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This week on Pinterest, I saw a tutorial from Country Living on how to make a paper mache bird’s nest. I wanted to create something similar, but I wanted it to look like a real bird’s nest. I went outside and gathered some sticks off the ground and made my own decorative bird’s nest for Spring! What You Will Need: Sticks Hot glue/hot glue gun. How To Do It: Make the base of your bird nest by lining up thicker sticks and gluing them together like so:...

I am a HUGE fan of thrifted dishes (to be safe, I always check that they’re not contaminated with lead glaze before I buy). Thrifted white dishes are cheap and go with any decor, and some of you will probably say that they’re perfect just the way that they are, but you aren’t tacky like I am. I need all my stuff to be crazy awesome (or just crazy!), so I like to pretty up my thrifted dishes using the most simple, most brilliant craft supply that you’ve ever heard of: ceramics markers....

This tutorial is part of Garden Week here at Crafting a Green World. We’ve teamed up with some of our favorite DIY bloggers to talk about all things gardening! I eat a lot of grocery store salad throughout the winter, but I don’t stress about those awful plastic salad containers. If you’re comfortable growing food plants in plastic (not everyone is, but some people are, so stay calm about it), then those awful plastic salad containers make EXCELLENT miniature greenhouses for growing microgreens and starting seeds....

What kiddo doesn’t love to fingerpaint, right? The thing about commercial fingerpaints is they are often full of not-so-natural ingredients, including petroleum products, and the packaging is none to green, either. Rather than deal with plastic packaging and questionable ingredients, you can make your own finger paint with ingredients that you probably have in the kitchen right now! All you need are corn starch, water, salt, vegetable glycerine, and food coloring....

Fabrics like vinyl or laminated cotton are commonly used in sewing, whenever you’d like a tough, water-resistant fabric. Reusable lunchbags. Snack bags. Tablet cases. Diaper bags. Unfortunately, neither vinyl nor laminated cotton are great choices for the environment, so what do you do if you want to sew something that’s water-resistant, but you don’t want to use plastic? You make your own waxed fabric! The process is simple, the results are natural (although NOT vegan), and when you’re finished, you’ll have a sturdy, water-resistant fabric that you can sew into whatever you like....

You deserve the right to repair your own car. You deserve the right to jailbreak your own phone. You deserve the right to fix your own stuff. This is the manifesto of the iFixit revolution, which seeks to create a user-sourced repair manual and troubleshooting guide for… everything. Think of that thing that you own that, if it broke, you know you’d have to replace it because you can’t fix it yourself and it would cost more to fix than to just buy a new one....

1. Colored Rice Jars by Today’s Creative Blog It’s time to grab all of those jars you’ve been saving– I have the perfect craft for you! Today’s Creative Blog colored rice with food coloring and then layered the colors in recycled jars. You can even add a little votive candle on top like she did (it reminds me of the Water Bottle Candle Holder)! I can see these on a patio table or as a centerpiece....

WHAT YOU NEED Supply: Cardboard Toilet Paper Rolls Raid Location: You can get this from your bathroom or better – the recycle bin. Alternatives: A plastic cup with the bottom cut out, a tin can, a piece of cardboard shaped into a cylinder Supply: Red and Blue Electrical Tape Raid Location: Tool Box Alternatives: Strips of construction paper, red and blue paint, ribbon Supply: Brass Fasteners Raid Location: Mom or Dad’s Desk Alternative: Pieces of recycled foil formed into small balls Supply: White Party Streamers Raid Location: Party Supply Box or “Things to be Recycled” Craft Box (I’m the first person to save these streamers after a party....

Many batches of purple rosemary play dough, blue peppermint play dough, red cinnamon play dough, and green pine play dough have found their way into the hands of my daughters’ little friends–play dough makes a great quickie Christmas present. I sold many more batches at holiday craft fairs, donated a few for care packages, and just generally passed around a lot of homemade play dough this season. If you, too, are in the habit of passing around your crafts, whether you sell them or give them away to some very lucky loved ones, then you, too, have likely struggled with the nightmare that is packaging....

