Happy Earth Day! ... Water Preservation Cans

Happy Earth Day!  

Today I would like to ask:  

What do you do to help Mother Earth? 

These are some of the things we do at our home...

-dry clothes outside on the clothes line

-use cloth napkins {we've been using the same ones for about 6 years now; imagine the number or paper napkins we would have used in that amount of time!}

-plant our own garden, canning and using the vegetables for our family and animals

-raise our own chickens for eggs and as pets

-compost all fruit/vegetable scraps, paper, egg shells, etc. {also great for the garden!  Here's a way to make a compost bin.}

-only drive to town when necessary {I try to go to town once a month for groceries and other items we need for the home}

-find a new purpose for recyclable items {like paint cans for bird houses, oatmeal cans for hair accessories storage, jars for decor, plastic containers, etc.}

-re-purpose household items instead of buying new {like painting headboard, paint ceiling fans, make rainbow crayons with small crayon pieces}

-use natural or homemade cleaning products

-shut lights off during the day and when not in rooms
-use reusable water bottles
-buy local, support the people in the community!

We also:

-collect water and other liquids that could be beneficial for watering plants...

I started doing this about a year ago; I haven't had to run fresh water for watering my house plants or my fresh herbs under my grow-light in the basement all winter!

I used paint markers to "decorate" and label these diesel fuel cans as water cans.  

When I was happy with the design, I sprayed them with a clear paint for plastics.

Instead of dumping partially used water cups down the drain I dump them into these cans.

Other liquids you can use for watering: coffee, pasta or vegetable cooking water, water from canning, natural juices {without added sugar}, water used for cleaning fruit and vegetables.

A Weekend of Coop Building and Rain!

Luckily we had one fairly nice day on Saturday, it was colder than it looks but at least the sun came out a little!  So we were able to get some work done on building the new coop...

We got the trusses built in the morning, then we were lucky to have my brother-in-law come over to help, so the forms went up pretty quick.

The coop is on "skids" so we can move it in the yard if we need or want to.  I think being able to move the coop will be great since we have such strong winds here in Iowa, we can move the coop to change the air flow in and around it.  I would also like to put a step that runs the width of the coop on top of the skids, this will be outside the person door.

It will also be nice to move the coop closer in the winter months, so I don't have to trek through the tundra to feed and care for our birds.

Here's the hubby working hard on his plan!

Coming together!

Putting the roof on...

This is what I did for a while... sit, watch, read a book!

Roof on!

Like this barn's "bullnose" roof.

The front of the roof is going to be a "bullnose",  so I would like to hang a plant on a pulley over the person door.

This is where we are at; my husband is currently training some guys on third shift so we'll probably have to wait till next weekend to get more done.  

But we have all of the materials; the windows, hinges, screening, my husband is going to build the doors, we've painted all of the walls and trim work; so its just a matter of having time to get it finished!

I'm super excited and even more excited to get my birds!

I'll keep you updated!

Coop Time, Day #1

We are building a new and much more secure coop for our birds this year.  I am super excited and can't wait to get my new birds!  

I thought I would share with you throughout the process of building and the eventual completion.

I am lucky to have a husband that is an engineer!  He came up with this design for the coop, its going to be painted like a red barn!

We went and bought all/most of the materials we need last night!

So this is day #1 of coop creation!

Today my goal is to paint all of the main wall pieces red and all of the trim pieces white.  

I think painting them before they are cut and assembled will be easier!  We'll just touch up any raw/cut edges when/as we assemble! 

 Yippy!  Wish me luck!

Baby Shower Gifts & Pictures as Promised!

I'm so excited, my sister and her husband are having twin baby girls soon!  This past weekend we had the baby shower for them and in typical "Me" fashion I couldn't help but make some of the gifts for the twins! 

I started with these stuffed owls, the zebra print part is a pocket.

I also made some little mice for the owls to put in their pockets.

 The backs of the owls are a very soft fuzzy fabric.

 Here they are all ready to go to their new home!

I also made them a diaper/wipe cuff.  Its a long stripe with Velcro that can go around at least 8 diapers and the small wipe container!  Hopefully 8 diapers is enough when going out with twins!

I also made this little contraption  you hook the two loops on the inside and outside knobs of a door and it prevents the door from latching if the kids pull the door shut and it also makes it easy to close the door without making any noise when their sleeping.

I found this idea for making story dice; I changed it to Story Blocks!  

They're five blocks, each with a theme: Magical Items, Things/Objects, Characters, Animals and Places.  To play, you roll the blocks and use the images to help give you ideas for a story, if you get stumped you can just roll the blocks again to continue and add to the story!

I recycled a hard plastic bag to store the blocks and the instructions in; I added some Velcro for easy opening and closing also a pretty ribbon.

I found these super cute bibs at a craft sale I recently worked at; they were made my one of my son's friend's mom.

Here's all these things with the addition of a couple pair of pjs ready to go to their new home.

Now Big Mr. J wanted to make something to give the twins so I found this plaster bird head I made a long time ago and he wanted to paint it for their room.

Working hard!  It has to be just right!

Now for the party...

Little Miss J just had to sit on my sister's lap during gift opening; good thing my brother-in-law was up for opening all of the gifts.  :D

My cousin just had a baby about 1 month ago and Little Miss J just couldn't stay away!

Big Mr. J was a great helper with the gifts.

Oh, cool!  What is it?

Little Miss J painted a picture for the twin's room!

Finding the Story Blocks.
I think my brother-in-law will have the most fun with these!

And finally the twin's owl stuffed animals, made with love by Aunt Jacqueline!

I had a lot of fun making all of these things for my nieces!  If you are interested in making any of them let me know and I can post a tutorial on any/all of them for you!  Just ask! :D