Check out the knitting pattern over at My Amphetamines & My Purls!

When my friend Genevieve from SEWphisticate wrote about turning #6 plastic into shrinky dinks, I couldn’t resist covering it for Crafting a Green World! I really want to give this a try with the food containers from the Dekalb Farmers Market. I love their prepared food area but hate accumulating all of those plastic containers!

<3,
Becky

Tonight, our pal Davis is playing a masquerade ball! Obviously, this meant we got together with some friends and made masks for the occasion!

To make the masks, we drew the shapes we wanted with marker onto two pieces of cardboard. You could really use just one piece, but gluing the two pieces together makes for a sturdier finished product. The one pictured above is made from a frozen dinner box. The feather is a single piece of cardboard that’s sandwiched between the two mask pieces. We used glue sticks to decoupage salvaged book pages on top, then added embellishments. I decided my mask would be the shiniest and did a layer of blue glitter glue (of course!) and a layer of glitter mod podge! Christy brought over a basket of ribbon and ric rac, and Lori had a tray of rhinestones and feathers and other sparkly things for us to use!

I took this picture because it makes me laugh a lot. This is me getting back to my crafty roots, after applying all that sparkliness to my mask!

<3,
Becky

For starters, we made laundry detergent and rinse. We’ll be making dryer balls at a future point. The laundry recipes both came from the modcottage blog, and just like she claims, they were super-easy to whip up!

For the detergent:

1. 1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated. We found the smaller grating holes made it easier to mix up. We also discovered that two of our bars were hard, while the rest were more soft. You might want to peek inside the soap wrapper before you buy.
2. 1 c Borax
3. 1 c Washing Soda
4. 1/4 c OxyClean (not necessary, but we add it)
Mix it all together into a bumpy, granular mix. Don’t worry about stuff getting correctly dispersed, it does, even if it doesn’t quite look like it.

Use 1T for a light load
Use 2T for a large or dirty load (It’s true! Only 2 Tablespoons per load!)

And the rinse:

1. 1 gal white vinegar
2. 25-30 drops essential oil in whatever scent you want your clothes to smell like.

Use 1/4 c in the rinse cycle. The vinegar clears the last bit of soap remaining on all your clothes and reduces static. (and doesn’t leave a smell behind, promise!)

The next products we tackled were window cleaner, and a general purpose spray cleaner/disinfectant.
We got these recipes from the women and environment blog

WINDOW CLEANER
1/4-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent, we use Dr Bronner’s
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past. Remember, one of the best things to use for a “rag” when cleaning windows is old newspapers. Streak-free!!

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
A dab of liquid soap (we use Dr Bronners!)
2 cups hot tap water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.

The last thing we made was a soft scouring powder. You can mix this up as you go, but we chose to add the vegetable glycerine so we could make big batches to store. It keeps for about 2 years in the fridge.

CREAMY SOFT SCRUBBER
suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap (again, Dr Bronner’s)
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer. We chose lemon and a thyme tincture that Kip made with thyme grown in her garden. She’s going to show us how to make tinctures soon, so we’ll have a tutorial for that up in the near future as well.

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We’ll be posting notes and reviews from everyone as they roll in, so check back for updates!!

Or so we thought.

The Plastic Loose Fill Council (PLFC) was founded in 1991 to develop, promote and implement the original use and subsequent recovery, reuse and recycling of polystyrene loose fill, commonly known as “packing peanuts.”

Check for a place to recycle Here!

~liz