Tag Archives: DIY

Watch Love Grow on Mother’s Day

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. The U.S. wears a mask of western wealth, but hunger and poverty are still a reality for many communities in the Arkansas Delta and Appalachia. Heifer International is making a difference in our own backyard with the Seeds of Change project.

On Mother’s Day, you can make a difference too. Heifer’s Gift Catalog offers ideas that will impact mothers worldwide and create positive, lasting change. And to present your mom with this alternative gift, make a Mother’s Day card that will let her watch love grow.

Flower Pot Card
Photo credit: karewares.blogspot.com

How to make a growing flower pot card.

What you need:

Follow these steps:

  1. Cut out the flower pot from the printable template.
  2. Once your seed paper is ready, cut out four flowers that are one inch smaller than the width of the flower pot.
  3. Write a message on the first three flowers like “I love you,” or “World’s Best Mom.” (One word on each flower.)
  4. Glue the photo to the fourth flower.
  5. Cut out grass to place at the top of the flower pot, or use the grass template.
  6. Cut a piece of yarn long enough to place all four flowers on its length.
  7. In order of your message, glue (tape or staple) the flowers to the yarn; leaving a small tab at the top to pull the flowers out of the pot when finished.
  8. Glue the bottom of the yarn to the inside bottom of the flower pot.
  9. Glue the flower pot template together, let dry.
  10. Write “Happy Mother’s Day” on the front of the flower pot.

Once you are done, insert the flowers and yarn into the flower pot. When you pull on the yarn tab, the flowers will come out revealing your message and lastly, your photo. Make sure Mom plants her seed paper flowers so she can watch love grow from her Mother’s Day card. Simply place the seed paper flowers into raked ground, cover with about half an inch of soil and keep moist. Germination should take about six to eight weeks.

Learn how Heifer is growing Seeds of Change.

Make a Rice Heating Pad to Soothe Your Aches

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Rice Hot Pad

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom.

Rice Feeds the World

As one of the most widely consumed staple foods for many parts of the world, rice is incredibly important. The many varieties of this plant are grown all over the world and are vital to the food security of more than half of the world’s population. China and India account for nearly half the world’s rice production, according to a 2003 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Farmers in developing countries grow 95 percent of the world’s rice, and most rice is produced by smallholder farmers who own less than two and a half acres of land.

Water Buffaloes Help

Rice feeds the world, and water buffaloes help. These domesticated giants play a key role in families’ agricultural success. With the help of water buffaloes, farmers can plant up to five times more crops than they could by hand. These greater yields translate into more food, more income and more security.

In addition to working as draft animals, water buffaloes produce manure. A lot of it. The six tons a year that an adult water buffalo can create fertilize farm land. For families with a biogas stove, the methane gas can run stoves and eliminate the need for wood-burning stoves, which can lead to deforestation and smoke inhalation that can induce respiratory aliments.

If water buffaloes didn’t already help out farmers enough, the nutrient-rich milk they provide can improve children’s nutrition.

Rice can be used for a number of things around the house. In addition to the obvious use, as food, you can use it to a rice heating pad. The rice version is cord-free, low cost and reusable. You can heat these pads up in the microwave or alternatively cool them off in the freezer and apply them to soothe your aches.

Materials to make a rice heating pad:

  • Rice
  • A tube sock or baby pillow
  • Needle and thread
  • Dried lavender sprigs
  • Funnel (optional)

Determine what will form your pad. You can use a tube sock, baby pillow or sew your own pattern. There should be one open side to your pad. Pour the uncooked rice into the pad. Drop in a few sprigs of dried lavender if you wish. This addition will release a relaxing smell when heated, adding a little aromatherapy to the mix.

Rice Hot Pad

Photo courtesy of Coffeebreakwithlizandkate.com

Make sure not to fill the pad to the brim. You want to leave some space in the bag for the rice to move around so the pad can comfortably contour around your body. Next, sew the open end shut. Make sure you create a strong seam. You want to make it sturdy enough that rice won’t be able to slip through.

