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Garth Johnson over at Extreme Craft just signed a book deal with Quarry Publishing, and he needs your help! The book is called 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, and he is putting out a call for entries! Garth is looking for all sorts of craft project ideas that involve “repurposed, reused and recycled materials.” Check out the entry categories after the jump! Paper Craft – Interesting things made from paper that otherwise would have hit the recycle bin....

It’s like a bonus that you’ll also probably find a lot of supplies around the house to use on your DIY puzzles, making them great for upcycling AND a good money-saver, if you’re looking for some homemade gifts this summer that won’t blow your entire vacation budget. While you can make a puzzle out of just about anything that you find, here are my favorite DIY puzzle tutorials. Check them out, get inspired, and then get crafting!...

Have a slew of cousins, or a gaggle of teachers, or a bevvy of co-workers to give holiday gifts to? It can be quicker and, yes, easier, to DIY gifts, especially when the alternative is fighting holiday traffic, slogging through the mall with a billion other cranky shoppers, and anguishing over which scented lotion gift set everyone will hate less. Compare that to an afternoon in the kitchen or craft room, your favorite music playing, a glass of wine at your elbow, perhaps a fellow crafter to keep you company–doesn’t that sound nice?...

Prefer to craft only with non-animal materials? Eco-fi felt, made from recycled plastic bottles, is sold everywhere! Prefer to craft only with natural materials? Wool felt is for you! Prefer to upcycle your own materials, directly diverting consumables from the waste stream? You’re going to love felting old wool sweaters! If you like to sew, you can sew felt. If you want to learn how to sew, well, felt doesn’t ravel, so it’s a great material to learn on....

Decorating a child’s room doesn’t have to use a lot of money and create a lot of waste. Try some of these kids room ideas instead! My two young daughters are imaginative, bold and ambitious, so we’re always brainstorming new ways to make their room feel magical. Sharing a bedroom isn’t always easy for the pair, but by working together to create a colorful and creative space, they’ve learned to love their close quarters....

That’s quite a footprint reduction, and I love that this project also supports the local economy in the Carolinas! I do have one issue with Cotton of the Carolinas, however, and it’s that the cotton they grow is Monsanto’s genetically engineered cotton. Monsanto’s GM Cotton Part of me wonders how eco-friendly an operation can be if it supports biotech giant Monsanto. For folks unfamiliar with this company, Monsanto produces genetically modified seeds for crops like corn, soybeans, and cotton....

Turn a dated metal serving cart into a DIY accent table with a fresh, modern vibe. While visiting Florida, my mom and I went on lots of thrifting and garage saling adventures– my favorite! We found this incredible vintage metal cart at a garage sale and I just had to have it. Here’s how I gave it a makeover to take it from trash to treasure! A DIY accent table like this one has so many styling possibilities– you can use it in your kitchen for extra counter space, in your craft studio for crafty organization, in your work space to reduce office clutter, or use it to entertain!...

Disco ball from old CDs CD sun catcher Recycled CD wish list ornament DIY CD roofing (you could even use this idea for a doll house or a tree house!) Upcycle an old CD into a clock Put CDs or DVDs in your garden Make a ninja star Create CD spinners DIY mosaic jewelry storage box CD hanging wall art CD and DVD beads DIY tutorial: mirrored collars How to crochet around a CD Make mosaic art (just cut up old CDs or DVDs instead of a broken mirror) CD wish list ornament Stenciled CD or DVD coasters DIY CD statement earrings CD garden art DVD mosaic tile bird bath Coffee can and CD wind chime CD mosaic table Use a CD as a signal mirror in an emergency Mosaic CD mirror DIY garden markers Mosaic flower pot with CDs Which CD or DVD project is your personal favorite?...

Fall is in the air! Celebrate by making your own DIY crafts like this button “fall” art! Like I’ve mentioned before, I have a large button collection thanks to my Grandma. This week I decided to put all of those awesome buttons to use with a vintage button brooch and now, fall art! What You Will Need: An old picture frame. I found mine at a garage sale. Vintage buttons. Don’t have any vintage buttons?...

