JillyBeanSSF posted a photo:
Sindy: "Image Maker" Vintage UK Children's Magazine Paper Doll (Marvel Comics LTD.) 1986
*Appeared In: Sindy, "Every Girl's Best Friend!" UK Magazine Issue No. 13 - July 12 (Marvel Comics LTD.) 1986
JillyBean's "FLAT CHICKS" The World of Paper Dolls
Spring is officially here, inspiring gardening plans as well as dread of lawn chores. Before you immerse yourself in another year of yard maintenance, we have a question for you: When was the last time you reevaluated your yard maintenance tactics and outdoor plant selections? An environmentally friendly approach to a low-maintenance yard can save you money, time, and effort while it benefits the local ecosystem.
By carefully selecting the right plants, including natives and perennials, you can minimize watering and yearly plantings — resulting in less work for you and a lower water bill. And by employing natural gardening techniques, such as composting and companion planting, you can keep your soil healthy and keep pests away — without chemicals.
Naturally, a healthy and biodiverse yard looks different depending on your climate and region. Are you familiar with the plants that are native to your region? It’s exciting to choose the optimal plants for your garden because you know you’re giving them the best chance of success — plus, you’re helping the surrounding ecosystem.
Before selecting your plants, be sure to check the noxious weed lists or your county extension office to make sure you don’t pick invasive plant species. Some low-maintenance plants may be invasive in your region. For example, English Ivy, an attractive, low-maintenance vine, is an aggressive invader and on the noxious weed of the United States list.
With careful plant selection and eco-friendly gardening strategies, you’ll enjoy a low-maintenance yard, save money, and benefit Mother Earth too! Check out the tips and plant recommendations in the following infographic from HomeAdvisor.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 31, 2021, and was updated in April 2026.
The post Infographic: Tips for an Environmentally Responsible, Low-Maintenance Yard appeared first on Earth911.
Whether you just love the Grinch or maybe you just want to be festive, but don’t want to spend hours stringing up lights, this DIY Grinch decoration is for you! This DIY Grinch (and Max) can be made from a single sheet of plywood and a 2×4. The beauty of the design is that the […]
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JillyBeanSSF posted a photo:
Sindy: "Trendsetters" Vintage UK Children's Magazine Paper Doll (Marvel Comics LTD.) 1986
*Appeared In: Sindy, "Every Girl's Best Friend!" UK Magazine Issue No. 27 - October 18 (Marvel Comics LTD.) 1986
JillyBean's "FLAT CHICKS" The World of Paper Dolls
Hello friends. Happy February! January felt long yet short at the same time. It’s Valentine’s day soon and I made another super easy DIY. These Heart Shaped Napkin Rings turned out so cute and were so simple to make.
I bought a wooden heart garland from the Dollar Store and removed it from the twine. I then glued the heart to a wooden ring and sprayed them with some gold spray paint and done!
You can paint these any color to coordinate with your table. I like the gold because I can use it throughout the year.
I think these heart shaped napkin rings turned out so cute!
Thank you so much for stopping by today,
much love,
Lucy
I decided to start a garden this year, so the first thing that we needed were raised garden beds. These DIY raised garden beds are easy to build and inexpensive. We made ours out of cedar fence pickets and cedar 2x4s from Lowe’s. Not every Lowe’s sells cedar 2x4s – ours were unlabeled and found […]
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This post is sponsored by Minwax. All opinions are my own. Before we begin, be sure to join Minwax’s email list for the best staining tips and project inspiration. As you browse through the stain aisles and see all of the different colored stain cans and various stain lines, you might find yourself wondering “what’s […]
The post Which Stain Should You Choose? appeared first on Pine and Poplar.
You’ve probably seen the viral spiral Christmas trees made from wood. I wanted to make a smaller version to sit on my entryway table. So we tried to think of the cheapest way to get thin pieces of wood to create this wood Christmas tree. Our solution: paint sticks! Yes, using a few packs of […]
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You never want to see a ‘storage full’ message pop up on your phone. It means you’re not going to be able to install new apps, or capture new photos, videos, or audio messages, because there’s nowhere to put them. You won’t be able to sync music or podcasts, if the storage is all filled up.
The good news is, you can preemptively prevent this from happening by doing a little bit of regular digital housekeeping. Android and iOS now come with features to make it easier for you to manage local storage, whether it’s deleting files completely or sending them off to the cloud for safe keeping.
These are your options for keeping a sizable chunk of space available on your phone for when you need it.
Android comes with a Google app called FIles, and if you load this up you can begin diving in and deleting files manually. The Downloads folder is a good starting point: It’s likely there are quite a few files here that you’ve downloaded from the web and forgotten about, and that you don’t need any more.
Tap the three dots to the right of a file then Move to trash to delete it (it will stay in the Trash folder for 30 days before being completely wiped). To delete several files at once, tap one of the check boxes on the right to start selecting, then tap the trashcan icon at the top to confirm your choice.
