Recycled Kid’s Craft: Cereal Box Puzzles

22nd Apr2013

Recycled Kid’s Craft: Cereal Box Puzzles

by Dinah Wulf

Happy Earth Day! In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share a special recycled craft I did with my daughter. She may only be two, but crafting runs through my little one’s blood! I love it! We are always trying out different kid’s crafts. Most of the time, I look for things around the house to repurpose and reuse. Today I want to share a recycled kid’s craft my daughter and I did made out of cereal boxes and the covers of her coloring books.

Materials:

Cereal boxes or old board game boxes
Coloring book covers or damaged soft book covers
Scissors
Straight edge
Craft knife
Cutting mat
Glue sticks

Like most kids, my daughter has several coloring books. Oftentimes, we tear out the pages and color and we are left with an empty spine and cover. We decided to save these to make these puzzles.

Using a cutting mat, straight edge, and craft knife, we cut the coloring book covers to our desired puzzle size. Mainly, we cut off the titles and price tags.

Next I cut the fronts and backs of the cereal boxes.

Mia glued the covers to the cereal boxes with some kid-friendly glue sticks. The cereal cardboard makes the puzzles more durable.

After the glue dried, I trimmed around the sides and cut out the puzzle in different shapes. Cut larger shapes for younger children and smaller pieces for older children. If your kids are older, they can cut out the shapes themselves.

Mia loved them! I’m guessing it’s because she helped make them. She did them over and over again, clapping as she finished each one. This was such a great kid’s craft for us to do together, and the puzzles are sturdy enough to keep and use over and over again.

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Category : Kid Stuff, Kids Craft Ideas, Trash To Treasure

Tags : Craft Ideas, Dinah's Tutorials, Earth Day, Recycling Ideas, Upcycling Ideas

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16th Apr2013

Mr. Eco the Environmental Rap Superhero

by Dinah Wulf

I love rap and I love Mr. Eco! In honor of the fast approaching Earth Day on April 22^nd, I wanted to introduce Mr. Eco the Environmental Rap Superhero! The environmental rap superhero Mr. Eco who has performed for over 16,000 elementary school students released his new song and music video “Recycle Robot” on YouTube. Brett Edwards, who performs as Mr. Eco, delivers environmental messages in a way that is fun and engaging to kids everywhere.

Edwards says about recycling, “When we don’t recycle it starts a downward spiral, it’s about time that this goes viral.” His goal is to empower kids to become ‘EcoHeroes’ by living sustainably and following the messages in his songs.

Check out his YouTube video.

About Mr. Eco

Brett Edwards (aka Mr. Eco) performed free assemblies for more than 16,000 elementary school students in the San Luis Obispo area in 2012 and will perform for 10,000 students in San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Fresno in Spring 2013. Mr. Eco is releasing his new album, “Hybrid Hip-Hop” in Whole Foods nationwide this summer and “Recycle Robot” is the first single off the album. Inspired by his love for wildlife, Edwards has made it his mission to impact our youth and create a culture of environmental activism by using catchy lyrics and a superhero persona to deliver his message in a fun and engaging way for kids. When Edwards isn’t saving the world as Mr. Eco, he attends school at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He will be pursuing Mr. Eco full time with his team following their graduation in June. Through performances, music videos, green campaigns and songs, Mr. Eco will continue to spread his messages across all platforms and encourage others to join the environmental movement.

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Category : Inspiring People

Tags : Earth Day, Everyday Inspiration

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12th Apr2013

Earth Day Inspired DIY Crafts

by Dinah Wulf

On April 22nd, it doesn’t matter what age, race, religion or gender you are, millions of people from across the globe will come together to honor the earth on Earth Day. Teaching our children at a young age to respect Mother Nature is essential. As we all know, they learn better by seeing and doing, so have fun with Earth Day crafts and education.

Simply, it’s about cleaning up, saving water, turning off electronics, planting trees and gardens, rescuing animals, reducing pollution, avoiding littering, reducing, reusing and recycling. It’s about loving the world each and every day — not just Earth Day. Dig in the dirt with these fun (and educational, shhh…) crafts. It’s not like you won’t be making a trip to the local craft store anytime soon (nudge nudge).