What You Will Need: Recycled scrapbook paper. I used black and yellow paper. You could also use recycled paper like magazines, newspaper, sheet music, or book pages. If you would rather use felt like Amanda, consider using recycled felt or felt an old sweater. A mason jar Scissors Tape Glue. If you can, use EcoGlue. Twine. For an eco-friendly alternative, use hemp twine. How To Do It: Cover the edge of your mason jar lid with a thin strip of black paper....

Are you working on your list of gifts for this year? Check out these resources with DIY holiday gifts you can make for everyone on your list. This roundup of DIY holiday gifts is part of Important Media’s More Love, Less Stuff holiday event. This year, sites across our network of blogs are talking about how to redefine holiday traditions to focus more on love and gratitude and less on material things....

Doll clothes are great for busting those teeny-tiny fabric pieces in your stash, and this postage stamp doll skirt is an especially good stash-buster. Postage stamp quilt squares work well for doll clothes, as their small size looks just right on a doll. When you sew for dolls, you’ll find that many fabric prints, and especially novelty fabric prints, just don’t look right when sewn into doll clothes–those teddy bears on a blue background that look just fine on your kid’s pjs can look absurdly huge on his doll’s pjs....

Statement one is annoying because a) the kids being shown the record bowls are always like ten years old, and their response is always to just roll their eyes at their parent, because OF COURSE they’ve seen a record before, and b) if a kid had never seen a record before, well, a record bowl really doesn’t look a lot like one, ya know? Statement two is annoying because, as my partner pointed out to me, the people who try to get me to tell them how to make a record bowl NEVER buy one from me–they just want me to tell them how to make one for themselves....

Crafter Rachel Mash creates art pieces using finger printing ink and stamp pads and wants her work to be a little bit greener. She writes: That’s a great question, and to be honest, I had sort of a tough time finding solutions for her. I’ll show you what I did find, but I’d love to hear from you other green crafters out there! Have you come across natural or water-based stamp or finger printing inks?...

These vintage-inspired prints from Etsy seller Oliver Henry Organics are rocking my socks! Designer Melissa Swansey Nicholson lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and two “very wild” boys, ages two and four. She relates the story of how her business got started: Melissa’s cotton and wool fabrics are all GOTS certified organic. She says that she sticks to all organic materials because, “I have to know that my business is about more than profit, I have to feel good about what I am doing....

Egg-dyeing kits with fizzy dye tablets! Egg-dyeing kits with shrink-wrap sleeves! Egg-dyeing kits with stencils and color-changing markers to color in the stencils! Yuck. Not only do you NOT have to spend your chocolate bunny budget on a store-bought egg-decorating kit, but by using recycled materials in your egg decorating projects, you can create Easter eggs pretty much for free and also rescue more trash from the waste stream. Here are five excellent (are you going to thank me for not typing egg-cellent?...

This week, we’re focusing on entire ensembles that you can sew–all the dresses, all the jumpsuits, all the pajama sets, all the rompers. And ALL from the free patterns offered by indie pattern companies. Find your next favorite pattern from this list, then show that indie pattern company some love by buying a few patterns, too! Free Patterns for Dresses Bowen Dress by Kim Sisson for Peppermint Magazine. Sometimes you just want to be comfy, you know?...

Me neither. I’m just getting in the back to school groove. But Halloween isn’t far from my mind. My Halloween costumes are already done, though mine needs a little altering, but the rest of the family has their costumes. Even the little one who is wearing a tiger costume that was worn by his older sister for many years until she grew out of it. This costume was probably one of the best costumes ever purchased because it is high quality and has survived two children and will probably be passed onto grandchildren....

Not only has the entire CraftyStylish blog declared March as button month in celebration of West Coast Crafty’s new book, Button it Up, but we here at Crafting a Green World are known to love our buttons, too–check out these vintage button monogram pillows, or the felted wool weekend projects that include button-topped flowers. Flowers! So if you finish all those up and you’re STILL craving yourself some button crafting, check out five more crafty little projects that will let you get your button on:...

How long have you been crafting? I’ve been crafting since I was a little girl, I remember projects even in girls scouts [sic], where we were making things all the time. Green Crafting, though, I’ve only just started. I think in the past 10-15 years I’ve been re-using and re-cycling what I could, around the house, but I didn’t start making it into art until about a year ago. The more I craft in a green spirit, the more I find different uses for every day objects....