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I’ve been having so much fun with my Crafty Green Book Reviews (I didn’t realize that I had so much to say about Weekend Sewing until I started sayin it), you might be able to tell, as well, that I have been way into paper crafting lately. I have always GOT to be doing something with my hands or I am not mentally healthy, and since I forgot my Ravenclaw House Scarf project when I packed for my vacation to California, I’ve discovered that paper-folding is just about as easy to do at an in-law’s house as it is at home....

In Wisconsin for Matt’s grandma’s garage sale, the family and I took a couple of days to recover up in Door County. Along with cheese curds, beaches, and dairy farms, we spent half a day at the Hands on Art Studio in Fish Creek. Holy cow. For a lady who loves to dabble in anything DIY, who hates cookie cutter crafting, and who plans to move everyone out to a farm before the eldest baby is more than a decade old (I’m speaking of myself, here), the Hands On Art Studio?...

Liquor bottle lamps Make a lace-wrapped lamp Copper wire pendant lights DIY globe pendant light Chalkboard light fixture Mason jar pendant light Toilet paper roll light New sconces out of apple sauce jars Vintage cake carrier lamp Update a vintage chandelier Upcycled fire truck lamp Wind turbine light fixture Make a lamp from vintage cameras Fruit bowl lamp Wire waste basket into pendant light Create a real drum shade pendant DIY teapot lamp Colander light fixture Transform an outdated gold chandelier Cheese grater lamp Garden basket pendant lights Tin can lamp Pop top lamp shade DIY vintage birdcage lamp Baseball table lamp DIY baseball bat lamp Upcycled whisk lighting Make a lamp from a toy tugboat DIY lego lamp Make a floor lamp out of vintage snack tins Wine bottle chandlier Wine bottle pendant light Vintage basket light fixture Make a lamp from a thrift store vase DIY teapot chandelier Spray paint thrift store brass lamps Thrift store owl lamp redo Recycled CD lamp Turn an old music stand into a lamp Make a trumpet lamp Doily covered lamp shade Silverware lamp How to make a book lamp Honey bear bottle lamp Bottle cap lamp shade Easy embroidery hoop pendant light After you’re finished with your DIY lighting project, don’t forget to put in an energy efficient light bulb like compact fluorescents or LEDs....

Uh-huh. You can feel safe with me. With that being said, here are some of my favorite online Valentine projects, tutes, and crafty downloads from some of my favorite online people: Heather Bailey has a way to fancy up her free paper globes pattern (check her sidebar for the Free Patterns header) with pink and red cardstock (may I suggest recycled/thrifted/vintage Valentines?) and a little felt heart to dangle from the bottom (However you stand on the felt controversy (and let’s keep the comments clean this time, friends), I assure you, there is a felt for you)....

We started out by sanding down the dresser and desk, as well as all the drawers. We did these by hand, which took more time and elbow grease, but didn’t take the electricity of a power-sander. After getting both pieces of furniture sanded down, we looked into low-VOC paints and stains. Our local hardware stores had a few options, but were either expensive or were colors we didn’t like. The next stop was a local shop called The Natural Abode, and they had a ton of low-VOC stains in amazing colors, by a brand called Bioshield....

Now that fabric printing service Spoonflower offers organic cotton, the range of Fab Fabrics is blowing up! One great example is Wonder Fluff shop. Designer, cat-lover, and mommy-to-be, Liz creates fresh and modern designs that she’ll have printed on the fabric of your choice. Liz has a passion for bold design, and it comes across beautifully in all of the Wonder Fluff fabrics. She says: You can contact Liz, and she’ll have any of her designs printed for you on your choice of Spoonflower’s fabrics....

On eHow, read about a great tip on drying and preserving acorns that you gather for use in all of your projects. Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with two simple and beautiful projects for your table and wall. Make and Takes has a super easy but adorable project to help keep you organized. Over at Family Fun, find a project perfect for kids (and adults)! Yours ‘Til Niagara Falls shows how to make pin cushions using acorn caps: a perfect fall afternoon craft....

What’s more charming than feeding the birds? Not a lot, at least according to my kiddos. They love to watch birds at our bird feeders, and yet you can drop a lot of money on all the kinds of bird food and all the kinds of specialty bird feeders there are. Fortunately, many of this bird food is easy to make, and bird feeders can be even simpler to craft....

