Deuxieme Vie Creative | Creative Reuse

Earlier this year, Deuxieme Vie Creative, a new creative space, opened in downtown Lafayette. Founded by Cindi Axtell, the space is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to creating environmentally sustainable behavior through educating and promoting resourceful artistry and environmental awareness in the community.

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Stretching the Life of Candles

My husband and I love to keep a year-round supply of candles in the house, so we pretty often have a collection of candles that are almost-fully burned out.

But instead of throwing out glass jars that have a little bit of wax left in them, my husband has embraced an awesome repurposing project - combining the wax to make new layered candles!

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How You Can Reuse Glass Containers at Home or the Office

A few weeks back, my column in the Times of Acadiana looked at creative ways to reuse glass containers...in "honor" of the fact that Lafayette no longer takes glass in curbside recycling.

It's always important to try to reuse items as much as possible before throwing them out. Especially with glass jars or containers, they can withstand being reused for a long time before they need to be discarded.

Recycled and painted bottle vase at Taco Sisters Freetown

Most of the glass containers found in homes come from pasta sauce jars, spice jars, baby food jars, candles, mason jars, and beer, wine and oil bottles. Forget buying new glass jars for storage purposes — reuse what you’ve probably already got!

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A Minimal Waste Easter

With Easter coming up this weekend, it's time to finalize the crawfish boil plans, egg hunts and Easter baskets for the children. In my home, we don't do much by way of decorations or gifts, so we're already pretty waste-free, but I still work to make the holiday eco-friendly.

I usually forget to put out an Easter basket for decoration until sometime around now, the beginning of Holy Week. But I do have a metal one in storage, complete with plastic eggs that are at least 10 years old, and a few tin eggs that used to hold candy. I don't bother with plastic or paper grass at all, which keeps the house much cleaner.

A few years ago, I got on a Pinterest kick and wanted to make wreaths for our front door, but in an eco-friendly way. I learned how to make those burlap wreaths, and I purchased fake fall flowers to intertwine in the burlap. When spring rolled around, I picked up some fake spring flowers and replaced them on the same burlap wreath. It's been two or three years now, and although my burlap is starting to look a little sad, the wreath itself still works and gives a little cheer to our front door.

I love being able to repurpose one wreath to last for nine months out of the year, especially when I'm on the third year of using the same wreath base. (The other three months, around the holidays, I have a red burlap wreath on the door.)

But maybe you do a bit more for Easter. Dyeing eggs is always fun, especially with children, and there are many natural alternatives for dye. In 2013 and 2015 I experimented with using spices and produce to dye batches of eggs, and although it took awhile, I loved the results.

Using food-based items combined with vinegar also means you're keeping synthetic ingredients and materials out of your eggs, which makes them healthier if you plan to actually eat the eggs (which you should!)

Get creative when dyeing your eggs and reuse materials that would otherwise be thrown away. I've used strips of recycled cardboard boxes as drying stands, and my friend Sloane uses water and soft drink bottle caps.

If you prefer not to get messy with dye, use decorative stickers or washi tape to get a unique look. 

When it comes to using plastic eggs filled with treats for hunts, look for secondhand plastic eggs (the ones I have at home are secondhand from my mother's former classroom), or choose some made of renewable plant-based plastic (these are from Eco Eggs.)

Photo via Eco Eggs

Skip the prepackaged Easter baskets at the store, because the baskets are meant for only one holiday, every item is wrapped, and the entire thing is wrapped in cellophane, which cannot be recycled.

Instead, make your own! Find baskets at a flea market or secondhand shop, or borrow some from friends or family. If you decide to purchase new baskets, choose ones that can be used for multiple purposes in your home throughout the year.

Customize your baskets for Easter with pastel ribbon or secondhand fabric as a liner, which can be removed once the holiday is over.

Make your own Easter basket grass with shredded paper or scrap fabric.

