Upcycled Holiday Tags Made with Gift Bags and Tissue Paper

Even holiday season I try to do at least one homemade project that adds a fun DIY touch to my gift giving. This year I came across an easy upcycled craft using items from my home.  I saw this project as I was leafing through GreenCraft Magazine . With a little color and design modification it was personalized to my taste.  You could even get your children involved in this project. Older children can help cut and write on the tags and they could glue the tissue on the brown bags instead of sewing them.

What you'll Need:

• several old gift bags
• saved tissue paper
• sewing machine
• thread
• scissor

What you need to do:

• cut rectangles out of the top part of the bag where to handles are attached leaving part of the handle in tact ( I used funky scissors but you can use regular ones as well)
• cut rectangles out of the tissue paper. You can use festive colors or keep it neutral.
• sew the tissue paper onto the brown paper bag rectangle with your sewing machine.  If you have fun stitches you can use those.
• write your message on the tags and attach them to your gifts with a ribbon.

Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers natural and eco-friendly products for your household. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and her blog.

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Bubble Wrap Fall Tree Project

Have your little ones create Fall trees using left over bubble wrap.  This is a fun and super easy eco-friendly craft for little ones of all ages.

What you'll need:

                   paper: heavier stock paper works best

                              squares of bubble wrap. mine were about 4x4
         paints-yellow,red,orange,brown
 brown markers or crayons

Directions:

1. If you child is older they can draw their own tree trunk, if they are younger draw it for them.
2. Put a thin layer of each color of paint on a left over lid or reusable bowl or plate.
3. Show your child how to take the square of bubble wrap into their hand and dip it into the paint, then dab up and down on the paper in different spots above the tree trunk.
4. Use different colors to create a fun Fall picture. Enjoy!

Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers natural and eco-friendly products for your household. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and at her blog.

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Re-Growing Vegetables Experiment

I was inspired recently by an article from  Wonder How To about how to re-grow vegetables.  It looked like a fun and easy experiment to do at home with my girls.

 We often have left over onion pieces at our home that I don't end up using so I thought this was a great opportunity to reuse it .  Other vegetables we have successfully re-grown in our home are celery, garlic, and romaine lettuce.

 There are several others examples for regrowing vegetables in the article such as carrots greens, mushrooms, and ginger that you might want to give a try.  The article has great photos of each vegetable so take a look if it's hard to imagine what the re-grown vegetable might look like.

Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers eco-friendly products for your family. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and at her blog.

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Father's Day Shoe Box Lid Picture Frame Craft

While I was browsing online recently I came across a neat art project using shoe box lids from Artful-Adventures.  That gave me an idea to make a Father's Day picture frame craft out of a shoe box lid.  This is a fun and easy craft that dads will really enjoy because it is personal.  

What you'll need:

A shoe box lid

paint

another piece of thick paper (card stock for example)

glue

hook or sticky wall tape to attach to the wall

Instructions:

Have your child paint the shoe box lid.

While you are letting the paint dry take your child's hands and make a print of each hand on the stock paper with paint.

After both the shoe box lid and the card stock have dried glue the card stock in the middle of the lid. 

You can write a message for dad in the box as well. 

Put the hook or other adhesive material on the back and you can display your art where ever you like!

Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers eco-friendly products for your family. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and at her blog.

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Natural Mosquito Spray Tutorial

Last Spring I decided to try and make my own natural bug spray. The mosquitoes are pretty bad here in Virginia and we buy a lot of mosquito spray.  We always buy natural which can get expensive so I wanted to try and make it myself.

The process was very simple, I'm not sure I have ever completed an easier DIY project. I found the recipe in the March/April 2013 issue of Mother Earth Living.  The only thing I would do differently is find a better spray bottle. I initially used a water spray bottle which didn't work that well and after this photo was taken I found a better, smaller one at Target for $1.

I would say that they mosquito spray works as well as any other citronella spray.  It needs to be re-applied after about 2 hours and it needs to be rubbed in a little bit.

What you need:
2 oz. grapeseed oil or Almond oil ( I bought grapeseed oil)
combine with 1/2 teaspoon citronella or lemongrass essential oil ( I bought citronella).
spray bottle.


Dorinda's shop, Raising Green Kids, offers eco-friendly products for your family. Follow her on Facebook and twitter and at her blog.

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