1. Felt Heart Garland Valentine’s day crafts are a great excuse to bust out the recycled felt. To make a simple heart garland, just cut your hearts out of felt and string them on embroidery thread. If you want to get extra fancy, you can decorate the hearts with glitter, scrap fabric, vintage doilies – pretty much anything that strikes your fancy! Next »Hanging Lovebirds [Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by gi]

After lots of testing, retesting, retesting again, breaking, fixing, and maybe a few tears, it’s finally here! You can now list craft supplies to give away, post about supplies you need, or list supplies you’d like to swap right here at Crafting a Green World! The Share and Swap is something that I’ve been wanting to get going for years, and we finally were able to hire technical help to get us going....

As an example, we recently underwent a project in our house to paint our girls’ room as a rainbow (I know, I know–little girls). This entailed the collection of a variety of paint chips in rainbow colors, which were then left sitting, unwanted, after the rainbow project had reached its conclusion. What to do? What to do? Now, I’m no master scrapbooker–you are undoubtedly neater and have much better taste than I–but using a variety of punches, decorative scissors, and other scrapping gee-gaws, I do have some ideas for how you, too, can recycle old paint chips into your work: Punch out a pretty shape in a pretty color....

Kids love to play Memory! Memory is also a game with infinite possibilities–it can be made from a variety of materials, both recycled and natural, and with any theme, whether it’s colors, zoo animals, hand-drawn images, or photos of family members. Here are a ton of handmade memory games that you can craft using sustainable supplies: wool felt and cotton fabric: I really love this memory game that I made using the wool felt and cotton fabric memory game tutorial from Purl Bee....

Photo copyright Billi-Jean.com. Used with permission.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you’re enjoying lots of delicious food, but most importantly, I hope you are spending quality time with your family and friends. I personally want to say how thankful I am for Crafting a Green World and the opportunity it has given me to share my love for crafts, writing, and upcycling! Over two years ago, I graduated from college and like many graduates right now, I was struggling to find a job in my field (English)....

With pockets for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Treat, and more (including, ahem, Buffet), choosing a new restaurant to try is as simple as picking a card. I’ll show you how we made our restaurant book using the eco-friendly supplies given to us by Full Circle Crafts, and–best yet–tell you how you can enter a giveaway to win even more Full Circle Crafts supplies: To make our restaurant review log, we used the following supplies:...

Headboards make such a lovely focal point for the bedroom, but they’re often pretty pricey. Even mass-produced headboards from the big box store can get expensive, and those don’t have the best environmental footprint, either. Luckily, with some fabric from your scrap bin, some recycled felt, and our handy templates, you can whip up your very own upcycled faux headboard! What You Need: 11 scraps of fabric that are 8″ square or larger Our Sweet Dreams template and pennant template Paper scissors and fabric pinking shears Two 9×12″ pieces of recycled felt Sewing machine, thread, and straight pins Two pieces of ribbon that are 51″ long Hammer and nails...

Remember when I told you that I had a huge bag of wine corks in the Wine Corks to Wall Art tutorial? Well, inspiration struck again and I decided to create wine cork earrings! What You Will Need: One wine cork A knife with a serrated blade A permanent marker Hot glue/hot glue gun Earring backs (you can find these at your local craft store in the jewelry section) How To Do It: With your serrated knife, cut your cork into thin slices....

We love a reclaimed glass craft project around here, but before you can paint, decoupage, or otherwise transform your lovely jar, you need to clean it. How many times has this happened to you? You find yourself with a pretty, empty glass jar or bottle. Maybe it’s from some nice chutney or a fancy juice you picked up in your travels. You send it through the dishwasher, and when it comes out, it…well, it stinks....

Whether your Valentine’s Day consisted of a romantic evening with your loved one or an evening alone with your pain, it very likely involved a box of chocolates. Even if you make an effort to avoid frivolous expenditures and excessive packaging, that heart-shaped box of chocolates is hard to avoid. No matter your best intentions, you likely found yourself on February 15 with an empty box larger than your head, made from bleached cardboard, with a non-recyclable plastic tray (topped with another non-recyclable piece of corrugated cardboard) inside, and non-recyclable paper wrappers inside that....

Editor’s note: The opinions in this post do not reflect those of Crafting a Green World as a whole or other writers on the CAGW team. It can be hard to be an indie crafter these days. Perhaps Oilily will steal your designs and resell them as cheap knock-offs, perhaps somebody will smear your name all over the Internet because you disagree about the usage of the word craftivism, perhaps someone else will comment on one of your blog posts and call you retarded because you object to wool felt....