When it comes to filling baskets with treats, look for treats wrapped in foil or paper instead of plastic, or skip the candy altogether. Add a coloring book and nontoxic markers, outdoor toys like a jump rope or Frisbee, or even a child-size reusable water bottle.

You don't have to go overboard on material items for Easter, and you definitely don't have to go single-use. Minimize where you can and look for secondhand or reusable items for decorations and gifts.

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A Valentine For Your Boo and the Environment

I know that Valentine's Day is not everyone's jam, but can we all at least agree that we need to show a little more love toward each other? Or at least be nicer to each other?

Valentine's Day doesn't have to be all heart-shaped chocolates, teddy bears and Mylar balloons. Understated and sustainable can be just as, if not more, romantic! Show your boo just how much you care with items that don't harm the environment.

My husband and I have really started to enjoy quiet Valentine's Day evenings together at home. Our first few holidays together, he would take me out to delicious local restaurants. Last year, since it was on a Sunday, we fired up the grill for dinner and dined al fresco, with real plates, utensils, placemats, napkins and wine glasses, of course! We gave each other cards, mine made of recycled paper and featuring a tree joke that still makes me giggle.

This year, we'll probably do dinner at home again and find a good movie to watch. Note to self: Pick up organic wine for the occasion.

Flowers

Easily the most popular Valentine's Day gift, flowers can put a strain on the environment from conventional farming, to traveling long distances, to requiring special packaging and shipping.

Go eco-friendly by ordering your bouquets or arrangements from a local florist and supporting a small business. Many times, you’ll be able to choose more seasonal or unique flower varieties and styles.

Or, consider giving flowers that last longer. Instead of a bouquet, visit a local nursery and pick out flower seedlings or a small potted plant. Your garden, or even your apartment patio, will have a cheerful reminder of your love all year long.

If you want to go the DIY route for flowers, use what you have! Our sweet neighbors recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and for their party, the wife created flower arrangements using spray painted secondhand teapots (I wonder where she got that idea from! Ha.) and greenery from their own yard.

Gifts

Shop at local stores for gifts for your loved ones, or purchase locally produced items, like handmade jewelry.

Make your own gift with salvaged or reclaimed items.

Instead of giving something material, go for an intangible gift. Do something nice for your loved one; gift them a service like a massage, manicure or yoga class; or donate to a charity they support.

Instead of the heart-shaped box of mystery chocolates, go for organic or fair-trade sweets. Organic treats are made without additional chemicals and pesticides, and fair-trade means the workers who’ve made the item earn a fair living wage.


Pick out a sweet reusable coffee mug or water bottle.

Buy a Valentine card made of recycled paper, make a card using scrap wrapping or decorative paper, or go paperless by sending an e-card.

Plans

Going out for the evening? Dine at a local restaurant, and call ahead to see if they take reservations. (And if you tend to bring leftovers home, don’t be afraid to bring your own to-go container.)

Show off your sustainable style with a secondhand, vintage, or even rented/borrowed outfit and accessories.

If you’re not into crowded restaurants for Valentine’s Day, plan to cook a special dinner at home with your loved one. Shop at a local grocery store or your nearest farmer's market to find fresh, seasonal produce, meat, or seafood. Don’t forget your cloth bags! (A phrase I'm starting to feel like I need tattooed on my forehead. Practically my middle name at this point!)

Find an organic wine to pair with your meal. Organic vineyards don’t use artificial or hazardous chemicals on the grapes. And a bottle of organic wine is less expensive than you might think. If you’re not into wine, pick up a local craft beer. Your local grocery store or liquor store should be able to help you on both fronts.

Use real dinnerware, utensils, glasses, and napkins instead of disposable.

Take your dinner outside or plan a picnic if the weather is nice. (If it's cold where you are, and you're cursing me for suggesting eating outside - I'm sorry. Louisiana had a two-day winter this year. I'm forgetting that it's actually still winter right now.)

For Children

It's been years since I've dealt with classroom valentines, but they can definitely be wasteful and unhealthy, between the paper and the candy. Don't tell your children that I suggested recycling all of the valentines once the holiday has passed. (But I'm totally suggesting to recycle all those valentines instead of just throwing them out.)

