The fabrics, perfect for home decor, are bright, beautiful prints that are made from 100% organic cotton grown in the U.S. All of their fabrics are free from dangerous chemicals that often find their way into fabrics during the finishing process. And at $100 a yard, Mod Green Pod, seemed like just a pipe dream for many crafters looking for a green alternative. Well, these great fabrics just got a little closer to our sewing machines....
Most people don’t know about the US government’s plans to pass legislation that will allow leasing rights for oil drilling in the polar bear habitats of Alaska. Green non-profit Sierra Club has been working hard to raise awareness about this highly controversial plan that has been since buried to the back of most newspapers. The aforementioned legislation is up for vote next Wednesday, February 6th. As Valentine’s Day approaches, there is no better time to “show the world a bit of positivity through loving actions,” according to Renee Garner, founder of indie craft company Wolfie & the Sneak....
Handmade gifts are, of course, the best gifts, and Valentine’s Day is one more excuse for me to make something special for my loved ones. This Valentine’s Day, I’m giving my teenagers each this little gift created with their two favorite things in mind: sugar cereal and tiny notebooks! Here’s how to make your own tiny heart-shaped notebooks with cereal box covers and upcycled papers! You will need: upcycled cardboard....
We ALL have laundry to do (right now, probably…), but conventional store-bought laundry detergent, with its petrochemicals, optical brighteners, and synthetic fragrances, isn’t great for the environment OR your skin. And the super-fancy natural stuff? Well, it’s out of my price range, for the most part. Instead, I rely on my homemade laundry soap. It’s easy to make, the ingredients cost pennies per load (about three, give or take a penny), and it’s much healthier for your body and the environment than most store-bought laundry detergents....
Liquid watercolors are a versatile art supply that kids, especially, love to create with. If you’ve got a stash of dried-out markers lying around, you can make your own liquid watercolors for free, in the process breaking down those plastic markers for recycling and upcycling one of their most wasteful components. If you’ve read my tutorial on making DIY alcohol ink from dried-out markers, this process will sound familiar; the big difference is that since you’re using plain water for this project instead of rubbing alcohol, your kids can help!...
The zipper broke the first week I bought the bag and I’ve been using it without being able to close it for a long time. I was ready to part with it because the straps were too long and thin and it was awkward to carry. I didn’t feel right about donating a broken bag, so it’s been collecting dust and I desperately wanted to upcycle it into something useful....
And that’s okay! Maybe sometimes a plain old grey stone WANTS to be painted, you know? Painted stones make for a great kid craft, but adults can get in on the fun, too. All you need are some plain rocks, some craft or artist’s acrylic paints and paintbrushes, and eco-friendly sealant. When you’re done, you’ll have yourself a fine plant marker (which is what my kiddos are making in these particular photos), doorstop, lawn pretty, paperweight, or kid-made holiday gift....
Like I said in my How To: Recycled Paper Fall Wreath tutorial, I am so excited for fall! I saw this adorable jar project from Eighteeen25 on Pinterest a long time ago and tucked it away for the future. This week I pulled it out of the archives and made my own fall version! What You Will Need: Jars. I used small canning jars. Permanent marker One book page or other recycled paper...
I do get curious about some things, though, and the four antique mortise locks on the four doors in the original part of my house are among those curiosity-inspiring objects. Although their keys are long gone, their keyholes are delightfully Victorian, but all the exposed pieces, plus the equally interesting door hinges, are covered in several thick layers of sloppily-applied paint. I don’t have any kind of yearning to restore my wonky old house to its original condition, but it would be pretty cool to clean and refurbish just those antique door fixtures, just to see what they actually look like… So that’s what I did!...
Have a footstool, bench, or chair that needs a fresh, new look? Here’s how to reupholster a footstool or any removable cushion that could use a fabric upgrade. A few months ago, I found an adorable foot stool at a thrift store. I wanted to sell it at my craft booth, but the fabric was too dingy. It was time to face my reupholstering fears, and this foot stool was perfect for a beginner like me....
