Hello and welcome back. Last week I presented you the idea of cutting the tops and side of a cat litter jug to make the kids books holders.

 Mine are working great, It won't be long before I have a nice collection book holders. :)

Today I promised to teach you how to recycle those big round tubs of butter. I made them in to flower pots. There are probably a million things to do with them but flower pots is the project today.

Well it goes with out saying the first thing you do is clean it. Use hot water, not boiling, just hot. Remember you need to be able to hold it with your bare hands. The hot water makes the plastic tub more pliable.

Now I have to make drainage so I turn it over. You'll be making the holes at the flat bottom of the tub. You probably knew that but I try to be thorough.

There are several different things you can use to make a hole; hand drills, an awl pick, thumb tacks if you have a lot of patience, a hammer and nail if you feel brave, at one point I found my self using a screw driver and a screw.

What I did was mark the holes then take the screw and the driver and held them both steady as I turned them both in to the plastic. Once the hole is big enough (I really didn't us a big screw it was like 3/4) then I unscrew it. Viola my hole is made.

 I continue the process 5 more times. Glueing popcicle sticks on both sides next to the holes with give the plant a bit of lift and you can use the lid of the tub to catch the water.

Well now we have the base of the flower pot. Lets decorate. Grab the kids, get some acrylic paint, throw some old newspapers to paint on, brushes and issue your kids their creative license.

Well the covers the butter tubs lets hit egg cartons.

For this project I use only the cardboard ones. There's several different things you can use these for some of which address in later blogs but today its a seed tray.

Granted its not the best time of year to start a seed tray, So you might want to save this part of the blog around Imbolc, or February but all in all eggs cartons are great for this. Cardboard is often used in composting, over time it breaks down with constant wetting and the growing roots will break out and further its decomposition.

Before that its a perfect nursery. Seeds smaller then a dime can grow comfortably in the cells. The cardboard can retain water longer. Plus you save on buying peat pots from gardening stores.


To start you need a good soil you can trust. The two soils I trust are compost and miracle grow.

Which ever you use, give it a good soak, mix it turn it, drain it out on newspaper leave for a few hours possibly all night, then make sure its damp; not sopping wet, not dripping, just damp.

Now spread the soil evenly in the egg carton cells. Don't over fill the cartons or when you water the seeds the water could push them out of the cups and you may wonder why on earth your seeds won't grow.  I've been there.

Now find the seeds. The directions for what they will need is printed on the packet usually so make sure to read it.take a pencil and make a hole in the center of the cell and drop in the seed. then cover with a little more dirt and press firmly but not hard as a rock. Remember your tucking your green babies in  to bed not burying them in cement.

Now you need plastic wrap. It'll act as a green house for you. Those egg cartons with the two raised supports with give your plastic wrap a tent. If they don't have that, then its fine too because the idea is to germinate the seeds and you remove the plastic wrap after you see green. (try to save it for another project if you can.

Invest in a plant sprayer. They have a multitude of uses from entertaining your kids to house cat control, but for here its great for misting your seedlings.  Once your future green babies are protected in their cozy little nursery put it someplace warm somewhere between 65 and 75 degrees. Sunny is okay but not direct sun because it could damage them and over heat the soil.

 Once you see the green slowly remove the plastic, mist them daily and when they reach about 4 inches give more sun. Check them for sun damage.


Once you feel they are ready for your butter tub pots and you'll know because you'll probably able to pick the dirt up by pulling up the stem, grab the pots, tell the kids what a great job they did, and fill the first layer with very small rocks. For the second layer I usually add the compost.
 
 Use a really good pair of scissors or box knife to separate the egg carton cells from each other. Do not cut in to the cells them selves because you'll damage their delicate roots. Once you separated the eggs cups with the seedlings you can plant them carefully in the new pot. Try not to remove it much from the cell because re-planting tends to be traumatic for plants. Add a little more compost and water. In time the paper will destroyed.

Happy planting.

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first ever blog. I hope you enjoy it here.


Well this blog is about how to entertain the kids while promoting an earth friendly lifestyle.

I have one kid She's 6 years old, She loves ballet.

Okay so on to the blog, We make a lot of stuff, we buy a lot of stuff, we use a lot of stuff and then we throw a lot of stuff away. Most of us try to recycle it, its not always easy, some towns do not have really good recycling programs. Whats an earth parent to do?

Grab an assortment of tools, glue tape, whatever and let's get to work.

Here's my current problem, my family and I moved in with a friend, we have very limited space but a lot of stuff.  We have a shelf that is basicly a wire rack. Its very pretty mind you, but its also very bad for holding books.

A seemingly unrelated problem would be my cat liter jugs. ei Tidy cat, cat's pride, basically they look like elongated milk jugs.

The solution I find is to cut in to said milk jugs, remove the top and one side of it to create a book basket. Which would actually last longer then one made from a cereal box. What do I cut with? Box cutters, Xacto knives, really really good scissors... Needless to say this is not the kid part.

I cut along the top which can be difficult, warming the plastic in hot water first might yield better results, well we got to make sure they are clean anyway.

But what  about sharp edges? Plastic will have sharp edges and with small children you probably don't want that. When I worked in a plastic's factory we used to cut what we called the flash with a knife. We'd run it along side and cut off the sharp edges. But a safer route might be to cover it up,

Tape works great in fact I found boxing tape has a lot of sticking power. Duct tape is another candidate. Scotch tape is also a great stand by. Once you get the tape on, lets pretty it up.

We can use any paper, when I can I like to try and save holiday gift wrap. That stuff never gets recycled, perhaps you might use a paper bag, or you might even use a piece of clothing that is so holey and worn no charity would ever take it.

What do we do with it? This is were the fun for the kids come in. Its time to glue. Grab the scissors, pinking shears, safety scissors and I personally recommend decoupage glue. You can get some that in a spray bottle. It'll stick to plastic, paper, metal, and children so you probably do not want to make a snack or check your email while they have at it.

Once its dry and the sharp edges have been successfully covered, let them decorate it. Lots of great sites to down load pics your kids might want on it, or they can use stickers or even pull favorite comics out of the news paper and decorate with them.

Bottom line the list of tools you'll need for this project are:
Good reliable knife or scissors.
Decoupage glue
Tape 
 paper, or cloth you plan to recycle

Bonus tip:
Your probably wondering what to do with the leftover plastic. With a sharpie marker you can make shapes to cut out and make in to mobiles. All you need is some old hangers, a wire cutter, some wire or string, thumb tacks, and a cutting board.

Tie the hangers together so they crisscross. remove one of the hooks of the hanger with a wire cutter.
Poke a hole in the shapes you cut out with a thumb tack. Feed the string through the holes loop it and tie it. Then tie the other end to the hangers. You'll have a nice homemade mobile that you can decorate and display.

Good luck and next week we go over what to do with those pesky empty butter tubs and egg cartoons.