DIY Quilling Tool

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Sara

When you’re home & garden DIY’ers that repurpose and upcycle as much as we do – whether it’s a reno or craft project – it only makes sense that we would endeavour to do the same when it comes to our tools!

While I’m overseeing an accessible bathroom renovation at my Mom’s house, I have some time to spare. Hubs bought me a package of construction paper to take with me so I could try my hand at something I’ve been wanting to learn: quilling. But after I arrived one morning and cut some strips, it struck me that I don’t have an actual quilling tool to get some practice in!

Why wait to buy a quilling tool when you can make one in under 5 minutes with a few everyday items?

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2018 Round Up Reflections and Lessons Learned on Birdz of a Feather

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Sara

I’ve been spending some long overdue quality time with Hubs this holiday season, so this post comes a day late for 2018. Looking back on our projects of 2018 has made me realize how much I’ve turned into my mother’s daughter. It’s a strange thing to think all your life that you’re nothing like your mother then suddenly come to the realization that you have more in common than you ever thought.

My mom was a prolific indoor and outdoor gardener. For years I didn’t have much of an interest in growing indoor plants – or a green thumb for that matter. Now every available light source in our house is stuffed with plants. Albeit, succulents are easy to keep alive, so if you don’t have much of a green thumb either, give them a try! They’re so lovely to look at and make a home even homier. You can’t really consider your nest feathered without house plants 🙂

I was inspired to re-plant some of my succulents into this succulent display when I came across this set of ceramic planters at the thrift store.

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Sustainable Savings in the Laundry Room

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Sara

A few years ago, we replaced all our kitchen appliances with Energy Star appliances and are reaping the benefits of energy savings. However, we still have a set of washing machines that my grandmother purchased for me over 20 years ago when I was still single. Given the sentimental value, and the fact that they’re still going strong, I don’t have the heart to replace them. Unfortunately, they are energy guzzlers; my 1990s electric clothes dryer, for instance, use at least 17 percent more energy than those produced today.

Since air drying our laundry will save on energy costs, we couldn’t wait to try our MULIG drying rack. Even though there’s only two of us in our household, given the age of our dryer, we estimated that air drying could save us up to $125 a year, which is better off in our pockets!

When we renovated our basement and built a brand new laundry room, it gave us the perfect space to set up the drying rack so we could lay our clothing out to dry.

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Paper Holiday Ornament

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Sara

If you’re looking for a last minute, but fun and easy, ornament to do with the kids, look no further than Instructables. I used their blank template and our Birdz of a Feather logo to create this polyhedral paper craft ornament. You need nothing more than a printer, some paper, a piece of string or ribbon and craft glue to make your own.

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Spice up Your Life: Waste Not Want Not (Part II)

Posted on December 16, 2018 by Sara

As you saw in Part I of Waste Not Want Not, in trying to live a more a sustainable lifestyle, it’s important to us to reduce food waste. In Part II, we’re taking it another step further: along with reducing food waste, we’re reducing water and excess packaging waste.

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Meal Planning and Food Inventory: Waste Not Want Not (Part I)

Posted on December 9, 2018 by Sara

In creating a sustainable lifestyle, it’s important to us to reduce our food waste. In this first part of a 2-part series, we’re showing you how we’re getting meal planning and inventory tracking organized. We’ll even provide you with a printable meal planner to help you with your own food waste management goals!

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Stock up on Chicken Soup with a Pressure Cooker!

Posted on December 2, 2018 by Sara

On today’s Sustainable Sunday, we’re cooking up batches of chicken stock to keep on hand as the cold weather settles in (we usually freeze it). Nothing could be better than a steaming bowl of hot chicken soup to keep warm on a winter’s day!

‘Stocking’ up the freezer

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How I Pressured My Husband Into Cooking Our Meals

If you’re looking for a way to cut down on energy usage, a pressure cooker is the way to go!

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Gift Basket and Dog Toy Organizer

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Sara

With x-mas fast approaching, we’re resurrecting this gift basket and dog toy organizer. It’s a cool project for the furry friends in your life!

Make this dog bone basket for yourself to organize your dog toys in or make it for any dog lover on your gift list; it makes a great gift basket around the holidays or any time of year!

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Homemade Pesto

Posted on November 18, 2018 by Sara

Homemade pesto is the payoff after we previously showed you how to set up an indoor herb garden! My personal favourite herb is basil and we use it in a lot of dishes. It’s not only great as a pesto, but in a bocconcini, tomato and basil salad. As you’ll see later, we also love to use it to simply top a burger.

You might be tempted to pick off a leaf or two as you need it. But if you make a habit of doing that, you can leave the plant looking spindly and sad. The key to producing more basil, and keep it lasting and looking good, is to prune. Pruning will foster full bushy plants. To ensure that you are not going to damage the plant, wait until it has at least three or four sets of leaves and is about 6″ to a foot tall before the first pruning.

Pruning Basil

Basil leaves grow on opposite sides of the stem. Cut the plant 1/4″ above at least two sets of leaves (where the scissor icon is pictured below). The leaves left at the top of the stem will grow out to become branches. Once the branches bear a few sets of leaves, again, just cut them above a pair of leaves and the plant will re-grow.

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The scissor icon shows you where to prune the stem so you can pop it into some water!

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Indoor Herb Garden

Posted on November 15, 2018 by Sara

We love herbs but they are typically sold in such large bunches that they end up spoiling before we can finish them. Under those circumstances a living herb garden makes perfect sense! But let’s face it. Canada really only has two seasons: winter and the month of July. The perfect solution for us was to start growing our own herbs indoors! Growing our own will not only curtail our current food waste, but provide a ready source of nutrient rich, flavour-packed herbs year-round!

Find a Sunny Window

We have the perfect sunny spot in a window that faces South to grow herbs successfully! With the help of Ikea’s SATSUMAS plant stand and VILDAPEL plant pots, we got busy setting up our little herb garden.

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