DIY Eco-Gifts For The Skier/Snowboarder On your Holiday List

Around here, "'Tis the season" also means, it's time to hit the slopes. We just love winter sports and we all ski and snowboard. What we don't love is the pricey equipment, and an industry that generally gets a thumbs down for eco-friendliness.

Ski, snowboard and skateboarding paraphernalia tends to be highly technical, but damaged skis, snowboards and skateboards make great materials for DIY projects.

When my son was a teenager, skateboards ruled. We created this skateboard bench from a skateboard that he didn't want to toss. The board had seen a fine street life, but it was ready for retirement. With a few screws and four hairpin legs, we upcycled the skateboard into a bench. This is a picture of the underside of the bench (Jimi Hendrix always rules).

Green Mountain Ski Furniture recycles old skis and snowboards into ski furniture in the same manner we did with the skateboard. They provide DIY kits to make chairs, benches, tables, and racks from your old discarded skis or snowboards.

Note about the main image: That is me skiing at Whistler. I have no idea how I made it down that mountain. I went around the turn and I was petrified - it was so steep. Photo: Recycled Skis

DIY Eco-Gifts For Recyclers On Your Holiday List

Maybe one of the biggest differences between growing up in my childhood home and my children's home (mine too), is that now we all recycle. This one small act is something each and everyone of us can do at home to help save the planet.

I was totally floored during a recent conversation with an obviously intelligent woman who blurted out, "I don't recycle." It opened a floodgate of comments here. Recycling is such an integral environmental issue that I come back to it often -  as I did last week in this post, "5 Reasons Why People Don't Recycle and 5 Reasons They Should."

We need to continue to cultivate a culture of recycling. I wrote about setting up a recycling center with my son in his first apartment here. Maybe, just maybe, we can begin to make a dent into the environmental mess we've made.

What do all good recyclers need? They can never have enough recycling bins.

DIY Gift Idea: Recycling Bin and Labels

Recycling bins perform an important task, but the bins themselves are pretty utilitarian. Here are two novel DIY gift ideas: This Barn Wood & Chalkboard Bin is made from a reclaimed wood bin that has been painted with chalkboard paint. Use low-VOC blackboard paint from Hudson chalkboard paint to label the contents of the bin. Or, you can just print out a sheet of personalized DIY Recycling Bin Labels.

I love the clever labeling on the recycling bins in the main image. It makes you think about all the possibilities, while raising awareness.

For 5 more recycling center ideas CLICK HERE.

Photo: Apartment Therapy, VivaTerra

DIY Eco-Gifts For The Quilter on Your Holiday List

A handmade quilt is a true luxury. Quilts made from pieced together scraps of fabric that otherwise may have been wasted, make quilters the ultimate green DIYers.

It is estimated that between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are discarded annually worldwide. That's more than a million per minute.

Why not give all the materials to create a DIY Eco-Quilted bag. A quilted bag made from organic fabrics or recycled materials such as: burlap bags, dishtowels, old curtains, jeans, used scarves or old clothes will help to curb plastic and paper bag waste, and can become an heirloom worthy of passing down to your children.

DIY Eco-Quilted Bag

This Quilted Bag from Quilting For Peace-Making the World A Better Place One Stitch at a Time, by Katherine Bell is an easy sewing project. Here is the pattern for the bag. Include in the bag a copy of this heartwarming book about a group of dedicated and diverse quilters who create small acts of creative kindness in their quest to make the world more peaceful.

Photo: Garnet Hill, Quilting For Peace

DIY Eco-Gifts For The Organic Gardener On Your Holiday List

"I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." ~ The Lorax

We all know what happened in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax…the Once-ler devised ways of cutting down Truffula Trees for the "Biggering and Biggering" of his manufacturing operation. The Once-ler "Biggered" to the point where he polluted the Lorax's water and air, and left him in a sunless panorama of Truffula stumps. Poor Lorax.

You are luckier than the Lorax, right? Maybe that's because you have an organic gardener on your holiday list. These eco-champions use their big green thumbs to stand up against ecological destruction. Gardening without harmful chemicals is their motto. Raising environmental awareness and creating and maintaining healthy ecosystems are their mission.

DIY Gifts For Organic Gardeners

Give An Organic Plant Truffala Trees withstanding, Charlie Nardozzi of the The Organic Authority suggests you look beyond poinsettias and give an unusual organic plant.

Plant it Green Use organic soil and newspaper to make these (super easy) DIY Seedling Cups.

Wrap It Green Ditch the non-recyclable shiny foil wrapping paper. My mom often wrapped our gifts in the comics section of the newspaper. Who knows, maybe that's why I like kids books so much. I also like using pieces of cloth scraps to wrap small gifts. Martha talks about how traditional wrapping of plants detracts from their "earthy beauty" here.

Gardening Bucket Make a Gardener's Bucket and enclose a copy or a quote from The Lorax:

"Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax 
and all of his friends 
may come back."

DIY Eco-Gifts For The Nature Lover on Your Holiday List

Do you know someone who needs to connect intimately with nature every day? Besides enjoying a healthy dose of the outdoors, what more could a nature lover need? While they are enjoying all of nature's beauty, they need to stay safe. Here are DIY gifts to keep your nature lover safe on the trail:

1. Create a walking map of the hikers destination with Google Earth and add a DIY compass to stay the course.

2. Knit a pair of hiking socks and fingerless gloves.

3. Put all your belongings in a DIY backpack. Here are instructions for making a cardboard backpack. It calls for a piece of folded cardboard, a few strips of wood, and a fabric strap.

4. Create a first-aid kit.

5. Everyone has their limitations, and it's good to have something to keep steady while walking. A good walking stick (or staff) can fend off an unstable disaster or maybe an unwanted critter. Did you know walking sticks have been proven to take a great deal of pressure off of the knees? Here's a tutorial to make one.