It's great that most wrapping you find these days is "recyclable." They proudly print that on the packaging. While that is a step in the right direction, we can do better! Recycling is great, but reusing is better. I know in my family there are gift bags that have been passed back and forth for years. Sometimes you can even reuse wrapping paper. A cute solution is using newspaper. Make it cute with ribbons you have around the house, or make a cute newspaper flower to put on top. You can even paint it and decorate it. I show how to make the cute tassel on this package on my Tutorials blog - it's so easy! (Click here for the tutorial.) People won't think you're just being cheap if you make an effort to make it cute! They'll think you're a responsible citizen!
Welcome to the B.B. Bellezza Cyber Monday Festivities! Today is going to be a fun day of Discounts, Free Gifts and Door Prizes! There are a few ways to participate: 1. Be a newsletter subscriber! Just by subscribing you'll get 2 chances in each door prize drawing for the door prizes. You'll also get a free gift with your order of $12 or more! 2. Like my facebook page. You'll get 1 entry for each door prize drawing. 3. Tweet about the sale or door prizes (Find sample tweets below! make sure to get my twitter handle in your tweet so I know you tweeted @KimberlieKohler) 4. For every $10 purchase from my shop (today only), you get 1 entry for each door prize. Discounts: Available in my Etsy Shop only. Choose either: 20% off your entire order, use code CYBER20 or Free Shipping, use code: CYBERFREE (You don't have to use paypal in my etsy shop. You can enter your debit or credit card!) Free Gift with Purchase: If you are a newsletter subscriber, you'll get a free gift with your order over $12. When you check out, make sure to put that you are subscriber in the "notes to seller" and what email address you subscribe to me with so I can verify it.
Door Prizes: As a reminder, here are the ways to gain entries in the door prize drawings. I will be monitoring each of these prior to each drawing, so you can join in throughout the day even if you missed some of the drawings.
1 entry for tweeting about the festivities (the sale or the door prizes);
1 entry for every $10 purchased from my online shop today only.
Important:
I will choose the winner at the time indicated from all possible entries at the time of the drawing. The winner will be announced on my facebook page, twitter and under each door prize here.
The winner has until 12:00 midnight tonight (Monday) to contact me with their mailing address to claim their prize. (Email: BBBellezza@hotmail.com)
Sample Tweets:
I just entered to win a Cyber Monday Door Prize from @KimberlieKohler & you can, too! Find out how here: http://www.BBBellezza.com
Having fun with @KimberlieKohler 's Cyber Monday Sale & Door Prize drawings. Find out more: http://www.BBBellezza.com
I hope I win the __________ during @KimberlieKohler 's Door Prize drawings and Cyber Monday Sale! http://www.BBBellezza.com
Here are the Door Prizes:
All of the following times are in United States Eastern Standard Time.
Click on the Link to read more about similar products.
Super Cute! Quirky! Are you looking for the perfect unique gift? Want to express yourself and be eco-friendly at the same time!\
The necklace was made from a key from a non-working typewriter, a silver plated bail and then hangs from a 24" chain. You can shorten the chain by using ordinary scissors and cutting between 2 of the balls of the chain.
You will delight and surprise your friends with a custom gift. Or show your funky, quirky style by wearing it yourself. Check out the Typewriter Key Necklaces I have listed in my etsy shop, or contact me to see if I have a custom letter, number or symbol available. Click here now to purchase a Typewriter Key Necklace for just $12!
The bathroom is where we start our day and usually end it. A significant amount of the water we use is from the shower! When you are in the bathroom, start thinking about how you are using water and other disposable products. Here are 6 small changes you can make to take steps to being greener in the bathroom (without renovating):
Use recycled toilet paper. It is so easy to find and not much more expensive. While you are at it - use less toilet paper. I was watching a show on TLC about cheap people recently and they actually used cloth toilet paper, put it in a bin beside the toilet and washed and reused it. It's something to consider. At the very least, just try using a little less each time and it can add up to a big difference.
Don't let the water keep running while you are brushing your teeth. It seems so obvious, but sometimes you don't even realize you're doing it. One way to remind yourself is to fill up a cup to use instead of turning on the water facet.
Take shorter showers. If you are like me, it's probably really early and you're a little disoriented and spaced out when you are taking your shower. Try to think about the amount of water you are using and speed it up.
Get rid of all the disposables in your bathroom. (Okay, keep the toilet paper and see #1 above.) Things like disposable toilet brushes, one use facial cleansing wipes, paper towels, makeup applicators are not necessary.
Put a recycling bin right in your bathroom to make it easy for you to recycle there, too. Like I said, it's early and you're a little spaced out in the morning, make it easier on yourself!
