What You Will Need: Recycled felt. You can also felt an old sweater if you have one on hand. Scissors A safety pin or button and thread How To Do It: Cut your recycled felt into a long rectangle. Make sure you make it long enough to fit loosely around your dog’s neck. If you plan on adding a button to the scarf, leave even more room to fasten the button together at the ends....
Need some sturdy plant markers this year? Need them to be cute? Need them to be free? These wire hanger and found object plant markers are sturdy enough to stand up to several seasons of use in your garden. Made from things like broken pottery, pretty rocks, and all sorts of little embellishments, they’re as cute as you want to make them. And since you can make these entirely from your stash, they are entirely free!...
I know we do. We tried for a low-key, handmade, natural materials little celebration, and we’ve STILL got the packaging for a couple of chocolate bunnies, some marshmallow Peeps that nobody wants to eat (they taste gritty!), and about a gazillion egg cartons and eggshells to deal with. If you’ve got anything left over, chances are that some other people do, too, and chances are that somebody has thought of SOMETHING awesome to do with all that trash....
The simple 3Rs Stamp from Maggie Hallam covers all the bases. A close friend of her always reuses envelopes and requested Maggie design a stamp for her. I really like this hand-carved recycling stamp by Studio Mo. What a cute way to let your customers know they can recycle the packaging you send them. Studio Mo also makes great pinback buttons with a variety of earth friendly messages. They would be a nice freebie to throw in your packages....
Kids can support the Rainforest while showing off their creative talents! The Rainforest Foundation will feature 12 Grand Prize winners in the 2012 Rainforest Foundation wall calendar. Kids in grades K-12 are eligible to enter the art contest by submitting one work of art depicting the child’s vision of the rainforest and the need for rainforest conservation. Eight finalists will be chosen in three categories: grades K-5, grades 6-9, and grades 10-12....
Tina Bossy, the mastermind behind Green Depot, started her first business Bossy Baby about 6 years ago. Bossy Baby is an eco-responsible children’s clothing label featuring organic cotton and vintage fabrics. With a 15 year history designing children’s clothing and access to fabric suppliers, Tina has decided to dabble into the textile world. Green Depot has been open less than 3 weeks, but is already generating sales and a small following on Etsy....
This line of green fabric is organic, sustainable and uses low-impact dyes. The company recognizes that it is just the beginning of their journey into eco-friendly but their commitment to greener fabrics extends beyond production and procurement and into the office itself. The company is taking steps “to reduce paper waste, recycle and conserve energy.” The GreenSTYLE line offers up many different fabrics including a nice selection of canvas, Linen and organic cotton....
Sometimes you just need an easy-breezy Halloween craft to get you into the spirit. I know I can get a little overwhelmed this time of year. I want to make, cook and craft absolutely EVERYTHING I see on Facebook, Pinterest and Crafting A Green World. This recycled mummy jar helped ease me into the holiday because it’s simple, yet spooky-cute. Give it a try! What You Need Clean jar Black paper Tape Scissors Googly eyes Gauze...
Andrea, the creative woman behind Kits and Caboodles uses a variety of paper sources to make her eco embellishments and other craft goods. She is a huge supporter of reduce, reuse, and recycle. Her creative product packiging made from found and repurposed materials is just the start. I love the Eco Daisies (shown above) made from repurposed pages of a Paper Source catalog. Each is accented with a vintage button....
If you want to have a totally handmade holiday, now is the time to get started. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be posting about recycled gifts and giftwrap you can make yourself and great handmade finds for sale! A personalized collage is a great gift for family or maybe your best pal! Hero Arts has a great video tutorial on making beautiful collages. We’ve got the video and tips for turning this into a green craft project after the cut!...
I found three cute tutorials for Christmas crafts that will make great last minute decorations or presents. 1. Mittens The mitten ornaments are a lovely idea. You can either follow her instructions and sew your own or you can round up a bunch of mismatched mittens that you may have tucked away and create fun holiday decorations with them. With three kids, I have plenty of mismatched mittens and tiny gloves....
Need some puffy paint for your paper crafting but don’t want to spring for the possibly toxic store-bought stuff? Make your own at home! Puffy paint is so much fun to use and gives your paper crafting a fun extra dimension. In the video below, Dazzle DIY shows you how to make puffy paint from scratch. She also created a video tutorial that uses her homemade puffy paint, and that is below toe puffy paint how-to....
Our poor old crayons have a hard life with us. Just this week alone my daughters made recycled crayons in skull and LEGO silicone molds for a birthday gift, got out the power tools to experiment with drilling on some big crayons, and used up all the candles in the house making encaustic art with crayons. As the three of us sat at our big living room table, the kiddos melting crayons all over artist’s canvas, me working on an altered book for an anniversary present for my husband, I took a second look at their pools of molten wax and my little clay stamps, and all of a sudden I had another recycled embellishment for my book....
What You Will Need: Magazine pages. I tried to find ones that were red or blue. Tape Scissors How To Do It: Roll up your magazine page. Make sure you roll it up with the color you want on the outside. Also, be careful not to roll it too loosely. Once you have it rolled up, secure it with tape on one end. On the end without tape, stick your scissors into the end of your “roll” and cut the pages into little sections....
A drawstring backpack is a quick and easy solution to the kind of grab-and-go storage needs that a person has when she has lots of extracurriculars. Say you’ve got aerial silks on Mondays, horseback riding on Tuesdays, ice skating on Fridays, and ballet on Saturdays. If you DO have all that, by the way, then your mother is a saint. Just saying. Anyway, when you’ve got stuff that you just need to grab so that you can get going, then a drawstring backpack serves as a convenient vessel for both carrying and storage....
No, I don’t go to that candle store in the mall, nor do I want to be part of your Scentsy pyramid scheme. I have enough candles in my house to ride out any Indiana storm. I have enough candles in my bedroom to set the mood for every romantic evening all year. My candles don’t smell like chocolate chip cookies or pine forests, but they do smell lightly sweet, like honey, and they don’t release smoke, suet, or any toxins at all, because they’re made simply, from beeswax, candle wicking, and upcycled bottles cut to size....
I bet you’re planning to dye some Easter eggs this week. And you’ve probably got an Easter egg hunt (or two) on your list. But here’s a crunchy craft that’s totally worth your time – cascarones! Also known as confetti eggs, these little jewels are a Mexican tradition that’ll get the kiddos super excited – mostly because you get to bonk the eggs over someone’s head and watch confetti (or a fabulous eco-friendly alternative) pour all over them....
Let your kid make herself her very own bug barn using this simple tutorial. Supplies: All she’ll need is a hand-me-down Mason jar, lid, and ring (this is a great way to get rid of your sub-par canning supplies. Mason jar perhaps has a little chip? Ring has a dent in it? Lid got a little rusty? Pass ’em on to the kid!); a hammer, and a nail. Have the kid screw the lid and ring onto the Mason jar....
“Heck, yeah!” I thought to myself. Along with the article, in which the woman talked of the beauty of vintage items, and the eco-friendly aspects of working with found materials, were numerous photos of her home. A cute metal toy truck held tableware, an old cupboard was transformed into a bookshelf and an antique shelf, its paint cracking in the typical pattern that lead paint makes, held her baby’s diapers next to the changing table....
Sustainable denim made from organic cotton and using vegetable dyes have gained an immense following in just a short time on the market. Of course, if you take the other eco-shopping route and visit vintage and second-hand stores, you will find rows and rows of jeans that have been tossed aside (most likely because they don’t fit anymore). Even after a stint in the pen, Martha Stewart is still as popular as ever....