Recycled Crayon Hanging Window Art

Each recycled crayon hanging window piece will be a complete original. No two can be the same — perfect for your quirky little one. This is a great gift for all of your friends and family this coming Earth day. Really get into it and make one for each family member to remind them to reduce their carbon footprint this year. Send the little packets through a Pitney Bowes meter to save the earth from postage and labels. Make everything this day about the Earth. Supplies you will need:

Earth-colored crayons (blue, green, brown and white)
Paper towel
Wax Paper
Spring
Scissors
Iron

Lay wax paper as your work surface and draw a circle with a glass or stencil. Parents, use the scissors to make crayon shavings with the colors listed above. While the children are placing the colored shavings in the circle, you can explain to them about the blue water, green grass, brown land and white clouds. Cut a twelve-inch long piece of string, double over, place the open ends together and lay them onto the crayon shavings. The string will serve as a hanger once the crayon melts and cools as in the next steps. Carefully place a second piece of wax paper on top of the shavings. Next, layer a paper towel on the wax. On low setting, (you, mom) apply heat to melt shavings and cool. Trim your little earth into a circle (don’t cut the string). Carefully peel of each side of the wax and tada — earth-friendly window art.

Bright idea! Make a second smaller circle with just black, white and gray to represent the moon and hang side by side.

Eggshell Planters

Thank you Ms. Stewart for this idea. With spring in the air and sunshine aplenty, teach your little ones to be little gardeners by transforming egg shells into little pots to hold dirt, seeds, moss, succulents and flowers – or whatever is your unique design. Whether you want your own flowers or herbs to sprout from seedlings or prefer a matured plant, fill half an eggshell with dirt and plant seeds according to the packet instructions. Or place the succulents and moss in the dirt and arrange them pretty.

H. Zell photograph

Can you guess the recommended shell holder? That’s right, they’ll fit perfectly in the egg carton, which you can put right in the windowsill enabling your new little friends to get plenty of sun. Teach your kids about watering plants and watch their eyes brighten when they begin to see the planted seeds sprout into little flowers or delight in their pride of creating a happy little succulent garden.

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Category : Crafts

Tags : Earth Day, Recycling Ideas

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19th Apr2012

The Reverse Graffiti Gallery

by Dinah Wulf

I have always been a big fan of street art. Art is the operative word. In fact, I have a large three panel Banksy piece hanging in my living room! AND with Earth day coming up, I thought it was appropriate to show one way to help demonstrate a healthy sustainable environment.

When I saw The Reverse Graffiti Gallery project from Green Works, I had to spread the word, because it’s a) eco-friendly, b) it’s something I support and believe in, and c) well, it’s FANTASTIC. Green Works is eco-friendly because it’s formulated using plant- and mineral-based biodegradable cleaning ingredients, and it is packaged in bottles that can be recycled.

Check out this one minute video clip on how the magic happens… amazing!
Main Video: You Tube Reverse Graffiti Video

This one, is the artist, Paul “Moose” Curtis talking about clean tagging. He even mentions Banksy!
Video: Green Works Reverse Graffiti: Clean Tagging

About The Reverse Graffiti Gallery

“In 2008, we set out to create a unique and breakthrough way to demonstrate the efficacy of Green Works products.

We chose a high-traffic, extremely dirty, and large spot in San Francisco – the Broadway Tunnel – to become the canvas for a live 140-foot Green Works product demonstration. We enticed Paul “Moose” Curtis, a British pioneer of an art form called “clean tagging,” to help realize our vision.

Green Works products are at least 95 percent plant-based, so we decided to reverse out a mural of plants and trees on a dirty city wall. With a powerful and larger-than-life demonstration, we encouraged people to think about what Green Works could do in their home if it could clean the dirt and grime off a busy transit tunnel. We saw great results with the original Reverse Graffiti project. We’re excited to elevate and continue the program on a larger scale with the creation of the Reverse Graffiti Gallery by Green Works in Los Angeles.”

Green Works Sweepstakes!

Green Works is making one of LA’s grimiest corners, alleys or nooks beautiful this May and now’s your chance to help!

Enter the Reverse Graffiti Gallery sweepstakes on the Green Works Facebook page for the chance to win a trip to Los Angeles.

While there, you can lend a hand in helping to create a reverse graffiti image with artist Mr. Kiji to appear as the final art piece in the Reverse Graffiti Gallery.

The winner of the grand prize will receive a three-day trip for two to Los Angeles to attend the Reverse Graffiti Gallery opening, a $1,000 gift card and access to the best art the city has to offer with day passes to some of the city’s museums.
Three additional entrants will also be selected at random to win Green Works products.
Registration for the sweepstake ends April 26th at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Good Luck!

Thanks to Green Works for sponsoring today’s post!

