Make your child's birthday party eco-friendly

On the subject of birthdays, here are some great tips from Alan of Green Pepper on how to

Make your child's birthday party eco-friendly

Please take a moment and think back to the last child’s birthday party you attended, fast forward to after the fun and games were over and think about how much cardboard, plastic and paper was strewn around. There was probably enough to fill at least 2 bin liners, and that’s just from the packaging and the wrapping.  What many don’t realise is that the laminates, dyes and glitters in the packaging make it unsuitable for recycling.

Add to this the fact that batteries and plastic toys can take over 5 centuries to break down and also the 275,000 tonnes of plastic we send every year to landfill sites, is there any reason why we should send even more?

An innovative new website, EthicalCommunity.com has recently been launched, and one of its main aims is to help parents to buy eco-friendly products for their kids. Parents who are eco-conscious can browse around the 7000+ products on the site, read the story behind each item and buy them directly from the eco-sellers who made them.

It is quite amazing what a difference parents can make just by making a few subtle changes to thing that they do on a daily basis. This can have an enormous impact in the environment yet no compromise is made on fun, and you can more often than not save money too.

1. Switch from disposable to reusable. Use ceramic plates, bowls and cutlery over their paper disposable alternatives, as a one-off dishwasher load is certainly easier to manage than scraping paper plates clean enough to recycle. If you are looking to treat yourself then ‘Eko Earth’ Products , one of many eco sellers found on EthicalCommunity.com, have just released a stylish range of tableware made from the by-product of bamboo and is the first ever fully biodegradable tableware to hit the UK market. Don’t be fooled however, as Biodegradable in this case doesn’t mean disposable but instead means that the collection is reusable and durable.

2. Ditch the “Goodie Bags!”. From one parent to another does any child really need another paper hat or tub of bubbles? Experience based parties such as a trip to the zoo or pottery making leave a lasting memory, which doesn’t get lost at the bottom of the toy box. If you are a traditionalist and are determined to give out goodie bags then why not consider switching to a re-usable gift bag and filling it with sustainable and natural goodies.

3. Loose the wrapping. Spending money on wrapping paper which is only going to be torn up and thrown away is a bit of a waste, instead why not make the wrapping part of the gift itself by wrapping it in Myfuroshiki fabric gift wrap which is a fun and affordable take on the Japanese art of “Furoshiki” (cloth wrapping). With just one of these any shape of object can be easily wrapped with no sticky tape, no scissors and no waste!

 4. Get Baking. Mum’s cooking is always best, so bake the birthday cake yourself using local Organic and Fairtrade ingredients and avoid all the unnecessary packaging and cost that comes with shop-bought food.

5. Use eco-friendly candles. Candles made with beeswax are naturally fragrant, nontoxic, soot-free, and non-allergenic. They’re completely renewable and require little, if any, additives which makes them a great alternative to Paraffin wax candles.

Many thanks to Green Pepper for allowing me to reproduce this article.  For more of their eco-friendly tips and information, follow them here.  

gift wrapping ideas - basic fabric wrap & homemade gift tag

I'm busy wrapping myfuroshiki fabulous floral gift sets ready for the Ilkley Arts Market next Saturday and the Christmas Charity Craft Fair in Saltaire on Sunday, using a basic, otsukai tsutsumi, wrap.  Here's how it's done.

Gather the items to be wrapped - in this case the bag handles, wrapping instructions, little origami crane (a tiny treat) and larger furoshiki

and place in the centre of the wrapping furoshiki, across the diagonal (I've folded the larger furoshiki around the handles etc to make a neat pile).

Starting from the bottom corner, roll the gift up in the furoshiki.

Start to tie a reef (square knot) bringing the lefthand corner over then under the right hand one.

Take your gift tag, if using.  I've threaded some beads and a bell onto a piece of ribbon and knotted it to form a loop, then threaded on a pretty piece of card (you could cut up and recycle last year's cards for this).  The decorated ribbon can then be reused as a little decoration or as the basis for another gift tag.

 

Thread the ribbon onto the left hand corner of the furoshiki wrap

and complete the reef (square) knot by bringing the lefthand corner up over and then under the right hand one.

 

And that's it, a pretty, easy, eco-friendly gift wrap!  

ps These sets are also available on Folksy and Etsy, and in red and green fabric - please take a look.

