20 Unusual Uses for Coffee - Live Green These tips will give you surprising and unusual uses for fresh coffee beans or grounds that have gone stale, the pounds of used grounds you toss out every week and the dregs at the bottom of your cup. This story is from our partner EcoSalon and was originally published on 11/23/11. Can you imagine life without coffee? We’d all stumble around like drones for hours every morning, lost without our precious fix. We love coffee for its flavor, its aroma and of course its pick-me-up, but there are at least 20 more compelling reasons to stay stocked up. These tips will give you surprising and unusual uses for fresh coffee beans or grounds that have gone stale, the pounds of used grounds you toss out every week and the dregs at the bottom of your cup. Kill fridge odor Wouldn’t you rather smell coffee than two-week-old leftovers, half-rotten produce and spoiled milk? Reduce cellulite Erase smells on your hands Make rich compost Get shiny hair Who doesn’t want shiny, healthy-looking hair? Natural dye
Ice Cube Painting {Rainbows} This was something new for us, Rainbow Ice Cube Painting. I froze LIQUID WATERCOLORS (filled the trays with water first, then added watercolors & stirred) overnight. I knew it was going to be a hot day so the plan was to do this activity outside. Even though it was hot, it took a while for the ice to melt, allowing lots of time to play with the ice. What I didn’t expect is the kids to play with the cubes making things like this: It soon turned to hoarding & stockpiling….a little arguing besides… All the while the cubes were melting on the fabric leaving pretty colors. Then we hung it up on the clothesline to dry. It’s beautiful! Whoops, I didn’t realize it wasn’t cut straight on the end… What was left – it melted too fast for us to put it in the water table, but that was the plan. I thought this was an amazingly fun activity!
Diplodocs - Recherche de votre mode d'emploi, notice ou manuel ! 18 Green DIY Lamps You Can Build Before Dark! A while back we featured a very cool driftwood lamp built by our own Mike Demma here at Greenopolis. It was so popular we decided to surf the web and pick out examples of lamps you can build yourself from scratch - or at least from stuff that would otherwise be tossed out, like the iMac G4 lamp pictured below . It makes sense - almost anything can be turned into a lamp base or lamp shade, and every hardware or building supply store carries lamp wiring kits. Making your own one-of-a-kind lamp saves money and keeps stuff out of landfills and the lights on at home. You are limited only by your imagination. Photo: Randall 180 Lamp from Wine Bottles Drain the bottle, wire it up, and build a lamp. The website Remodelista has a DIY wine bottle lamp project inspired by Maison Martin Margiela's home line. Bottle of Pixies Lamp Is that a genie in your bottle or are you just glad to see me? DIY Upcycled Wine Bottle Gas Lamp Fill this with citronella oil and fend off mosquitoes this summer. Vespa Lamp
Kids in the Kitchen: Slime! | Our Best Bites - StumbleUpon September is in full swing and we thought we’d celebrate by doing Back-to-School week! My oldest kiddo just started pre-school and Kate is now the mother to an official kindergartner. This week we’re going to have *five* posts. Hear that? A post every single day of the week you lucky duckies. Do you guys remember this?? I was so obsessed with that stuff and I totally remember the commercials. If you’ve ventured into science fun like this before then you already know that 97% of home projects require the same 2 ingredients. Start by dissolving a teaspoon of Borax in one cup of water and set it aside. Now pour the Elmer’s glue in a separate bowl. Add some water to that glue and then stir in some food coloring. Once that’s all stirred up, just pour your Borax mix into the bowl. See? It will be wet and soft at first but you just have to keep kneading it. I have to say I actually prefer the white glue. This is their favorite part. And soon it will look like this. Homemade Slime aka GAK
DIY Embroidery Pattern Transfers Most people don't own the specialized printer used to make the iron-on embroidery transfers sold at many craft stores and online embroidery pattern sites. Sometimes they still want to make an easy transfer for an embroidery pattern that can be given or sold to someone who doesn't feel like tracing or poking holes into the sheet of paper, then dusting it with chalk powder. Some people want the pattern transfer to be washable, especially if they're using a light colored embroidery thread. The iron-on patterns are not. Most heat set pigments are difficult to remove. After extensive trial and error (and I'd rather not detail all of the error here), I've come up with a simple, low cost method of making an embroidery pattern transfer. It does take a bit of time and a steady hand. For making the transfer, you will need: For transferring the pattern to fabric, you will need: The transfer Fabric Water Method for making the transfer: Draw something you like, or print an image onto heavy paper.
All for the Boys - All for the Boys - MOVE OVER PAPER&AIRPLANES - StumbleUpon because the straw plane is in town! I don't know what you call this thing but we referred to it as a strawplane. Whatever you want to call it, it's pretty cool! You'll need some heavier paper (we used 3x5 index cards), a straw, scissors or something to cut the paper with, and tape. You will need to cut 3 pieces of paper about 1" wide and 5" long. Tape two of the pieces together "long ways" and then tape to form a circle. Use the remaining piece to form a small circle and tape the ends together. Now you have a large circle and a small circle. Tape the straw to the inside of the circles placing the small circle at one end and the large circle at the other end. And you're done! Now is the fun part! The boys had to try and fly a straw without the circles to make sure that it wasn't just the straw that was the good flier. Have fun fllying! P.S.
DIY Lock Picks I locked myself out of my house the other day... D'oh! It would've been easy enough to break a window, but hey it's my own home. So I decided to try and pick my way in. So I decided to polish my impromptu lock picks into something more presentable. Hose clamp DremelSugru Pliers Vice Safety gear Don't have a Dremel? I've entered this into the Spy Contest. This is just an example of how I made some simple lock picks. Teen Crafts - Crafts Projects and Ideas for Teens Teen crafts are great fun! Arts and crafts project ideas and resources for teens can be found here. Many types of crafts for older kids, teens and young adults are simply taking adult crafting and giving them a teen look. Nail art is a fun teen activity that they can do with friends or with mom if...Nail art is a fun teen activity that they can do with friends or with mom if she is adventurous. Blue Jean Pillow Christmas Ornament CraftSimple sewing pillow Christmas ornament craft for teens to make. Winter Hat Teen Crafts From Upcycled SweatersUpcycled a sweater for this winter hat teen craft, get the directions to make your own here, including the felt flower pin. Ribbons and Sparkles OrnamentStep by step instructions to make a clear glass ball Christmas ornament decorated with sparkly ribbon and glitter. TXT Me Iron on TransferFun teen craft idea: TXT me t-shirt iron on transfer for teens. Kiss Me Im Irish Iron on TransferKiss Me I'm Irish t-shirt iron on transfer for teens.