Make recycled gift bows with that leftover wrapping paper

We know it is almost impossible to avoid wrapping paper during the holiday season! I found this great craft activity to do with kids while the kids are off from school next week!

Wrapping Paper Bow

Supplies:

left over wrapping paper
invisible tape such as Scotch Tape
small piece of cardboard
scissors
ruler
optional: small piece of double-sided tape for each bow

How to Make a Paper Bow from Wrapping Paper

Instructions:

1. Cut the wrapping paper into strips that are approximately four inches long and 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wide. There's no need to use a ruler to cut each strip, but try to make them all roughly the same.

2. Cut a 1½ inch square of thin cardboard (cereal box or food box cardboard works well for this).

3. Take a cut strip of wrapping paper and fold it over into a curled loop, with the plain sides together. Bring one end about an 1/8 inch away from the other end and hold in place with a small piece of invisible tape, allowing the tape to extend past both ends about 1/8 inch.

4. Stick the first loop down on the cardboard square, centered at the edge of one side. Repeat with three more paper loops, so you have a loop in the middle of each side.

5. Take four more loops and stick them down at the corners of the square. At this point, your bow should look like the photo, shown above, at right.

6. Continue making paper loops, sticking each one down just in front of, and between two loops from the previous row. The bow will begin to fill in, as shown in the photo, lower right.

7. When you get to center of the small square, make a single loop and stick this down right in the middle. Fluff the bow gently with your fingers and it should look like the completed bow shown in our large photo at the top of the page. It is now ready to decorate your next gift package.

8. Stick the bow onto a wrapped gift by making a loop of invisible tape with the sticky side out or, if you wish, use a small tab of double-sided tape instead.

School's in Session: Get Involved

Kids are back in school. School forms need to be completed, Back to School Night is coming up. Everyone is gung ho about the new school year. It is also a new year for the Home and School Association/PTA. HSAs offer a unique opportunity to parents to get involved in the extra curricular activities offered by the schools. This cannot happen without volunteer parents. So a simple resolve to volunteer 2 hours of your time to any activity in your child's school can be tremendous. Join a committee that is closest to your heart and take part. Leo Goes Grr is doing its part this year by offering a fundraiser to schools interested in conducting Grreen Fundraisers. our highlights are:
"Buy Locally Made in America Products" result Take Care of Small to Mid-Size Businesses in America.
"Buy products made from materials that are safe for our children".
"Buy products made from recycled materials which would otherwise get discarded and end up in our landfills"
"Buy products made from properly managed resources to minimize impacts to the environment".

Fundraisers are great but Grreen Fundraisers are even better because they help raise money "with a sense of pride for American businesses and Respect for healthy living and the environment".

Back to School Time

As much as we don't want to admit it, summer is nearing its end and that means school's around the corner. Here's a typical list for Kindergarteners:

1. A lightweight backpack. Try to stay away from rolling backpacks.
2. A healthy snack packed a reusable containers instead of disposable packaging and reduce waste.
3. An art smock for use in the classroom as well as during art class. (An oversized t-shirt works best because it can be slipped on easily. Try to stay away from smocks with buttons and ties, as they can be challenging to get on and off. Please label your child's smock on the front with his or her full name.)
4. A 2-pocket folder. Please label the right side "Homework" and the left side "Take Home". Try to use a sturdy folder such as a heavy cardboard folder.

Here are some consumer tips from the USEPA on how to reduce wastes at your school:
http://www.epa.gov/osw/wycd/funfacts/school3.htm

Farmers Markets Season has Begun

Many of you may be aware of the beginning of your local farmer's market. There are several reasons to shop and support your local farmer market: supporting your local economy, reducing transportation impacts from miles your food has travelled, eating fresh produce and thereby eating less preservatives. Sounds like common sense.

Mother Nature Network recently posted some neat tips on how to shop at a Farmer's Market near you. http://www.mnn.com/food/markets-groceries/stories/cornering-the-market

Here's a website where you can search for farms in your area:
http://www.localharvest.org/

A History of Earth Day

This week the US celebrates the 37th Earth Day. How will you celebrate? Here are some simple effective ways:

1. Thick about which habit can I change that will make my being less burdensome?

2. Pay it forward: Talk to a friend about your resolve and inspire them to make a change.

3. Talk to your children and learn from them. They will be coming home with a wealth of knowledge.

4. Take action. Actions speak louder than words.

My family opted for a hybrid sedan vehicle instead of a larger SUV type car. This purchase will require us to change our vehicle use habits. Your resolve may not involve a large purchase, but if it makes a difference, thats what matters. Take a ceramic cup to work;

Stop using the disposables;

Use one napkin instead of the usual 20 odd napkins,

Use a cotton washable rag for cleaning and dusting instead of paper towels,

Use cleaning products that are gentler to produce and use,

Compost your yard waste instead of throwing it in the trash and

I can go on and on.