Make classroom valentines a fun, eco-friendly project with your children. Get crafty with some decorative recycled paper, plantable seed paper, or even recycled cardboard. Children can draw their own pictures or write their own messages, or you can use a festive stamp and nontoxic ink pad.

Instead of candy, go for a more eco-friendly gift idea, like flower seed packets or colored pencils made of recycled content.

This Valentine’s Day (and every day), power your day with love — it’s a renewable resource!

What are your plans for this Valentine's Day?

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Simply Having a Sustainable Christmastime

Show of hands. How many of you have completed your Christmas shopping? How many of you haven't started? (As I raise my own hand.)

As you wrap up your shopping (and if you still need inspiration, head over to my Green Gift Guide), learn how to plan any gatherings and decorate the house without being extra wasteful.

Wrapping Gifts

One of the most wasteful parts of the holidays is all the gift wrap that's thrown away after one use. And most wrapping paper and tissue paper are NOT recyclable. Shiny, glittery and waxy wrapping paper is often made with metallic foil and plastic, and tissue paper is too thin to go through the sorting process.

Choose recyclable white or brown kraft paper or bags, and for extra flair, customize the wrapped gift with stamps, or choose holiday-printed kraft paper. Bonus: it’s less expensive than fancy gift wrap! Pick up a large roll, and especially if it's plain, you can use it for any gift-giving occasion throughout the year. (If you enjoy decorating the plain paper, stock up on a couple stamps for each holiday.) One thrifty option is to reuse newspaper for wrapping or tissue paper.

This week, Kasha over at Green With Style shared a link to Wrappily, a small business that makes 100% recyclable and compostable wrapping paper printed on recycled newspaper with soy-based inks. Each sheet is reversible, and all patterns are created by independent designers. They also utilize old newspaper printing presses.

Reuse all those boxes from your online purchases instead of buying gift boxes. 

Put the final touch on your eco-friendly gift with reusable fabric ribbons or natural items like jute string, twigs or Christmas tree clippings. And get creative with it! Use a stretchy headband for a female's gift, and she can use it after she opens the gift. Reuse a necktie to make a nice ribbon. You might be surprised what you can find around the house that works as gift embellishments.

Make your own gift tags with scrap wrapping paper (you know you have a ton of too-small scraps!), reuse store-bought tags year after year (especially within your immediate family), or simply write recipient names on the gifts themselves.

My favorite zero-waste option is to use a cute cloth shopping bag to hold your gift - it’s like two gifts in one!

Make it easy when your family or group opens gifts: designate a bag for trash and an empty box for recyclables/reusables. Save any gift boxes, bags, tissue paper, ribbons and bows you receive, in good condition of course. The more you can save to reuse, the less trash you'll send to the curb and the more money you'll save next year!

Share time. This is my collection of tissue paper. Not one of these sheets I purchased. It's all been collected from previous gifts (and cough, donated from a couple baby showers), and I spent this past Black Friday folding tissue paper and color coordinating it in order to get it looking this organized. It was tedious but very therapeutic. And very helpful in the future.

Decorating

For your interior and exterior lights, go LED. They're widely available, use less energy than conventional lights, helping to lessen the impact on your utility bill at a time when you're already spending extra money. LEDs stay cool to the touch better than conventional lights, making your tree less of a fire hazard.

Our 2015 Christmas tree featuring 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights. Or just four strings of cool white LED lights.

Decorative solar-powered outdoor lights work well if you have an open yard, and especially if you don't have outdoor outlet access (say that three times fast).

Use natural elements instead of glitter, styrofoam and other shiny stuffs to decorate. Think Pinteresty: burlap, twine, wood, recycled clean food jars and cans, even spray painted wine bottles for vases.

If you have a real Christmas tree, trim a few branches (no one will notice if there are a few bare spots in the back!) to use in floral arrangements or table centerpieces.