Use environmentally safe cleaners. Here are some green cleaning recipes. You'll save money, too!
I write a lot about Recycling and Reusing and living green. I also write about my green handmade jewelry.
But why?
I make jewelry out of items that could otherwise be discarded because I am worried about the earth. I think that we are destroying it and I want to do whatever I can to stop it.
I don't think that my little business with it's game tile pendants, hardware jewelry and other funky jewelry is going to save the earth.
However, I think know my customers are going to save the earth.
Step-by-step, one little can, newspaper, plastic bag, whatever it is, at a time. Everything we do does make a difference. If I can reach more of you, then more people are thinking about the planet and all the little steps and all those steps of all of us do add up.
What I'm trying to do here is bigger than fashion, or the perfect gift or a memory. It's bigger than a couple of tips. I'm calmly and slowly fighting for our planet. Fighting for the generations that will come after us. I want them to see trees and butterflies and flowers and know the beauty that I see. I want them to know what it's like to take a hike in the woods and see a waterfall.
What can you do?
1. Read my weekly green tips and try doing something new. Already living green? Add to the conversation! Add a comment to this post or any of my Green Tips Posts!
2. Tell your friends! Share with them about little steps they can take or share with them what you do. Be a living example! Direct them here on Tuesdays for a tip!
3. Support Green Businesses. I am one, there are others! (I'm the proud new owner of the 2012 National Green Pages, so I'll be sure to share other businesses, too!)
4. Purchase my eco-friendly jewelry! (More on this below....)
5. Do your very best every day. You'll screw up sometimes. (i.e. I forgot my canvas bag at the store today) but just do your best.
6. Like green tutorials? I have moved my tutorials over to my new blog at KimberlieKohler.com Learn how to reuse all the stuff that is clogging up our waterways and land and don't let it get there.
Using Green Jewelry to Start a Green Conversation
Beyond just saving a game piece or another small object from the landfill, and beyond not using resources to make new materials (both of which I think are important and helpful), wearing my eco-friendly jewelry can help you start a conversation about green issues. You could give someone information that didn't have before. You never know how you can affect those around you. You never know how that person can affect others....and so on. You could start a whole green team, and not even realize it.
I try to make it easier for you by giving you something to wear to get a conversation started.
Here are 2 sample conversations you can try out. One if you really do want to get into a conversation about it; one for if you really don’t want to have a whole conversation, but want the jewelry to speak for itself.
Sample Conversations:
She says: “Hey, girl! I love that cool pendant you have on!”
You say: “Thanks so much! It’s an actual scrabble tile (flip over tile and show her) and the designer recycled it into this cool jewelry.”
She says: “Wow that is awesome.”
You say: “I like helping the environment in any way I can. We keep destroying it at such a fast rate, every little bit helps.”
She says: “I didn’t know that you were so eco-friendly.”
You say: “It only takes a few small steps to make a difference, and it doesn’t feel like it’s really taking more time or effort than if I weren’t being eco-friendly.”
She says: “Tell me more.”
Then you can tell her some of the ways you are eco-friendly: recycling, using a drying rack instead of a dryer, using recycled paper, etc.
You can also suggest she checks out www.BBBellezza.com for easy tips and handcrafted green jewelry. (Thanks!!)
Conversation #2:
If you don’t really want to get into a whole conversation about recycling, try this:
She says: “Hey, girl! I love that cool pendant you have on!”
You say: “Thanks so much! It’s an actual scrabble tile (tip over and show her) and the designer recycled it into this cool jewelry”
She says: “Wow, that is awesome.”
You say: “You should check out her website at www.BBBellezza.com” (Or, if you are in Lancaster, PA, you can tell her to check out my booth at Building Character.)
She says: “Thanks, I will.”
Then you have pointed her to my website, where she will find tips for greener living and handcrafted green jewelry. I'll take it from there. :)
Plus, you have my unending gratitude. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just finished writing a mini eBook: "Jewelry Trends and Being Eco-Friendly."
This eBook includes lots of great information, including:
Glossary of eco-friendly terms
Trends in Jewelry and How to do them the Eco-Friendly Way
Sample Conversations to help you use your eco-friendly jewelry to start a conversation (or how to still get your point across without having a lengthy conversation.)
Plus, bonus 14 Simple and Easy Tips for Greener Living.
How much for all this great information in one place? FREE!!
Just sign up for my email newsletter and it will be emailed to you after you confirm your subscription. (PLUS, you get a free shipping code to use in my online shop!) Also, if you are in Lancaster, PA, make sure to click the box to get on my special local email list and get notified whenever I'll being special events in the area!
Really, the best way to avoid wasting newspaper is to not get one to begin with, right? You can get your news from the internet, of course, but I do understand holding something phyfsical in your hands. (I have an eReader, but I still like to read "real" books every once in a while.)