While you are in the mode check out the history of Earth Day

http://www.america.gov/st/env-english/2008/April/20070420114325jtnworb0.9966699.html

A Present for Mother Earth!

Spring is here! Forsythias, daffodils, snowdrops, magnolias, crocus (or is it croci) blooming everywhere! Earth day is fast approaching. So what's your present to Mother Earth this year? How about something that truly helps improve the Earth as in soil? Here are my suggestions and I welcome yours:

• Stop applying pesticides to your garden. Although these treat pests in your garden, they also are harmful for pets, other wildlife and to our children and us. Ever wonder why you should not get on your lawn for at least 24 hours after a pesticide application? Pesticides are designed to attack biological systems which includes you and me.


• Stop using fertilizer without the appropriate knowledge of how much to add and when to add. Lack of this knowledge, can result in over fertilizer. The big picture: you kill your lawn, you let rain water carry excess fertilizer to our streams and rivers which results in "eutrophication" of the water body. Eutrophication is a fancy term for availability of excess nutrients leading to increased algal growth and uptake of oxygen in the water body, killing the fish and other fauna.
• Change the type of weedkillers. Let move from RoundUp like products to more natural biodegradable weedkillers like BurnOut, a concoction of clove oil and citric acid, http://www.planetnatural.com/site/burnout-weed-killer.html. Even vinegar and lemon juice work fantastically.

We took this step last year. Our landscaper was adding fertilizer and pesticides to areas which were devoid of grass! We found Organic Dutchman, an organic lawn treatment outfit at http://www.organicdutchman.com/. The bald patch in our lawn has re-grown, the grass is healthier (the deer are enjoying it) and my kids can run around bare footed. My neighbor got a new puppy and switched to Organic Dutchman. I am sure there are other such
vendors. Spread the word folks!!
You and I can Green It for Mother Earth this year!

Four Conference Chairs-Three Pink and One Burgundy

With the down turn in the economy, my workplace is also experiencing cuts. Offices are being closed in an effort to consolidate services. So a couple of my colleagues drove out of town to clean out the Boston office. They came back with among other things three pink and one burgundy conference chairs. Now who in a business setting would want a pink chair in their conference room. My guess: someone who cannot afford a chair! Folks at work thought that perfectly fine chairs should be disposed in the dumpster. The "GrreenMomster" in me would not permit me to be silent at such a suggestion particularly, since I work in the environmental field. Now it takes money, time, courage and sometimes a combination of these to deliver solutions to save four chairs from ending up in the landfill. Four such chairs that have a lot of life left in them. So I called the Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way, the Jerry Lewis Charity for Multiple Sclerosis ...... Nobody accepted the chairs or they did not have a need for them. Then I discovered Freecycle.org and a local group at Rutgers University and greatnonprofits.org. I join the groups, posted my four chairs and waited. In 24 hours I had one request for photographs of the chairs from a non-profit group. It turns out to be an orphanage which has a conference room but no furniture and hence no use for the room. They like the chairs. The main question "how will the chairs get to them?" I should know more tomorrow, but I am glad that such online tools are putting people in touch, helping keep objects out of landfills, and providing opportunities to make a change. One such opportunity is Leo Goes Grr's Grrecycle Room. Post to it, buy from it and grab your opportunity....

What can your house and the White House have in common?....An organic garden

Last week the White House broke ground on its South Lawn to raise an organic garden. The idea was to motivate people to grown their own food and promote healthy eating habits.

It certainly motivated my family. As soon as my husband heard the NPR report about the White House organic garden, he texted: "Add create organic garden to our to do list". Actually last year, my husband's aunt Sulbha, who lives in NJ, had fantastically green foliage on her patio. She has always had a green thumb but last year she used it to grow vegetables in containers. It was such a hit that she plans on continuing this year and this year she is not alone. My friend Ritu has started her seedlings already. And I? I have started the planning process. My issue like many in NJ is deer grazing. So I will contain my vegetable garden to my deck. I have wood slats in my basement which will be nailed together. The wood will be treated for water proofing (I need to find a green way to do this...any ideas?). By the time, we get around to doing this, it will be mid-April. So why not wait a bit and have a "plant a garden" birthday party for my 51/2 year old.