Burn candles made of soy wax instead of the more toxic paraffin wax.

Look for locally made ornaments to add some personality to your tree. In the first photo up top, our magnolia ornament is made from redfish and garfish scales by Cajun Ornaments. I believe I picked it up at a small local festival where they had a booth set up. Plus, we've got a few other local ornaments adorning our baby tree this year.

Vintage Christmas decorations and ornaments are a great way to incorporate holiday flair with a nostalgic feeling. Over the past few years, my parents have given me some of their older decorations, and I love using them in my own home. By reusing decorations for many years, or finding vintage decorations, you're keeping unique, nostalgic items out of landfills.

Make paper snowflakes with scrap printer paper, newspaper, paper shopping bags or even junk mail. It's a fun way to get children involved in decorating!

Party Time

If you're having a holiday gathering, the most eco-friendly dinnerware is the kind you use normally. Make sure your dishwasher is empty before the party starts! Alternatively, you can go a little more casual by using melamine plates and bowls and acrylic drink glasses, even though the materials are not the greatest. They are at least reusable and work well in a larger party setting. And there are BPA-free options, which makes them better for children especially.

Reusable plates and wine glasses from our Thanksgiving lunch.

But if you're having a large gathering and choose the disposable route, look for plates and bowls made of recycled or compostable material instead of styrofoam, which cannot be recycled and is not biodegradable. Wheat straw, plant-based, and bagasse are all sustainable and functional options.

Choose drinks in cans instead of bottles. For water, provide a pitcher and let guests use their own cups. 

When you're prepping for your holiday get-together, remember to recycle as much as you can. And before the guests arrive, set out your trash can and add a recycling bin next to it. If you have more than one trash can set out, place a recycling bin next to each one, so no matter what, your guests have a convenient alternative. You can even pull other items for double duty as a recycling bin, from a lined basket to a plastic storage bin.

To make the distinction easy for guests, place a sign on the recycling bin labeling what can go in it. Since I'm in the giving spirit, I made a festive printable PDF that you can tape onto or above your recycling bin! Click on the image below to download.

Now, back to decking those halls!

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Giveaway Time!

Last year, I had a lot of fun visiting with Shaylyn, the creator of Syrup Row repurposed wine bottle candles, as she showed me her process. Read her local business spotlight here!

Since then, Shaylyn has explored beyond candles, and now makes repurposed wine bottle drinkware! She's also rebranded as A Higher REpurpose and created a new logo to encompass the updated branding. You can shop directly through her Facebook page.

To help celebrate and promote her updated brand, I worked with Shaylyn to bring you the first ever Eco Cajun contest and giveaway.

What will you win? This very unique, custom Eco Cajun candle by A Higher REpurpose! The scent is a calming, delicious blend of Australian bamboo and Basil & Herb (which WAS my favorite scent before this one!)

To enter:

1. Visit the Eco Cajun and A Higher REpurpose Facebook pages and Like both. If you're already a fan of one or both pages, you've already got the first step done!
2. Share the giveaway post linked here, and make sure to share publicly so I can see it!
3. Or, visit the Eco Cajun and A Higher REpurpose Instagram pages and follow both.
4. Regram the contest photo and tag both @ecocajun and @a_higher_repurpose.
5. If you enter on both Facebook and Instagram, you'll earn TWO entries in the contest!

You have until Sunday, August 14, at 11:59pm CDT to enter the contest, and entries only count on Facebook or Instagram. You must follow both pages and share the original giveaway posts in order to be qualified. You must be a US resident to win.

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Eco Easter Activities

With just under two weeks until Easter, it's time to start thinking about stuffing baskets and planning egg hunts. However, cheap plastic eggs and neon basket grass do nothing to help the environment, so let's look at a few ways to make Easter greener!

Dyeing Easter eggs - naturally!

Maybe they're born with it, maybe it's turmeric! For a few years, I've experimented with using natural egg dyes, and it's been pretty successful! Check out last year's batch. It's a great way to use up older spices or make ingredients work double-time. Turmeric, paprika, pickled beets, and red onions are my favorite items to use with vinegar. Plus, it makes your kitchen smell great. Get the children involved and give them a fun, natural science experiment.

