Need handmade gifts for cooks on your holiday list? Create these five crafty kitchen ingredients to give any cook this holiday season. We all know at least one person who loves to get in the kitchen and whip up delicious treats and meals. Instead of buying them a one-use gadget to take up more space in their kitchen, make some of these ingredients they can use in their next recipe. Here are five handmade ingredients that a cook would love to use....
Today on Crafting a Green World, we’re taking a look at MATTER, a socially-motivated business focusing on affordable luxury, thoughtful design, and provenance to create travel wear with stories to tell. Operating on the core values of pioneering engineering change and sustainability, MATTER operates from the belief that educating customers on provenance and the process of products will lead to better consumer choices in general, something that is fundamental to sustainable consumption and production....
T-shirts are my favorite craft supply! I live in a town with a couple of great Goodwills, so they’re also a pretty much inexhaustible craft supply for me. My favorite way to craft with T-shirts is to refashion them into yet more pieces of clothing. That way, I can wear even more T-shirts! Ready to get YOUR T-shirt craft on? Check out this list of T-shirt refashions for your next wearable sewing adventure: 1....
Thanks to the hard work by climate change deniers, a lot of the public still believes that climate change is a myth. Nevermind that we’ve had the hottest 6 months on record and arctic ice is retreating at an alarming rate. We need to raise awareness about global warming, and the National Wildlife Federation has teamed up with Deviant Art and several other environmental organizations to launch the CoolClimate Art Contest....
In last week’s post, Bubble Gum Machine Button Display, I shared that I am opening my own craft booth at a local antique/art shop. I’m sharing all of my eco-friendly display ideas, so here’s another one– upcycle small picture frames into price displays! What You Will Need: Small picture frames Neutral fabric or recycled paper Dry erase marker Scissors How To Do It: Cut your neutral fabric or recycled paper to the size of your picture frame....
Craftivism is about more than using your crafts to make a difference. Let’s take a look at the link between craft supplies and human rights. Today is Blog Action Day! All over the world today, writers in all sorts of different genres are talking about a single topic from their points of view. This year’s Blog Action Day topic is human rights, and I think this topic just ties so beautifully into the craftivism that we’ve been talking more about around here over the past couple of months....
Image courtesy of boxercab on Flickr
If you’ve never heard of the phenomenon known as “crayon candles,” then stop here, open a new tab, and Google it. Go ahead! Don’t be afraid! Just say, “OK, Google! What are crayon candles?” You’ll find that the tutorials that come up in the search results fall under two categories: tutorials that teach you how to make candles just using crayons and wicks, and tutorials that teach you how to use crayons as pigment in wax to make candles....
Creative Reuse Centers Creative Reuse Centers are typically non-profit ventures, and their mission is to divert potential art supplies from the landfill and make them accessible to artists and crafters. That can mean conventional things like paints and tape or less obvious art supplies like cabinet door samples and wine corks. They take donations from individuals and businesses, then sort everything, price it on the cheap, and make it available to the general public....
The pain beef I have with scrapbook is that there is so much to buy when you want to make just one page, let alone a whole book full. There’s all the papers (which often have printed on designs, done with chemical inks), the photos to print (more paper and ink), and all the little stamps, brads, stickers, and grommets. “If only I could make a scrapbook page and make it green,” I wondered… then, suddenly, the answer came to me....
That is the challenge set forth in Open Architecture Network’s contest: Discarded Dreams. With over 40 million mattresses discarded every year in the U.S., this challenge asks that over 80% of the mattress be reused. Careful consideration should be made to the mattress’ deconstruction, as the Open Architecture Network is looking for a way to divert these mattresses away from the landfill and into new life. This challenge might be out of the range of some crafters, but nonetheless, it got me to thinking about this very cool vest that I saw a while back....
Part of their mission states: Next » Shed from a boat Check out the old boats transformed into sheds. Next » Coat rack from forks How about the funky forks turned into a coat rack? This is one of my favorites. It can be purchased at Etsy. Next » VCR tapes into a coffee table Now here’s something that puts all those old VCR tapes to good use. They’ve been made into a coffee table!...
You Will Need: One large thrifted or kidnapped scarf Wide ribbon Stretch lace/Elastic (optional) Scissors Thread (that either matches your ribbon or is a fun contrasting color) Sewing machine or Olympic hand sewing skills Step One: Choosing– Find, beg, thrift, or steal a scarf that has a pattern you want to flaunt and is made of a comfortable fabric. Avoid overly crunchy polyester fabrics that feel like your 1984 taffeta holiday dress, and lean more towards soft cottons and silk....
That’s not exactly what I had in mind for the focus of this post though. Protests are a great example of craftivism that easily tips the scale to activism. After all, you can’t buy “Fuck the War” signs at Wal-Mart. Rudimentary as some displays may be, how is scrawling on a piece of paper and stapling it to a stick any less crafty then pulling loops of string through each other with a stick?...
Your chairs are ugly. Sorry–I should say that MY chairs are ugly, but if you wanted to make me feel better, you could tell me that your chairs are ugly, too. The point is, we all could use some DIY chair covers, right? You CAN have cute chairs, and you don’t have to buy them. If you’ve got some comfy flannel or fleece fabric in your stash, you can sew yourself some covers for those ugly chairs, DIY chair covers so cute that you’ll forget all about the paint-stained, spaghetti sauce-stained, marker-stained monstrosities that lie underneath them....
What You Will Need: Cardboard Scissors Low VOC spray paint A pencil or pen A ruler Hot glue/hot glue gun (optional) How To Do It: Measure the area where you will place your letters. This will help you determine the size of the letters. Like I mentioned before, I wanted to put the letters above my kitchen cabinets, so I measured above the cabinets to make sure the letters would fit....
For months I’ve been staring at my stash of plastic bottle caps – wondering what the heck am I going to do with those things. I’m not talking about the caps from water and drink bottles. Those are pretty easy to find uses for. I’m talking about the plastic tops that come on spray paints, laundry detergents and cooking sprays. I try very hard NOT to buy things with those types of tops because I know most are not recyclable....
This year I got a little creative and green with my gift-wrap ideas. Digging through my recycling pile I found many items that could easily stand in for the traditional store-bought supplies. Using alternative gift-wrap is great for the environment, super thrifty, and clever. Here are a few simple ideas you can try out this holiday season and year round: – Use cardboard cereal boxes to package t-shirts, scarves, and gloves....
Isn’t washi tape just beautiful? Japanese paper tape comes in all sorts of colors and patterns, but unfortunately it’s pretty expensive and it’s not the most eco-frienly craft supply, either. Don’t fret, though, green crafty peeps! With a little patience and just a few materials you can create your very own washi tape! Materials Double sided tape Junk mail, used wrapping paper scraps, or other paper rescued from your stash – I used tissue paper from a couple of gifts that I got at Christmas and for my birthday Iron and ironing board, optional Natural wax paper Scissors Paper clips...
But are you really using that hot glue gun to its maximum potential, or is it just wasting away, waiting for the next time that you need to stick an acorn cap to a peg doll’s head, or break your heart trying to make one of those impossible Pinterest wreaths? The fact is that you could be getting a lot more use out of that hot glue gun, and here’s why:...
