Articles tagged “Do It Yourself”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Make an Electronics Case From Mismatched Socks By Elizabeth Seward IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 29 2008 Most of us have some socks lying around that have lost their match. There's something about dryers that just absolutely consumes socks, if you ask me. With all of these spares lying around, it's natural that we wonder what use we can make of these socks. After all, wasting is terrible and the main objective for most green-minded folk is to figure out how to reuse as often as possible. + READ MORE

Use Lemon to Banish Shine on Your Face By Jeannine Ouellette IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 29 2008 You can use lemon as an effective toner to help reduce oil and prevent shine on your face. Lemon juice has astringent and antiseptic properties that clear up excess perspiration and eliminate unwanted shine caused by high humidity. What a simple solution, especially when of the most recent and suddenly indispensable products we're seeing in ads and on the shelves are the shine-stoppers, promising to provide all-day protection and a soft, matte glow just like the ones in the airbrushed magazine photos. But do we really need all those prepackaged cosmetics? + READ MORE

Make Jewelry From Your Old Shoes By Elizabeth Seward IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 29 2008 Nothing pains me more than having to dispose of old shoes that are too worn down to pass onto anyone else. It's so much easier to part ways with shoes when I know that a friend, or local thrift store, can use the shoes. So what do we do with the shoes that we've worn to the bone? For the most part, they're not equipped to be waste. Thinking of alternative uses for these shoes is something I've been working on lately and I finally came up with something: Jewelry + READ MORE

Make Stuff Happen: Make Easy, No-Sew Cloth Napkins In Five Minutes! By Megan Cohen IN Stuff Happens Aug 28 2008 To make your own cloth napkins, you don't need a needle or thread, and you sure as heck don't need to know how to sew. All you need to make cool-looking, and eco-smart, DIY cloth napkins is about five minutes,... + READ MORE

Top 3 Ways To Make Safe Use of Toxic Nail Polish By Elizabeth Seward IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 27 2008 There are some very good and some very bad things about nail polish. One of the good things is that nail polish is remarkably cheap and comes in almost every color imaginable. This makes lots of ladies smile. The bad news is that it's pretty toxic for our environment and typically lays around the house much longer than it should. In fact, it seems as though most ladies have a habit of collecting lots of colors but never quite using all of the paint. Over the past few years, I've slowly started to incorporate my nail polish paint into art projects that lay outside of the realm of my nails. Here are my top 3. + READ MORE

Acid-Washed Coffee Cozies and other Ways to Use Old Jeans By Blythe Copeland IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 26 2008 Some favorite pairs of jeans are worth mending?adding patches, changing hems?but some (like, ahem, that acid wash pair from 1987 that we know you have hiding at the back of your closet) are not. Put the second category to good (re)use with these 25 ideas from money-saving website Wisebread.com. + READ MORE

Jalapeno Bug Spray You Make Yourself--Kills Bugs, Not Planet By Elizabeth Seward IN Travel & Outdoors Aug 25 2008 OK. Maybe killing bugs, in general, isn't the greenest thing ever. Nonetheless, there are times when bug sprays make sense. For instance, unless you want to come out of your next camping trip completely ridden with mosquito bug bites, you're going to need some sort of bug spray. In addition to that, some bugs are just too hard to remove from your home. + READ MORE

Make Your Own Eco Blush with Strawberries By Elizabeth Seward IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 25 2008 Have you ever stopped to wonder what is in your makeup? After all, you're spreading it all over your face and there's no way you can avoid some of it sinking into your pores. I have personally heard horror stories about some of the ingredients in makeup. + READ MORE

Fashion a New Bag from Your Old License Plate By Blythe Copeland IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 21 2008 Finally figured out a way to ditch that car? Congrats! But whether you've switched to public transportation or moved close enough to bike to work, the lucky recipient of your wheels has no use for one thing: your license plate. That's where Littlearth comes in, with fun, functional purses made from reclaimed pieces of metal?including custom shapes formed from your old plates. Not into carrying a purse? The company also makes picture albums and cd cases?perfect for holding onto memories of past road trips (and that summer '99 mix album)?now that you're an eco-friendly traveler. + READ MORE

