If you like the feel of spray starch, you’ll love being able to make this quick, easy, and eco-friendly version. Here’s how to make spray starch at home! I sew a lot of jersey knit fabric, and it’s much easier to sew a skirt from an upcycled T-shirt when the T-shirt fabric doesn’t curl up all fiddly-like. Spray starch is the solution for lightly, naturally, temporarily (and cheaply!) stiffening knit fabrics while you sew them....
If you’re new to converting conventional recipes to vegan ones, replacing buttermilk can seem like a challenge. It totally isn’t! You only need two ingredients to make your own. Here’s how to make vegan buttermilk in seconds, no exaggeration. Calling this a recipe really overstates what you’re doing here. It’s more of a stirring. For years, when I was making my own buttermilk, I’d mix the ingredients, then dutifully let them sit for 10 minutes or so, while the milk curdled like proper buttermilk....
That silky green fabric is some kind of godawful acrylic that my kid found when shopping for new bedroom curtains a few years ago, and I pieced the scraps liberally into her quilt to remind her of home. But it looks like a .25″ seam and regular stitching wasn’t enough to keep the top and bottom edges from separating, dang it. It turns out that I don’t necessarily have to mend a quilt, per se, as much as I have to mend this gosh-darn cussedy-cuss cuss fabric....
How would you like to paint with crayons? Encaustic painting is loads of fun, and you can use it to achieve a lot of really cool effects, but unless you want to shell out for a pricey encaustic painting set-up, then your techniques are limited: You can drip crayons onto canvas using a candle as the heat source. You can drip crayons down an angled canvas using a blow dryer as the heat source....
You can do this project on a picnic table of any age. If your picnic table is old and care-worn, replace any rotten wood and sand the other surfaces down to clean boards, first. If your picnic table is brand-new, you can paint right onto the unfinished wood. Supplies & Tools Either way, you’ll need the following supplies: Water-based outdoor primer. Water-based outdoor paint. Avoid oil-based paint, which generally has more VOCs than water-based paint, and requires paint thinner to clean up....
If a dual flush toilet is either out of your price range as a homeowner or out of the question as a renter, you can actually convert your existing toilet to dual flush with a handy device that’s easy to install! With droughts like the one that is plaguing California becoming more and more commonplace and water prices getting higher all the time, a dual flush toilet might feel like a good investment right about now....
I’ve been upcharged for mailing a square envelope. I’ve been upcharged for mailing an envelope with the address written in portrait rather than landscape format. I’ve been upcharged for making my envelope out of super stiff upcycled cardboard. I’ve been upcharged for putting handmade pinbacks or other fun treats in my envelopes so that they’re uneven. You CAN mail handmade envelopes through the US postal system without paying extra, and you CAN even be a “little” creative with them!...
It’s super simple to get into kombucha brewing, which is awesome because the store bought sort can be super expensive. When you brew kombucha, you’re basically hopping up a colony of healthy bacteria with sugar and caffeine. All you need to whip up a batch of your own kombucha tea are sugar, black or green tea bags, and a SCOBY. Kombucha tea is full of health benefits. This fermented food has lots of “good” bacterial, sort of like you’d find in yogurt, which is excellent for digestion....
Now it is not the whole line of Liquid Nails products that are now GREENGUARD certified just the Home Projects Repair Adhesive. The Home Projects Repair Adhesive by Liquid Nails comes in a handy little tube with a “precision” applicator. It is acid free, solvent free, low odor, waterproof and washable, and it works on wet surfaces. This is a handy little glue to have in your craft kit for tougher jobs when simple tacky glue may not work....
Lotta Fabrics There is a small selection of wonderful, modern fabrics at Lotta Jansdotter. The fabrics are screen-printed on 100% linen. Linen fabric is made from flax fiber which is naturally grown without the use of harmful pesticides. Fabrics are sold by the half yard for $22. There are also linen remnant bags available with 4-5 remnant pieces each featuring a different design. Both the fabric yardage and remnant bags would be prefect for small sewing projects (try making your own fabric cuffs)....