Get some more natural egg-decorating ideas from EcoWatch.

When it's time to dry your dyed eggs, try this easy trick from Sloane over at Sincerely, Sloane: Since your water and soft drink bottle caps aren't recyclable, hold on to a handful of them to use as egg stands. They are the perfect size and collect any drippings, so cleanup is much easier!

Egg hunt time

Take your beautifully and naturally dyed eggs and hide them just before the hunt is set to start. Once all the eggs have been found, peel and use them for an Easter dish. Potato salad? Always a winner. (And now I'm hungry.)

If you'd still prefer to use artificial eggs, or you are hiding them on a larger scale, you still have a better option! Eco Eggs is a company that makes plastic eggs from plant-based materials. They come in two sizes and are fillable, if you enjoy hiding treats and candy inside the eggs for the hunt. And the best part is, they aren't impossible to find. Amazon Prime those babies directly to your house. The company also makes eco-friendly Easter grass, made of recycled paper.

Onto baskets! 

First things first. Don't go for those prefilled baskets at the store that come with cheap toys and that are wrapped in cellophane. The quality is low and the waste is high. It doesn't take much to make your own, and then you can really customize it for your child!

If you already have Easter baskets, use them again. If you don't have a basket, ask around to see if a friend or relative might have one you can borrow. Look around online or in town for used baskets. Or simply look around your house and see what might double as a basket. Make one out of a gallon-size milk jug. Or use a pail, bucket or bin! (If you have a grown-up child, you can skip the basket altogether, because we really just want the goods anyway. This was my "basket" the year I asked for healthier items.)

Line the basket with eco-friendly Easter grass, or get to DIYing. Crinkle some kraft paper, or even shred some junk mail or scrap printer paper. Extra bonus points for using a small pile of Mardi Gras beads!

Now, to fill it with goodies. If you go with candy, choose healthier alternatives, whether fair-trade chocolate or healthier cookies. Go shopping at a health food store to get some ideas. There are many healthy children's snacks that make great basket stuffers. Throw in some fun creative items, like nontoxic markers and a coloring book. Or maybe even splurge and add a child-size reusable drink bottle!

Save any decorations, artificial eggs, and basket materials that you can use again year after year. I saved this basket from an Edible Arrangements and use it year after year to hold these plastic eggs that are probably 20 years old.

Interested in learning more about natural egg dyeing methods? You still have time to visit Vermilionville on Friday, March 18, and Friday, March 25 for some demonstrations! Tapclick those links to get to the Facebook event pages.

Remember that Easter is not one of the more materialistic holidays, so focus on reducing the amount of low-quality, single-use materials, and reusing what you do have. Make your events more about the activity than the items. Now it's time to plan the most epic egg hunt ever!

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Fun Ways to Recycle Fabric and Old Clothing

Continuing with recycling posts in advance of America Recycles Day, today I'm sharing a few ways you can creatively recycle.

Clothing and fabric is not recyclable in the sense of dumping it in the recycling bin for pickup. But it's very easily reusable, repurposable and donate-able.

Earlier this year I shared my adventures in sewing by turning a scarf into an oversized tote bag. It was a fun way to pare down my ridiculous scarf obsession collection, while still enjoying the fabric's print.

So, when I came across an infographic created by Cotopaxi about repurposing fabric, I knew it would be something awesome to share. The Salt Lake City-based company produces backpacks and other outdoor gear from repurposed fabrics.

Repurposing different materials is such an important part of what we do at Cotopaxi; in fact, several of our bags are made completely from repurposed fabrics. They're pretty cool and since they're made from scrap materials, no two bags are alike! 

To celebrate America Recycles Day, they're sharing easy ways to create a jean stuff sack out of an old pair of jeans, electronic device cases from any kind of fabric you have, and a t-shirt infinity scarf.

