'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

'How Does Your Garden Grow?'

Being green doesn’t have to mean purchasing all new energy efficient appliances or light bulbs - or that the truck parked in the driveway now has to be exchanged for a compact hybrid car.
Nope. It could be as simple as keeping a few potted plants and flowers inside your home.
This Christmas, give the gift of Mother Nature to someone special. From Redbook Magazine, find out how you can grow your own indoor garden with this do-it-yourself recipe:

What you will need
· Glass covering to place over the terrarium (i.e. bell jars, glass cake cover, vase with wide enough rim)
· Pot or some kind of base
· Plants
· Potting mix
· Pebbles, gravel
· Stones or moss
· Pruners or scissors
· Charcoal
· Spray bottle with water
· Either a fork and spoon, or a small rake and scoop

1. The first step is to decide where you will keep your plant (s) and to pick a plant species that will grow best under those conditions. Those suggested are ferns, violets or mosses because of its small size, slow growth, love of shade and tolerance to humidity.
   
2. Spread about one-inch of the pebbles or gravel at the base of the pot with the fork/spoon. Layer it with some charcoal – this will help filter water and prevent the growth of fungi once you’ve closed the terrarium.
   
   

3. Now you can place the soil (potting mix) on top of the charcoal. Create a small mound in the center, where the plant will go.

4. Use the scoop to dig a hole in the mound of soil. Place your largest plant inside and make sure to cover all the roots with the soil. If you plan to have other plants, make sure there is enough space between them to grow.

5. The moss and/or pebbles will serve as a decorative layer to top off the terrarium.

6. Use the pruners to trim the plant leaves if they extend past the edge of the pot. Keep the spray bottle to lightly moisten the soil.

7. ***Before you cover the terrarium, let the plant “air out.” (This is important; otherwise mold can grow when you close it.) Once you place the lid on top, the terrarium will become its own ecosystem and watering will not be necessary. But every weeks, test the soil to see if it’s dry. If it is, lightly mist and repeat airing it out before closing.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

-S. Gonzalez

*Photo courtesy of Redbook Magazine