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Category : Inspiring People

Tags : Earth Day, Everyday Inspiration, Sponsored

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13th Apr2012

Cranberry Sauce Leftover Cocktails

by Dinah Wulf

Every week, David writes amazing and unique recipes to help make our cocktail parties fun, tasty, and talked about. This week, he has outdone himself again by concocting recipes using leftover cranberry sauce! Earth Day is coming up this month and one way we can help, is reducing our waste! What better way to use leftovers than using them in a cocktail! Ha! Here we go!

Written By David Edessa

Cranberry Sauce Leftover Cocktails!!!!

What to do with leftover cranberry sauce, besides as a spread to turkey or ham sandwiches…

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Leftovers Cranberry Sauce Martini Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 oz. Citrus Vodka
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. Orange Juice
2 Tbsp. smooth cranberry sauce (sweetened)
½ oz. fresh lime juice
Vanilla Honey Syrup (recipes below)
Citrus Infused Sugar (recipes below)

Glass Prep:

Add citrus infused sugar along the rim of the martini glass. To do this, place honey on a flat plate then dip the glass into the honey to coat the rim. Place citrus infused sugar on a second flat plate. Then rim the honey coated rim glass into sugar and coat the rim. Place rimmed prepared martini glasses upside down on wax paper into freezer to chill.

Cocktail Instructions:

Place all liquid ingredients and cranberry sauce into a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice, shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass.

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Honey Vanilla Bean Syrup Recipe:

Ingredients:

½ cup water
½ cup honey
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Heat water until boiling, remove from heat and whisk in honey and vanilla beans, until honey is dissolved. Chill well before using in drinks. Makes 1 cup syrup.

Orange Zest Infused Sugar Procedure:

Put 1 cup of sugar into a medium bowl. Grate the bright orange zest off of 1 large orange, being careful to avoid the bitter white pith underneath, into the sugar (doing this over the bowl of sugar ensures that you capture as much of the citrus oil released while grating as possible). Transfer to an airtight container and store for at least a few days and up to 6 months. The sugar will pick up the bright orange flavor.

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Cranberry Mojito Recipe:

Ingredients:

8 fresh mint leaves (no stems)
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
2 Tbsp. smooth cranberry sauce (sweetened)
1½ oz. White Rhum
2 oz. Club Soda

Cocktail Instructions:

Place mint leaves and 1 lime wedge into a sturdy glass. Use a muddler to crush the mint and lime to release the mint oils and lime juice. Add 2 more lime wedges and the cranberry sauce, and muddle again to release the lime juice. Do not strain the mixture. Fill the glass almost to the top with ice. Pour the rum over the ice, and fill the glass with soda water. Stir, taste, and add more cranberry sauce if desired. Garnish with the remaining lime wedge.

If you have access…. I prefer key limes….. Bruised free!!!

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Peach-Cranberry Margarita Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 oz. Sweet and Sour Mix
1½ oz. Silver Tequila
½ oz. Peach Schnapps
½ oz. Orange Juice
2 Tbsp. smooth cranberry sauce (sweetened)
2 fresh limes, quartered
Agave Syrup (not dark or unfiltered)
Sea Salt

Glass Prep:

Salt the rims of a tall glass. To do this, place agave syrup on a flat plate then dip the glass into the honey to coat the rim. Place Sea Salt on a second flat plate. Then rim the agave coated rim glass into salt and coat the rim. Place rimmed prepared glasses upside down on wax paper into freezer to chill.

Cocktail Instructions:

In a blender, combine sweet and sour mix, triple sec, tequila, orange juice, cranberry sauce, and one glass filled portion of ice into a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into prepped glass, squeeze a quarter lime into each glass.

When filling glass make sure to leave space between salt and margarita blend.

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Chocolate Cranberry Shake Recipe (ALCOHOLIC SHAKE)

Ingredients:

1 ¼ oz. Vanilla Rhum
½ oz. Baileys Original Irish Cream Mint Chocolate liqueur (room temperature)
2 Tbsp. smooth cranberry sauce (sweetened)
½ cup crushed ice
1 Tbsp. Chocolate Syrup
½ cup French Vanilla ice cream

Instructions:

Add Rhum sliced Cranberry sauce, chocolate syrup, and vanilla ice cream in a blender. Blend until smooth and pour into tall glass. Garnish with whip cream and chocolate syrup.

Check out David’s Cocktail Corner Drink Index to find the recipe of your favorite drink!

Photo Sources: SavorySweetLife.com, MyRecipes.com,BlogZipongo.com

**Don’t forget to enter to win a $50 gift certificate to iStencils.com!

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Category : Cocktail Corner

Tags : David Edessa, Earth Day

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