How to make beautiful bows from bolts of ribbon was demonstrated by Janet Bolin, a master gardener. Working here on their bows are from the left, Ruth Durst, Juanita French and Lela Windon.
Extension assistant Debbie Watson talks about trimming a tree with discards. Painted plastic bottles are used to decorate the tree which is toppled with painted crumbled newspapers.
Demonstrating how to make bamboo wind chimes from low-cost materials was Hal Kneen. Shown working on the project are Patty Smith, left, and Jackie Graham.
4-H Extension Agent Michelle Stumbo gives a hand to Carolyn Grueser in making a bow from strips of colorful paper. Others working on bows Karen Hawley and Paula Woods.
POMEROY — ‘Tis the season to be jolly and it really can be even in this sluggish economy if you learn to reuse, repurpose, and recycle things into home decorations and gifts to give.
That was an emphasis of the holiday workshops hosted by the Meigs County Extension Office this week where the theme was “Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle Through the Holidays.” Sessions ranged from magic tips for using leftover food, to decorations created from discards, to beautiful new bows from last year’s ribbon, to attractive scarves from old t-shirts for gift giving.
A volume of make-do ways to cut the cost of Christmas giving was presented in a two-session program by the Extension Service personnel, Hal Kneen, Education Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources for Meigs and Athens County; Michelle Stumbo, 4-H and Youth Development Educator; and Debbie Watson, office assistant; and Janet Bolin who represented the the Meigs County Master Gardeners.
The emphasis was on options to use what you have in creative ways to satisfy a need at a minimal cost. For example, a Christmas tree can be attractively decorated with empty plastic beverage bottles spray painted and artfully decorated or not, with a top of crumpled newspaper in a bright color. Small gift boxes can be made from pieces of cardboard and decorated with pictures from last year’s Christmas cards.
Ways of making old new again were given by the presenters who suggested keeping your eyes open for trash that can be turned into useful and/or decorative items around the house.
Suggestions included using plastic bottles and scraps of wood to make bird feeders, applying cutouts from old calendars to turn plain boxes into something elegant for gifts, and filling used candle containers with new wax to make new again.
Kneen taught those attending the workshops the skill of making wind chimes from pieces of bamboo at little or no cost, while Stumbo gave tips on creating colorful bows out of strips of paper, and small gift boxes out of cardboard scraps decorated with pictures clipped from last year’s Christmas cards. Watson showed ways of recycling discards into something useful, and Bolin taught the art of bow making.
Tips were given on how to make your own cleaning supplies and couponing to stretch your food dollars, along with recipes for the use of leftovers.
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