This idea is perfect as I get to display the wreath longer. Simply cover with ribbons and fasten suitable accessories with craft strings or metal threads. I salvaged these from Christmas log cakes. Chinese New Year hampers and floral arrangements.
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Love collecting glass containers. This brown one was upcycled into a tiny indoor planter and to add some CNY cheer to it, I attached a voucher with a design using an elastic band. The dimension was perfect for the bottle, plus the voucher stays intact should someone wants to use it, it’s valid until March 2017!
My box of dainty new year themed tassels also comes in handy, just hang one over the bottle neck.
For this upcycling project, let’s go back to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mooncake boxes come with motifs and designs that are pretty close to Chinese New Year’s theme. I have kept this box made out of chip wood for a few years in my craft drawer for embellishments and tools. Very sturdy and still look brand new.
I remove the label on the cover and flip the base over.
Slip the cover underneath the base and found that it fits perfectly. I do this so that I need not find another place to store the cover. However, on hindsight, I believe that this was designed on purpose so that the cover does not take up extra space on the table when serving the mooncakes. Brilliant!
Flip the box over again and fill it with mandarin oranges.
Of course, not every mooncake box is designed to be reused the same way. Play around with it, flip over, deconstruct if you need to, you might just find a new purpose for that mooncake box that is too pretty to be thrown away.
So the year of the Rooster is arriving this weekend. I usually leave much of the festive home decor to the final week and force myself to work with what I already have, as oppose to the easier way out, which is to buy new ones that end up cumulating with the rest in the storage room for the next 12 months when the celebration is over.
Here are some waste free ideas that I have managed to squeeze out of my limited, but ample supply of festive accessories, which I reuse year after year. Best of all, they all fit inside a lunch box when the holiday is over.
// homebaked goodies are stored in air-tight glass jars, instead of plastic ones, and embellish with simple decorative features like this tassel (a big favorite around my house). The jars go back to the pantry for storing ingredients or snacks after we are done with the new year goodies.
// Even the standard glass containers for nuts are updated to fit the theme. Just look out for red/pink/floral accessories around the house.
// an old mooncake box made out of chip wood is upcycled into a unique display tray for mandarin oranges. After the new year, they go back to my craft drawer as a storage box.
// update indoor planters/vase with dainty tassels.
// another Chinese knot tassel, this one salvaged from a torn cushion is used to update my tiny vase with dried flowers.
// instead of stowing away the Christmas wreath, I swap the neutrals for red color embellishments and display for another month.
// these paper diamonds are so easy to make, and best of all, look contemporary enough as daily decoration, so there is no hurry to put them away even after celebrations are all over.
// repeat.
// a stroll to soak in the festive mood.
// finally keeping these away,
// and displaying these instead.
// even our fish tank gets a makeover.
I can never get tired of lavender infused home fragrance. Maybe it is because the scent is so closely associated with spa-time, which I enjoy so much. It is my go-to scent for bedrooms, while the bathrooms, kitchen and living room experiment with a different mix of peppermint, vanilla, lemongrass, recently citronella, for its mosquito repelling properties.
Come bedtime, I will unscrew the lid of my potpourri bowl recycled from a facial clay mask jar, and breathe. The lavender scent is widely known to soothe and relax the mind, a perfect way to end a day. Or when I need a little help to sleep, thankfully not that often.
DIY Potpourri is super easy, just a mix of dried flowers and essential oil. I generally use these three ingredients to make mine at home:
dried flowers – only lavender buds, in this case, as I like to keep the palette simple.
salt – I use Himalayan Rock Salt for this project, the pink hue adds extra points.
essential oil – get pure lavender essential oil from a reliable source, no synthetic concoction for me, no matter how cheap.
Why add salt? Because it is cheaper to fill up the container with salt than lavender buds, volume by volume. My 500g pack of salt costs $2.50, while a small sachet of lavender buds costs $7.50. Plus, the scent comes largely from the essential oil anyway. It’s all about being practical.
But first, choose a bowl/set up that you like since it will be part of the room decor. I like the clay mask container because it is shallow and has an 8 cm wide mouth, as diffusion of scent will be more effective with a larger surface area. Avoid deep bottles as you will need to fill it up with more content.
