recycle your candles

I learned that its very simple to make new candles without really spending anything. All you need is a wick, and old pieces of wax from candles.
1. Set up a double boiler and melt wax together. It's a good idea to melt the same smelling or same colored waxes together.
2. When the wax is melted, take an old tea cup and glue one end of the wick to the bottom of the cup (centered) and wrap the rest around a chopstick. Tape to secure.
3. Once the wick is in place, just pour the melted wax into the cup.
Then let the wax cool off a bit.. it will cave in. Then pour more wax in.
4. Once it is dry, cut the wick, about 1/4 of an inch, and viola! A brand new candle:

what to do with magazines?

So we all have loads of old magazines sitting in our homes. You could recycle them... (look up 'hagadone' a printing company on oahu that recycles magazines) OR you could do more projects with them!
one thing I fell in love with, is making magazine beads. It seemed like a kids craft at first, but people have made many beautiful works of wearable art! A couple of my friends and I gathered together and made beads out of magazines. Here are some pictures;

HERE YOU CAN FIND STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/06/recycled_paper_beads.html ; here, you can learn how to make beads by yourself.

here's a link to learn how to make a TABLE out of magazines: http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/how-to/how-to-craft-a-table-using-old-magazines-060208

also, "how to make a coaster out of magazines" http://www.ehow.com/how_4552895_coaster-old-magazines.html

and finally, how to make a bowl out of magazines: http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/2007/09/recycle-project-no-7-magazine-bowl.html

THERE ARE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES!! don't just throw those magazines away!

a bag out of bags!

I've always been a pretty crafty person, and so I researched a ton of recycled projects. One of my favorites is a messenger bag out of plastic bags. I saw this video online, and I really wanted to try it out for myself. And it was incredibly easy! And it was so much fun.
The instructions were to 'fuse' the bags together, and then treat it like fabric.

Here's a link to the original youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB1mE8e35UY

Here's a tutorial to fusing plastic bags: http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html

Another website about reusing grocery plastic bags: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_plastic_bag.php

So now you've got plenty of sources to start recycling your bunch of old plastic bags into something beautiful and much more useful. Here's one of the little pencil bags I made;

a trip to the farmers market

A part of living a subsistent life is to rely on what is around you. In Hawaii, there are many family owned farms, and at these farmers market we can support them.
I went to the farmers market in Kailua (thursdays from 5-7:30 pm). It was something I really enjoyed. The fruits and veggies were so fresh and just looked better than the foods that are in the grocery section at supermarkets. It was fun to be around all those people and to be able to buy snacks there and eat them while I shop. It was fun, and didn't really feel like a chore.
By going to a farmers market to buy groceries, we can help reduce the amount of foods coming from over 4 thousand miles away. We can stop giving our money to big shot companies in the mainland, and help hawaii's economy.

Here's a link to a website of all the farmers' markets in hawaii (time included):
http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/add/farmers-market-in-hawaii
I hope you choose to do your grocery shopping while supporting hawaii farmers at the same time :)