There are loads of beautiful, unique recycled Valentine’s Day crafts that you can make, from decorations to valentines to sweet gifts, that will make this holiday special. So check out the list below, dig through your recycling bin, and get to work–you have a Valentine to woo! 24 Recycled Valentine’s Day Crafts 1. aluminum can heart earrings. Earrings like these make a quick and easy gift for a loved one....
Do you have a pile of old sweaters that no longer fit but you just can’t bear to throw them out? How about upcycling them with these fun craft ideas? Here are ten craft ideas to reuse old sweaters. 1. Sweater Pillow Craft Idea One thing you can do is make a sweater pillow. Pillows are pretty easy to make – just grab a pillow form and turn the sweater into a cover for it....
In the book you’ll find a bunch of cute eco-craft projects for adults and kids. You’ll find detailed directions for fun projects like sock monkeys, very awesome paper dolls, garden butterflies, paper flowers, rock animals, ghosts on a string, photo ball ornaments, and keepsake boxes…just to name a few of my favorites. The Green Crafter: 52 Eco Friendly Projects for Every Week of the Year is a great eco-craft book to share with the kids....
It’s about time to start trimming that tree, and if Bonnie’s handmade ornament roundup wasn’t enough inspiration for you, we’ve got you covered. Another way to keep your ornament-making on the green side is to choose natural materials instead of store-bought ones. You want to make a Christmas tree ornament out of natural materials? Check out my epic round-up below–from pine cones to beeswax, popcorn to acorns, if it’s been hung on a Christmas tree, then it’s here!...
Scrapblog allows you to turn your cherished digital photos into books, calendars, cards and keepsakes! It is the perfect way to preserve your wedding or other special memories. Digital scrapbooking is a fun thing I just stumbled across. I have always shied away from regular scrapbooking because of the amount of paper and other doodads that go into creating one page. And even though there are more eco-friendly scrap options available, I have still shied away from it....
Cats and dogs deserve our crafty love, too, especially when they’re all alone in an animal shelter. The Snuggles Project makes the animal shelter a comfier place for an animal to be, by making and donating Snuggles, which are a combination of pillow and blanket and comfort object. A Snuggle gives an animal something to cuddle on or in, something add some padding to its enclosure, and something to make its space feel more welcoming and home-like to potential adopters....
Any time you use your crafty skills to reduce waste, support a cause, or raise awareness, you’re practicing craftivism. Need a little inspiration? Check out this reader-generated list of amazing craftivism groups! Last week we shared a list of crafty activists who were using their creativity to make a difference or raise awareness about a cause that they cared about. I knew when I compiled that list that it would be far from all-encompassing, so I reached out to you guys – our green crafty community – for suggestions....
Got an old pill bottle handy? Here’s how to turn it into a simple plush DIY baby toy that rattles! My kid is super into toys that make noise lately, so when I finished off a round of antibiotics, I saved the bottle to make a DIY baby toy for him that has a built in rattle. I wanted something simple that would encourage creative play, and this faux bois “log” toy was just what I imagined....
Building blocks are quite enough fun on their own. Don’t ever let anyone tell you any different. They do not have to be painted, dyed, stickered, decoupaged, wood burned, carved, or otherwise embellished in order for children to love, appreciate, and enjoy them. But… they CAN be! If you want to do something extra special with some of your blocks, then do it! I HAVE painted, dyed, stickered, decoupaged, wood burned, carved, and otherwise embellished hundreds of building blocks, and my children love them, as they love the perfectly plain ones that they still have plenty of....
Sometimes, as well, your upcycling inspiration deserts you, and you find you have no taste for all of the objectively VERY cool candle holders that you know how to make from building blocks and vodka bottles and tea cups. What you want is just a simple candle holder, dang it! A candle holder with neutral colors, clean lines, and a solid shape. A candle holder that you can have multiples of, but that won’t distract from your table settings and centerpieces and all the other decorative crap on your coffee table....
