Dreaming of a Green Christmas Part II

I received such a positive response to my last "Green Christmas" post that I decided to blog a "sequel"! Just in time for the arrival of your holiday guests, here are five more fun, green Christmas ideas:












1. Top a gift with one of these fabulous handmade bows made from magazine pages. Visit the Craftster site to see the tutorial from "Miss American Pie".













2. Transform a burned-out lightbulb into a grinning Grinch ornament! This image is from The Wicked Stepmom blog. Instructions can be found here.



















3. Turn an aluminum can into a modern tree ornament with instructions from Esprit Cabane.
















4. Heading to a holiday party? Dress your wine bottle in recycled duds with one of these wrapping suggestions from green guru Danny Seo. (Left: shirt sleeves. Right: festive newspaper.)




















5.Make a whimsical wine cork Christmas tree with instructions from the December 2006 issue of Woman's Day Magazine. Photo credit: Make Mine Wine Magazine. Note: I'd skip the decorative beads and just use cork and wire.

Happy Holidays!

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

Looking for a few ways to have an earth-friendly holiday season? Here are six ways to go green this season:


1. Recycle your Christmas cards. Send the fronts of your cards to Saint Jude's Ranch for Children, where they will be recycled (the front of your card will be attached to a new back) and resold to benefit the charity. Saint Jude's Ranch for Children is home to children who have been rescued from abuse and neglect. Another way to benefit Saint Jude's is to purchase their recycled cards to send to your friends and family members.



2. Adorn a gift with one of these fabulous gift toppers made from a repurposed Target shopping bag! Instructions can be found on the Creature Comforts blog.












3. After the gifts have been opened, repurpose small gift boxes and leftover scraps of ribbon, wrapping paper, and/or fabric to make a decorative gift garland like this one from page 43 of Pottery Barn's Gift Guide 2008. Tip: one gift box will yield two decorative "gifts" if you wrap the lid and the base separately!














4. Transform old plastic dry cleaner bags into a shimmering winter wreath. The wreath pictured here was made from sandwich bags, but these instructions from Familyfun.com can be modified to use recycled bags.















5. Salvage a moth-munched sweater to make one of these adorable sweater stockings from Martha Stewart.com. Instructions can be found here.















6. Recycle your Christmas tree. To find out about recycling programs in your area, just enter your zip code on the National Christmas Tree Association's website.

Copy Cat: Look-Alikes For Less

If you're a Ballard Designs fan and you've had your eye on the Levanto Farm 3-Seat Bench With Back (pictured on the left, $649.00 from Ballard Designs), have a look at the Somersby Bench (pictured on the right $149.99 from the JC PenneyOnline Outlet). Although the Somersby is shorter than the Levanto (Somersby is 48"long vs. Levanto's 61" length), the style is uncannily similar!