My ever so slow CNY project

I have only 5 days to CNY and I still haven't really started. I should really get cracking; hopefully tomorrow. Anyway, I am on leave from work for a two full weeks - woo hoo! Managed to get 2 old red t-shirts - yay!  If you're interested in seeing what happens, please follow me on the side bar!

Here's one from my good friend V. She donated her Nemo tee....

Donated Tee

Snip, snip, snip! (Sorry, V)

Rolled up all the fabric into a ball - hopefully will start this weekend!

Climate change - getting people to change

Courtesy: Arinas74

A lot of naysayers and "I don't know" people with regard to the topic of climate change, so how do you get them to reduce their carbon emissions? Perhaps, we could look at it from a different angle. Instead of repeatedly (or rather bombarding them) with information about changing weather patterns and the natural disasters that could be related to carbon emissions, maybe we could look at it from the personal level. 


a) It's about reducing our country's dependence on foreign imports of oil - there's a finite amount, and some day it's going to dry up, maybe not now, but maybe during our future generation's time. 


b) It's about creating jobs - if we reduce dependence on foreign oil, we're looking at transforming the energy sector (e.g. solar, wind) - new skills, different job scope, hence more jobs. 


c) It's about saving money - if we can reduce our energy consumption at home, we're going to save money. Turn off the air-con; switch to a fan; take public transport.


d) It's about making our country environmentally better, something you can be proud of  :-)

Red Packets for Chinese New Year 2

We have the tradition of giving money in red packets (aka lai see or ang bao) to children for Chinese New Year. So, instead of presents, the kids get money.  Only married folk who are older than the kids can give away the red packets. Last time, I blogged about keeping the old red packets given to your kids and reusing them for the next new year (with the money taken out of course! Hee).  But I think we should also stop getting the freebie red packets that are given everytime you visit the bank or make a purchase at the shops just before Chinese New Year.  I was offered free red packets at a restaurant yesterday and I politely declined. So, make your preparations for Chinese New Year a little bit greener by declining to get the red packet freebies!

Craft it Forward! I was excited when I saw Simply Peaceable's entry on crafting it forward. According to Simply Peaceable (via Brigette’s blog via Ginger Urchin’s blog post) once you sign on....

"I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They in turn must post this statement and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their blog post."

"The only other rules are that (i) it must be handmade by you and, (ii) it must be sent to your 5 people sometime within 2011."

So guess, what? I signed on, and Simply Peaceable made this lovely brooch in a few days. 

Since this is a green blog, I've decided that my handmade crafts will be made from recycled items.  Please leave your comment down below, and hopefully I can whip up a green craft just like Simply Peaceable (nervous smile). Oh, and be prepared to leave me your email at my Green Issues email (located on the right hand side) when you have signed on so that I can contact you for an address once it's been made! Good luck :-)

My skirt under reconstruction

Here's the before pic. This is a polyester spandex like A line skirt that I've had for ages (is 5 years considered ages?) and it's lost a bit of it's shine lately. The waist part is elasticated.

Sorry about all the creases. It's been sitting in my cupboard ever since I had it done up for my son's Halloween about a year ago.  For those of you who remember, it got turned into a magician's cape.

Original skirt - I'm planning on turning it into a top.

Recycling Your Keyboard 2

After taking out the keys from my grotty keyboard (hee) for my Christmas decorations, I was left with the casing and the wire. To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to do with the casing - if anyone has ideas on what to do, please email me!

Here's what I did....