Gone are the days when you're average glue came straight from poor old horses at the knackers' yard (though many still aren't vegan). If you'd like to ensure you're using a natural and animal-friendly adhesive you can make a safe, sticky and non-toxic solution yourself, the best solution is making your own -- using ingredients you'll find in your fridge.

Writer, artist and musician Summer Pierre has drawn up a lovely, illustrated tutorial on making your own glue from milk and other simple ingredients including our old friend, versatile vinegar. Why not make a few vats before the school holidays begin? It's dead easy.

Follow the jump for the tutorial

Related: How to make your own dish 'scrubbies' | 20 things you can re-use instead of chucking | How to make your own shoes

Emily Tan writes: Believe or not, this gorgeous notebook is handmade from a recycled tea tin. This incredible tutorial on WiseArts has images to guide you every step of the way (and that's just how I like it). The best part is, the tute can be adopted to suit almost any tin to create exotc, retro, or kitsch notebook covers - all you need is the empty tin and a biiiiig hammer.

Via Craftzine | CraftyCrafty

Related Posts: How to make recycled newspaper beads | Decorate your home with vintage and recycled tiles

These knitted dish 'scrubbies' caught my eye over on Berlin's Whimsy, where there's a well-illustrated tutorial on how to knit your own.

Far better for the environment than a disposable sponge (and much prettier too), you'll be itching to get the washing up done once you've made a scrubbie! For materials, you'll need cotton worsted weight yarn, some tulle and the cardboard from a paper towel roll. [Via Craft]

In the UK alone, we throw away a shocking 3.6m tonnes of food every year. We're terrible at keeping our food fresh (particularly salads and bread, it seems) so anything that encourages sensible food storage can only be a good thing.

This simple pattern makes a pretty pouch that will keep your sarnies fresh as you travel to work or school. For kids' lunch boxes you may want to vary the choice of fabric depending on those crucial factors like gender, prefered colours, favourite TV show etc. But the basic design is very easy to follow, even for beginners. You'll need some vinyl coated fabric for the inside, too. [Via Crafty Crafty]

Re-using is all the rage, and tons better for the environment than recycling, so here's a fun idea for turning old jeans into aprons. What I especially like about these aprons is they're useful, but not too girly-looking; the little bird motif is entirely optional, but I happen to find it quite cute!

We've all got an old pair of jeans lying around somewhere that's either gone out of style or no longer fits us (and if not, charity shops and thrift stores can't get rid of the things). So take some scissors to your old denim and get stitching, with this easy to follow pattern. You'll have a functional, attractive apron that'll be ready just in time for National Apron Day on May 12th! [via Crafty Crafty]

Related: 20 things you can use twice before chucking

We throw away so many things without a second's thought that we often miss great possibilities for re-using them, often in really inventive ways. Here's a handy list of ideas that give a new lease of life to all manner of things that are normally seen as 'junk'. After reading these suggestions you'll probably feel guilty about having to throw anything away ever again. Feel free to tell us your own!

1. Dry Cleaning Bags: Use to pack suits, dresses and other glad-rags when travelling; this will help protect it from wrinkles when packing. When storing the bags make sure to keep them safely out of reach of children, as they really are that dangerous.

2. Butter Wrappers: Once you've removed a block of butter from its wrapping, place the wrapping in a plastic container or bag and refrigerate. Use it to grease baking pans - very useful when you run out of foil!

3. Business Cards: Use the other side to label storage boxes and tubs and tape to the outside of the lid or side so you can see at a glance what the container is holding.

Follow the jump for more tips!

[Via Tipnut]

Bras are tricky old objects to recycle, one might think. All those weird fibres and wiring have got to be a pain to dispose of cleanly. But help is at hand, thanks to an Oxfam project that every green goddess should know about.

Bras, it turns out, are one of the most in-demand items in third world countries, so it might be time to rethink that once-every-five-years undie drawer cleanout! Read on for details on what you need to do

If you've dreamed of owning a Voltaic solar bag but can't afford the price tag, fear not: it's amazingly simple to make your own. All you'll need is one of Freeloader's fantastically flexible new 'supercharger' solar panels (£19.99 at Maplin), a spare freeloader battery, a mini USB cable, a relevant gadget adaptor and an old rucksack, bicycle pannier or bag of your choice. The total cost is £40; less than half that of the cheapest Voltaic backpack!