See the full infographic here, or click on the preview graphic below!

Graphic: Cotopaxi

All of these are simple and inexpensive ways to reuse old clothing that's probably stuffed in the back of your closet!

What would you create with some old fabric?

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Taking Care of Those Political Campaign Signs

Ah, election season. A time when you can't escape the finger-pointing commercials, onslaught of direct mail (that goes directly into my recycling bin) and the landscape of endless political road signs. Neighborhood yards show off the choices for each contest, and public areas along major streets are more crowded with signs than there were people at the Hanson concerts I went to last week (and yes, they were crowded!)

With elections this past Saturday, and runoffs happening on November 21, some signs will start to be taken down now, and the rest in one (long) month. But what should we do with all those signs??

Most yard signs are made with Coroplast, a recyclable corrugated plastic, and the stands are made of metal. Because of election season, there are more yard signs printed than usual, but the sign issue is one that remains all year long. Any of these tips can work for any sign. While the signs are recyclable, check with your city's service to see if they accept signs. Lafayette's recycling provider does not accept the signs.

• Take the metal stands to a scrap recycling facility.
• See if the candidate is looking to take any signs back and drop them off at their campaign headquarters.
• Save the signs to reuse! 
• They can be used as drop cloths for spray painting smaller crafts.
• Spray paint the signs themselves and use them as the basis for decorating your own yard signs. Get all Pinteresty and make some Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas decorations.
• Spray them with chalkboard paint and make them functional!

However many signs you have left over after the polls are closed, be responsible and skip tossing them in the trash!

If you're a candidate, rally a few volunteers to take a couple hours and drive around picking up your campaign signs, then recycle them. It shows that you care about your community enough to stop contributing to the visual litter, and that you practice recycling as a priority.

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Adventures in Sewing and Repurposing

One of my 30^th birthday bucket list items was to learn how to werk a sewing machine. Up til a few months ago, my sewing knowledge consisted of fixing frayed hems and sewing buttons back on. By hand. One look at my work and you'd swear the eight-year-old kid down the street fixed my clothes for me.

But I get grand craft ideas in my head, and sometimes, a desire to attempt to pull them off. My first big sewing machine project came about when my fiance's stepmom showed me a beach bag she created. We made plans for a craft afternoon - a CRAFTERNOON if you will - and I started hunting around the house for materials.

I knew I wanted to repurpose some kind of fabric instead of spending money on something new. I can't do anything if I don't attempt to be sustainable! I grabbed a few shirts, a spare towel and a scarf. Now, I have a slight obsession with scarves. Collection of scarves, I mean. Damn autocorrect. I had quite the large pile of scarves, and while I loved most of them, I just didn't wear all of them. This berry-colored fringe scarf was one I didn't wear as often, though I loved the colors.

We decided it would be perfect for a beach bag, since it is a lighter material. Armed with instructions via iPad (paperless!), we started off on the project.

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Birthday | The Next Decade

The #Countdownto30 has officially hit 0! Today, I'm celebrating turning 30, as gracefully as I can attempt, and having a great weekend with my boo.

It's been a hell of a ride so far this year, since I created my Countdown to 30 bucket list six months ago. I'm honestly proud of myself for checking as much off my bucket list as I did. And I'm proud of how much ass I've kicked so far this year. I'm finally starting to feel like a grownup with my stuff together. Although there are still more than a few hot mess days that happen.

Goal: Age like a fine wine.

✔ Buy a new car. What WHAT! Starting off my 30s in STYLE. With about a week and a half to spare, I said goodbye to the car I've had since high school and drove home in a pretty sweet Prius. I'm in love, y'all. One of my many favorite features is the trip summary once I park. It's already become an obsession of seeing how many miles per gallon I can get on each trip.

1/2 ✔ Travel somewhere new. So I haven't really made it to visiting any new cities in the past six months, but as I was talking to a friend recently, I realized I could look at it as visiting new places within my own city. I've gotten to visit local businesses that are either new or new to me, and it gives me a newfound love for my hometown.

