1. Bird Feeder

Turn big plastic bottles and glass jars into bird feeders. Simply turn your glass jar upside down and fasten a drop tray underneath that will allow your feathered friends to comfortably sit and eat. Using string or wire run from the drop tray on both sides of the jar and held in place with rubber bands or string you will have a loop to tie your feeder to the tree. Plastic bottles are easy. Just melt small holes inward for feeding and make sure to run a bird seat (wooden, plastic or steel pole) horizontally through the bottle near the feeding holes. Tie string around the top and hang.

2. Pen Holder

Take old tea tins or bottles and using clear packing tape, create a collage to your liking for yourself or for gifts. I like drawing my own pictures and taping them around the tins. You can also use photos. Also, try classing up a clear pen jar by filling it with coffee beans, pebbles or marbles.

3. Grain Storage Containers

Using glass jars, remove all labels using Pledge. Let it sit for a few minutes before scrubbing it off. Fill with rice varieties, cereals or dried soups. It makes a colorful and artsy way to store your dry goods in an airtight container. I like to hang tags from the top describing the contents.

4. Tree Decoration

Take old wine or olive oil bottles or any other fancy, shapely or colorful bottle and using sturdy jute twine or anything similar, hang low from your bottom tree branches. It will give your yard a surreal and magical look.

5. Cat Toys

Using an avocado seed, create a fun and fast moving cat toy. Once you clean the seed thoroughly and allow to dry for a day, attach a string or other fun item and your cat will be entertained for hours.

6. Painting the News

Use old newspaper as background for your paintings. This works especially great if you are reusing canvas, paper or wood. Using a light shear color over the top so the newspaper is still seen underneath the painting itself, Original and eye-catching.

7. Change Collector

Use old bottles and jars to keep your spare change. Label them with fun sayings by cutting out magazine words, letters or drawing your own and taping them around the jar using clear packing tape. Some ideas would be: college fund, runaway money, concert money, vacation, etc.

8. Bottle Cap Lampshade

Using bottle caps spice up your old lampshade. Simple glue the bottle caps around the existing lampshade in patterns or however you see fit. Use strong permanent glue.

9. Picture Frames

Using bottle caps, old magazines, material or newspapers, glue around a basic picture frame. This makes great personalized gifts.

10. Head Bands

Take old material, ribbon pieces, bows from gifts and anything else your heart desires and use it to refurbish your plain head band. Using a little super glue or strong water proof glue, wrap the material around the head band and glue at the ends and middle. If you have left over flowers from wrappings or anything else, throw those on there too for a dash of your own flare.

11. Reusable Bags

Give your tee shirts, shower curtains and table cloths a second life by sewing them into a simple reusable bag. Try using an old belt as the strap. With tee shirts, it its best to cut out the design and sew on to sturdy material or double the material up by sewing two tee shirts together to create one bag. Original and a thousand times better than using plastic bags!

12. Tire Garden

If recycling your old tire isn’t available, try using it as a flower pot. Plant flowers or herbs in the old tire and give it a second life.

Patrick Hopkins holds a B.A in Journalism and currently writes for Phoenix Kiosk, a kiosk manufacturer. He covers everything from outdoor kiosks to technology and education.  Phoenix Kiosk: Innovative Technologies from Vision to Reality.

You can view the video of the painting process below or at the following link on YouTube.

The finished painting, we added some writing to the final image…

Anchors Away Pirate Ship Anchor Painting!

The painting was inspired by a fabulous painting of a ships anchor by Matte Black.

The whale is based on some pictures of blue whales that I found whilst searching Google images, my favorite was Blue Whale by Allan Hancock.
I tried to make our nursery wall whale painting a little more cartoony whilst keeping some realism. We hope you like the final result?

Our Nursery Wall Whale Painting

Amazing Eco Artists

Our Favorite Eco Artists:

1.        Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy - Eco Artist

Although this natural architect and photographer isn’t particularly well-known for his efforts on behalf of the Earth, he is a nature-lover to the core, as is readily apparent in his work.  He spends hours, weeks, or even months mounting monolithic overtures to Mother Nature, made entirely from the fruits of her bosom.  From trails of daisies and dainty webs of twigs to leafy vortexes and ice-wrapped trees, his work is not only made with elements found in each particular environment, it is also transitory, eventually succumbing to the elements.