1. Chevron Antique Window Tray With painter’s tape, a little paint, and two cabinet handles, you can transform your old window into a beautiful tray! 2. DIY Antique Window Headboard When I first saw this headboard made out of a collage of antique windows, my heart stopped. Simple, yet elegant. You have to see it for yourself to understand what I mean. 3. DIY Window Table If you’re feeling handy (or can convince your husband to do it), turn your old window into a unique table....

Happy belated Thanksgiving, crafty guys and gals! Now that you’ve stuffed yourselves on potatoes and pie, we wanted to quickly remind you that there’s still time to enter this month’s Green Crafts Showcase! It’s easy as pie to enter, and you don’t need to develop an exclusive project for us. All you do to enter is head over to the Showcase page and enter your name, email, and a link to the tutorial on your blog along with a short description....

Got a broken toaster, a favorite pair of jeans with a tear, or a vacuum cleaner that’s not picking up? More and more, our response to these challenges boils down to “toss it and buy another one.” Of course, as we’ve pointed our repeatedly over the years, tossing those products isn’t just a waste of the material of which they’re made, but also a waste of the energy, water, labor, and other resources that went into producing them....

Sometimes, keeping our crafting on the green side of things can get tricky. Maybe we get tired of hunting for materials or wish that there were more eco-friendly options out there for our projects. During times like those, a little eco-eye candy can really help! Over at Green Building Elements, Susie posted about Artefact, a really cool company making gorgeous designs from salvaged materials. Check out some of the cool, creative ways Artefact is reusing found objects!...

Rhonda wants you to get your upcycle on for fun and profit! Her Etsy shop, The Junk Stop is full of awesome recycled goodies, and now Rhonda is hosting a contest to get us upcycling, too. It’s easy to enter, and I can’t wait to see finished projects start rolling in over on the Recycled Craft Challenge Flickr pool. The winner gets a $20 gift certificate to The Junk Stop! Here’s how you enter: You can pick up your recycled materials pack at Rhonda’s Etsy shop until June 1....

What a great way to show people that they can take used items and create beautiful and fun decor for weddings and other events. Savers thrift stores and crafting expert Blair Stoker, from the crafting blog Wisecraft, joined together to create weddings tips and project guides for DIY minded brides to be: “From boutonnieres to ‘thank you’ gifts, anyone can create the perfect look for the perfect day with these projects found on Savers....

In this fascinating TED Talk, Suzanne Lee talks about an exciting new technology that would allow designers to grow clothing in a process similar to making kombucha at home. The fabric is actually created by bacteria, yeast, and other microbes that “spin” a cellulose fiber as part of their life cycle under certain conditions, and if this process caught on it would significantly cut the impact of fabric production. Instead of growing plants or raising animals then shipping and processing the materials all over the world to create finished products, the technology that Suzanne Lee describes would allow designers to grow their own microbe fabric using a very low-energy process and form it into shape....

Well, now that we’re into the heat of summer, all of my daughter’s cute sweater skirts are tucked away, but she’s still as skirt-crazy as ever. And that’s why I took a day off of craft fair prep this week to sew her up a dozen or so T-shirt skirts. Overkill? Not when you see how easy they are to make. It’s a super-cinch to make a cute, comfy, and sturdy child’s skirt from any old adult T-shirt....

Often creative people get overwhelmed when it comes to the business end of starting and operating a business. Lists, charts and business plans are often presented in a very strict, logical, no frills format that scares right brain people who think in multi-color, music notes, or brush strokes. Awhile back I reviewed The Right Brain Business Plan by Jennifer Lee. It is a similar book about business planning and operation for the creative individual....

Tin pails can be decorated in so many ways. It’s all up to your imagination and style. I decorated these two with wedding in mind but I am trying to find a couple more to redo with Christmas colors and accents. I think little pails make clever and cute reusable gift containers. Forget about bags and boxes, hand painted pails will make any gift seem extra special. Supplies Needed:...

When it comes to altered tins, there aren’t any rules. You can paint them, draw on them, glue stuff to them… what ever you desire. Today I wanted to share an easy tutorial for altering tins with paper to make simple decorative storage containers. Supplies: Tin container Decorative Paper (I used scrapbook paper from the Amy Butler Lotus Collection) Glue (I like Yes! Paste or try EcoGlue) Bone Folder Tape Measure Paper Cutter or scissors Labels (optional)...