1/2 ✔ Clean out, donate and start fresh. Well. I've done alright at purging some more clothes and other things, but unfortunately it's all still sitting in a pile in our house. We still haven't gotten to that damn garage sale, but are planning it for this month. My fiance has sold some of the items in other ways, so we are still making progress.

✔ Learn how to sew better. A couple months back, my fiance's stepmom and I had a sewing date (split into two sessions), and she helped me make a beach/pool bag from a repurposed scarf I had. It turned out way better than I expected, and I had a blast learning how to use a sewing machine. I eventually want to invest in one for the house so I can alter clothes that need a better fit.

Bonus ✔ Try aerial yoga. Not long after I wrote about my current yoga obsessions, I learned about a local yoga studio that offers aerial yoga. Sure, I had never heard of it before, but it took about .2 seconds to intrigue me, and I signed up for the intro class. I cannot WAIT to try the full class. It's like you flyin', yeah!

Bonus ✔ Got a ring put on it. Although not really a bucket list item, it is a pretty great accomplishment that happened during the last six months. My mother is proud to report that I am not officially an old maid.

Bonus ✔ Eco Cajun goals. From a full blog redesign to a magazine cover and a weekly interview on 106.3 during Earth Month, it's been a good year so far for this little site.

So I'm feelin' PRET-TY GOOD about the next decade in my life!

As I did last year, I'm giving y'all a lil Eco Cajun birthday Spotify mix. Some of my current song obsessions with some good summer tunes mixed in.


Now, I believe there is a birthday drink or three calling my name! #ByeFelicia

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syrup row | local business spotlight

A lot of times, the people you know are the ones who help you meet other awesome people. Thanks to my fiance and a bunch of mutual friends, I met Shaylyn a couple years ago. During Mardi Gras this year, we got to talking and I learned she's the entrepreneur behind Syrup Row, a local candle venture. Shaylyn makes her candles as eco-friendly as possible, and I knew I had to feature her on Eco Cajun.

Plus, I really wanted to watch her make some candles!

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dyeing easter eggs without artificial color

A couple years back, I researched natural Easter egg dyes for a blog post, and did my first experiment with using spices and foods instead of those little colored tablets. The experiment took forever (but then again, so does much of my cooking), but I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

Conventional Easter egg dyes yield bright, colorful eggs, but they also seep through the shell onto the egg white itself. Studies are finding that food coloring, which is used in conventional egg dyes, can have negative effects on children's health, including hyperactivity, allergies and learning impairment. While there may not be a definitive answer on the effects from food coloring, do you want to chance it with your children, especially when you can achieve the same festive outcome with real food ingredients?

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gettin' crafty with it

It's been a minute since I've completed a good eco-friendly craft project. Between multitasking on five different things at any given time, my track record of craft execution and just not needing to make anything, my project roster has suffered.

But! I've made a few things over the past couple years that I'm pretty proud of, so let's recap my Eco Cajun craft history, shall we?

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crafty weekly simple eco tip, 8.7

This week's simple eco tip comes from a link I found on Pinterest. Swiffer Sweepers are very convenient cleaning tools for your house, but the disposable cloths create so much waste, and cost extra money. The blog Natural Nester came up with a way to reuse an old towel to create a reusable Swiffer cloth.

 Image: Natural Nester

From the materials to the setup, this looks like a wonderfully simple way to create a handy reusable cleaning cloth for something you probably already have.

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magnet crafts, weekly simple eco tip, 7.17

Magnets are a popular advertising/promotional item, and as such, there are always random ones around the home or office. And they are great for reusing!

One of my recent craft projects was to make a pocket to keep on the front of my refrigerator, to hold important papers or other things I don't want to lose just yet. Our area phone books always have attorney magnets on the front as advertising, and they come in so handy for crafts.

