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Plant hangers are great for getting your houseplants off your crowded shelves and into those sunny windows. They also put all of those tempting spider plants and inch plants and other delightfully dangly leaves out of the reach of cats, dogs, and toddlers. Especially if you’ve got an older house, though, or any place with unconventional windows or other spaces, you’ve probably found that store-bought plant hangers just don’t fit your space exactly the way you’d like....

Sure, it can be nice to have a serger to sew knit fabrics, especially if you sew primarily knits or require the the special finishing techniques that you can only achieve with a serger, but it isn’t necessary. It is possible to use a typical home sewing machine to neatly and sturdily sew knit fabrics, without the gathering, stretching, or pulling that you might anticipate. So, whether you’re remaking an old rock concert T-shirt or sewing a skirt from a thrifted jersey sheet, here are the three stitches you need to know to do the job well: Knit fabrics have so many possibilities, especially for a crafter who enjoys working with recycled materials, that it’s well worth becoming comfortable sewing with them....

Unless your attention span is really, really, really short, that won’t happen when you use my full-proof method of drying flowers in the microwave. Pop a flower in and two minutes later you’ll be crafting away! This method works with both flowers and leaves–it’s particularly great for making leaf collections and saving wildflowers, especially with kids (although preserving leaves with beeswax is also really fun!). Supplies & Tools You likely have everything that you need to dry flowers already in your house....

This is one of the easiest Easter egg crafts that you can make, and one of the longest-lasting, too! You’ll love the ability to decorate your chalkboard Easter eggs in a different way every year. Heck, if you have kids, they’ll enjoy decorating these chalkboard Easter eggs in a different way every day! To make the chalkboard Easter eggs, all you need are: wooden or papier mache egg. These are commonly found at craft stores now....

We do a lot of things for our kids. We cook them delicious meals. We sew them comfortable clothing. We make them beautiful toys. But we know, of course, that the true goal is to teach them to do these things for themselves. Cook their own delicious meals. Sew their own comfortable clothing. Make their own beautiful toys? Sure! Why not? You might have noticed, in the past couple of months, that we’ve had a PlanToys sponsorship here at CAGW....

I do have a couple of projects on my to-do list but they’re going to have to wait like repainting and decorating my living room and bedroom. But now that’s it’s finally warming up, my remodeling ideas are looking to outside living spaces such as creating outdoor living spaces. I would love a patio with a fire pit. I can dream, right? What’s on your to-do list? Do you have anything planned for Remodeling month?...

If you need something a lot sturdier than plain paper, but you still want to craft with some upcycled materials, then this cardboard record album cover and duct tape bookmark is for you! The vintage cardboard record album cover, taken from a damaged record, makes an awesome front for your bookmark, while the duct tape strengthens the entire thing and covers up the back of the bookmark, concealing any stains or rips or other flaws....

Is there a better way to celebrate Earth Day than by planting an upcycled herb garden? Just grab a few plastic containers from the recycle bin and some duct tape. Boom – you’re in business. More Earth Day crafts: 10 Earth Day Ideas for Children; Last-Minute, No Prep, Stash Only Earth Day Crafts for Kids Yes, I said duct tape! Can you believe all the cool patterns this adhesive comes in these days?...

Many are very easy to make and can easily be made in large quantities. If you are looking for some inspiration for DIY green favors, here’s a list of relatively simple to make favors that can easily be customized to fit your theme, color scheme, and budget. Handmade note cards, stationary, or seeded tags All natural soaps Bath salts, bath bombs, body scrubs or bath oils (many recipes and instructions can be found online) Handcrafted soy or beeswax candles, these would look great in glass baby food jars that you upcycle Crafty photo frames made or decorated with scraps and found materials like twigs, rocks, and dried flowers Small potted plants, flowers, or even cacti make cute favors and double as table decorations Flower bulbs already potted or decorative bags containing a flower bu;b to plant Bird seed cones, bird seed cakes or other bird seed handmade goodies- they are cute, easy to make and definitely for the birds once the wedding is over Fire starter bundles Made right these can be very aromatic), great for late fall or winter weddings Key chains made from found and recycled materials Inexpensive seed packets customized with your wedding info, or make your own seed packets with recycled paper and buy bulk seeds Everyone loves tasty treats consider making some for your wedding like: candy, chocolate suckers in unique shapes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, dry seasoning mixes, soup mixes layered in jars, etc....