If you subscribe to the daily news, you're going to have a big pile of newspaper in no time at all! You're going to need to do something with all that paper.
Here are 5 Household Reuses for Newspaper:
1. Use them for cleaning glass instead of wasting paper towels. 2. They are great for absorbing odors, so line your vegetable trays in your frig with them. Some people like to put a lining of newspaper then a lining of paper towels. 3. Crumple them up and put them in your sneakers. It gets rid of any bad smells PLUS if they are wet/moist, it helps dry them out. 4. Use in suitcases in storage to keep out bad odors. 5. Stuff in coolers that you store - it will keep them dry plus keep out odors.
What ways do you reuse newspaper around your house?
I just finished writing a mini eBook: "Jewelry Trends and Being Eco-Friendly."
This eBook includes lots of great information, including:
Glossary of eco-friendly terms
Trends in Jewelry and How to do them the Eco-Friendly Way
Sample Conversations to help you use your eco-friendly jewelry to start a conversation (or how to still get your point across without having a lengthy conversation.)
Plus, bonus 14 Simple and Easy Tips for Greener Living.
How much for all this great information in one place? FREE!!
Just sign up for my email newsletter and it will be emailed to you after you confirm your subscription. (PLUS, you get a free shipping code to use in my online shop!) Also, if you are in Lancaster, PA, make sure to click the box to get on my special local email list and get notified whenever I'll being special events in the area!
My wedding was very green (as in eco-friendly, but green was also my wedding color!) Every aspect of the wedding was repurposed, upcycled, eco-friendly and handmade by my mom and me.
I wanted to make special thank you gifts for the people who were special helpers. I wanted to make scrabble tile pendants and tie tacks.
The way I usually personalize my scrabble tile pendants is with paper. I looked and looked for just the right image. I couldn't find what I wanted.
For my invitations, lavender bags, programs, thank you cards and signs, I hand painted trees. (So many trees......) I got over my fear of painting.
So, I decided that I would try painting scrabble tiles to match everything else in my wedding.
I love how they turned out. They are so "me" I wasn't sure how much the recipients would like them. Turns out, they loved them.
This really has opened up more possibilities for me for scrabble tile pendants! Expect to see hand painted scrabble tile pendants for sale in the near future!
These are the tie tacks.
Would any of the men out there be interested in scrabble tile tie tacks? Should I add them to my offerings?
I've been making Scrabble Tile Pendants for a while now. I use different papers, photographs and tiny prints of artists' work to make them.
Every so often someone will ask me if I painted the pendant. Then I would explain that it is a process with paper. But sometimes I wondered how painting them would work.
Now, I'm not much of a painter. I love to paint, but it's not really my forte. But, for a special occasion, and lacking just the right paper, I tried painting a pendant.
Above is what I came up with. I like the simplicity and I love trees. I created exactly what I wanted.
Once you start making scrabble tile pendants, you start to realize you can make other things with your completed pendants, too. Like earrings (there's a special bail for that), rings, bracelets or pins.
I also made this tie tack.
Do you want to learn how to make Painted Scrabble Tile Pendants of your own? I used acrylic paints and then followed my Scrabble Tile Pendant Tutorial, and left out the parts using paper.
You can learn a new skill and make hundreds - thousands, even - of wonderful pieces of jewelry. You can sell them if you want or give them as personal gifts, or make them for yourself!
Ever since I was young I wanted to live somewhere I could either walk to get where I wanted (I wanted to live in town when I was little and walk to my friends' houses) or I could take public transportation. I never really liked driving that much.
Now I do take the bus. I take the bus every weekday to work and sometimes on the weekends to run errands.
Taking the bus can be inconvenient. You have to go when the bus goes, and where the bus goes. Sometimes you have to take 2 buses to get where you are going. But the good points in taking the bus far outweigh the inconvenience.
Here are 5 reasons to take the bus:
1. It's better for the environment. I ride the bus with a lot of people. (The number has grown a lot since gas prices went up.) Instead of us each driving a car and emitting carbon, we all take the same vehicle.
2. You meet people. For some reason people to think that people who take the bus are "weird" or dangerous even. Most of the people I take the bus with are professionals. There is an occasional strange person, but they are generally nice and definitely not scary. (Um, and aren't we all strange?) Plus, you might meet someone who you would otherwise not get to meet.
I generally take the bus at the same time with the same people each day to work. I have become really close to a few of the people. I have gone on day trips with a couple of them. I would not have met them otherwise.