Another plus point of this container is that it has a lid that let me cover the potpourri during the day when no one’s inside the room, allowing the scent to last longer without topping up on the oil too often. The lid also allows me to refresh the potpourri once a while without adding oil by giving the container a good shake with its lid on.
I updated the style of my lavender potpourri bowl by wrapping it with a cooking twine. It can’t get easier than this, I did not even use glue, only entailed some delicate job of tucking in the twine’s ends. After that, simply fill up the container close to its brim with salt and lavender. The proportion of salt and dried flowers is up to personal preference. Mine’s about 4:1.
This is now sitting on my bedside table, I only need to top up with a few drops of oil whenever I find the scent getting faint. Low maintenance, I likey.
I don’t usually go for the prettiest packaging when it comes to buying mooncakes, like most people, taste of the mooncake matters more. Fancy packaging provides this recipient here with a joyful feeling that tends to be short lived when it is time to decide if I should dispose of or stow away for some unknown purpose. Rarely the latter, as the fancier the packaging, chances are, they come in a real cumbersome bulk or an odd shape that take up far too much space.
I have been pretty happy with the few regular brands that sell their mooncakes in conventional tin boxes that I can recycle after a quick rinse to get rid of crumbs and grease. But once a while, something plasticky ends up at our home from well meaning friends and I recently found that I seem to have a penchant for upcycling these no-so-easy-to recycle containers into household items that I can use everyday.
Like this box from a local bakery :
It seems to be made from laminated plastic so when I found that regular tissue box fits well in the larger top cover, I sew a wrap with a felt cloth and turn it into tissue box holder. The end result is pretty encouraging.
Have you done anything similar with your mooncake packaging?
To make the best out of a $2 per punnet berry season, I cook a variety of recipes with them other than snacking straight out of the box.
Compotes have to be one of the easiest one to make. And because there is a huge variety of fruits all year round for me to experiment with, there is very little reason for me to make a large batch. Moreover, unlike jam and conserve recipes, I add too little sugar to my compotes as preservatives. Might as well skip the calories from sugar and eat them up faster.
I like to make a tiny batch like this, simply grab one of the many boxes of berries out of the freezer (yes, on-sale-berries, I’ll gladly stock up to freeze), no need to thaw, wash and pat dry, and into the pot they go. Once they start to break down and release juices, I add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of raw sugar, depending on how sweet I need them to be. For compotes on pancakes or french toasts, I only add half teaspoon, as I prefer them on the sourish zone.
Compotes are great with ice cream, pancakes or french toasts. Makes popsicles prettier too!
125g blueberries, fresh or frozen 1-2 teaspoons raw sugar juice from 1/2 lemon
Cook blueberries in a non reactive pot over medium heat. It is important to use a suitable pot so that it doesn’t get stained by the acidic ingredients. In general, stay clear of aluminum and copper pots. I use stainless steels. More about this here.
Once the berries start to break down and release their juices, add sugar. Keep stirring while cooking to prevent the mixture from burning, you may add some of lemon juice if you find the mixture too dry to handle, it might be too runny at this stage but we are going to reduce the liquid later anyway, better than burning a pot of good berries.
At this point, I will usually start to squash the berries with the back of my wooden spoon to release more liquid into the pot to cook the berries. Save a few berries intact, so that when you see whole berries in your compote, it gives a really nice handmade/homemade touch to the finished product.
Once you are happy with the consistency of the compote, taste test the compote if the sweet/sour level is to your liking, add sugar or lemon juice accordingly till you are happy with it. Continue to cook after adjusting the taste to bring the compote back to a thicker consistency. I do not add thickeners like arrowroot powder but rely merely on juices and sugar to thicken the compote.
Serve them immediately, or store in a clean jar, consume them as soon as possible.
This diy project takes just S$4 to purchase the supplies and under 5 seconds to assemble, not including the printing part.
Simple choose a calendar you like, print it in A5 size. I chose this monthly calendar from here and print it in booklet form on both sides of the paper.
Next, get a large paper clip with magnetic backing, make sure it is a strong one, like this one I got from Daiso.
Then under the kitchen section, look for a wooden cutting board is a bit bigger than A5 size. I found this bamboo wood board, also from Daiso.
Lastly, simply clip the the printout onto the board, and display it on any metal surface around the house, like the fridge door or bomb shelter entrance.
I tried it with a planner print out, it’s just as pretty!
MONO and CO 