It's that time of year again - wrapping paper, packaging and consumerism abound, setting off my unsustainable alarm bells.  To soothe them back to charming jingles, check this awesome list of everyday items repurposed for the holidays plus creative uses for holiday-themed goods.  My favorite is creating a table runner out of last year's holiday cards - gives you the opportunity to revive the memories while creating new ones.

New Uses for Christmas Items

Happy Holidays, everyone, and Best Wishes for the New Year!

I don't know about you, but MY favorite childhood memories involve toys that were creative, used imagination, and allowed for multiple uses in a variety of ways.  Now you can combat the explosion of static, unimaginative plastic toys with sustainable cardboard kits that are easy to use, kid-friendly and eco-friendly!

CardboardDesign uses 100% recycled cardboard sourced in the USA that is much thicker than standard shipping boxes to make their fun play sets so they hold up to kid-play.  No glue, tape or other fasteners are used, only a tab and slot system that allows playsets to be reconfigured and reused again and again.  They are completely chemical-free as well.

I found a great link on Martha Stewart that gives you a thorough how-to on making your own roller window blind.  This would be a nifty weekend project for blocking all that sun we are going to get in the East Bay next week -- blocking sun = ecofriendly, AC = not!   

http://www.alternative-windows.com/roller-blind.htm