Visit Andy Goldsworthy’s Site Here

2.       Dave Matthews

Dave Matthews - Eco Performer

He gave away free MP3s for cans, co-launched the Green Music Group that urges users to participate in eco-challenges, started the “So Much to Save” tour that resulted in 42,000 pounds of material being recycled instead of trashed, and sponsored the “Bama Green Project” that encouraged fans to recycle and volunteer.  He also donated his time to combat global warming by performing at a Live Earth event.  And he doesn’t just talk the talk; he also walks the walk by working with local organizations to make his concerts greener, recycling, and using cloth diapers for his kids.

image by Mark Jeremy

Visit Dave Matthews Band Site Here

3.       Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson - Eco Performer

Although he founded the Farm Aid festival 25 years ago to help local farmers keep their land, and has since sponsored innumerable benefit concerts, his best known effort for the environment is that he pioneered the biodiesel bus movement.  He was one of the first music artists to start utilizing biodiesel in his tour bus in an effort to lower GHG emissions, and he has helped others to do the same with BioWillie, his own brand of biodiesel that is offered at many locations throughout the country.

image by Dwight McCann

Visit Willie Nelson’s Site Here

4.       Agnes Denes

Agnes Denes - Eco Artist

This pioneer of environmental art strove to showcase the juxtaposition of man to the environment in order to challenge our views of stewardship where the planet is concerned.  Her 1982 work Wheatfield – A Confrontation involved growing and harvesting 1,000 pounds of wheat on a two-acre lot in Manhattan.  She chronicled the event with photos and then toured 28 cities with the product as part of “The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger”.

image by Mermaid

Read More About Agnes Denes Here

5.       Chris Jordan

Chris Jordan - Eco Artist

This Seattle-based photographer (and former lawyer) uses bits of everyday life to show an alarming trend.  For example, his 2007 piece Plastic Bottles depicts a sea of plastic soda bottles (about 2 million) in long-range and close-up before explaining that this is the amount used every five minutes in America.  His artwork is aimed at shocking people into reexamining the consumer culture in which we live and how it is leading to an inevitable eco-pocalypse.

image by sertgio

Visit Chris Jordan’s Site Here

6.       Sharen Chatterton

Sharen Chatterton - Eco Painter

Sharen’s work has a strong focus on nature with super vivid acrylic paintings. She uses eco friendly paints and specializes in the beauty of butterflies and flowers. Her work has been featured at many local exhibits including the wonderful Texas Discovery Gardens. Sharen is a self confessed garden-aholic and her inspiration comes from the beauty of bright flowering blooms here in Texas. Our favorite is her 2009 piece titled “The Painted Lady”, it features a wonderful painted lady butterfly and it brings a touch of nature to any wall that it graces!

Visit Sharen Chatterton’s Site Here

Sarah Danielson writes for Adiamor Engagement Rings. Adiamor offers a large selection of engagement rings, loose diamonds, and other fine diamond jewelry at affordable prices.

The Nature of Flowers - Art Exhibition by Sharen Chatterton

To quote the Dallas Observer;

With spring upon us, local landscapes are shedding their drab browns of winter in favor of the lush greens and bold colors that we’ve come to know and love in gardens. For those of us whose gardens have yet to bloom, the acrylic garden scenes of Sharen Chatterton’s The Nature of Flowers will show us what’s in our colorful futures. Featuring brightly colored garden scenes of flowers and butterflies, Chatterton’s paintings are sure to delight flower lovers everywhere.

If you have time I would thoroughly recommend dropping in on the exhibition for some spring time inspiration. The paintings bring a breath of fresh air into any space, we have one hanging in our living room and it brightens our days, even when it’s cold and rainy outside!

The Bright Paintings Breathe Fresh Air Into Any Space

Sharen took inspiration from the wonderful butterfly and insectarium at the Texas Discovery Gardens and if you have time after visiting her exhibition the butterfly sanctuary is also worth exploring, you can try to spot the butterflies featured in Sharen’s work, she even has bookmarks, note cards and open edition prints available at the Texas Discovery Gardens gift shop so that you will be able to take home a slice of nature.