Pretty Party Bags

My social life has gone completely to pot, but Lily and George are the veritable party animals. George's 1st birthday party is coming up this month and I was wondering if there was a more eco friendly alternative to the conventional plastic party bags. Here are some of the furoshiki party wraps that I've been working on which are available on Etsy. Each has a pretty fabric tie attached, so you simply fill the centre of the wrap with goodies and then scoop them up inside and make a bow around the top to form cute little party treat bundles. Pretty, original and reusable!

easy peasy lemon squeezy

Am off to a 1st birthday party with Lily & George, so thought I'd show the wrapped presents that we're taking along. A little something for birthday boy's older brother - a dinky toy car wrapped in a mini fish furoshiki, using a 1 knot basic wrap. For the main man's present - a book, a Thomas the Tank Engine toy & a card wrapped up in a medium lime crinkle furoshiki, using the 2 knot four leaf wrap. Total wrapping time about 2mins - no sticky tape, no tearing, no scissors, no waste. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!!

Looking forward to tea & cakes.

Olivia :)

Stocking up for autumn

Getting ready for the Saltaire Makers' Fair was quite a challenge as I didn't have any idea as to how many people would be visiting and how much stock I might need for a two day market. As a result I was holding off listing anything on our online sites so that I'd have as much as possible set aside for the fair. Now tho I'm enjoying replenishing the stores and here's a flavour of what I've been busy listing.

Today has been all about our own design screenprints which are now available individually on Coriandr, Folksy and Etsy:

I've got lots more new furoshiki lined up to list - just need to take some photos, so fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow!

Furoshiki - Felt Pegs

We've just added some fun felt fish, flower & panda pegs to decorate your furoshiki wrapped gifts. Cute, affordable and reusable to boot! Instead of splashing out on an expensive card, why not use one of our felt furoshiki pegs to attach a message to your present? See our online Etsy shop for details www.myfuroshiki.etsy.com

Tickled Pink

We're tickled pink about our latest collection of furoshiki available on Etsy. Delicious delights from raspberry ripple to the liquorice allsorts looking circle line print. Bold abstract florals and opulent purple bouquets. Explosive pink & purple chrysanthemums and fading purple to pink tie dye effects.

Wonderful Waves

New on Etsy, is our ocean themed story, a fabulous collection of waves, sea & seaweed, puffer fish & hanko stamp bubbles! Prices range from US$3 for a mini 'Fish at Sea' furoshiki to US$30 for a 'Wonderful Waves' set of 6 furoshiki.

The set of 6 includes 5 gift wrapping cloths which you can share with friends & family and a gorgeous reversible wave & sea print bag sized furoshiki that you can keep just for you. We've only got limited stock of these, so hurry, hurry, hurry!!

Cute canvas prints

Some news from Down Under - sorry, it's been a while since my last post. I am on the countdown to the baby's arrival - only 4wks to go!! Decided it was probably time to de-pink the room from when Lily had it as a nursery, so have hung some of our screen printed animal prints on the walls (you can buy small canvases at most craft shops and all you need then is a staple gun to secure the furoshiki to the back of the frame). The finished pictures are very lightweight, so a simple plastic picture hook will suffice, no need to add wire, etc to hang, just balance the frame directly on the hook. Easy jungle fun for everyone!

Creativesque

I'm really glad to be taking part in the Coriandr Express as it's a wonderful way of finding out about some of the amazing variety of things on Coriandr. Having already got a resplendent collection of mirrors, funky knickers, silk scarves, aubergines and eye patches on board, we now have a new VIP, Creativesque.

Creativesque is the place to go for clear, delicately coloured art and papercrafts. Stacey-Ann creates perfect little pieces such as this ACEO where the flowers look like stained glass,


these tiny dragonfly envelopes


and, finally, these lovely heart bookmarks - bet you'll never guess what the upcycled element in them is - totally delicious!

Perth Cultural Markets, Sunday 14th June

Thank you to everyone that popped along to the stall last Sunday. myfuroshiki will be at The Perth Cultural Markets again on Sunday 14th June, outside the WA Museum on James St.

Come along & visit the stall, there will be lots to see and buy - demos, wrapping cloths from mini to jumbo, furoshiki bags, accessories & gift wrapping sets.

Hope you can make it!