We got a great reader question about cassette tape knitting that I’ve been researching. Let’s take a look at how safe it is to craft with the tape part of old cassettes. We love alternative yarns around here! In fact, I shared a roundup on how to make (and where to buy) eco-friendly yarn just last fall. Conventional wool and acrylic yarns are not great for animals or for the planet....
This was a really easy project to do, and it took minimal sewing skills. I cut one of my shirts down one of the side seams, up till it reached the bottom of the sleeve. Then I cut it straight across, so I had a long, rectangular piece of fabric. From there I hemmed the sides that I had cut with a 1/8″ hem (but you could do 1/4″ or 1/2″), just to keep the caddy looking nice and clean....
Don’t you just love crafting with old maps? They add a beautiful sense of place and nostalgia to paper craft projects. Got some old maps handy but not sure what to do with them? We’ve got you covered with a few fun map craft projects! The trick to making these projects upcycled is choosing second-hand maps. If you head to the gas station or bookstore and buy brand new maps to craft with, you can still turn out a beautiful project, but it’s not an upcycled one....
Whatever your reasons, there’s no reason to necessarily shop at a big-box store’s web site; not only are there tons of sites for Fabulous Fabrics and Yearn-Worthy Yarns, there are loads of awesome craft stores, some selling supplies and some selling handmade goods, who would looooove to have your business: Found, in Ann Arbor, is a shop that I discovered while on a weekend trip to my daughter’s NICU reunion (long story–let’s just say that you don’t exactly WANT to go into labor six weeks early on the highway five hours from your home)....
I grabbed an ice pail and painted it orange and black for Halloween. I want to find some crafty Halloween paper designs to cut out to decoupage to the pail to dress it up a little more. I was thinking about wrapping it in scrap book paper but I had no Halloween colors or styles. But I think it turned out pretty good considering it started out as a plain white pail headed for the recycling bin....
Styrofoam is worrisome stuff. Its production is toxic, most recycling centers won’t take it, and it’s tough to come up with ideas to use it once it’s done. But don’t despair! We can flex our green crafty muscles and turn that old Styrofoam into something worth saving. Here are some Styrofoam projects that other folks have created to get you going! [Image Credit: Styrofoam Cup. Creative Commons photo by theroadhere]
The Stockmar sets had some interesting colors that I, myself, had never made, and we’d been needing more modeling beeswax for a while now but I hadn’t quite gotten in the mood to stir melted wax in a crockpot in this heat, and I was buying from this store, anyway, so if some truck is already going to drive something all the way across the country to me, then I might as well throw in a little something extra…these are the excuses that I use to talk myself into purchases that I don’t necessarily need....
I’m the crafty type, and so when I cook, I like to have plenty of room to play with my food. Exacting recipes don’t fit the bill here; instead, I like a recipe that gives me ample scope for imagination, with lots of places to make mods without messing my food up. Such is the range of possibilities with this chocolate bark recipe from Raw Manda. Yes, the recipe is raw and vegan, which are both bonuses (and the basic one that she lays out here includes pomegranates, so yay!...
As of May 15th, this bill was voted out of Senate Committee on the Judiciary and placed on the full Senate’s intent calendar. That means that the entire Senate will be involved in making the next decision about whether this bill will move forward. You can follow the progress of the bill, as well as media coverage of it, at its page on Open Congress or on its official bill status page on the Library of Congress website....
You might think that this is a Christmas project–they are ornaments, after all–but for one thing, my girls and I were waaaay too busy before Christmas making presents and the really uber-Christmassy projects (made-from-scratch gingerbread house, anyone?) to have time for something festive but not necessarily thematic. And for another thing, our part of the midwest doesn’t start to get really cold, like weeks at a time below freezing cold, until after the new year, and for this project, you want a consistent few days under freezing to enjoy your work....