Visit the following sites for more information:

http://www.sharenchatterton.com

http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/upcoming_events.shtml

http://www.meetup.com/Culture-Conversations/calendar/12971584/

http://www.meetup.com/Tours-Adventures/calendar/12978196/

http://www.dallasobserver.com/events/sharen-chattertons-the-nature-of-flowers-1718302/

Twin Mix II

This work is a collaborative effort between Karen and I. Our inspiration, the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly and the beautifully intricate passion flower.  We have so many of these Fritillary Butterflies in our side yard, the reason we have them, is because we have several passion vines planted. These butterfly lay their eggs on the leaves of the passion vine, they are very small yellow spheres, which eventually produce the caterpillar. These guys have a ferocious appetite and could easily strip all the leaves on the vine. The leaves grow back, and the vine continues to produce its beautiful flower, as the chrysalis transform into the Fritillary butterfly. It is spectacular to come out in the morning and have 30 or more butterflies scurrying about our yard. Plant some passion vines, if they will thrive in your area,  you will be providing much needed habitat for many varieties of Fritillary butterflies. Check out this web site for butterfly conservation www.butterflyrecovery.org

Check out www.lunaazulstudio.com for more of our artwork.

Passion flower and Fritillary in side yard

"The Painted Lady"

I have finally finished my painting “The Painted Lady”.  The focal point of this piece is of coarse, the Painted Lady Butterfly. This is one of the most familiar butterflies in North America, as well as around the world.  If you want to attract these pretty ladies to your yard, plant thistle, hollyhocks, common sunflowers, yarrow and mallows. The butterfly will lay their eggs on these plants and the larvae ie. caterpillars will feast on these when they hatch out.  The painted lady has to lay her eggs on or very near the right food plant for the eggs, otherwise the caterpillars will not survive. These babies have a ferocious appetite and begin eating as soon as they hatch. The sweet nectar plants for the painted beauties are thistles, asters, cosmos, blazing stars, iron-weed, and Joe-pye weed. Try planting a few of the host plants and nectar plants in your butterfly garden. For those plants that are invasive or less attractive, plant in containers, creating a smorgasbord for the painted ladies. Butterflies are threatened more and more everyday by loss of habitat, plant some host and nectar plants for butterfly conservation!

In the beginning

We have a small area in our side yard that we are going to turn into a garden spot. We had a couple of tomato bushes and some onions last year, but the roses around the area did not allow for much sun. So we have moved the roses and made a space around 8 x 8. We would like to grow tomatoes, oni0ns, and put a trellis for zucchini and squash. I also have some strawberry plants I would like to put in the center in a raised bed, still working on that idea. We have put a four foot fence around it with a gate to keep out the dogs, rabbits, etc. This was made out of left over cedar pieces that our contractor friend had. We now have to put in the boards to keep in the soil and then add organic soil. Come spring, we will plant our little garden. I can already visualize the paintings from the produce and the good tasting homegrown veggies on the table.  We’ll see how that works out. I’ll keep you posted.

New fence out of cedar scraps

Piles of E-Waste!

I have noticed a trend of e-waste products starting to hit our local stores in the form of circuit board picture frames etc, but I wanted to find an online store / company that sold them a little cheaper than the big retailers, that’s when I found “Terracycle”. All of Terracycles products are made from recycled items and their waste electronic recycling products are the best…

Waste Electronic Recycling by Terracycle

The Large E-Waste Picture Frame

The Small E-Waste Picture Frame

The picture frames are really nice and the prices are great too, but my favorite e-waste product from Terracycle is their recycled electronic waste desk clock;

Terracycle E-Waste Desk Clock

The Terracycle slogan is to “Outsmart Waste!” and they certainly do that. Big companies have started to notice these great products and Target now sells Terracycles e-waste clocks and picture frames made from circuit boards. So if you are interested in keeping some more electronic waste away from our landfills then check out their site;

http://www.terracycle.net/

If you want to get involved in other ways then make sure you take your own e-waste to a local drop off center, we found a great site where you can find the closest place to drop off your old electronic products;

http://ewaste-dropoff.com/index.html

Our Green Competition for November

Entering the competition is easy, simply leave a comment against this post telling us why you would like to win the Earthshop recycled green bracelet, leaving a comment against this post earns +1 point (comment must contain a valid email address);

You can earn bonus points in the following ways (Be sure to let us know which bonuses you use in your comment);

• LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER: Just leave a comment here and you will be entered to win the Earthshop recycled green bracelet
• VISIT OUR SHOP: Simply visit the Our Everyday Earth Shop and let us know which is your favorite recycled bracelet and why+1 point
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• SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the Our Everyday Earth Newsletter = +1 point
• PRIZE: The Earthshop recycled green bracelet shown above (Approximate value $29.95)
• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Monday, November 30th 2009 at 8pm CST
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: One – picked at random using random.org
• PRIZE SHIPS: USA or Canada
• THE USUAL: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. In the event of a tie the winner(s) will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, November 30th 2009. Good luck!

You can read all of our competition policies here; COMPETITION POLICIES