When you use it as a heating pad, don’t leave it in the microwave for longer than three minutes, and stay in the room. You don’t want it to overheat and start to smoke.

For more details about how to make a rice heating pad, read this article.

Give the gift of a water buffalo today, or check out our entire Gift Catalog.

 

How to Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. 

How to Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Food coloring can dye protein-based fibers like alpaca and llama wool. Dying bare yarn is a great way to customize your yarn for knitting and crafting projects. Food coloring is a relatively inexpensive and non-toxic way to color your yarn.

More about Llamas and Alpacas

Llamas and alpacas serve a myriad of purposes for South American families. These domesticated animals are suited for conditions in the Andes and provide a sustainable source of income for their owners. Their wool, prized for its thickness and warmth, is woven into an array of handicrafts, such as scarves, ropes, hats, bags and blankets.These hardy creatures work as pack animals, carrying up to 30 percent of their body weight. Their feet, which have thickly padded undersides like a dog’s foot, don’t damage the delicate high-altitude topsoil and vegetation of the Andes, and their droppings enrich the soil.

Dye Yarn with Food Coloring

Photo courtesy of Knitpicks.com

Materials:

  • Bare yarn
  • A large pot
  • Water
  • Vinegar
  • Food coloring
  • Stove top
  • Rubber gloves
  • Large spoon to stir

Begin by creating a water-vinegar dye bath by adding 1/4 cup of vinegar to the mix for every quart of water. Soak the yarn in the mixture for half an hour.

Remove the yarn from the mixture and place in a plastic bowl. Next, heat the water-vinegar mixture until it begins to boil. Pour in dye. You will use more than you think you need because it will be dispersed through the water.

Add the yarn to pot again. Let it simmer until the yarn has absorbed the color in the dye bath. When this happens, turn off the heat and let the water return to room temperature. After the bath has cooled, remove the yarn. Wring out the extra water and rinse the yarn with cool water, letting the extra dye run off.

Hang your yarn to dry. A sweater or a clothesline works great, just make sure the yarn isn’t bunched up.

Heifer Peru is improving lives by working on a biodiversity project with alpacas. Heifer’s Alpaca Biodiversity in High Andean Communities project participants are working to improve and reestablish the value and breeding of colored alpacas. Read how the biodiversity project is helping Lucio’s family in Peru. For more project details, see this World Ark article.

For more details about dying yarn, read this article.

Give the gift of a llama and provide a Peruvian family with a sustainable income.

Make Beeswax Hand Cream

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Beeswax

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. We have begun mailing our Gift Catalog for this year’s holiday season and will be featuring activities that highlight the items available.

In addition to making honey and beeswax, honeybees, a major pollinator in ecosystems that contain flowering plants, play a critical role in the human food supply. A third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants. And these little creatures do an estimated 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

Heifer has projects using bees to increase yields for coffee farmers in Guatemala. They pollinate the coffee, meaning more profits for the farmers, who sell the honey too.

The brisk winter weather removes moisture from everything leading to chapped lips and hands. Don’t let winter get the best of your skin. This homemade beeswax hand cream will moisturize skin and provide a fun activity to do with children during their holiday break.

Beeswax

Photo courtesy of eveoutofthegarden.com

Materials

  • 4 ounces sweet almond oil
  • 1 ounce beeswax
  • 2 ounces water
  • 8 drops Vitamin E
  • 8 drops essential oil
  • Glass bowl
  • Large pot
  • Water

Place the beeswax in the glass bowl and put the bowl in the pot. Pour water into the pot, filling until it reaches about half way up the bowl. Don’t let the water get into the glass bowl; you just want there to be enough to warm up the wax. Turn the temperature on to medium. Add the almond oil.

Remove from heat and add 2 ounces of water and remaining ingredients, slowly stirring continuously. Pour into a small glass container. It’s important to pour the mixture out before it cools enough to where it’s too thick to pour.

For more beeswax recipes, read this article.

To learn more about how Heifer families are using bees to increase their yields, click here.

Give the gift of honeybees to families in need.

Still don’t know what to give someone this holiday season? Browse our catalog and find out how you can help.