I started writing the Fabulous Fabrics series here in March, and I thought the six month mark would be a good time for a retrospective. What I’ve liked best about doing this series is seeing the combination of creativity and passion that goes into what these fabric designers and manufacturers do. If someone’s making organic fabric, it’s because they believe in it. It’s not just because a market analysis told them they would make some money....

The limited edition prints in the Papercuts Collections are all hand screen-printed on 55% linen/45% cotton blend fabric. Choose from Papercuts (shown here), Papercut Bloom (shown below), or coordinating craft panels (shown at top). Each pattern comes in a bunch of interesting colorways. Find all these fabrics and more in the Aunty Cookie Etsy Shop. For some crafty inspiration and to see more of Shannon’s fabrics visit the Aunty Cookie Flickr photo stream....

At the risk of being the antagonist, telling you what not to do with them seems reasonable, albeit not crafty. At least I get to make a bullet list… Don’t recycle them. Generally, you can’t. Don’t let your kids play with them. Don’t let your dog chew on them. Don’t reuse them for food items Don’t melt them. Don’t purchase them anymore! You didn’t think I would wax poetic and leave you hanging right?...

I know, when you think “school lunch ideas,” you probably think food, but how you pack that food is just as important. This simple utensil wrap doubles as a cloth napkin, and it takes maybe 5 minutes to make. School has been back in session for a while, but it’s never too late to start healthy habits, and that applies as much to your packaging as the food itself. Most school lunch ideas are food-related, but there’s more to a healthy lunch than food....

Got a really crafty kid, one who is fine with those quick, cut-and-paste craft projects, but really shines when she gets to dig into a multi-step, immersive, genuinely creative hand-on experience? That kid is going to LOVE making these star ornaments! These papier mache star ornaments take more time to create than your typical Christmas craft, which tend to be more about getting the project done with as little time and mess as possible this time of year....

For instance, you could make a serviceable bookmark out of any piece of cardstock, but that’s all that you’d have in the end–a serviceable bookmark. But make this same bookmark out of the cover from your favorite (though now sadly scratched) vinyl record, or the box that your favorite cereal or pizza comes in, and you’ve got a personal, original, graphically outstanding bookmark. And it’s still serviceable. You will need:...

Crafting A Green World is thrilled to announce the new Carnival of Green Crafts! The Carnival of Green Crafts is a twice monthly online celebration of all things eco and crafty. Whether it’s a full-fledged tutorial or your personal musings, photos of projects in progress or completed, great thrift store finds that are destined for a craft project, or a love letter to your favorite environmentally friendly craft supplies, we want it!...

When is the last time that you made yourself a brown paper bag book cover? I recently revisited this project myself, when I wanted to set up a couple of boring binders as my homeschooling little girls’ unit study books. And it took a while to remember exactly how to make these book covers, but as I finished them and as the girls happily decorated them, I remembered all the reasons that we used to make these as kids, and all those reasons are STILL great....

Supplies: Card with blank inside Printer/Paper Masking/Painters Tape Xacto Knife Scrap of colorful paper Glue Step by Step: Using your own cut out design allows you to personalize your notecards. Try making several with a loved ones monogram and bundling them together with ribbon or twine to give as a gift. For an easier method to make inside out notecards see Part 1 of this series on how to make inside out notecards with craft punches....

What You Will Need: Junk mail envelopes or other recycled paper Recycled cardboard. I used a cereal box, but any cardboard that you have on hand will be great! One red vintage button. If you don’t have any buttons on hand, you can make your own buttons out of recycled materials. Scissors Black permanent marker Hot glue/hot glue gun School glue. If you can, use eco glue. A pink crayon How To Do It: Carefully take apart your junk mail envelope....

Don’t do it! You’re all creative people and I’m sure you can find creative solutions to your crafty problems. Don’t have enough buttons for your plush creation? Why not make some knobs out of yarn? Don’t have the right length for a zipper? But maybe you have some long lost Velcro tape? Or maybe you’re running low on paint. It’s the perfect time to try making your own colors. The probabilities are endless and you’d be amazed at what you can reuse and recreate to suite your needs....