Maker Faire is much more than your average craft show. Around every corner, you’ll find a a pointless yet poignant doodad, a jaw-dropping technology demonstration, or the tools and materials that invite you to imagine the possibilities…because we hope to inspire others to make stuff too. Why is this reconnection to our creativity so important? It was one purpose-driven thought from ordinary individuals that invented the wheel, set out to cross the Atlantic, and revealed the fabric of space-time....
A reader wrote in recently asking about eco-friendly packaging for lip gloss. Her friend makes lip gloss as a hobby right now but is looking to produce larger batches to give as gifts and maybe even sell. At the moment, she’s using reclaimed contact lens cases (genius, if you ask me!), but as she scales up, that’s not really going to keep working for her availability-wise. Plus, she’s worried that some friends and customers might be icked out about lip gloss packaged in old contacts cases....
Do you have an old pair of sunglasses that you don’t want to throw away? Transform them into a unique art piece for your home! What You Will Need: A pair of old sunglasses. If you don’t have an old pair, you can easily find some at a thrift store or garage sale. Recycled paper. I used sheet music, but you could use book pages or newspaper as well. Glue. If you can, use eco-glue!...
They now have a wonderful opportunity for artists that work with recycled plastics! I hope to see some submissions from our readers! To read the call for submissions… FANTASTIC PLASTIC Authors: David and Robin Edgar Editor: Terry Taylor Entry Deadline: July 7, 2008 Lark Books seeks images of original work to feature in the gallery of Fantastic Plastic by David and Robin Edgar. To be released in Fall 2009, Fantastic Plastic will capture the artistry of recycled plastic....
Using the PotMaker, you can make plant pots from recycled newspaper with just a little folding and a few twists of the wrist. Is that any better than using the origami method to make newspaper pots? Both the origami method of making newspaper pots (there are tons of paper pot tutorials around, but I really like this particular one from A Heart for Home because it’s so thorough) and the PotMaker method of making newspaper pots result in containers the perfect size to start seedlings, use only the waste material that is recycled newspaper, and may be planted right with the seedlings that you start....
From their website: “FiberStone is made from 80% Calcium Carbonate (CaCOз) with a small quantity (20%) of non-toxic resin (HDPE- High Density Polypropylene). The Calcium Carbonate comes from limestone collected as waste material from existing quarries for the building and construction industry.” The bottom line is that no trees are cut down, no water is consumed, no bleaching chemicals are used, and no air pollution is created. Along with being waterproof and recyclable, it is also tear resistant....
How cute is this foxy piece of wall art made from recycled wood? Amy at On a Crafty Adventure made this sweet bit of wall decor out of recycled wood that she found behind the wood pile at her new house. I love how it combines the rustic look of reclaimed wood with a modern figure. Here’s what you need to make your own recycled wood wall art: 15-20 pieces of reclaimed wood, de-nailed and cut to size saw, sandpaper, hammer to remove any nails, new nails piece of wood for backing – reclaimed, if possible!...
This DIY yarn tassel is the perfect outdoor craft when it’s beautiful outside, and also a pretty terrific indoor craft when outside sucks. It’s simple enough for a young kid, but the endless possibilities for variety and material make it a great craft for anyone with an artist’s eye, as well. And here’s how to make it! You will need: yarn. This project thrives on scrap yarn–even pieces less than 6″ long are useful....
1. Agate Wind Chime https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqlhl4vBt9H/ This is a very beautiful and very decorative wind chime made from agate slices. I think I’d put mine in an enclosed porch and use it as much as a suncatcher as a windchime! 2. Aluminum Can Wind Chime Aluminum cans make a lot of noise, but they’re easy and fun for kids to paint, and bright and blocky and appealing when they’re finished. Put them on a kid’s outdoor play structure or in another wide-open space....
Urban Camouflage turns everyday items into performance art. By repurposing run-of-the-mill disposables, German artists Simoné Gier and Michael Rundio make a powerful comment on consumerism and waste. We recently hit them up for deets about their project and were lucky enough to touch base with Sabina. Did something in particular inspire you to start the project? UC: Urban Camouflage deals with the question how to camouflage oneself and one’s identity in the commercial space....
