Earth Day Project: Camo Rain Boot Flower Pots

Earth Day Week 2015 ends today with my final project. It's one we've all seen on the internet: flower pots made from rain boots.

These belonged to my youngest daughter. When she was about four years old, we went to an Army surplus store for a pair of work boots for my husband and when she spotted the camo rain boots, she HAD to have them! Now, you must understand, she's a girly girl and to our surprise, she wasn't about to leave that store without them. Since she needed rain boots anyway...well, I think you know the rest of the story. 

Anywho, I've been wanting to do this project for a long time and now that it's spring, why not do it today? Although I had to pull out my winter coat this morning (I was outside enjoying the 70+ degree weather last weekend), I'm beyond happy for a new season and looking forward to a fabulous summer! Planting flowers brings me one step closer to that.

Here's how I made flower pots from camo rain boots:

Supplies:

rain boots

2 geraniums

organic potting soil

shovel

drill

Directions: Drill 5-7 small holes into the bottom of the rain boots for drainage. Add soil and geraniums. (Yes, that's my daughter's shovel. Since we moved last fall, I have no idea where my shovel is.) 

Who doesn't love a quick and simple project that also includes some upcycling?

Hope you enjoyed EcoScrapbook's Earth Day Week and remember to make Earth Day every day! ~Danielle

Missed an Earth Day project this week? Check them out below:

MON: Plastic Bag Wreath

TUE: Sticks & Stones Make Tic-Tac-Toe

WED: DIY Fire Starter

THUR: Homemade Cleaners & Dryer Sheets

And swing by my other blog, Greater Toledo's Mama Meow, for 10 eco-friendly websites for kids. (Note: Local information is at the top of the post, so you'll have to scroll down to find them.)

Painting Roses With Celery

After making clovers with a toilet paper roll, I felt like experimenting (like a kid) again and used a celery heart to stamp roses:

 I started on a blank sheet of paper with yellow and pink acrylic paint (my red was running low).

Then I pulled out a sheet of 12x12 cardstock:

 and removed a few outside stalks for smaller roses:

I had a couple used gift bags next to my desk and figured "what the heck?"

After drying, it was group photo time!

What to paint with next? ~Danielle

Kid-Related Paint Projects:

Easter Kid's Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies

Toilet Paper Roll Gift Boxes

Chalkboard Headband Storage

12 Upcycled Crafts for Every Month of the Year

What can I upcycle today? That's the first question I ask myself when starting a new craft project. If you're reading this right now, I know you often ask yourself that very same question.

Over the past year or so, I've meshed together recycling and crafting. The result: an arsenal of upcycled crafts for every month of the year.

12 Upcycled Crafts for Every Month of the Year

Each project is made from items that often end up in the trash or recycling bin. All of them are craft tutorials I created during my time as a Glue Dots designer and most are crafts for children or ones they can make too.

JANUARY | Kid's Craft Idea: Toy Storage Containers

FEBRUARY | DIY: Birdseed Ornaments + Upcycled Tags

MARCH | Kid-Sized St. Patrick's Day Bangles

APRIL | Easter Kid's Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies

MAY | Mother's Day Upcycled Flower Carrier

JUNE | Father's Day Cassette Tape Card

JULY | 4th of July Snappers Box

AUGUST | Summer Memories Container

SEPTEMBER | Back-To-School Project: Upcycled Pencil Holders

OCTOBER | How to Make a Plastic Bag Skirt

NOVEMBER | Kid's Craft: Newspaper Leaf Wreath

DECEMBER | A Christmas Planner: Coffee Sleeve Mini-Book

When I first joined the Glue Dots design team in 2010, I was still trying to find my niche amongst the many crafty and brilliant bloggers I've had the pleasure to discover. Over time, I realized that I love turning trash into treasure and being eco-friendly in the craft room. What was the last thing you recycled while crafting? ~Danielle

Tutorial: Mother's Day Upcycled Flower Carrier

Does crafting and wine go together? It does for this Mother's Day project...

I'm always looking for ways to reuse items that would normally end up in the trash or recycling bin and when wine is thrown into the mix, it can be a lot more fun!

I decided that re-purposing a wine carrier into a flower carrier for Mother's Day would be a beautiful way to say I love you. Here's how you can do the same:

Supplies:

4 mini wine bottles & carrier

Glue Dots© (Glue Lines, XL)

cardstock (Cosmo Cricket "Upcycle")

17 1/2" ribbon strip (Making Memories "Cajun")

4 7" pieces of ribbon string (Making Memories "Cajun")

wire cutter

4 beads (Blue Moon Beads)

flowers

1. Clean and dry the wine bottles. Remove bottle rings with a wire cutter.

2. Cut 2 strips of cardstock to 3 9/16 x 10 9/16" each.

3. Adhere Glue Dots Glue Lines© to the inside edges of each strip of cardstock and wrap around the carrier. The strips will overlap each other.

