Global Warming : Fact or Fiction

Is Global Warming Fact? Did we as mankind have anything to do with it?

My short answer : Does it matter?

My long answer: Taking the time and the energy to be neater, cleaner people on this planet could not possibly be a bad thing. Does it matter the reason that you are buying recycled products and composting? It couldn’t hurt. You are reducing your waste, does it really matter why? You are reusing whenever you can, could that ever be an issue? You have started recycling everywhere you go, could that in any way be a problem? Shopping your local fruit farm or market? What’s wrong with that?
The way I see it, these are all healthy good habits to be in regardless of your reasons for doing it. Even, if you believe it is a conspiracy and all of the researchers and scientist are phony, does that mean it is a bad idea to starve a landfill? Or to eat things that aren’t covered in pesticides? Or to turn off your lights when you leave a room?
I just can’t see where any of this political finger pointing matters. Didn’t we learn in kindergarten that if you make a mess, you need to clean it up? Being a responsible person should carry over to how you live your life, in your home, in your neighborhood, on your planet. So be responsible, for no other reason than you should. It’s the right thing to do.

So go ahead and buy a hybrid, starve a landfill, shop for solar panels and look for things made from recycled goods (like www.repurposed4you.com’s line of handmade recycled art). After all, as long as we are thinking first about what we do, consume and waste, regardless of your political or scientific affiliation, how can we go wrong?

Christmas Gift Wrap Contest Winner

*****Christmas Gift Wrap Contest Winner*****
We posed a Question Last month...
What do you do with all of your left over Christmas wrapping paper?
Some ideas are..
* Mat a Xmas Picture on it
* Make a paper chain for your tree
* Make party hats
* Start a fire in your fireplace
* Cover your plants during a frost
* Make Paper Dolls
* Stuff in hats to keep their shape
* Shred and use to pack breakables
* Wrap around your ornaments for packing
* Shred & fill gift bags without tissue paper

and our favorite suggestion was submitted by Peggy Pierpoint of Big Sandy Tennessee. She wins for her Decopaged Glass Plates made with Recycled Wrapping Paper!

Here is how you make these decorative and festive Holiday Plates...
Cut out pictures from your paper. (Xmas cards also work) paint on Modge Podge or watered down Elmers to the picture part of your paper and adhere to the backside of a clear glass plate (think thrift stores or Goodwill for those) so that the pic showsthrough to the front. Ad another layer of adhesive to the back of the pic for reinforcement. Smooth all of the bubbles out. Let it dry. Now you can flip the plate upside down and spray paint the entire back of the plate to give extra support and a finished look. These plates are not dishwasher safe and you should only hand wash the top, but they make great cookie trays, hostess gifts or room decor. There are many variations on this Idea. We used silver spray paint, but any color will do. Use your Imagination. And Congrats Peggy!
Our runner up was one of our own artists, Fran, who took a piece of old barn siding, then took wrapping paper and cut out each image that she wanted 5 times. She then hot glued and stacked the images making a 3-D effect. She arranged them to make a 3-D Winter Scene. Very Rustic, very charming.