Monthly Archives: December 2010
Final Report: Handmade Felted Garland
| December 20, 2010 | Posted by Linsi Brownson under do-it-yourself, gifts, holidays, Inspiration, Projects, Seasonal |
I’m really happy to say that I actually finished a project that I blogged about! A few weeks back, in the post Weekend Project, I had found a cool and seemingly easy project that I wanted to try making for my Mother-in-Law for Christmas. I’ve seen these felted ball garlands around the blogosphere and thought they were really cute – a little trendy, a little crafty, and may I repeat easy to make.
So off I went to the local craft store (make that 4 stores) to discover my first lesson in felting: big box craft stores do not carry wool roving. So after several hours on the emotional rollercoaster that was material shopping, I trekked back home and proceeded to spend another 4 hours online picking out colors of wool roving. I finally settled on Ancient Meadow, Pomegranate Rouge and a blend called Country Mouse from The Felted Ewe.
So my project was delayed a week because I had to wait for shipping but I got crackin’ the day they arrived. The colors lived up to their names, especially Country Mouse, which looked exactly like something my dog would have dragged inside. I chose not to photograph it in the original state, you’re welcome.
I rolled and rolled for hours, until I thought my dish-pan hands would be permanent (which did take days to recover). I made a huge mess using the hand-rolling method which called for dishsoap and the more I rolled the more bubbles it made.
At the end of the night I was soaking wet, and so was the floor, and I had completed about 1/2 of the balls I needed for my project. But I was spent.
For round two I decided to try the method of tying the balls in a nylon and running it through the washer. But all my balls got stuck in the nylon so when I pulled them out they were super fuzzy. I decided to grab some gloves and go back to hand-rolling. I also decided that maybe the instructions meant dishwasher soap and not dish-soap! So I pulled out my eco-friendly but lemon scented dishsoap and dug back in.
Personally, I think the soapy mess was worth it because it held the balls together better. But the other soap worked well enough so I guess it’s a matter of preference. I finished with an assortment of about 50 red, green and taupey-grey balls in two sizes: 1/2 inch and 1-1/2 inch. I should note too that after round one I decided on my ultimate pattern and layed them out so I could see what colors and sizes I would need to finish up.
After a couple drying days I grabbed my thick-ass needle and embroidery thread and got to stringin’. I created a garland about 10′ long and wound an extra 2′ of thread around a small spool to give added versatility.
I’m pretty happy with the outcome. After learning the hard way to A) Plan ahead, B) Wear gloves when dipping your hands in hot, soapy water for hours and C) Find a comfortable place to sit or stand, preferably one that can be mopped, I think I would do this again. The colors were perfect with M-O-L’s country Christmas decor and I’d like to do a funky one for my modern x-mas next year. Maybe if I start now I could get one to go around the whole tree…yeah maybe not.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Side Note: If you want to work a little but not a lot, you can also find pre-made felt balls at ornamentea, 50 for $9.50!
Maximize Your Merry, Minimize Your Waste
| December 17, 2010 | Posted by Morgan G under Guest Bloggers, holidays, Seasonal, Sustainable Living |
Originally posted in the New York Times, 2007.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, household waste increases by more than 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. All that cheer – extra food waste, shopping bags, ribbons, bows, baubles, boxes and gift wrap – creates an additional one million tons of landfill-bound waste each week. I’m certainly no Grinch; the number three most played song on my iPod year round? George Michael’s Last Christmas. There’s some irony here, no? “The very next day, you gave it away…” Anyway, I simply want to show you how to maximize your merry and minimize your waste with a refresher on in-home holiday waste management.
What to Recycle
corrugated cardboard, junk mail, magazines, phonebooks, newspaper, computer paper, aluminum, glass and plastics
What to Keep Out of the Recycle Bin
waxed and coated papers (unfortunately most wrapping paper is coated), waxed milk cartons, soiled paper, mixed products like combinations of metal and fibers
Tips on Plastics
Numbers 2, 4 and 5 can safely be reused and are widely recyclable across municipalities. Examples of these are milk and detergent bottles, shrink wraps, garment bags, squeezable bottles – think ketchup and grape jelly, yogurt cartons and margarine containers. Numbers 1, 3, 6 and 7 are not safe to reuse and their recyclability can vary from city to city. Examples include water and soda bottles, pet toys, blister packaging, plastic utensils, foam packaging and layered and mixed plastics. San Juan Capistrano’s waste and recycling service provider, CR&R, accepts numbers 1 through 7.