Full instructions are available here.

It's easy to forget that just like ovens and other appliances that make heat, fridge-freezes consume a vast amount of energy. In fact, it's the most electricity-guzzling item in most kitchens. Here are a few tips for making sure your fridge runs efficiently, keeping your kitchen's carbon footprint to a minimum.

1. Never place hot food in the fridge
Putting hot dishes straight into the fridge is the quickest way to put it into overdrive, using up more energy than you really need. Wait for food to cool naturally before chilling it.

2. Don't pay too many visits to the fridge
A good one for your waistline, too! Opening the fridge door too often will mess up its cooling system and mean that it has to work extra hard to allow for all the heat you're letting in. Try to take out everything you need in one go, and put everything back at the same time. Admittedly a difficult one if you've got teenagers in the house, but remember you can always put drinks and other non-perishable items in a cool box to keep them chilled for an evening or so.

Follow the jump for more fridge-greening tips!

Unless we take dramatic steps now, our kids will have a lot more on their plates when it comes to curbing climate change than we do now. So, many parents are working on the basis that it's good to start 'em young.

I've collected together a few resources for parents of young children who'd like to keep their family's carbon footprint as small as possible. Eco-friendly kids is a fantastic site with loads of advice and activities, and is well worth a look. Or for a quick tutorial on green parenting, follow the jump for our brief guide to 'growing green kids'.

More often than not, a happy side-effect of adopting a more eco-friendly lifestyle is that it saves you money. But what about those instances where the green choice is also the pricier option?

We all know that organic, fairtrade and hand-made items are all more expensive than their more mass produced counterparts, and when it comes to holidays, flying is often the cheapest way to travel, even within the UK. If things are really tight, you might want to opt for 'budget' products sold in supermarkets, including cheaply produced meat. Suddenly, those penny-pinching schemes begin to look a lot less green...

We've compiled a list of ways you can save money while based on our own hectic lives. Read on to find out why frugality really is the greenest option when you put your mind to it.

With all the scaremongering around CFL bulbs and health, I'm often surprised at how many people don't know the correct way to dispose of CFL bulbs, or deal with broken ones. The procedure is pretty simple, and the chances of anything going horribly wrong virtually zero. So here's a quick reminder on what to do in case of breakage.

The official DEFRA guideline on this matter states that 'although the accidental breakage of a lamp is most unlikely to cause any health problems, it's good practice to minimise any unnecessary exposure to mercury, as well as risk of cuts from glass fragments.' Follow the jump for full instructions on how do go about this.

Related: Are you OK with low energy lightbulbs?

If you've got a composting bin sitting in your kitchen, you probably have to order regular refills of bokashi to keep it working away on that waste. How would you like to be able to make your own, cutting down on cost and carbon miles? This little video explains how it's really very simple.

[Via Kitchen Garden Foods]

As anyone who's ever been a child will know, headlice (or 'nits') are a fact of life that will never go away, probably.

You'll also remember just how vile and pungent that ointment used to treat the problem was. I know I hated it -- which is why I've decided to share with you a remedy you can make yourself for treating headlice. So if you have children and don't want to subject them to those chemical fumes next time the nit nurse comes a-calling, I'm told that this home made cure from Little Green Blog really does work. Here's what you'll need:

Home headlice treatment:
10 mls of neem oil
90 mls of sesame oil
20 drops each of rosemary, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, bergamot and geranium essential oils.

Follow the jump for instructions on how to use.

Today I found a pattern for making the easiest ever shopping tote bag, so if you don't have one of these already, I suggest you follow the link and give this a try.

An estimated 500 million to 1 trillion plastic bags are used and discarded worldwide, so pick up your needles and do your bit for this global problem. Why not make yours even more eco-friendly by picking some really funky vintage fabric? An Ebay search will quickly bring up some great selections, such as this one here -- simply order a design you like, whip up the bag, and end up with a unique item that'll be the envy of all your friends! Follow the jump to find out what you'll need...