3 Ways to Reduce Plastic Waste Daily – Foodie Edition

Earth Day is fast approaching! I initially planned to have a post a day in April with environmental facts, sustainable life hacks, and eco-friendly product gift guides, but life happened & I was busy helping mom every day after work so I didn’t have time to blog, as her cancer treatments have been really rough on her and she had some exceptionally tough past few weeks, requiring a lot of additional care. ♥

But today, I’m present & prepared to share in a series how I have been cutting plastic waste out of our life daily & how a few simple little changes to your daily habits can have a huge impact on the environment, starting with the foodie edition!

Switch to Stainless Steel Straws

Over 500,000,000 plastic straws are used each day in the United States. That is enough straws that if they were put end to to, straws would wrap around the world two and a half times – EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year. You can read more facts about plastic straw pollution, The Last Plastic Straw and the #banthestraw movement here.

I ordered my gorgeous rainbow Stainless Steel Straws from Pretty Candy Pin Co – look at how flipping beautiful they are! They turn every beverage into an instantly Instagram worthy #unicornlife photo!

There are several distributors of stainless steel straws, and you can buy accessories like PUL lined zipper pouches to keep them in your bag on the go! Care for them is so simple, too – a bit of soap on a pipe cleaning after each use, rinse well!

Say NO to Plastic Lids

Instead of grabbing a to-go or a kid’s drink with a plastic lid, go topless – and put on your own!

SipSnap has silicone lids that stretch to fit over any cup, in either sippy top form or to hold a straw. They are usable for decades, easy to clean to prevent spills! Here is a video demonstrating their spill proof tops!

In addition to ditching the plastic lid, don’t forget to bring your own reusable cup to get coffee or beverages in when getting take out!

Bring your own Bamboo Ware

Heading to a restaurant you know uses plastic ware, or out to a picnic? Skip the plastic and bring your own portable & sanitary cutlery from To-Go Ware! Each set is dishwasher safe, has it’s own carrying case and you can order a single set, a family pack of 5 or a kid size set! Kid size set shown here.

Portable cutlery? Not gross at all! Bamboo is naturally antibacterial, antifungal and odor resistant, easy to clean & safe for children to use! Plastic ware – including plates, straws and cutlery – make up the majority of the 269,000 TONS of plastic waste in the oceans. More than 100,000,000 plastic dining wares are used in America alone every year, and switching to bamboo cutlery can drastically cut down that number! You can even make the switch for parties & buy biodegradable bamboo cutlery in bulk! 

Together, we can save the world

(literally!)

What disposable plastic foodie items do you plan to replace with reusable items this year?

 

How to turn old blankets or sweatshirts into dog toys

For years, I have worked in animal rescue fostering, adopting, training, transitioning & transporting rescue animals & donating to shelters. With so many cute pups coming through, we go through a lot of dog toys so I started turning my larger chunks of fabric from Mon-stor making into rope toys. This is a great way to repurpose old blankets, sweatshirts & towels – and it’s super easy!

First, cut your material into a rectangle. Make it 3x longer than you want the end result because as you braid it, it will become shorter.

Cut the material into three or six strips. 

Tie the strips in a tight knot at one end. 

Braid the strands together tightly, working as close to the end as you can.

Pinching the end tightly, loop the material over to tie off this end in a tight knot. It’s that easy!

Clearly small ones bore big dogs. Make longer, thicker braids for large dogs (using sheets, blankets, adult PJ pants, robes, curtains or beach towels) & you can add multiple knots through the braid for the dogs to chew on or so multiple dogs can play tug-a-war together.

Little fabric bits – napkins, pillow cases, sweatshirt sleeves, kids PJ pants – are just the right size to make toys for smaller breeds!

This craft is perfect to do as a fund raiser for shelters or to donate to rescues – they are always in needs of toys for their furry friends! – and it is a great way to keep textiles out of landfills!

Greeting Monday with big good news!

Happy Monday guys! It’s a beautiful (though chilly) here in Kansas City. Perfect day to admire from my studio windows while I sew – but first, I have two big bits of news to share with you!

First, if you follow me on any social media outlet I’m sure you’ve heard by now that I was featured in the May edition of Parents Magazine! I have been over the moon about this since they approached me in December of last year about tentatively featuring my Mon-stors – Just being considered for such a huge publication was a major honor for me! But then when it actually happened & people started posting pictures of their magazines & there were my Mon-stors, it just seemed surreal – like NO WAY, really!? NO WAY!

But then I got my hands on a copy and oh. my. goodness.

I just can’t even begin to express how this makes me feel. I don’t know what to say besides “I can’t believe they would even consider my Mon-stors – much less publish them!” Seriously, I think I’ve said that about eleventy billion times since they approached me this winter. This is such an unbelievable honor. But there it is! In print! Something I made with my own two hands & my heart was recommended in a top parenting publication! I am so honored, so humbled, so excited – just totally over the moon! My cheeks hurt from grinning and I’ve called everyone I know to tell them to go out & get a copy. Seriously, thank you to everyone who believed in me & supported my crazy monster making journey – something this extraordinary could never have happened without you lifting me up over the past five and a half years.

Now, time to unplug & head to the studio for the day! Happy Monday – here’s to a great week!