The Files app comes with a dedicated tool for freeing up storage. From the front screen, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines, top left), then select Clean. You’ll be shown a breakdown of how much room is left on your phone, together with ways to increase it. These might include deleting duplicate files and screenshots, but the options you see will vary depending on your device.
For example, you might see an option to Delete memes—images detected as standard meme templates that your contacts have sent to you over messaging apps. Pick Select files, and you can choose which memes to delete before sending them to the Trash folder.
You might also be advised to delete certain apps via the Files app, but you can also do this yourself from the Settings page in Android by choosing Apps, then selecting an app, and tapping Uninstall. Under Storage and cache you can see the space each app takes up, which can help you figure out what to get rid of (remember these apps can always be reinstalled, if needed).
Speaking of apps, it’s worth double-checking any offline content you might have cached in your media apps. In Spotify, for example, tap your profile picture (top left), then Settings and privacy > Data-saving and offline to see how much room is being taken up by the app, and to get to the Remove all downloads option.
Finally, there’s a separate option in Google Photos for Android. If you tap your profile picture (top right), then Free up space on this device, you’ll be able to delete local copies of photos and videos that have been safely backed up to the cloud. Bear in mind though that you should always keep another backup somewhere else, in case anything should happen to your files in the cloud.
Over on the iPhone, there is a tool for identifying ways you can free up more storage space, but it’s not in the native Files app for iOS. Instead, you need to go to Settings, then tap General > iPhone Storage. You’ll see how much storage space is spare, and some suggestions for what you can do about it.
Scroll down and you get a full list of the apps installed on your phone, with the biggest ones at the top—it might be worth removing any you don’t use regularly. Tap on an app name and there are two options: Offload App (which keeps the app in place but deletes all the data it has stored locally), and Delete App (which removes it completely).
You can also uninstall apps from the App Library screen to free up space: Tap and hold on an app icon, then pick Delete App. Bear in mind you can always reinstall these apps again later, or even use the web app versions through Safari, if you find you need them again.
Photos and videos can take up a good chunk of space on a phone. If you open iOS Settings and pick Apps > Photos, you’ll find an Optimize iPhone Storage option, if you’re syncing to iCloud—this means lower-resolution versions of your files will be saved locally, as long as they’re safely backed up to the cloud.
Google Photos for iOS offers something similar, if that’s your photo and video app of choice. Inside the app, tap your profile picture, then choose Free up space on this device and you get the option to delete local copies of photos and videos that are saved in the cloud. With any of these clean-up tools though, remember that cloud copies are not enough on their own—you do need to make sure these files are saved somewhere else as well (like on a laptop), just in case.
It’s worth digging through media apps that may have saved content for watching or listening too offline as well (the iPhone Storage screen will tip you off to some of these). To check downloaded content in the Netflix app, for example, open the My Netflix tab and then choose Downloads.
Finally, you can use the iOS Files app for manual deletions as well. From the Browse screen, tap On My iPhone: Long press on a file to find the Delete option, or tap the three dots (top right) and Select to pick multiple files (a trash can icon will show up at the bottom). The files get moved to the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days, and after that they’ll be wiped permanently.
The post How to free up space on your phone and avoid the dreaded ‘storage full’ messages appeared first on Popular Science.
Hello friends. I hope you’ve been keeping warm. It’s been a crazy cold winter and we’re not even in February yet.
I want to start bringing in some natural elements soon but today I want to show you this super easy magnifying glass decorative item I made using Dollar Tree items.
This one was so easy to make and it think it looks so great!
I used a magnifying glass, a candle holder, some hot glue and crazy glue.
I heated a knife over the stove and used it to cut through the plastic. You can also use a small hand saw.
I then filled the candlestick with some hot glue, inserted the magnifying glass and added some more crazy glue in order to secure it further.
I then painted the top of the candle holder with some buff and rub and voila!
Such and easy craft but sooo cool. I love how it turned out.
Thank you for stopping by.
Much love,
Lucy
Hello friends. I hope you’ve been well. We had a few days of warmer weather but we’re back to very cold days. During the warmer days I was inspired to create a few Spring crafts. Starting with this sweet ‘ceramic’ butterfly specimen display.
You won’t believe how easy it was to make. Let me show you.
You’re going to need a 3D butterfly; used for scrapping booking. I found several sizes at the Dollar Store.
Paper napkin with a nice pattern. I love THIS one because it has various patterns and it looks like Chinoiserie.
-I spray painted the butterfly with white spray paint. You can also use acrylic paint.
You will allow it to dry completely.
-Take some Modpodge or Glue and spread it over the entire butterfly.
-Take the napkin and remove the bottom layer and discard. Place the napkin on top the glue and gently rub napkin until it
adheres onto the butterfly. Allow to dry.
Once it’s completely dry, spread layer of UV resin. I used THIS ONE. I’ve used it in another project you can see it HERE.
Once dry, I used some gold paint to paint the edges and the body of the butterfly.