Saturday I took the bus and met 2 very nice people. One was particularly inspiring. He was down and out, made bad choices and now he's making changes. He walked miles to get to the bus that day. I talked gardening with another bus rider. I don't garden, but found the conversation fascinating anyway. Gardening isn't something I usually talk about and it was a nice opportunity to see someone really light up about something they love to do.
3. Get things done on your commute. When you're driving yourself, you can't read or work on paperwork. When you take public transportation, you can! I read about 2 books per week on the bus. I love to read and don't often allow myself time to read otherwise.
4. Bad weather. I don't know about you, but I hate driving in bad weather - heavy rain, snow, etc. Bus drivers are skilled at navigating these situations so you don't have to!
5. Save money! I purchase a monthly bus pass for less what my fiance pays in gas for the week.
I highly recommend trying the bus if you haven't before!
Button Rings ( I sell these at my booth at BUiLDiNG CHARACTER in Lancaster, PA. If you want to learn to make them, I'm working on a digital wire wrapping workshop! Make sure to join my tutorial newsletter to know when it's available!)
I knew right from the beginning of planning my wedding reception that I would not be using paper napkins. Yes, we are having a relatively laid back outdoor wedding. But, I would never want to waste that much paper.
I also knew that I would be making them. I didn't want to rent them because I knew I could make them for the same price as renting them, plus I could make them any size, color, pattern, etc. that I wanted.
Not to mention the added extra benefit of having a crap load of cloth napkins for myself after the wedding. No more paper napkins for us - ever!
To a lot of my non-DIY pals, this seems pretty crazy. But I'm sure that a lot of my DIY and planet-loving pals out there understand.
I have made these cloth napkins before. They are fine for around the house, but not quite right for my wedding reception.
I ended up using the Shiny Happy World free tutorial to make my napkins. The only change I made was I made mine 16 x 16. 12 was too small and I tried 18, which was too big. 16 inches seems just about perfect. Follow her directions (and don't skip all the ironing, it makes it them so much easier!) and you, too can have gorgeous cloth napkins!
So far my progress hasn't been too great (as you can see by the small pile of napkins!) But this weekend I'm taking my sewing machine to my mom's and we're going to have dualing sewing machines and knock them out!
January is National Hobby month. Yay! What that means for you could be anything from practicing your clarinet to watching a lot of movies. Or maybe it means it’s time to get crafting!
Good news for you if you’re interested in getting crafting, I have a new tutorial for sale! I have put so much time and love into this tutorial. The first of many I have planned for the new year.
It’s 41 pages of instructions, full color photographs and hints. You’ll learn the basics and then find inspiration and ideas for personalization as well!
You’ll get the instructions for the Basic Fabric Cuff. Then you’ll find instructions for the Freestyle Sewing Cuff, Hardware Cuff, Lots O’ Buttons Cuff and Flower Cuff. At the end are hints and ideas for further customization.
Additionally, you’ll receive a 25-page tutorial for the Hand Sewn Love Cuff. You’ll learn how to hand sew a cuff and get ideas for customization for that as well. Sew on the go!
Each tutorial contains:
●A list of materials and tools needed to complete the tutorial. You’ll need a sewing machine, scissors, thread, needle, paper, pen, ruler, fabric (I recommend worn out jeans), and a button. (For customization you’ll want a pile of buttons, hardware, and/or additional different fabric. For the Love Cuff Tutorial, you’ll need embroidery needle, embroider floss in pink and heather gray (or other color of your choice), scissors, chalk, a button, 2 colors of denim and an old t-shirt in pink or red.)
●Detail instructions on how to complete each project. I have written this tutorial as if you have only the basic knowledge of how to use a sewing machine. You’ll have to be able to sew in a straight line.
●Helpful hints.
●Colorful close up photos. I make the project and stop to take photos at each step to show you. 2 ways to learn: words and photos.
●Lots of inspiration and ideas for personalization and customization!
●Patterns for flower cuff and love cuff. I’ll show you how easy it is to make a pattern for the cuff itself.
●My email address in case you get stuck along the way.
Hints and Tips:
●Create without worrying about the outcome and enjoy the creating itself.
●You don’t have to follow my instructions exactly. Try something different or use a different material. That is why I write these tutorials. I want you to feel comfortable trying something new!
●I love reusing and recycling. (No doubt you know that if you’ve visited my blog!) I strongly encourage you to try reusing materials to make these projects.
●You can make memorable keepsakes by using special fabrics or incorporating special objects into the cuffs. I do recommend that you practice prior to using irreplaceable items.
Terms of Use:
You may use these tutorials to create products that you sell. You do not have my permission to share, distribute or sell the actual tutorial - or any part of any tutorial - itself.
If you wish to teach this tutorial in a workshop, that is is okay with me. However, if you know of other teachers who wish to teach my tutorials, please refer them to purchase the tutorial from me.
