Crafty Corner: Buttons

If you're like me, you have tons of loose buttons all over your house. Gather them up and get creative! Here's 10 tips for re-using them in creative ways.

1. Attach buttons to homemade cards.

2. Attach to scrapbook pages

3. Decorate picture frames

4. Sew on a plain shirt or sweater in a cute design or on the cuffs

5. Attach to bobby pins for a cute hair piece

6. Attach to earring posts to create earrings

7. Organize your earrings by pushing the wires through the holes

8. Attach to paper clips to jazz up your office

9. Attach to magnetic strips to create cute magnets

10. Attach to push pins to brighten up your bulletin board

You can attach the buttons using glue dots, a hot glue gun, tacky glue or gorilla glue.


Credit:
Tips 1, 3 and 7 were from the August 2008 issue of Parents Magazine

Cleaning Tip

Want to great rid of that toxic wood polish, but you don't know what to use? You probably have what you need right in your kitchen.

Step 1
In a small bowl combine:

2 parts lemon juice (real juice!)
1 part olive oil

For example:

4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil

That should be enough for a coffee table or two end tables

Step 2
Pour a little on a rag and get to polishing!


Let me know how this works for you.

Soapbox Sunday

Energy

Energy has been a hot topic lately, considering gas is around $4 a gallon. NewsWeek had an article about T. Boone Pickens this week. He's an 80 year old oil man with a vision. He thinks that wind and solar energy can be a big help and I agree with him. But he also advocates off shore drilling and nuclear power, which I don't.


I found the article's ending very ironic. This man is building a 10 million dollar wind turbine farm in the Texas panhandle and convincing his neighbors to erect turbine, but here's the kicker, he won't put a turbine on his own ranch. Why? Because he thinks "they are ugly"! Can you believe that? I give this guy the Environmental Hypocrite Award.





So what do you think? Are they ugly or cool?



I think they are cool. They look like giant sculptures and save you money! What's not to like?





Other energy articles:

Texas Approves a 4.93 Billion Wind Power Project

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/business/19wind.html?ref=science

What You Don't Know About Wind Power

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/g-word/gword-101.html

Al Gore's Electricity Goal
http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2008/07/gores-call-for.html

Giveaway Winner

Hello Everyone,
I'm so sorry for the delay and lack of posts recently. We had a sudden death in the family. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.

Without further delay....the winner is #51 Emma's Mom. Congrats and please e-mail me with your shipping info. I don't have an e-mail for you. Mine is on my profile. I hope you love the soap as much as I do!

To those who didn't win, don't lose heart. I'll be having another giveaway next month!

Publix Sales

Organic

Greenwise Chicken Breast
$5.59 lb

Greenwise Market White Shrimp
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE
Large, Easy to Peel, Frozen, Farmed, 31 to 35 Shrimp per Pound, 24-oz pkg.

Strawberries
$2.99

Greenwise Market Cereal
$2.29

Non-Organic (But Safe) Produce

Blueberries
2/$4

CA Grapes
$1.49 lb

Non-Organic, but Healthy

Bertolli Olive Oil, 17 oz
BOGO

Arnold's Bread
2/$6

Brita Replacement Filter 3 Pack
$13.99

Gerber Organic 2nd Foods
BOGO
Note: If they are in plastic, make sure it's not #7

Winn Dixie Sales

Sale runs from 7/16 through 7/22

3 pack of Organic Romaine Hearts
$2.99

Winn Dixie Organic Juice
Mango Acai or Orange Mango
2/$5

Grimmway Farms Organic Baby Carrots
2/$3

Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
BOGO
Save up to $11.99 on 2

Arnold's 100% Whole Wheat Bread
BOGO
Save up to $2.89 on 2

Heartland Organic Pasta
4/$5
$.55 off PRINTABLE Q

Newman's Own Pasta Sauce
2/$5

Organic Valley String Cheese or Shredded
2/$7
$1 off Q here (You can print twice)

Winn Dixie Organic Lemonade (64oz)
$2.49


Non-Organic Produce (But not on the Dirty Dozen)

Cantaloupe
BOGO
Save up to $2.99 on 2

Blueberries (pint)
2/$4

On the vine Tomatoes
$2.49 lb

Grape Tomatoes
2/$4

Seedless Grapes from CA
$1.99 lb

Seedless mini Watermelon or Honeydew Melon
$2.99 each

Mangos
$.99 each

Kiwi
2/$1

Green Beans or Zucchini Squash
$1.39 lb

Vidalia Onions
$.89 lb

Recycling

As I was driving home today I saw a great example of recycling. There was a woman pushing a stroller. Why is that recycling? Well, instead of a baby, there was a small dog perched in the seat. He looked like he was enjoying the ride, too!

Just goes to show you that just about everything can be reused!

My 1st Giveaway!!!!

I've decided that I love the Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap so much that I'm giving away an 8 oz bar.

So, if you want to try out this awesome soap, leave a comment below by Friday. I'll announce the winner on Saturday.

Good Luck!

Item of the Week

Kiss My Face Pure Olive Oil Soap, $3.49 for an 8 oz bar or $2.49 for a 4 oz bar.

This soap is fragrance free, not tested on animals, contains no animal ingredients and no artificial colors. It is soap perfection! It contains only olive oil, water and salt.