So what make a garden organic: the soil and the fertilizer. For planters, I would recommend large bags of organic soil and a couple of bags of compost from the local nursery or Coop. If you are planting in the ground, an organic compost will help turn over your garden in three years to be qualified as organic. Go the extra mile by harvesting rain water in a rain barrel available from http://www.aquabarrel.com/ and use it to water your garden. Remember to place it at a higher elevation than the area intended to be watered. Here are few more ideas http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/kitchen-plants-container-gardens.html.

Choose a sunny spot, water regularly and enjoy!!

My New Dryer!!

Here's my new dryer! It dries clothes and is free.. well not free. It costs $19.99 + tax and is available at http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50095091. It can hold one standard laundry load. It can conveniently be folded for storage when not in use. It will lower your utility bill guaranteed. Now for the added benefits:

1. Slows me down since I can only dry one load at a time. The pressure is off!

2. My 5.5 year old daughter loves to empty the washer for me.

3. Many household members want to help me put the clothes out to dry.

So all in all, use alternate sources of energy-solar and wind and now laundry is a feel good activity.

Grreen Fundraisers for Your School

As parents of school-going children, we are eternally asked to contribute to our children's school. I remember the first day back from school and my kids came home with a fundraiser. My first thought was "Are they going to school to learn or to raise funds?". As the year progressed, I saw more such requests. As a parent, I was over-whelmed, not only with the number of fundraisers, but also requests for additional funds needed for small projects - class parties, extra-activities planned by the teachers, school trips etc.

When the school year began, I checked with several parents about participating in the Home and School Association. Many of them were of the opinion that once you attend you get pressurized to participate and of course you volunteer, taking on one more responsibility when you are already stretched thin. Nonetheless, I had made up my mind to find out for myself. I decided to make it a priority to play an active role in the school's Home and School Association equivalent to a Parent Teacher Association. Mind you "active" for me at this time does not mean serve on a committee, it meant, merely, attend a monthly meeting.

Contrary to the feedback I received from many parents, the HSA was an extremely welcoming and warm group of parents. These parents are just as strecthed out as I. But they have chosen to prioritize their children's school experience over some other activity. There were no pressures, only opportunities..... Ultimately it is my choice to either participate or not. One HSA meeting and I realized how important it is for parents to support a group of individuals whose only objective is to make the school experience as educational, fun and memorable as possible. To me thats a selfless cause.

And thats how the idea of Grreen Fundraisers was born! Check out Grreen Year-Round Fundraisers on www.leogoesgrr homepage. Leo Goes Grr kicked off its first Grreen Fundraiser at Woodfern Elementary School in Hillsborough NJ. A lucky patron will be awarded an Imagination Box from Leo Goes Grr Grreen Shop!

No Waste Lunches..

Last blog I wrote about I love the thermos container to pack a warm lunch for my kids. So here's a few more reasons why a container sent from home helps the environment and therefore us.

Did you know that if you send a lunch in disposable packaging you are generating atleast 4-8 ounces of garbage every week. This adds up to as much as 100 pounds per year (Source:http://www.recycleworks.org/schools/lunch.html)

Ok so everyone who reads the newspaper and has even a slight bit of eco-awareness knows how important it is to reduce waste - the first of the three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). So here's a few ways to reduce waste when packing a lunch:

1. Use a lunch box or reusable sack.
2. Pack a cloth napkin and reusable utensils.
3. Put food in reusable food and drink containers.

Its that simple. Here's a some definite NOs:

1. Boycott styrofoam. Styrofoam is forever. It is not biodegradable.
2. Paper Towels: Most people around the world do not use paper towels. Use dish towels or rags - thesecan be recycled in a textile recycling program.
3. Plastic forks and spoons are not recylable in most recycling programs. Carry utensils from home.

For tips check out: http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/shopunshop/unshopping/neverbuy.cfm

Just imagine what a change you and I can make moving forward with these simple acts. Thanks to our children for providing us with this opportunity. It a choice we need to make...

Leo Goes Grr encourages you to send in your child's No Waste Lunch artwork. Send in your entries by March 10 to win a 20% off coupon from our Green Shop. All entries will be posted on our blog and the artwork with the highest votes wins!

Get to work...we got a landfill to save!

And the winner is...

Jyoti R from New Jersey who said "Weather proof your home, turn down the thermostat setting & don a sweater to cut down on utility bills"

Congratulations Jyoti. Happy Shopping.
Stay tuned for more grreat contests on Leo Goes Grr!!

Save Green by Going Grreen!

Yes, the down economy is on everyone's minds and more and more we are looking for ways to save some money to protect our families until things take a u-turn. I would like to compile a list together of some of the green ways we can all implement to cut corners. Send in your ideas and we will pick the best one. The winner will be rewarded a $25 gift certificate from Leo Goes Grr's Grreen Shop!
Hurry! this contest ends on Feb 5, 2009 at midnight.