We’ve had an email from Beth, telling us about her great Christmas stocking substitute:

My lucky little boys get too many presents to fit into an actual stocking. In the past, I’ve got them plastic bags from the Christmas shop but when I was thinking about what to do for them this year, I remembered the novelty glittery T-shirts I had to wear for work last year. I turned them inside out, sewed along the bottom and righted them again, instant festive swag bags!

A great idea, Beth. I’ve also seen pillowcases used in the same way – felt letters and decorations tacked on so they can be removed and used as pillowcases again – and there are plenty of patterns out there for making keepsake stockings out of scraps (although they’re more like keepsake decorations instead of present-filled ones).

Another idea – although for adults more than kids – is to give a nice reusable shopping bag as part of the gift instead of using a gift bag: if it’s not too overtly Christmassy, they’ll be able to use it all year around. There are plenty of ways to reuse/recycle/upcycle things into shopping bags – including out of tshirts and vest tops.

Any other specific stocking/swag bag suggestions though?

(Photo by arttg)

Teehee, a bit of a silly one – the white stuff does have a tendency to bring out the excitable child in me but it’s kinda valid too…

For the last few days, we’ve a few inches of snow – as much as most of the UK ever gets really but since I grew up on a largely snow-free warm coast, I’m making the most of what we’ve got. It is, of course, an excellent entertainment source – snowballs, snowmen… I’ve also been watching it fall with lovestruck eyes, crunching about on it outside with glee and *repeatedly* commenting on how wonderful everywhere looks. Many many hours of free entertainment.

But what else is it good for? In rain-strapped places, it would probably be worth scooping it up from snow banks and putting it in a water barrel for its water content. You can also take advantage of its coolness – I remember when we were discussing saving energy someone said they pre-freeze items outside before putting them in the freezer, or turn their freezer off entirely, just using the big blue room and an insulator ice box for freezing stuff for a few days. Of course snow itself is a good insulator – is it possible to make a reverse hay box for freezing stuff and keeping it frozen?

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Sally:

Hi. My eldest collected lots of those gel awareness bracelets when they were all the rage a few years ago but now she says she doesn’t want them any more… What can I do with them?

I imagine like other rubber-ish items (like rubber gloves), they could be used to provide extra grip on sometimes slippery or cold surfaces – like metal handles of shovels.

Is there enough give in them to be able to use them as very strong elastic bands?

Any other suggestions?

As I mentioned the other week, we had a woodburning stove fitted a few weeks ago. Because of some previous thoughtless building work, the chimney stacks are damaged – smoke leaking all over the place – so we had to have them properly lined.

The liner is a double skinned metal tube that is dropped down the chimney and attached at the bottom to the stove’s fluepipe. It’s also blooming expensive – and the fitters left the end-of-roll offcuts with us. We’ve got one piece about a metre/yard long and about 18cm/7″ in diameter, and a second slightly smaller piece (in both length and diameter).

What can I do with those leftover bits?

My first thought was the old reusing favourite – plant pots in the garden. We’ve got some old chimney tops already (left by the previous owners, currently home to my garlic) so it could be a bit of a theme. But that seems to be a bit of a waste of their potential – another thought I had was to save one of them to use when we finally get around to making a rocket stove.

Any other suggestions?

(Pic to follow when my camera is charged and I’ve put some shoes on ;) – still rather disorganised after being ill I’m afraid…)

(Hi! Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I’ve been ill and have mostly been slumped on the sofa in a heap. Feeling a bit more human now so without further ado…)

We’ve had an email from Lesley and Julia, explaining:

We have a pair of scissors at work. There’s nothing wrong with the blades, but the rubbishy plastic handle has broken off. Any ideas?

I remember a pair of all metal scissors breaking at the hinge when I was in my teens, and I kept the blades to use instead of a craft knife — but the individual blades were nowhere near sharp enough or thin enough to do that well.

So any other suggestions?