Make your own shark tooth necklace with this quick and easy wire wrap, then try it out on any other triangular object to make a variety of custom pendants. During our most recent (of many) field trips to what seems to be every single dinosaur museum in the known universe, my little girls participated in a pretend paleontology dig, and they found themselves a nice little treasure trove of shark teeth....
Before I rant anymore about how silly we humans have gotten with our toxic craft inventions, I think I shall go ahead and share this mythical creature I found. Eco Art Works! (Oh my gawd, I hardly know where to begin because this online store has such a cool and interesting selection, every single item is a green crarfters treat.) Eco Art Works crosses barriers between the artist, the crafter, and children to bring a full range of eco art supplies from non toxic professional watercolors, pastels, and paints to organic yarns, beeswax modeling clay, soy crayons and paper making kits....
Green living entails green cleaning. Here are 5 essential oils for cleaning that will give you the power that you need, minus harmful industrial chemicals. If you’re as into green crafting as I am, then I bet that you’re also into a lot of the other green activities that I like– cooking with whole foods, natural parenting, organic gardening, and chemical-free cleaning, to name a few. Out of all of those, cleaning with solutions free of industrial chemicals does the most to better my family’s lives and our environment in the most tangible ways....
We love vintage fabrics around here. Not only does crafting with vintage materials divert waste from the landfill, your materials basically have zero impact remaining at this point, since they were produced and discarded so long ago. I love the way the right piece of vintage cotton or bark cloth can add a touch of personality to a sewing project. RetroLabs’ shop is full of vintage wonder, including a nice selection of sweet, gently loved fabric....
And what activity makes for good bonding? That’s right–crafting! Gather the craft supplies and get ready, because the following five easy and eco-friendly craft projects are going to keep dad so busy that he won’t even miss getting a store-bought necktie, or soap on a rope, or whatever random nonsense that he got last year. This is gonna be better: What do the dads and kids that you know like to do together?...
Ah, crayons…such versatile, waxy, brightly pigmented goodness! My little girls have a couple of nice boxes of unbroken, new-ish crayons reserved for schoolwork and special art projects, and a giant bin of broken, half-wrapped, stubby, old crayons, gathered here and there and everywhere, that we use for everything else. Old crayons may seem like a nuisance to have underfoot, but they are incredible art supplies, and you can make some surprisingly sophisticated creations with them....
Atlanta crafter Emilee Heath started My Mom’s Basement as an outlet for her and her friend Justin’s zines. When her grandmother, also a crafter, gave Emilee a sewing box full of beautiful vintage buttons, her crafting turned to jewelery. Soon after that she inherited her great grandmother’s sewing kit with even more gorgeous vintage buttons, many of them still on their original cards. She says that vintage materials inspire her to give them a new life and show them off!...
The distinctive Herban Design studio is managed by resident designer, floral artist, design expert and studio coordinator Chad Burnworth. Chad is known for his striking use of botanicals, natural and found objects in his designs. The Herban Design Studio is located in Sodo and is a large multi-functional space complete with everything you need to design your dream event. “As a full service catering company, clients often asked for additional help – from finding other event resources and vendors to selecting a theme and creating décor items that will make their event extraordinary and personal,” said BJ Duft, owner of Herban Feast....
Betsy Greer wrote a beautiful series of pieces not too long ago about crafting, privilege, and using our hands to give back, and it feels like kismet that my friend Jeff wrote about plarn sleeping mats to help the homeless just a few weeks later. The plarn sleeping mats movement is gaining steam. What began at a church in Chicago has spread all the way south to Louisiana. Luling, Louisiana’s Wayne Abadie heard about Chicago’s Bag Mat Project and wanted to do the same thing in his own town....
I have vetoed her idea to pry a floorboard loose to hide stuff under, and her idea to cut a hole in the wall to make a secret room, but when she asked me to make her a book with a secret compartment inside? Well, here’s the tutorial, so that you can make one, too. This project is an easy one, but it’s surpisingly messy, so be warned. You will need:...