What to Compost
vegetable scraps, fruit scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, newspaper, cheese, tea leaves, lint, pet or human hair, stale bread, napkins, tissues and paper towels
What to Keep Out of the Compost Pile
citrus rinds, meat waste, bones, pet feces, glossy paper, invasive weeds, ashes
Now that you have a handle on holiday waste management, we challenge you to take on one (or all three) of the simple measures below to really reduce your end of year impact.
1. Wrap just three gifts with reused materials. We recommend sheet music, old maps and posters. If every family in the US did this, the paper saved would cover 45,000 football fields.
2. Carefully remove and set aside two feet of holiday ribbon to use on a gift for next year. If every family did this, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. Awww.
3. Choose just one of the technology-lovers on your holiday card list and send them an e-card instead of a paper card. If we each sent one less paper card, collectively we’d spare 1.35 million cubic yards of paper.
I’d love to hear from you. Which of these simple measures are you willing to take on this year? Are there any other waste reduction tips you put into practice during the holidays?
(All factoids from the EPA and/or The Use Less Stuff Report.)
We confess, Morgan Greenwood doesn’t live on a funky farm or yurt compound. 50/50 concrete to grass lawn, her plot is pure suburban parcel. Yet, she works to create a healthy home and abundant lifestyle while treading lightly on the planet. Check out her posts for DIY project ideas and adventures in green culture. Spend more time with her at groundedpeople.com.
Finding the Meaning of Christmas in a TV Series Finale
| December 15, 2010 | Posted by Nicole L. under Guest Bloggers, holidays, inspired thoughts, Seasonal |
With all of the excitement surrounding the holidays, it’s easy to forget the true meaning of why we celebrate the season. For a lesson in what really matters, I look to the series finale of Lost.
What, you ask, does the final episode of Lost have to do with Christmas? I’ll tell you:
For six seasons, viewers watched this group of castaways fight to escape a remote island while battling hostile locals and a smoke monster – not to mention, a whole host of other supernatural unexplainables. When they were able to finally escape the island, they experienced a significant amount of heartbreak with each other and, I won’t go into the details but, eventually they came back to the island together.
In the end – as in, the end of their lives – they found themselves together again in the hereafter. They had so many questions about what was real and what everything meant (as did most of the series’ viewers), but it didn’t matter.
In fact, nothing they thought mattered, mattered. Not the Dharma initiative, not Jacob or the mysterious man in black, not the numerical code which brought so much bad luck to Hugo, not the donkey wheel, not the ancient statue or how Richard Alpert came to live for over 150 years – none of it. What mattered were the relationships they made along the way.
Those times, they were told, were what made up the greatest time in their lives. The time when the lived and loved the most.
So I think of the holiday season as the island in Lost. It’s easy to get distracted with the obligations and unexplainables in life but, what really matters, is the relationships you have. Because life, what precious little we have of it, is happening right now.
Weekend Project
| December 3, 2010 | Posted by Linsi Brownson under accessories, do-it-yourself, holidays, Projects, weekend fun |
Weekends are precious. And I take them seriously.
I’ve mostly become a lazy weekender because I work sooo much during the week and all I want is to pick up my house and keep my pjs on all day. But this weekend I am inspired to do a little project. I’m in love with these felted wool garlands and it turns out they’re pretty easy to make.
I’m going to craft one for my Mother In Law (shhh don’t tell. And don’t worry, she doesn’t read the blog) who I want to give something amazing, but has everything she needs and I can’t afford what she wants. So a gift from the heart and hands should do right? Hope so.
I found the how-to from the Purl Bee, a great resource for knitters, crafters and Not-Marthas like myself. I really like the colored felt ones but I’ll start with natural and embellish like they did. Plus, I didn’t have time to order from Decadent Fibers, which has gorgeous custom-dyed rolls but my next go-round (assuming this goes well) I’m definitely going to get a ‘jelly roll’ – look ‘em up.
So I will report back on my project and if you have some crafty spare time this weekend give it a shot and let me know how it goes. Hooray for weekends!
Oh how I love this…
| December 3, 2010 | Posted by Linsi Brownson under accessories, favorite things, Inspiration |
.jpg)
connect