We’ve talked about the awesomeness of crafting with fabric scraps before, but not everyone has a shamefully stuffed scrap bin like the one in my craft room. If you’re not a hoarder of fabric scraps but still want to get your craft on, don’t fret! Etsy seller Scrap Ecochic has you covered! Scrap Ecochic proprietress Jessica says: I couldn’t agree more! Her scrap bundles are so beautifully put together. I’m loving the color combinations she’s chosen....
There’s something special about vintage doilies. They’re this perfect combination of nostalgic and fussy, but at the same time they’re simple pieces. With a little bit of love and some imagination, you can incorporate these vintage elements into your own crafting. Next »Where to buy vintage doilies [Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by bcmom]
Preserving autumn leaves allows you to use their beautiful colors in fall crafts all year long. Even if you already have a go-to method for preserving leaves, check out these other options–you might discover a way that will work even better for a particular project, or you might find a new favorite preservation method altogether. 1. Pressed Leaves Pressing leaves is the easiest, most user-friendly method of preservation, although it does take some time....
Around the globe, we use over one million plastic bags per minute. Yep, per minute. And most of those head straight to the landfill. Obviously, bringing your own bag can help make a difference, but what about all of those bags that somehow seem to accumulate despite our best intentions? Have you tried fusing plastic bags to make fabric yet? This technique can be a little bit tricky at first....
And with that in mind, Dawanna of Peaces of Indigo recycles silver, gold, and bronze to make jewelry. Let’s find out how this eco-friendly metalsmith started her business. How long have you been green crafting? Three years ago, a friend took me to a bead shop while our kids were in an art class and I fell head over hills in love with [the] look of rustic gemstones and silver....
I’ve been practicing this type of crafting even before the term upcycling became a word. It’s still not a word in some dictionaries and spell check always yells at me when I type “upcycling” or “upcycle”. When I was researching for my articles on PET bottles and non-recyclable plastic bottle caps, it made me wonder about upcycling. Actually, that’s not true– I’ve been thinking about the controversial ways people upcycle to make things, especially for profit, for many years....
I’m going to create my own reusable muslin tea bag, thanks to this excellent tutorial over at Craft Leftovers! How brilliantly simple. I might add a few glass beads from my stash to the tie strings. Oh, but let’s not stop there… Did you know you can even DIY the tea itself? Yes, we’ve dabbled our way into gardening here, but I find that a natural by-product of craftiness. Sometimes it’s nice to see things pretty much make themselves....
I know some of y’all have chickens. You can’t hide it from me. You’re the ones who clamored for a round-up of feed sack crafts until I wrote one for you, and who liked that pic of a chicken in a handmade sweater that I posted to the CAGW Facebook page. Yeah, I have chickens, too. I have, to be more specific, a small flock of rather spoiled chickens who are allowed to free-range (at least until my neighbor two houses down comes over with a hen in his arms to tell me that they’re stealing the food from his hog again, and then they’re grounded to their chicken run for a few days....
4th of July Waldorf window star. You don’t have to be into fireworks to love the 4th. Here’s a lovely decoration that’ll give you some peaceful, quiet time in the making. Button flag. Kids love to play with buttons, so why not hand over some of your stash and let them go? While they’re working, you can make your own patriotic button art. Cupcake toppers. You’ll be the hit of your 4th of July potluck with these festive cupcake toppers!...
I feel like every holiday craft should be kid-friendly! There’s nothing better than sitting around a table with young minds and hands and crafting up some holiday cheer. This poinsettia ornament is the kinda craft that will inspire your entire fam to do just that because it’s super-simple and easy enough for even the youngest elf to tackle. Before we get started, here’s a little Poinsettia 101. I’m not showing off my plant-smarts here, I just want to make sure you know what’s what so this tutorial makes sense....
Kid going on a field trip? Generally gotta have a name tag. I suppose that if you’re in school, disposable name tags, while spendy and wasteful, are easy enough to dish out, but they’re certainly not green. And we’re homeschoolers, so buying an entire package of disposable name tag stickers just for the couple of field trips a year that require them is just silly. Instead of buying disposable name tags, or, I don’t know, writing our names on notebook paper and taping them to our shirts, my kiddos and I make reusable name tags....
So, how about making a Trick-or-Treat bag by upcycling a pillowcase that you no longer use? Sure, kids can just sling a filled pillowcase over their shoulder, but why not make it a real tote? You will need: Pillowcase Thread Sewing Machine Scissors or Rotary Cutter/Mat Next »
Don’t have anything green to wear for St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday? Whip up this quick and easy shamrock brooch so you don’t get pinched! What You Will Need: A book page Recycled cardboard (like a cereal box) Glue. If you can, use eco-glue. Hot glue/hot glue gun Green crayons or markers A brooch pin. You can find these at your local craft store. Pencil or pen Scissors How To Do It: Draw a shamrock on your book page like so: Then, cut it out....
Here’s how to make them. Materials: Cedar wardrobe savers Paint Paint brush Bits of lace from your stash Tacky glue Spray adhesive Magnets Next » Begin by painting the cedar blocks with acrylic paint. I needed to do a couple of coats for nice even coverage. Let them dry completely. Next » Gather some bits of lace from your scraps pile. You could also use bits of fabric, rik rak, trim, or anything at all....
Is your kiddo getting ready to head back to school in the next few weeks? Here’s how to make a backpack out of an old pair of jeans. Stocking up on school supplies can be a little bit overwhelming, can’t it? Those lists can be so long! All of those supplies mean packaging, resources and money spent. Here’s how to make a backpack to save yourself some back to school cash and reduce the impact from all of those school supplies....
Conventional toothpaste is full of harmful chemicals. Shocking, since this is stuff that’s supposed to go into your mouth, right? Most conventional toothpaste contains artificial colors and flavors along with chemicals that might even weaken your teeth over time. And the worst of the bunch also contain triclosan or triclocarban. Instead of agonizing over a long ingredients label, you can save some cash and learn how to make toothpaste yourself....
Can I just say that most doll shoes? Are made by Satan. Seriously, if you have EVER had the distinct displeasure of trying to shove a pair of plastic Mary Janes onto an American Girl Doll, or wrestle on a pair of plastic Our Generation calf-high hiking boots, then you will understand. So I’m pretty stoked to tell you that these particular 18″ doll shoes from Doll Shoe Lane? They’re made by a dude named Noah....
This craft project is so easy that an eight-year-old kid could do it. Heck, this craft project is so easy that an eight-year-old-kid INVENTED it! Needing the perfect pair of toy binoculars (real binoculars simply wouldn’t do, on account of you actually need to be looking long distances when you look through them, not pretending to look long distances. Make sense? No? Not really to me, either, but we’re not eight), my kid simply constructed them for herself....
If you’ve got a school-aged kid, you know tri-fold display boards. In the course of a single school year, my two kids–so multiply this by two–have a Biography Fair, Science Fair, Geography Fair, World Thinking Day festival, and Girl Scout cookie booth. Buying two display boards for each of these would piss me off, and although we will make an upcycled cardboard display board if we can, we don’t always have a nice, big swatch of cardboard to use....
We used the large end of the ties to cut out a large swatch to cover an egg, but we saw a lot of waste with the rest of the tie. To use up the remaining skinny part of the tie we cut strips to wrap around the eggs. This resulted in alternating colors and patterns around the egg…a truly stunning effect. Keep reading to find out how we did it....