4. Attach the ribbon strip around the top of the cardstock using Glue Dots Glue Lines©.

5. Using the inside of the Glue Dots© roll, trace and cut out 2 circles. Cut one of the circles into a spiral and roll up tightly to make a rosette. Secure the rosette together with an XL Glue Dot© and attach to the logo near the wine carrier's handle. Repeat with the second circle and attach to the logo on the other side of carrier.

6. Cut 4 strips of cardstock to 6 5/8 x 2 9/16" each, wrap around the 4 wine bottles and secure with Glue Dots Glue Lines©.

7. Add a bead to each piece of ribbon string and tie around the wine bottles. Trim excess ribbon string.

8. Add water and cut flowers to the wine bottles and place into the carrier.

Hope you have a beautiful Mother's Day! ~Danielle

Related:

EcoScrapbook: As Seen On TV

Calling All Crafters: Link Up Your Toilet Paper Roll Projects For a Chance To Win!

Wine Cork Bird House

Disclosure: This blog post was written while participating on the Glue Dots design team and Blue Moon Beads kindly supplied the beads shown in this project.

EcoScrapbook: As Seen On TV

Big news today! I was on the news! Yep, me...talking about scrapbooking...on live tv. What a rush!

Here's a photo I took and shared on Instagram as I watched myself after the show:

EcoScrapbook.com on TV!

I received a phone call last week as I was up on a ladder painting the trim in my kitchen. A representative from WTOL was on the other end asking me to be on their morning show, Your Day, and talk about scrapbooking for Mother's Day.

In my mind I said "No! That's crazy-talk. I don't go on the news." Then I was like "Well, maybe. This is such a great opportunity." I ended up telling the representative, Nicole, that I would think about it and call back. Basically, I needed to talk myself into this...and finish painting the trim.

The next day, I called Nicole and told her I'd love to do it. We figured out a day that would work best and my heart fluttered on and off for an entire week.

You can watch the video here. There were a few interesting moments, but I'm happy with the end result and glad I snatched up this opportunity to talk about something I'm passionate about. (And thanks to Shimelle, I even matched my outfit to the supplies in the project.)

Below is the Mother's Day scrapbook layout I started on the show, along with the supply list and tutorial.

"Timeless" 12x12 Mother's Day Scrapbook Layout

Supplies: 12x12 frame ($9.99 at Michaels), plain cardstock (DCWV), decorative cardstock (October Afternoon),  flash card (October Afternoon), journaling diecut (Jillibean Soup), canvas flower (Jillibean Soup), teal chipboard title sticker (Studio G), black ribbon, teal ribbon (October Afternoon), gold staples, stapler, Glue Dots (Glue Lines, Craft), permanent adhesive squares (Recollections). Optional: edge distresser (Basic Grey file), black ink (Craft Smart).

1. Start off with a plain sheet of 12x12 cardstock.

2. Trim two different sheets of decorative cardstock. Distress and ink the edges to add a little pop to the layout (optional). Attach both sheets to the plain cardstock using adhesive squares.

3. Adhere a glue line to the layout where the two pieces of decorative cardstock meet and attach the black ribbon. Tuck the edges behind the layout.

4. Add two photos (black & white on left, color on right) to the layout.

5. Start adding embellishments around the photos: flash card above the color photo, journaling diecut behind the b&w photo.

6. Create a visual triangle on the layout by placing a canvas flower with a teal button at the top of the b&w photo, a teal chipboard title at the bottom left-hand side of the b&w photo and a teal sticker on the right of the color photo.

7. Cut two pieces of teal ribbon and staple one to the top right corner of the layout and the other to the bottom left corner.

8. Frame the layout.

Framed Mother's Day Scrapbook Layout

This is the finished scrapbook page, similar to the one above, that was shown on the show:

"My Family" 12x12 Scrapbook Layout

And these are the scrapbooks I shared today:

Scrapbooks Shown: 6x6 mini book made with chipboard & binding machine, 8 ½ x 11 Pioneer album, 5x5 accordion book (from Oriental Trading), 8 ½ x 8 ½ photo book (most pages used with MixBook online software, other pages with My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software), 6x6 American Crafts album.

Now, I can get back to working in the kitchen, knowing I had an exciting and wonderful learning experience today. ~Danielle

Related:

The EcoScrapbooker Manifesto
3 Scrapbook Layouts That Use Photo Scraps
Calling All Crafters: Link Up Your Toilet Paper Roll Projects for a Chance to Win