Greeting Card Mobile

I was inspired to make a greeting card mobile for baby V after seeing one on another blog. Rather than having the cards from my baby shower sit in a drawer gathering dust, or go into the recycle bin never to be seen again, the mobile allows us to appreciate the cards every day.
For my base, I cut off the top from an octagonal box that a flower vase came in. From there, I used copious amount of hot glue to affix the card cutouts to every surface of the box—inside and out.

The mobile is suspended with an arm that came with a commercial mobile that we happened to have one on hand but suspending it from a hook in the ceiling would’ve worked even better than the arm. Long hanging distance is the key to good movement. The sunshine-shaped parts spin well, but the others don’t have long enough strings. The mobile moves gently with drafts from an open window, fan, or vent. Sometimes I “wind it up” by twisting the ribbon that holds it to the arm.

It ended up taking several hours—much longer than I thought—but it turned out wonderfully.

Detail shots:

Milk Carton Garden Markers

Don’t toss that empty milk carton in the recycle bin just yet! Armed with scissors, a hobby blade, and a Sharpie, it takes just a few minutes to create garden markers sturdy enough to weather through a whole growing season and beyond. For this year, I just cut off the printing from last year's carton garden markers and still had plenty of marker left.

Cutting away the flat surfaces from the curved ones

Sloppy cutting doesn't phase me, as only the very top part ends up sticking out of the soil. The whiter ones are from the section where the carton label is.

In the raised beds (with room for writing notes, if desired)

Depending on the plastic recycling guidelines in your area, your creations should still be just recyclable when you are done with your creations.

And Some Pictures!

Picasa was being wonky, so I just got these pictures uploaded.
Here's our little guy:

Baby Boy Vaughn January 4, 2011
6lbs 12 oz, 19 inches long
Born occiput posterior at 40 weeks, 4 days after 63 hours of labor

( Check out his tiny, blue Kissaluv diaper!)

It’s Been Awhile

Hi there. It’s been awhile! A year ago—to the day—I was fortunate get (and stay) pregnant thanks to a wonderful reproductive endocrinology team at Shady Grove Fertility. I had a pregnancy that knocked the stuffing out of me, hence not writing for so long, but baby boy Vaughn is here and he is a delightful three-month-old. Since Infertility Awareness Week is coming up soon (April 24-30), I want to share the link we shared with our support team as we started treatments. While every couple reacts uniquely to infertility—and hubby and I don’t align with 100% of the things in these articles—they are the best resource we found for helping family and friends navigate how to be supportive.

I’ll be back with More Green for Less Green ideas soon. I’ve got a year’s worth of ideas stored up in my brain!