Spark of Love this Week: Mouse-keteers, Bike, Stickers, Oil, and Card.

These mice.

Because I found "The Three Mouse-keteers" in the bottom of an empty dog food bag in our garage.  I didn't have the heart to harm them, so I set them free near the river.  I know, craziness, but I felt good afterward, it was the right thing to do.

This bicycle.

Because for $29, we got a good deal on a transition bicycle for Skylar to learn to use hand brakes.  He will be set to take off on long rides once he masters the concept of the hand brake.  He is doing great with it too!

The back of this car.

Because it just says all the right things.

This olive oil.

Because I got it for under $8 and it's the best olive oil I've ever used.  It's from a company called Nektar. 

This birthday card.

Even though this card was from a few birthdays ago, it's still my favorite one.  I turned 35 on August 35th and while I was packing away the cards I had received this year, this one caught my eye.  It's from my brother who lives in Arkansas while I am here in Oregon.  This card was the best gift that year when I was so sad that I couldn't spend it with family.  Fortunately, I was able to fly to Arkansas and spend my birthday  with him, and we had a blast!  He is the greatest brother any sister could ever want!  

Random Photo of the Week:

Eco-Tip:  Using baking soda throughout your house is a great way to stay green with your cleaning routine.  Baking soda mixed with water, vinegar, or even essential oils can clean just about anything with a bit of elbow grease with it.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

  

How to make your own MetroMint Water

I have always loved MetroMint and when I first started drinking it the company only put out Peppermint Water and Spearmint Water.  Now there is all sorts of other flavors like, CherryMint, and LemonMint, and even GooseberryMint.  But the price of each bottle soon adds up, so I went on a hunt to find out how to make my own in a pinch and here is what I discovered.

I used the peppermint herb for my water, but spearmint or even peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita) could be used.

What I found with the essential oil though, it wouldn't dissolve.  You know, because water doesn't mix with oil.  But if you were in a hurry just to get the mint flavor, I could see dropping a few drops in the water and making a dash to the gym or work in the morning with it.  No harm there.  

Here's what I did with my mint-water:   I took a few snips of leaves from my peppermint herb.  

Washed them thoroughly and cut them into smaller pieces.  I then boiled them for about 30 minutes over high heat.

Then strained out the leaves from the water.  

I smashed them a bit with the backside of a spoon just to make sure all the oils from the leaves were extracted.

I allowed it to cool to room temperature and then placed it in my fridge.

I poured 1/2 cup of peppermint water to 32 oz. of water in my water bottle.  It works best when the water is ice cold.  It has a slight tint to it from the leaves, but it taste the same.  You can even add this to some lemon water and get the same flavor as LemonMint.  Be sure when you use any type of essential oils (especially citrus) that you store those in glass containers.  The oils will eat through and break down plastic containers.

Enjoy your homemade MetroMint® water! :-)

(Metromint water is a registered trademark of Soma Beverage Company, LLC.)

Eco-Tip:  Unplug your chargers once you are finished with them.  Even though the phone, Kindle, or other electronic device isn't hooked up, electricity is still being used.  So unplug and save power.  For this and other green tips visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

      

Seed Bead Ornament

I've recently taken up the love of working with seed beads.  Through BeeSpa I have grown to love seed beads more and more because they are so fun to work with when creating just about anything.  This recent project was more of an experiment than anything else, but it came out better than I expected.  Here's how it's done.

What you'll need:
1,000+ glass seed beads of different colors.
 Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Hemp Twine, or wire.
Star design cut-out or plastic made ornament.

I went with three different colors, as shown.  I started with a star design I found in a magazine a few years back, but you can use any design you want.  A good start would be a design like this here.  You can even start with a plastic design similar to the one pictured HERE.  Save the image to your computer, adjust the size you want and then print.

Once your star is printed, or the design you picked, lay it on newspaper and cover with a sheet of wax paper.  Trace on top of the wax paper the exact image that's underneath.  There is no rush here so take your time.  The image itself can be a bit messy, but don't go too far off pattern.  Be sure and make a small loop of glue at the top to hang the pattern later.

Once the image has been traced in hot glue, allow to dry completely and remove from the wax paper.  You want to keep the wax paper underneath it while you set the beads, but you don't want it to stick to the paper anymore.  Once your image has been lifted from the wax paper, you can begin setting your seed beads to the design where you want them to be.  I worked in small areas at a time so that I didn't get too many seed beads in one area and they didn't attach completely.  Start from the outside in and lay a dab of glue in one area and apply your seed beads, as shown above. 

For the outer, orange circle, I applied a circle of glue and then sprinkled seed beads on top.  I went back over the area with more seed beads and smashed them into the circle of glue.  I repeated the same process for the blue and then again for the center orange, as well.  I allowed each section to dry completely before going onto another section, that way the colors didn't mix with each other.

Once your design is covered in the seed beads and has fully dried.  Attach a small twine of hemp string to the top and hand in a window.  You can even use this method for custom gift tags and name plates.  

Drawing with hot glue is fun, but takes practice.  You can get the same results with Puffy Paint, if you wanted to mix the colors up and do a contrast.  

Eco-Tip:  Save water when you flush the toilet.  If you don't have a water-saving toilet opt for for one in the future, or get the same water-saving satisfaction by placing a brick or large stone in your toilet's tank.  For this and other green tips visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

      

A Watermelon weekend with a bit of Ice Cream

This past weekend we enjoyed one of the last watermelons of the season and a bit of ice cream from the local ice cream man in our neighborhood.  The watermelon was a Hermiston, Oregon melon and for the sake of my Arkansas friends and family, I have to say it wasn't has great as a Hope, Arkansas melon.  :-)

We did enjoy the sunshine and some quality time together though, so it was well worth the mess and the clean-up.

 The dollar Skylar used was also marked with the "Where's George" stamp.  Here's it's journey so far!

I wasn't kidding about the beautiful day either.  Clouds rolling by; Just a great weekend to enjoy the moment in.  Hope your weekend was just as great as ours.

Eco-Tip:  Considering a new computer?  Shoot for a laptop.  Laptops use about 50 percent of the energy it takes to operate a desk top and about 1 percent of the energy when using the battery.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.