I then used a little bit of double sided tape and placed it onto the frame. You can of course place it inside the frame but I needed to place it over the glass for better photos.
I love how this turned out and I can’t wait to make more specimens.
The resin make the butterflies look like ceramic and I just love them.
Look how pretty they look displayed on this arrangement.
What do you think? Would you try this?
Thank you so much for stopping by today.
much love,
Lucy
The average American discards roughly 82 pounds of clothing and textiles each year — and most of it lands in a landfill. According to the EPA, more than 17 million tons of textiles were generated as municipal solid waste in 2018, a figure the U.S. Government Accountability Office confirmed was more than 50% higher than in 2000 due largely to the rise of fast fashion. And the recycling rate for clothing and footwear? Just 13%.
Denim is one of the most salvageable things in that waste stream. Because authentic jeans are made mostly from cotton, a natural, biodegradable fiber, they can be recycled into building insulation, pet bed inserts, and thermal packaging, or given a second life through resale and creative reuse.
Here are five ways to put your worn-out jeans to work, and have some fun doing it.
Cotton Incorporated’s Blue Jeans Go Green program has been recycling denim into insulation since 2006. Since then, the program has collected more than 5 million pieces of denim and diverted over 2,290 tons of textile waste from landfills. That recycled fiber gets processed into UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation by Bonded Logic — used in homes, thermal packaging, and pet bedding — with some insulation donated each year to building projects in communities in need.
The program accepts any denim item (jeans, jackets, skirts, shirts) that’s at least 90% cotton, in any condition. Drop off locations include Anthropologie, which has committed to diverting 10 tons through the program, and a rotating list of retail partners you can find on the Blue Jeans Go Green recycle page.
You can also mail denim directly to the program at Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ Program c/o Phoenix Fibers – CIMI, 400 East Ray Road, Chandler, AZ 85225 (a free prepaid label program ended in August 2025, so you’ll need to cover shipping).
Madewell’s denim trade-up program is one of the most practical ways to close the loop on old jeans, regardless of the brand. Drop any pair of jeans of any cut, color, or condition at a Madewell store and receive $20 off a full-priced pair of Madewell jeans. The program is year-round with no limit on how many pairs you bring in.
The program has collected more than 2.3 million preloved pieces. Gently worn jeans are resold through Madewell Forever, the brand’s resale platform with ThredUp; jeans beyond repair are recycled into housing insulation and sustainable packaging via the Blue Jeans Go Green partnership.
You can also mail in denim with a free Clean Out Kit or shipping label if you don’t have a Madewell nearby.
This is probably the easiest way to repurpose a pair of jeans. Even if you don’t sew, you can make long jeans into shorts. Get a pair of sharp scissors, figure out where you want to cut, and then enjoy your new shorts. Remember the old saying, “measure twice, and cut once.” If you’re a sewer (or good with a glue gun), check out this tutorial by Craft & Creativity for some adorable additions to cutoffs.
One of my favorite ways to upcycle denim is by making reusable bags. You can use the bags as an adorable way to package a gift, as a purse, and as a reusable grocery carrier, just to name a few. I also found this creative phone charging bag. This is another project that could be done simply with a glue gun or, if you don’t have one, some craft glue.
One of my girls’ favorite projects is to upcycle material, including denim, into friendship bracelets. They are able to use their creativity and make each bracelet a special work of art. First, gather supplies like fun buttons, embroidery floss, and any other embellishments you may have on hand. Then cut the denim into strips.
Next is where the fun really begins. Let your kids use their imaginations to dream up some adorable ways to decorate their friendship bracelets. They could even begin by sketching out their ideas so you know how to help them make their vision a reality.
Your kiddos can wear their bracelets proudly and give them as gifts.
Need more ideas on how to upcycle your worn denim? Visit this helpful Pinterest board.
This is a great idea for anyone who wants to organize their craft supplies in one spot. You could make it a kid-friendly craft supply holder by including washable markers, colored pencils, safety scissors and glue sticks. Add a handle and this could be a great way to bring craft supplies on the road with you. I found this example at 8Trends.com.
Denim scraps also work well as ties for garden plants, drawer liners, coasters (backed with felt), small coin pouches, and journal covers. Because denim frays attractively rather than looking ragged, even imperfect cuts tend to look intentional. There’s also a growing community of textile artists on Pinterest’s denim upcycle boards with ideas organized by skill level and material quantity.
Your old jeans are too valuable to throw away. If they’re still wearable, donate them to a local thrift store or trade them in at Madewell. If they’re worn out, recycle them through Blue Jeans Go Green — or cut them into something new. Use Earth911’s Recycling Search to find textile recycling drop-off spots near you.
Editor’s Note: Originally published by Wendy Gabriel on February 6, 2017, this article was updated in April 2026. Feature image courtesy of Shutterstock.com.
The post 5 Fun Ways To Recycle Your Jeans appeared first on Earth911.
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