Throw an Easy Eco-Spa Party By Blythe Copeland IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 21 2008 Making your own bath and beauty products is an admirable pursuit, but even the most die-hard DIY'ers need a break now and then. That's where Green Bliss Eco Spa?and its owner, Randi Ragan?come in, with organic facials, skin care, and eco-friendly manicures and pedicures. Green Bliss also saves resources by, well, using some of yours: the company offers in-home spa days for all ages, with massages, holistic body treatments, and reflexology, among other services?so the next time you need a vacation from trying to relax, you can be pampered without ever stepping foot outside. + READ MORE

How to Make Your Own Organic Baby Food By Elizabeth Seward IN Home & Garden Aug 21 2008 Baby food is a pretty delicate thing. After all, it's filled with all of the nutrients that your baby is relying on in order to grow up healthfully. Green parents are often in the market for organic baby foods, but why not make your own organic baby food? Gwyneth Paltrow manages to find time to make her own organic baby food and I'm pretty sure you can find the time, too. Plus, you'll sleep more soundly knowing precisely what is going into your baby's food. + READ MORE

Tips to Green Your Game Night By Team Planet Green IN Work & Connect Aug 19 2008 Nothing brings people together like screaming over a game of Taboo that hand gestures are not allowed or that "zoot" is not a word according to the Scrabble dictionary. But board games tend to take up a lot of space and are not exactly Spartan when it comes to packaging. There are plenty of ways to enjoy a greener game night with your family or friends. + READ MORE

Safe Foraging By Team Planet Green IN Food & Health Aug 19 2008 While foraging is a great way to eat locally and organically, safety should always come first. Be aware of where you're foraging and check to make sure no pesticides were recently sprayed in the area. Get a guide or an expert to help you identify those wild plants. If you have any severe allergies, particularly to nuts or fruits, that could lead to anaphylactic shock, you may want to avoid certain kinds of foraging all together?or at the least, take extra precautions, including making sure to have epinephrine with you at all times. + READ MORE

5 Reuses for: Bowls By Natalie Cook IN Home & Garden Aug 18 2008 When reusing an old bowl is your goal, turn to your favorite repurpose person for some great ideas.Don't worry about spending any money on your pup's water dish when you find an old bowl you wish to ditch. + READ MORE

Make a Dress from Recycled Fabric By Blythe Copeland IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 14 2008 I've never been especially handy with a needle and thread, but having a basic grasp of sewing lets you replace buttons, sew seams, and lengthen hems instead of trashing old clothes and buying new. And if you're gung-ho enough about greening your closet to attempt to make your own clothes, this easy shirred-dress tutorial from Threadbanger.com can help. + READ MORE

5 Reuses for: Baseball Hats By Natalie Cook IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 14 2008 If your home is overrun with hats, don't lose your head. I have five reuses for the baseball hats that clutter your closets. + READ MORE

Build or Renovate with Walnut Wood By Veronica Davis IN Home & Garden Aug 13 2008 Walnuts are a delicious addition to a wide array of dishes, but did you know that walnut trees produce some of the most durable, long lasting wood? Of course, you won't be adding walnut wood to your favorite meal. However, if you are thinking about updating your old, musty floors then you may want to look into the possibility of using walnut wood for your flooring! + READ MORE

Old T-shirts Make New Bags, and More... By Blythe Copeland IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 11 2008 I'm the first to admit that I have too many t-shirts?and even though I never wear them, I find it almost impossible to give them away (for some reason, this is especially true of any shirt I wore in high school). Then the bottom fell out: literally, my t-shirt drawer broke from the stress of holding all the shirts I never wear. That taught me two things: it's time to get rid of some shirts, and, when it comes to build-it-yourself furniture, you get what you pay for. + READ MORE

Prep Your Party Face with House of Deming Mask By Jeannine Ouellette IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 8 2008 Putting on a party is a lot of fun and a lot of work. It can be a flurry getting everything ready, making everything look beautiful...including you. + READ MORE

Get Movie Star Highlights - Practically for Free - at Home By Lynda Fassa IN Fashion & Beauty Aug 7 2008 Here we are, deep in the heart of summer, and for lots of tweens and teens the clock is ticking towards the time the September bells ring. Natural thoughts of image change and reinvention may turn into less-than-natural thoughts of chemically induced hair color for the new year. + READ MORE