This project took about 10 minutes, tops. First, gather your materials - some old magnets, a folder and some shipping tape. Then, tape the sides of the folder together to create your pocket. Last, glue or spray mount the magnets to the back of the pocket. Just be sure to spray the correct side of the magnet - I speak from experience. My brain? Not always so sharp. But anyway, that's it! A quick and easy way to get a magnetic pocket for your fridge.

These magnets are also pretty perfect for homemade dishwasher dirty/clean magnets. I've made both separate and all-in-one kinds and use them daily at home and at work.

But you don't have to be limited to these ideas - you can reuse promo magnets in all sorts of ways! They can be attached to the back of a photograph or a lightweight picture frame, or if you had heavier-duty ones, to the back of a dry erase board or notepad for grocery lists.

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mason jar lamps! crafty friday, 7.12

Try to contain your disappointment, but instead of Link Friday this week, I'm giving you something a little different!

When doing dishes the other morning, I recognized the need for a light over my kitchen sink. Inspired by the approximately 4,000 DIY mason jar lamp pins on Pinterest, I decided to make my own. I followed the guide from Everyday Family to make mine, since it doesn't require the use of cutting tools. 

The entire project took maybe an hour to complete, from getting the idea in the morning while loading the dishwasher, to spray painting at lunch and completing the rest of the assembly after work. And I'm completely satisfied with how the light turned out! In full disclosure, I always have grand craft ideas, fueled even further these days by Pinterest. The problem is that my execution rarely ever lives up to my ideas, and I'm left with kind of mediocre crafts. (At least I don't have this problem in my cooking!) But this project actually may be one of my best Pinterest craft successes.

So, if you want to make your own, here's how I did it!

My first step was to grab a mason jar (given to me by my boss) that was sitting in a cabinet in my kitchen, and my can of spray paint from previous random craft projects. 

I set down some junk mail on my patio and spray spray sprayed the rim and lid of the mason jar, leaving the jar itself alone. Then I went back to work and let the paint dry in the amazing Louisiana humidity.

After work, I grabbed a pendant light kit and light bulb I was using for another crafted lamp over my desk (sorry desk, I'll replace it all soon!) and placed the screw part on the lid to find the (almost) middle. Then I traced the circle. I also grabbed a hammer and a nail.

And then I just hammered the nail on my circle line, one dot at a time. Here's a hint, don't use a tiny nail, just for annoyance purposes. This was probably the most time-consuming step in the entire project, and my hand started to hurt from holding the tiny nail in place for all the holes.

939284 nail holes later...

Once I had all the holes done in step 5, I had to figure out how to punch the circle out. The tutorial from Everyday Family used scissors to cut it out, and also suggested pliers. Well, this girl didn't get that fancy. Instead, I took the nail and either punched more holes, or put the nail in the existing holes and wiggled back and forth until the spaces between snapped apart. Wiggle wiggle wiggle! Once I had most of the circle separated, I took the hammer and finished the job. It was fun!

You are going to have super rough edges. I attempted to file them down with a handsaw. And by attempted, I tried once and it didn't work well so I left it alone. It'll be fine...enough.

After that, I decided to wrap jute around the rim part, totally covering up my spray paint job. Some jute and some superglue, and five minutes later, you have a covered rim. Totally optional of course, or you could use other kinds of ribbon or little jewels or magazine pages, etc. GO NUTS! Or don't. I mean, you don't have to. It's cool.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER 'CAUSE YOU ARE DONE! Place the light socket kit in the hole of the mason jar lid, and put the rim on top. Then screw in your lightbulb and screw the whole shebang to the mason jar. And then hang it up wherever you wish! Oh and by the way, somewhere in this process, I ended up spray painting the light kit top to match the lid. It looks way nicer like that.

And because I already had every piece of this, this project was free dollars. The best kind!

The one thing I failed to do from the tutorial I followed is punch holes for air to escape through the lid to avoid overheating. Though I'm using a 9-watt CFL light bulb and the light is only for when I'm working at the sink, I will go back to add the holes for extra safety.

And now if you'll excuse me, I have dishes to wash. Have a great weekend and see you back here next week!

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