Personalised Mug Project

Why does tea and coffee always taste better out of your favourite mug?

Drinking tea or coffee is often a very ritualistic exercise and people become quiet addicted to the way they make it. Black, no sugar. Weak, lots of milk. Honey instead of sugar. Herbal, decaf and never instant - only filter. Whichever way you make it, you genuinely think it tastes better out of a particular cup.

So why not have the perfect cup?

Image: Lemonade Makin' Mamma

Breakfast Tray Project

When life gives you lemons - you make lemonade. Right?

Image: Family Chic

This thought has been rattling around in my head every since my last post about re-purposed wood crates.

The issue I raised at the time in that post was the quality of the wood crates here in Ireland.
It's not really a case of easily picking up 'rustic wood crates salvaged from apple orchards in France' but a bit more of a 'scavenging in the bins behind Tesco' sort of deal.

Shabby Chic indeed!

But as the saying goes, when life gives you lemons - you make lemonade.
So, get yourself down to the famous Moore Street Dublin's oldest open air fruit and vegetable market.

Image: Marek Ślusarczyk

Where I'm sure you'll be able to pick up some better class of fruit crates and try out this project for a breakfast tray that I found over on Family Chic

Image: Family Chic

On the site Camilla Fabbri has come up with the best way to reuse these type of wood crates. All you need is some blackboard paint, some sanding paper and chalk and a few hours of paint drying.

Image: Family Chic

Lightly sand the crate and then paint the outside with blackboard paint. You can add a little message to the side of the tray with a little chalk.



Camilla has also come up with no less than 5 different ideas to reuse these crates.

1. The breakfast tray (above)
2. A garden planter

Image: Family Chic

3. Place names for the dinner table

Image: Family Chic

Camilla goes on to show a 'how-to' with a series of photos and instructions.

Image: Family Chic

Use a set of pliers to remove any staples from the box.

Image: Family Chic

Sand down the edges and paint the largest edge of the triangular post with blackboard paint.
Let it dry and write the name with chalk.

Image: Family Chic

4. Gift tag

Image: Family Chic

Image: Family Chic

Cut an end panel in half, sand the edges and paint a few coats of blackboard paint.




Next, Drill 2 small holes in the top corners and thread some twine or string through it.J





And finally,
5. A fun puzzle for the kids

Image: Family Chic

Cut up the left over panels, cover with a few coats of blackboard paint and scribble a sentence over different pieces and get the kids to arrange them in order.

I love the fact that nothing has been wasted in the recycling of this crate.

If you do find yourself scourging the stalls of Moore Street asking for discarded crates - keep your eye open for The Paris Bakery the 1st French Bakery in Dublin.

Image: Paris Baker and Pastry Ltd

Image: Paris Baker and Pastry Ltd

Pop in - get some croissants or some Italian sourdough and think about giving that special someone a surprise breakfast in bed.

You see, even at the weekend, in our house, it's not very often that you get to hit the snooze button a couple of times before gradually getting up and leisurely making breakfast as you gently ease into the day.

No, that's not our house.

Unfortunately there is no snooze button on a child who wants breakfast.

Ground Coffee Project.

I'm going to admit something here. On these very pages.

You may not like it. You may have a problem with it. But it's how I feel and ..well, the World just better get used to it.

Here it is...

I prefer Instant Coffee to Real Coffee.

There! I've said it. Wow. What a weight off my shoulders.

Now, "apparently" there are those of you out there who prefer your Real coffee.
With your illy, your Marcilla, your Italian Roast, your Full Bodied Colombian, your Gourmet French and of course your fairtrade Nicaraguan Blend.

Now most of you have 2 or 3 cups of Coffee a day. That's a lot of used coffee grinds that go into the trash.

Here's a simple Top Ten List of ideas that you can do with those used Coffee Grounds.

1. Mix the grounds with water to provide your houseplants with an "energized" drink. Plants need the nutrients found in coffee grounds, including nitrogen and potassium, both common ingredients in store-bought fertilizer. Using organic grounds will provide a healthier and happier plant environment!

2. Sprinkle used grounds on your outdoor plants.

3. Sprinkle a ring of used grounds around a tree or plantings to deter ants.

4. Use slightly damp grounds on icy steps and sidewalks. The grounds stick to the ice, creating a safer walking surface.

5. Pour a few grounds down your drains to gently scrape the sides of the pipes. Do not use if pipes are already slow draining or clogged.

6. Use to scrub gunk off surfaces such as grills and greasy pans. Use wet or dry grounds.

7. Keep a container of dried coffee grounds in a shaker near the kitchen sink. Use to scrub strong odors such as fish, garlic and onion, from your hands.

8. Wet your face and scrub with one tablespoon coffee grounds. This is a gentle exfoliating wash for your face.

9. Use steeped grounds and a cotton swab to touch up furniture scratches.

10. Coffee grounds are a great addition to any compost pile. Just throw them into your compost bin, filter and all.


As a side note - the image at the top comes from Lokesh Dhaka who is a designer and web developer living in Baltimore. If you like the Chart you can purchase some T-Shirts & Mugs with his illustration.