduce, reuse and repurpose, so we might not buy 1 of everything, but it doesn't hurt to support a company that is greening itself, now does it?

New uses for bottlecaps

New Uses for Bottlecaps!

My husband loves his IBC Root Beer, and I love the bottlecaps! I am designing a Word Book for my niece, Allison, and I had a few bottlecaps lying around, so I decided to incorporate it into her book.

What can you do with a bottlecap? you ask. Turn it into an embellishment! A 1-inch circle punch is the perfect size for a piece of paper to fit inside the bottle cap (oh - wash the cap first as it can be a little sticky!). I also grabbed a rub-on word and stick for rubbing.

I used the word 'courage' because I feel Allison is taking a giant step next year in leaving home for college. I know when I was 18, I was not ready to leave the roost. I admire this quality in her.

After adding the rub-on, I simply adhered the circle punch to the bottle cap. You can use a glue dot or any other strong adhesive.

Finally, I used the remainder of my 3-in-1 adhesive in adhering the bottlecap to the Word Book:

Here's the full Word Book. It's not done yet, and if I find some other goodies to recycle and use on the book, I will post them as well!

And remember, if you are interested in a custom made Word Book, please visit my website at http://www.rwctc.com/! Thanks for stopping by today!

Use an old map!

Don't forget - I'm still on vacation!

Tip #2 - Do you have any old maps laying around? Or maybe you picked up a map from your last vacation. Don't throw it out - use it in the following ways:

• a background paper
• matting your vacation photos
• cut out the states or countries you visited & use it as an embellishment on your page!

While on vacation this week....

....I'm going to post very short articles. Actually, they are more like tips. I'll return to "work" on the 19th with some pics of using recycled goodies on my pages.

Tip #1 - Donate your leftovers! It's very easy to start filling your scrap space with lots of papers, ribbons, flowers, embellishments, stickers, etc. etc. Try cleaning out your stash at least quarterly, find everything you absolutely don't love, put it in a bag, and take it to your local child care center, or even your child's school. These places LOVE free stuff, and it will definitely be put to good use!

Save Money on Your Scrapbooking - Go Recycled!

The human race will be the cancer of the planet. ~Julian Huxley, attributed

In our financial crisis, many of us are looking for ways to cut costs and curtail our spending. This is definitely a possibility in scrapbooking, if you think outside the box a bit. Let's talk about storage first. Here are some ideas for uses of household items to aid you in organizing your scrapbooking:



Jars - we all have empty jars of sauce, baby food, jelly, peanut butter, gravy -whatever you have eaten! Now, I know most of us wash them & throw them in the recycle bin, but what if you can use them for storage? See my post: http://scrapwithjan.blogspot.com/2008/12/scrapbookcraft-room-challenge-pt-ii.html
Wash them out with warm, soapy water and let them dry. Voila - pretty storage solution for flowers or ribbon!

Priority Mail Boxes: Instead of recycling them, they are very sturdy & make great paper holders! You can use them 'as is' or cut out a 'magazine-style' holder to see your paper. Use your scraps to make them pretty!

Nut & Bolt Organizer: Sometimes the man in your life may have something to repurpose. You know those cool metal or plastic boxes that have all the little drawers in them for different screws, nuts & bolts? Why not clean it out, maybe repaint it in a pretty color, and use it to organize your alphabet stickers or brads or buttons or other embellies? I'm on the lookout for a used one (hopefully for free) that I can use in my scraproom.

Silverware Tray: Do you have an extra one of these lurking in the attic? You can use it to organize your colored pencils and pens!

Cigar Boxes: How about these? Are they hanging around too? Use them to store scraps of paper or ribbons or other embellishments. You can also either decoupage them or paint them to match your room.

Yogurt containers: Eating yogurt is huge in my house. We each consume at least 1 a day. Of course, I wash them out & recycle them, but I had an abundance of glue sticks and didn't know what to do with them. So, I took a bunch of paper scraps, some modge podge & now I have a nifty holder for my glue sticks. I have also used another one for a set of alphabet stickers.

** I am on vacation & unable to download photos right now. Please stay tuned for pictures starting the week of Jan. 19th! Thanks for understanding! **

What ideas do you have? Share them with me! Together, all our small steps can make an impact on Mother Earth.

K & Co introduces 2 new eco lines!

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

K & Company has introduced two eco-friendly paper lines and a tree donation program! I was very happy to stumble upon this on their website:

http://www.kandcompany.com/shop/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=90

This link will explain their 2 paper lines and their Plant A Tree program. Let's face it - scrapbooking, at its very core, starts with paper. And we use A LOT of it. By supporting these 2 paper lines from K and Company, we are reducing paper, packaging and fuel.

Even though I pledged not to purchase anything new this year, my fingers are itching to get my hands on some of this paper and try a layout. How about you? Have you used either paper line?

So what's this Goin' Green all about?

For those of you who have been following me faithfully, I was selling supplies and hosting crops. But, I wasn't happy doing it. So why waste my life's energy on doing things that don't make me happy?

The question begs - what does make you happy? Or what makes you happy in the crafting world? Easy - creating! I was watching everyone else make things & never had time for me and my projects.

What else am I passionate about? The earth - saving it. We Americans (yes, it's mostly the Americans) that have caused alot of the problems the earth is experiencing. I will start another blog on everyday living green, but let's get back to scrapbooking. I am all for preserving memories and journaling our life's events. So, how can I (and you) do that without always buying, buying and buying, and throwing away packaging, and Styrofoam bubbles, etc. There has to be a better way, and that is what this blog is all about.

A few times each week, I will post my "greening" techniques and I want to learn from you too! Add an RSS Feed on your favorite homepage so we can interact and share ideas, techniques and thoughts on our green adventure.

On another note, I am developing a very cool product, which will contain a minimum of 25% earth-friendly components. Stay tuned for more details, but don't rush out to buy your Valentine's Day gifts yet, you may just want to see what I have in store for you!

Why it's important to buy handmade

Well, it's the holiday shopping season, and this year, I am making a conscience effort to not visit the malls and stores & purchase 'stuff' for my family. Instead, it's all handmade this year.

Why? Several reasons. First, visit the Story of Stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.com/) & you'll understand about consumerism and what it is doing to our planet. That should be reason enough. Secondly, I am moving away from selling 'scrapbooking stuff' and moving into the gift business. I need to market my items, and what better way than to give my creations as gifts. Lastly, by supporting a local business person, you are helping to build a sustainable economy in your own backyard.

Stay tuned to my blog as each day I will post a new creation - whether it's a new line of cards, a new word book or a picture bouquet - I'm sure you will find something unique for one of your loved ones this year!

Beautiful Tote Bag - ecofriendly!

I was browsing Etsy this early Sunday morning and found this beautiful tote bag:

In my quest to remain ecofriendly and reduce, reuse & recycle, this tote bag was handmade using fabrics from the Boise Re Use Market. It's a stunning combination of prints and is only $25! Click on http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_6&listing_id=12759998 to visit the Etsy store that is selling this item.

While you are at it, don't forget to purchase a card from me if this tote is a gift for someone!