Arts and crafts can be made from recyclable materials too!

I love making arts and crafts, and some of my favorite arts and crafts projects involve junk, trash, broken things, etc.  Why?  Well, for one, if you are using stuff you can easily find at home (jars, tin cans, newspaper, pop bottles, etc.) then that means that you don't have to spend money at the store to make your projects.  This is very important these days, as money is hard to come by.  Another reason I like this "turning trash into treasure" mentality when it comes to home arts and crafts projects is because I believe in "going green," promoting sustainability, and reducing, reusing, and recycling.  So since I love being creative and I love working to save the Earth, making crafts at home from old stuff is just one great way for me to combine those two loves into one awesome good time!

Now, since I DO love "recycled crafts" so much,  earlier today I was drawn into an article by GreenVerbs on List My 5 that I liked so much, I decided to share it!  Check it out here:

The Top Five Recycled Crafts Websites

I hope you check them out and get inspired!  Have fun!
Peace and Love,
Meagan

Basic Melt and Pour Soap

What You Need:

• Soap base
• Colorant (or food coloring)
• Essential oils or fragrance oils
• Soap molds
• Glass bowl
• Spoon
• Microwave
• Plastic wrap
• Spray bottle of rubbing alcohol

Directions:

1. Put your soap base in a glass dish and cover it with plastic wrap. Microwave (on high) for one minute to one minute and fifteen seconds. Remove the dish from the microwave and stir in any hard pieces to melt them.
2. If you add fragrance oils or essential oils, add it only after the base is fully melted. Mix the base and oils well so that the base doesn't get a cloudy appearance.
3. Add colorant, but remember, a little goes a long way. Mix well and continue to add small amounts of colorant until you have reached your desired shade.
4. Pour the finished base into your soap molds. Spray the top with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any bubbles.
5. Let the soaps set for a few hours. When they are hardened, remove them from the molds and you should have some lovely, homemade soap.

Making Soap for Fun and Profit

Natural Handmade Soaps and Gifts

Soap Making Supplies

Soap Making Recipes, Tips, Instructions, and More

Cottage Garden Therapies

Soap on Etsy

Sharpies and Art

All I can say is this... get some sharpies and something to draw on and start making art!  It's my new craze of the moment, and I can't wait to get pictures up to show you.  It's like Hippie/Graffiti/Pop Art.  I love it!
So like I said... go out and invest in a big pack of sharpies and get creative!  And keeping checking back for some Sharpie-Art of mine.  :)

Peace and Love,
Meagan

How to Make a Decorative Paper Chain

Paper chains are great.  You can make them to fit any holiday or special occasion, they can be used for decoration year round, they are relatively easy to make, AND they can be made from mostly recycled materials.

What you need to make paper chains:
1. Paper. I like to use old magazines and catalogs.
2. Scissors (to cut the paper).
3. Tape
4. Creativity



STEPS:

Step 1: Gather all your paper product together.  Hopefully you've found some old magazines or catalogs that we can use.  Scan through the magazines and catalogs and find pictures that stand out to you.  Maybe they have amazing colors to them or neat designs or whatever.  Cut those pages out of the magazines and such and set them aside.  Continue to do this until you have a huge stack of paper.

Step 2: Once you have lots of paper, you can start cutting it into strips.  Try to make the strips even, but make them however thick or however thin you want.  Pile up your paper strips, but mix them up, so that all the strips near each other in the stack are from different pages.

Step 3: Pick up one strip and make a loop.  Connect the two ends of the loop with tape to make a circle out of the paper strip. (It should look like a bracelet.)

Step 4: Pick up another strip of paper and slide it through the center of the first paper circle.  Make a loop, connect the two ends, form a second bracelet-like circle and you have now "linked" your loops like a chain.

Step 5: Continue Step 4 over and over again until the paper chain is the desired length.  Then stop, hang it up, and love it!

Step 6: Clean up all the scraps and any other messes, and enjoy your paper chains!

Paper Chain And Other Paper Craft Resources:

A Paper (Fabric) Chain Tutorial
Papercopia
Advent Paper Chains: An Easy Christmas Craft
Printable Paper Valentine Chains for Kids
How to Make Paper Chains - Ring Type

PonchoMeg Says: Coloring books are NOT just for kids... Oh yeah... and I love my cats!

Yes, it is true... I absolutely love the cats at our house.  Ava is my baby, but Sam and Binks have been very welcome additions to my life.  I am so glad to know them and live with them.

Now, because I am a super creative person, and I love making things, and I love coloring, I decided a while back to color a coloring book photo of three cats to look like Sam, Binks, and Ava.  How do you think I did?

Here are the cats just as they are:

And here's the coloring book page:

  What do you think?

Recent Arts and Crafts by PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian

I have been super crafty lately.  Here are some of my recent creations.

First, we have a Winter/Holiday Centerpiece I made in mid-November.  I made about 5 total, and had enough materials left over to make a wreath! Fun stuff.

Then we have the paper chains that A. and I made to help make our home that much more festive!  We cut the strips from old magazines like People, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Marie Claire and then fashioned them together with scotch tape.  It was lots of fun and a nice project to collaborate on.

Then we have this crazy picture I edited in paint! haha  I was feeling super excited about my Cloud Magic t-shirt so I created this fanciful, crazy, pretty picture of me blowing magic energy out into the universe.  Deep, I know.

Finally we have a picture that I painted on a piece of cardboard from an old box we had.  I wanted to do something with lilacs and I wanted it to be a bit impressionistic, in tribute to one of my favorite painters: Monet.  What do you think?

Lately, I have also been big into crocheting again, and I made a great Scarf/Neck Warmer, but I haven't taken any pictures.  I am also working on a blanket.  And of course, I have some jewelry in progress.  Ah... creativity.  I love it!

Pine Cone Bird Feeder

Here's a fun craft that is great for people of all ages to make and enjoy: A pine cone bird feeder!  It's great to make in the winter months as you can make it indoors, hang it up outside your favorite window, and then sit by your cozy fire and watch the birds enjoy the treat through the window.

Here's how to make it:

First of all, gather your ingredients.  You will need:
A large, open pine cone
vegetable shortening, lard, and/or suet
uncooked oats
bird seed
chopped dried fruit
sunflower seeds
string

Tie a few feet of string to each pine cone.  In a mixing bowl, combine a roughly a 1/2 cup shortening, lard, and /or suet with roughly 2 and 1/2 cups of uncooked oats and blend well, until you have a thick, paste-like mixture.  Apply mixture to the pine cones.  In a bag, combine bird seed with the chopped dried fruit and sunflower seeds.




Close and shake bag until well mixed.  Open the bag and gently place each pine cone in one by one.  Coat each one in the birdseed mixture. Let them sit on some waxed paper in the fridge for about 20 minutes, then hang them outside on the branches closest to your window. :)