'Eco-friendly DIY: Flower Vase'

Practicing eco-friendly goes well beyond buying into electric cars and stocking the supply cabinet and fridge with third generation and organic products.

Going green is a way of life. It begins simply, by taking a look around you and finding new uses for ordinary items like furniture and accessories.

Try starting with an empty glass bottle. With patterned paper and an hour to spare, you can create your own recycled flower vase. This do-it-yourself project makes also a great rainy day activity for the kids.

Here’s what you will need:

- Recycled glass bottles

- Patterned wrapping paper (do not pick thin paper that might fall apart with pressure or the application of glue)

- Krazy glue or glue dots

- Scissors

- Goo Gone (to remove labels)

- Pencil

What to do:

1. Finding unused and recycled glass bottles in your home is a cinch. But remember to scout out empty bottles that vary in height and color. The idea is to eventually mix and match the glass vases amongst your décor, or to rotate them around a room individually. You wouldn’t want all your vases to be identical, would you?

2. Picking your favorite five bottles or less, remove labels with hot water. Apply Goo Gone if the labels do not peel away as easily. Lay the bottles on the flat sheet of wrapping paper.

3. Wrap the patterned paper around the bottle, and make sure to have the paper overlap by at least a half-inch. Mark the desired length with a pencil.

4. Cut the paper to your desired width. Tip: Taller bottles should receive a band that measures at least 5 inches wide and smaller bottles can manage with 2- to 3-inch bands. Use your best judgment.

5. Either using the glue dots or Krazy glue, adhere the paper to the glass and apply glue /glue dots to the area where the paper will overlap itself for extra support. If desired, cut a narrow band of contrasting paper to attach to the top of the wide band. And voilà!

6. Place flowers in the vase or leave them empty and place around your home.

-S. Gonzalez