I really love this soap. It moisturizes the skin, so you really don't need much lotion. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Available at: Target, Walgreens, CVS, and Publix

Product Review

I picked up some Tom's of Maine liquid hand soap this week at Target. It was marked down to $3.48, so I thought I would give it a try.

Test #1: Unscented
It lathers up very well, all nice and sudsy.
Your hands feel clean after you rinse, but not dry.
It smells terrible to me. I can't really describe the after smell, but it smells sour and acidic. My husband, on the other hand, thinks it smells like dough.

Test #2: Lavender
It does as well as above, but the smell is slightly better. So now it's sour, acidic and a tiny bit lavender.

Conclusion
It doesn't smell that great, but it gets the job done without the toxic chemicals. So I'll deal with the smell until I find another brand that's just as healthy. Maybe adding some essential oil or almond oil will improve the smell!

Publix Sales

Greenwise Chicken Breast
$4.69 lb

Greenwise Pork Tenderloin
$11.59 lb

Greenwise Extra Large Cooked Shrimp
Buy one, get one FREE
Frozen, Farmed, 26-30 per pound
Save up to $26.99
$1 off coupon from Publix Greenwise mailer

Horizon American Singles
2/$5
Check Horizon's website for coupons

Organic Strawberries
$2.99

Greenwise Celery
$1.69

Florida Avocados
2/$3

Publix All Natural Salsa
2/$3

Kashi Cereals
2/$5

Greenwise Organic Eggs
2/$7

El Monterey All Natural Quesadillas or Soft Tacos
2/$6

Greenwise Bathroom Tissue
2/$11

Earth's Best Baby Food
.79, 4oz jar

Newman's Own Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette
2/$5

Lil' Critters All Natural Gummy Vites
$7.99

Greenwise Romaine Hearts
$2.99

Drugstore.com Sale

Drugstore.com is having a sale on Tom's of Maine products and Mrs. Meyer's products. They are also running a promotion to save an additional dollar off either product lines until 8/01/2008.

Tom's of Maine products are all natural and include:
Mouthwash
Toothpaste
Deodorant
Body Wash
Body Soap
Hand Soap
Floss

Prices range from $1.12 (travel size) - $5.99


Mrs. Meyer's product line contains natural ingredients. The cleaners appear to be void of toxic chemicals. Just avoid the hand soap and lotion. They contain parabens and other toxins.

Prices range from $2.99 - $11.99

In the News...

Here are some news stories I've been reading:

Toyota has announced that they will be incorporating solar panels into the design of the Prius.

Flat screen TVs are actually adding to our greenhouse gas problem.

McCain is actually trying to make Obama look like a bad guy for not wanting to drill offshore or to use nuclear power.

You can read these stories HERE.


The G-8 Summit closes with no decision on climate targets . I'm glad that they set a goal to halve emissions by 2050, but it would help if they had targets on how to accomplish that!

You can read that story HERE.

Shaving

Last weekend I tried out shaving my legs with olive oil. After experimenting with the process, I have decided it's best to do this after you have showered. That way your skin is clean and moist before shaving takes place. I didn't do that the first time and wound up with razor burn in a few spots! The olive oil works great as shaving "cream"and causes the razor to glide over the skin. It also made my legs smooth and soft for days!!!

Give it a try and leave a comment to let me know how it goes.

Item of the Week

Honest Tea is my pick of the week. My favorite flavors are peach oolong tea and black forest berry.

The name may be familiar to you since it was featured in last week's Newsweek. The magazine was discussing how Honest Tea is one of Senator Obama's favorite drinks. What's not to like? The teas are Fair Trade, USDA organic, and contain evaporated cane juice instead of high fructose corn syrup. Plus, they taste great!

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen is a list of the produce that contain the most pesticides. According to Food News, avoiding the dirty dozen (and buying the organic version instead) can help consumers reduce their pesticide intake by almost 90%!

The Dirty Dozen:
Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes


For a list of 43 produce item ratings go here. To print a wallet size version go here.

Cleaning Tip

Tea stained cups can be tricky to clean. Trying to scrub the stain away does not always work. I have found that adding a pinch of salt to your cup with a tablespoon of warm water does the trick. After allowing the salt to dissolve you should be able to wipe away the tea stain.

Winn Dixie Sales

Bear Naked Cereals
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE
12 oz.
Save up to $4.29 on 2

Winn Dixie Organic Milk
2 for $7
64 oz

Kashi Granola or Cereal Bars
2 for $6

Winn Dixie Organic Tea
10 for $10
16 oz

Winn Dixie Organic Lemonade
2 for $4.50
64 oz

Publix Sales

Publix GreenWise Market Top Sirloin Steaks
$6.99 lb
Boneless, USDA Choice, Antibiotic-Free

Publix GreenWise Market Chicken Cutlets
$5.99 lb
Grade A, Air-Chilled, Antibiotic-Free

Stacy's Pita Chips
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE
Assorted Varieties, 6 or 6.5-oz bag
SAVE UP TO $2.99

Florida's Natural Orange Juice
2 FOR $6.00
Growers Style, Original, With Calcium, Home Squeezed, or Home Squeezed With Calcium, 100% Pure, All Florida, 64-oz ctn.
SAVE UP TO $1.38 ON 2

Red Seedless Watermelon
$3.99 each

Athena Cantaloupes
2 for $4