Supplies: Card with blank inside Craft punch Scrap of colorful paper (I used Amy Butler Lotus Collection) Glue Step by Step: These sweet cards are perfect for jotting down a quick message to a loved one. Try making several and bundling them together with ribbon or twine to give as a gift. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series on how to make inside out notecards with your own cut out design....
Remember the last time you needed some twine for a project? And you pulled that knotted, tangled mess of twine out of your crafty stash, then spent more time untangling than you actually did using the twine? I have no idea what that’s like. Wait, no. That is me every time I need some twine, and I am so, so over it. That’s why I’m loving this simple, tangle-free twine dispenser from Garden Therapy!...
Depending on the size, a DIY floor covering can be anywhere from a total breeze to a bit of a chore to make, but crafting it yourself means that you’re in complete control of the materials and the design. Want an all-wool rug that looks like a scene from Space Invaders? Or a mudroom boot rest that upcycles blue jeans waistbands? DIY allow you to completely personalize your style, your materials, and your size–and it’s super fun!...
I found a set of three mountain pictures at a garage sale about a year ago. They weren’t my taste, so they sat in my closet until inspiration finally hit– chalkboard paint! What You Will Need: An unused piece of art. Before you use your art, though, make sure it isn’t by a famous artist or anything! Chalkboard paint. Chalkboard paint isn’t exactly eco-friendly, so consider making your own chalkboard paint using this tutorial from Martha Stewart and zero VOC paint....
Incandescent light bulbs may be going the way of the dinosaur, but there are still plenty of them around. Next time you come across one (hopefully as you’re switching it out for an LED!), here are great crafts to help you divert it from the waste stream. Because one day, a craft project made from an incandescent light bulb is going to be a rare beast, indeed! how to hollow out an incandescent light bulb....
Got some plain old fabric in your stash that needs a little love? Check out these fabric paint techniques to give it a little more pizazz! One downside to using reclaimed fabric is that your design is often driven by what’s available. Sometimes that’s a fun challenge, but sometimes you just want what you want, right? That’s where fabric paint comes in! The fabrics that work best with fabric paints are either solid or have a print that’s pretty faded, and you’re best off with a natural fiber like cotton, though a cotton-poly blend tends to take fabric paint well....
We’ve found some true gems in fiber form in 2008. We learned about frogging, that big box stores do carry organic yarns, and that you can make yarn out of old grocery bags. We also took a hard look at stash busting, consumerism and found the first yarn co-op. But the biggest thing we’ve found in 2008 is the seemingly endless supply of eco-yarns perfect for anyone’s taste, budget and earth conscious level....
Australian company, All Eco, carries this fun and luxurious yarn. It is made by soaking the leaves in water and extracting the fibres. “These are hand crushed to make them soft and pliable, ready for weaving into fabrics, or spinning into ropes,” says All Eco. “Any fibres that are unsuitable for fabrics or ropes are pulped and regenerated for hand spinning into gleaming yarns ready for use in your own one-off creation....
Most of Crafty Yarn’s bulky weight yarns are hand spun recycled yarn made from mill ends and scrap fiber. The other available skeins are made from reclaimed sweaters that have been frogged for their yarn. An avid knitter and recycler, Molly Bachelor, owner of Crafty Yarn, was interested in material reuse and doing something that was about the hand made process. She had always loved fiber and working with it so she learned how to spin and started to sell her recycled yarn a little over a year a go....
There’s a reason you bought all that yarn in the first place, right? I know there is a plethora of your very own yearn worthy yarn, just sitting in your house waiting to be picked up and turned into an amazing project. Whether its a sturdy cotton blend, a fancy novelty yarn, or any one of the numerous environmentally friendly yarns we like to tell you about, your stash is a wonderful wealth of fiber....
