A couple of years ago, when I was still a newbie to Squidoo, I noticed a lens called How to Reuse Paper Rolls. I found it so useful I added it to my favorites. Time and time again I have gone back to this lens to look for toilet roll crafts I can share with my kids.

Yes, I am one of those people that just can’t throw the toilet rolls away. I save them for projects like the ones on this lens or I give them to my kid's teachers when they ask for donations like these to do crafts in their classrooms. Right now I have another bag full of Seventh Generation rolls to eco-craft with (I have a family of five so this happens) and my most recent use for some of these rolls was seedling pots. Which reminds me I need to water them…

So how useful is this lens and why do I like it? To start, the corny YouTube Video at the top of the lens is a perfect fit for this lens and it does bring up a good question, “What do you do with toilet paper rolls?” The rest of the YouTube videos on the lens are also a great fit for this lens and I love, really love, the toilet paper roll ornament idea on the last video. What a clever idea!

The next thing I noticed was the clever household tips for extending the vacuum cleaner with a paper towel roll and for keeping electrical cords organized. These tips are as eye opening, simple and practical as the first two. I am grateful for the crafty links that follow too. As a parent of three kids that love art, this is most useful.

I’m not at all surprised that this page has made Lens of the Day and more. If I had the power I would give it five green thumbs for being so Ecolicious. Even most of the products advertised on the page relate to the recycling theme.

The only thing I would like to see changed on this page is the introduction. It is not as fun, strange or unique as the rest of the lens. I’d like to see it improved to measure up to the rest of the lens, but besides that this lens is practical, eco-friendly and parent-friendly. We need more lenses like it. Hats off to a_willow for putting together all these great ideas into one place.

Visit: How To Reuse Paper Rolls
Image Credit: Necessity by kittytrishia

What do Van Morrison, Enya, and U2 have in common? I’m sure many of you guessed correctly that they are all Irish musicians who have been wildly successful internationally.

Traditional Irish music can be hauntingly sad, reflecting a troubled past that includes the potato famine and troubles in Northern Ireland, or rollicking and joyful. Irish musicians have much to sing about and they still do in pubs throughout the island, often in their original Gaelic language. I had the chance to visit Ireland a couple of years ago and loved the fact that the musicians would often casually sit at a table in the pub and play their music. One evening a lone accordion player had the whole pub entranced by his song. You could hear a pin drop in the room.

This traditional music exerts its influence on all Irish musicians, whatever their genre. And you can see this clearly at a wonderful page called Irish Music for St. Patricks’s Day by Richard aka Waxing-Lyrical, a Brit, now living in the United States. Richard writes about music on the Squidoo Music Blog at Crabbysbeach and his passion for music shines through his writing.

On this page he tells us about Irish musicians from many different genres, including rock (Thin Lizzy), pop (The Corrs) and folk music (The Chieftains). Each musician or band has achieved success well beyond Ireland’s shores. Richard calls it “a collection of some of the finest Irish musical artists that the Emerald Isle has to offer.” See and hear videos of Thin Lizzy singing “Whiskey in the Jar” or Celtic Women sing “Danny Boy.” Or how about the pop group The Corrs singing “Breathless” and U2, Ireland’s most famous rock band, singing “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” Richard has highlighted his write-ups on each musician or band beautifully with green rounded borders and a little shamrock.

I hope you have a happy and musical St. Patrick’s Day!

Visit: Irish Music for St. Patrick's Day

Image Credit: KRW Irish Music by KRWDesigns

Have you ever been blessed to be in the presence of a Southern Magnolia in full bloom? Those enormous white blooms open up beautifully to welcome you under its graceful yet sturdy sheltering branches. Its scent floats on the spring breeze and gives you a sense of comfort and home. No matter where you are in the southeastern United States, you will find these trees of wonder. They seem to live forever. Generations upon generations have enjoyed and beheld the glory of the Southern Magnolia.

Here in my own hometown of Jonesboro, GA, the home of Gone with the Wind, there are still hundreds of these magnificent beauties lining the yards of some of the oldest homes in the county. When you pass one of these homes and its tree-laden acreage, you are beholding the same scene that many generations past also witnessed. I can almost picture Scarlett and Rhett standing on the front lawn.

In the small town of Pendleton, SC there lives a Southern Magnolia by the name of Nancy Hellams aka ohme. When she speaks of her hometown as she often does, the love shines through as beautiful ray of light. You can feel the pride clear to your heart.

In the lens Southern Magnolia Tree, Nancy shows us her favorite Southern Magnolia, the tree she grew up seeing on her path to school. I will leave it to this wonderful lenmaster to tell you just how long ago that was.

The pictures she presents are so clear and so temptingly gorgeous; you can smell the blossoms and nearly reach for them. I can envision her sitting on Aunt PittyPats porch having lemonade and gingerbread on a warm summer afternoon with the breeze gently blowing. All the while those magnificent blossoms sway on the branches of a regal Southern Magnolia tree.

Can you see it?

Visit: Southern Magnolia Tree

Image Credit: Magnolia Blossom postage by ohmeakanancy