Being Creative in Making Less Waste

I can't believe it is just a few days until Christmas. My last several weeks have been busy, but calm.  No frantic trips to the mall.

Last weekend I helped 80 girl scouts (along with a small army of helpers) make 400 gifts.  Each made a waterless snow globe, an ornament, a winter scene art piece, a button & wire sculpture and a key chain.  The amazing thing is that the only thing we purchased to make it through this afternoon was the rings for the keychains, and a small amount of glue.  EVERYTHING else was from reCREATE.  We essentially made 400 gifts from other peoples waste!

If you are looking for gifts kids can make, from items around the house, you might want to check out my Pinterest board:  Green Gifts Kids Can Make.

For my kid's teachers, I made these cookies in a jar, from the Whole Foods Market Blog.  The jars were not purchased, but rather empty jelly jars we re-purposed.  We spruced up the jar, with a bit of fabric and ribbon around the top.  There is even a tag you can print out for the gift, here.  

If you are inspired to make something, I have been pinning upcycled projects for over a year at Pinterest.  Upcycled is a term for taking waste or used materials, and transforming it into something of better or higher quality.  Check out this board.

I mentioned that I was part of an Ornament Exchange this December.  In our group of four, two ornaments were upcycled!  This beauty was made by the creative Cindy Ann who runs the ornament exchange.  You might also want to check out the adorable egg carton angels made by Michele, from Michele Made Me.

We plan to audit our trash for the next week, so we can tell you exactly how much trash we made over the holiday.  We are hosting the family, so we might have more garbage than usual, but I am optimistic to share that we were able to have a few days filled with special moments without having an overflowing garbage bin.

I hope you have a lovely holiday.