Madame Theresa’s Handy Craft & Recycle Tips

Those cool, clear, plastic jars with the lid that flips open on one side,  to spoon it on, or the side that opens to sprinkle it on are great containers to recycle! 

For starters, the Kraft Cheese container has a shrink-wrapped label on it that is easily removed by sticking a sharp knife, or other sharp object, under the shrink wrap label and making a slit to peel it off by.  No messy soaking in hot water or having to use a solvent (like Ronson lighter fluid) to get the sticky label  gunk off with, because there IS no “gunk”!

And with the lid off,  it has a nice wide opening, as wide as the container, for filling easily.  I have 2 or 3 or 6 of these…LOL! And this is what I put in them.

I keep flour in one.  This comes in handy when I grease a cake pan and need just a “shake” or two,  of flour,  in the cake pan.  It’s handier to get to than my flour canister that I keep put away under my cabinet.  I keep it to the right of the oven in a cupboard with the salt and spices, etc. ( Then I cover my cake pan with some Saran Wrap and shake a couple times. This really makes flouring a cake pan easy!)

The next container has a mixture of sugar and cinnamon for toast and/or cereal, like oatmeal.  Stored in same spice cabinet.  Everybody likes cinnamon sugar!   I use 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 TABLESPOONS  (the bigger ones of the two)  of cinnamon.  Shake well and taste.  You may want more or less cinnamon for your taste.  This is one of those recipes that you just have to make it according to your own taste.  (Cinnamon toast  was the second main food group my little brother lived off of when he was in college.  His first main food group was “fried eggs”. He could fry eggs and make soup and cinnamon toast.  Pathetic!!!)

The 3rd cheese container at our house is used for a NON food item, and carefully labeled as POISON and stored away from where small kids can get to it.  It is filled with snow-melt granules and usually kept in my automobile’s winter emergency kit.  It is handy to have if I am away from home and encounter a patch of ice like in a parking lot or sidewalk, where walking might be a problem.  I don’t really get outside if it is slick, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.  Mark has prosthetic legs and can’t tell by “feel” if its slick or just wet out until its too late,  so having snow-melt in a manageable container is just perfect.  Be SURE to label it with a magic marker, and keep the container in a zip lock freezer baggie to protect the contents from humidity (so it doesn’t turn into a rock hard mess) and to also help protect your trunk or wherever you store your winter travel kit. Also, labeling it POISON, and writing the Poison Control Center’s 1-800 phone number on it wouldn’t be a bad idea either.  

These cheese containers are probably the second most recycled container goin’ on at our house.  If you don’t eat a lot of parmesan cheese, ask your friends and neighbors to save their empty containers for ya!  If you can think of any other uses for the containers, be sure to share them with us in the comment section.

The drawing for the 2 artisticly decorated peat pot party favors (boy that’s a mouthfull….) is Monday. I will draw a name out of a hat, from all the names of people who leave a comment on my blog.  I originally said it would be on comments left on Wednesday’s post, but decided to count it on any post until Monday. 

Thank you for reading- now go make yourself some cinnamon toast! 

Till tomorrow, remember:  I LOVE white trash….

(It’s easier to paint, saving me a bundle!!!!)

Here’s a tip of the day for ya!
Buy 3 or four boxes of baking soda and dump them in a plastic coffee can that you have saved from the trash! Keep the “Bucket O Soda” underneath your kitchen sink, where it will be handy to use.
After chopping hot peppers for a recipe, all of the “handwashing with soap” isn’t going to help you much…. when you go to scratch your eyelid… THAT’S when you’ll notice that!
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So…. don’t waste your time and soap. Grab a handfull of soda outta your can and moisten it under warm water, making sure you keep it IN your hand, and rub the paste between your fingers, under your fingernails, and REALLY SCRUB your palms together.
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When you’re done with all THAT, as a cool “multi task” kinda thing, rub the soda you have left in your hands around in your sink. It is an excellent scrub powder for your sink and also will help freshen drains as you rinse it all away.
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Besides being a wonderful cleaning powder and swiftly removing the burning stuff from your hands, the baking soda is natural and gentle on your hands. It smooths your skin, as it acts like a gentle abrasive polishing compound!
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Plastic containers, such as these ugly red coffee containers, are hard to recycle into anything “pretty” or “gifty”. But they are ideal when serving a utility purpose like this.
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Other uses for the “ugly” red containers:
To get rid of the coffee smell-
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Make a thick paste out of baking soda to coat the inside of the container. Let the paste coat the whole inside, when rolled around a bit with the lid on.
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Remove the lid and let the paste on the lid and container fully dry.
Put the lid back on (Do NOT wash out the dried soda paste) and store the container for 2 weeks or even longer, and this will remove the smell of coffee from the plastic.
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When you need a container for cookies or large batches of snack mix, wash out one of your containers, dry it well, and use.
(Remember to wash it out in your sink and use the soda as a “sink wash”.)

Shreaded paper looks darling in Easter baskets, gift baskets, or any container you want to use to present a fabulous gift in!
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Make your own shreaded paper, in multi colors that you can customize, with your paper shreader. Use gift tissue papers you may have leftover or saved from gifts you’ve unwrapped from the holidays, or go buy some colorful new packages at the famous over-rated box store!
My favorite colors are hot pink, lime green and turquoise- those wonderful colors from the Peter Max days of old.
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If you shread tissue paper you have recycled, smooth it out, fold it so it will go through the shreader, and feed it in! If you have a shreader that doesn’t want to turn itself on because it cant “sense” your paper, put a small stiffer paper scrap in the center and activate the shreader switch that way. Use a contrasting color so you can pick the bits out easily afterward.
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New gift tissue is already folded, but you might want to divide the pack into 2 batches and refold it so it is sized to a better width for the shreader. Length of your batch doesn’t really matter, as long as the batch you are feeding into the shreader is not too long, as to get all crooked and cock-eyed as it feeds into the machine.
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Recycled gift tissue shread has a more “crinkled up” look to it, and the new gift paper shread has a slicker, less-worn look to it. I like to reach into my bin of freshly shreaded new paper and grab handfulls to crinkle it somewhat, as this adds body to the shread and makes a nicer presentation in your gift container.
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Other papers look cool shreaded,too. Paper grocery bags make neat material. The handle-type paper bags that are printed with seasonal graphics, or just plain advertising, make interesting color combos. Be sure to cut off and discard the handles and the bottom of the sack. You may also want to trim the glued seam off and discard that too, so that all your kraft paper shread will have a uniform look to it.
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Experiment and have fun making your own shread. When your housemate, mate, or kids come in and look at you like you’re crazy, and ask what it is,exactly, that you are doing, get creative in your answer! Tell them you’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a hamster! Or tell them you’re stocking up on confetti for the next Macy’s parade. Or just tell them that lettuce is just too dang high at the store and you figured this would be an excellent way for them to get more fiber in their diet. LOL!
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Remember, till next time; “If you can’t craft it, cook it, eat it, or boink it, you may as well throw it away.”