Here’s an idea I came across at Groovygreen, paper you can plant. Once your incredibly romantic message on the paper has been read the card can then be planted, a great way to remember the romance. What seeds you incorporate into the paper is your choice and it sounds like a great (if somewhat late) idea for Valentine’s day. Full instructions can be found here including the paper making instructions.

If you use your bike regularly you are aware that being on a bicycle renders you pretty much invisible in the eyes of traffic. Whether you wear a helmet or not any car turning into you or opening it’s door in front of you is going to do some damage. So what are the best ways to avoid getting hurt while riding a bicycle? Staying off the sidewalk, not hugging the curb and the correct way to pass a car are some of the advice Bicycle safe has to offer. The site  has lots of good information which every bike rider should read.

There is an article here on which wood is best to burn to heat up a house most efficiently. The main points the article makes is that factors such as stove type and the dryness of the wood have an effect but one of the main ways to make a difference is by burning dense wood rather then light.

Slower growing, denser woods such as oak, beech, and hickory are known as “hardwoods.” .. Evergreen trees are generally called softwoods. Softwoods burn easily but with less heat, and are good for kindling or when less heat is needed. Fruit woods apparently make lovely, hot firewood but take quite a long time to dry sufficiently.

Grist via Reallynatural

Treehugger has a post pointing to triplepundit.com where they have calculated the true cost of exotic bottled water. It’s interesting to note that it takes 25 liters of water to make the 1 litre bottles that the water is sold in (including power plant cooling water).

Curbly the DIY design community has a tutorial on how to fold paper into a CD case rather then having to use plastic CD covers

Instead of paying good cash for cd cases, which eventually break and end up in a landfill, how about creating your own, unique folded-paper cd cases that are biodegradable and take up a fraction of the space?

You can read the tutorial here.

Although line drying your clothes can save as much as 10% off your energy bill, this is not always easy to do (see laundrylist.org if you never knew that in some places line drying is prohibited…). The next best thing you can do if you can’t line dry is to cut down on the amount of time needed to dry the clothes. This is where these dryer balls come in. They reduce drying times by about 20% and soften the clothes at the same time. This means further savings and less chemicals. (Bean Sprout (the person who also did the eco-balls test) took them for a test drive here.)

Dawn at Frugal for life has posted about her tips and experiences with installing a new low flow shower head which is helpful for anyone who has not converted their shower yet (and an amusing read). She has also made a list of the new showerhead’s pros and cons.

Low flow shower heads save as much as 50% off your water bill as well as your energy bill (for not heating the extra water you didn’t use) which is good for the environment AND your savings account. Low flow shower heads mix air with the water to make it feel like there’s more pressure and to even out the flow.

Instructables has a tutorial on how to create your own solar panel (or jellyfish!) out of broken bits of solar cell pieces. Although it’s not exactly for beginners it is definetely do-able and it ends up in a very cool mosaic effect too.

It’s amazing how creative people are. Within minutes of each other I came across two seperate web sites offering art out of things which would otherwise be thrown away. The first such site is Junk mail gems a site which offers products made from junk mail. They have wallets, bags, beads and more. The above photo shows a selection of their fridge magnets.
The other web site offers fish mosaics created out of beer caps at Art Buzz.

“If there’s some compelling reason you can’t just quit the job, pack up, and spend the rest of your days in waders with a rod and a bottle at the ready, perhaps a compromise is in order. Maybe if you were to hang one of these bottle cap fish on the wall behind your desk you’d feel better. When the river calls silently out to you, cast your eyes across the office to this ultimate trophy fish and remember the things that matter.”

Instructables has a tutorial on how to use glossy brochures as book covers. Brochures are usually nicely decorated and they’re free so they make good covers. This is an easy tutorial that anyone can do.