The N-WEG, an NGO organization, welcomes abused women to their shelter, where they harness their native knitting and spinning skills to “rebuild their lives, while continuing to care for their children. Proceeds provide a safe shelter, health care, education and the dignity of financial independence.” Woven from the yarn of old saris and sarongs, Mango Moon yarns comes in an infinite concoction of colorways. Their two most popular yarns are their 100% recycled silk and 100% recycled viscose....
None of that, by the way, has to be bought at the store. Instead, here’s my list of the best recycled Halloween crafts, ones that you can make just from your recycling bin, or the junk around your house, or a quick shout-out to Freecycle. Whether you make one thing or make them all, take them down on November 1 or leave them up all year like I am TOTALLY going to do, all of these projects are awesome and cheap and, since they’re recycled, they’re good for the environment, too....
Cinco de Mayo is all about bright colors and festive decor, which works really well with reclaimed paper like magazine pages, junk mail, and scrap paper from other crafty projects you’re working on. Whether you’re planning a small party or a full on 5th of May blowout, we’ve got your decor covered with decorations for the walls and for your cocktails. If you guys have your own crafty plans for Cinco de Mayo in the works, I’d love to hear more ideas in the comments!...
Being creative with your quilt ingredients is part of the history of quilting. Now granted, many of the choices that early quilters made were due to economic constraints. I suspect that if the pioneers had sewing machines and fabric shops readily and affordably available, a lot of them would have taken advantage of those options. However, quilting does have a historical ethic of conservation and re-use. Quilters today manifest this ethic through the obsessive saving of fabric scraps too small for any reasonable project, “just in case....
Can you believe that fall is almost here in North America? In some places it’s already getting chilly in the mornings and evenings, and before we know it we’ll be bundled up in boots, tights, scarves, and jackets. Unfortunately, colder weather means using more power to heat our homes. A large percentage of the heat we lose in our homes escapes right through the windows. If you aren’t able to replace old windows with efficient ones, you can still help keep your space cozy and use less electricity or natural gas by whipping up nice, heavy curtains to help insulate drafty windows....
Are you guys ready to meet another awesome crafter we’re featuring on our Crafters We Love series? Today, we’d love for you to meet Pink Flamingo Ephemera! Now that you’ve officially met each other, let me tell you a little bit about Pink Flamingo Ephemera. According to Wikipedia, ephemera is, “any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved.” Although their original purpose wasn’t to be preserved, I’m so glad Laura at Pink Flamingo Ephemera preserves and sells these beautiful vintage papers and materials!...
First up – our own Becky Striepe will be speaking on a panel called Crafting a Green Craft. She will share the stage with the co-founders of Cosa Verde and the owners of Urban Fauna Studio. These amazing crafters will be talking about the ins and outs of green crafting – something that you see right here on Crafting a Green World. I’m sure you’ll recognize this next name if you’ve been a long time reader of this space....
On the flip side, these are limited options and often our craft supplies leave you wondering how safe and green are they. We’ve even started a list of demands for things that we wish we had. Well, I am going to add waterproof, clear, flexible, “fabric” to that list. Many crafters use this in their projects for many purposes. Unfortunately, this “fabric” is vinyl or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a type of plastic (number 3 to be exact) and I am calling for an outright ban on this poison plastic....
This book is the reason why I FINALLY have a use for my license plate hoard collection. I received a free copy of DIY Rustic Modern Metal Crafts, by Laura Putnam, from a publicist, and as I flipped through it, looking for projects to try, I was also wracking my brain for any hint of any pieces of stash metal that I own. We’ve got plenty of galvanized steel, but that’s what makes the roof of our garage and old 1910 general store....
Confession time: I am sort of a journal fiend. I feel incomplete leaving the house without some sort of notebook for jotting down ideas. It’s fun to buy a journal, but my inner crafter sometimes wishes I’d get it together to make my very own recycled notebook. Here’s some book-binding inspiration to get you going if you’re feeling the same way! Inner Pages Since your inner page size will dictate cover size, you’ll probably want to sort this out first....
