Add a little cheery springtime color to your ‘do with some recycled DIY hair accessories! Headbands and fascinators are such a fun way to add a little oomph to your outfit, but the store-bought variety are not so hot for the planet. You have no idea where a headband from the big box store was made or what conditions the workers labored under. Plus, department store accessories are shipped all over the world, which comes with a huge carbon footprint....
Do you love unique DIY home decor? Don’t throw away that old medicine cabinet– upcycle it into awesome DIY wall shelves! My mom gave me an old medicine cabinet because she knows that I’m obsessed with DIY furniture projects. I loved all of the cabinet’s character, but the door had completely fallen off the hinges. Instead of throwing it away, I turned the base of the cabinet into awesome DIY wall shelves!...
Before you slip that handmade masterpiece into a shipping envelope, tie it up with a length of vintage rick rack for an extra special touch like these from Kattywhompus Vintage. Keep it simple and eco-friendly with 100% organic cotton ribbons like this one from Pink Panda Fabrics. I use a similar organic ribbon to wrap around my burp cloths, curtain panels, and blankets. It is a sweet touch and gives me the perfect place to attach a hang tag with more info about the product....
It is in the name of Fab Fabrics and Halloween that I’m trying to put my fear of spiders on the back burner so I can tell you about the spookiest natural fiber I’ve ever heard of: spider silk. This is not a fabric that’s available commercially, but it did feel like it was worth a mention over here. According to Wired: It takes about 14,000 female golden orb spiders to yield an ounce of the silk....
Their fabric is a 200 thread count plain weave cotton, which they recommend for quilts, clothing, and bedding. Currently the only fabric colors available are solids: madder red, pom orange, myra yellow, kasam olive, ash pink, bark brown, soot black, and sun white. Their dye process is certified organic, using “indigo leaves, madder root, aal wood, cutechu, turmeric, pomegranate rind, onion skins, alum and iron to create rich colors.” Their website notes that natural dyes may fade slightly with time, and they give detailed care instructions for their fabrics so they always look their best....
Denise Bird uses a specific breed of silk worm only found in the state of Assam in India. The cocoons are collected from the forest floor by local communities who wind the fiber by hand and then weave it into cloth. While Denise Bird silk isn’t pure white or even a clean ivory, it is a color that is highly regarded and called the “golden silk.” In fact the more that it is washed the more golden in color it becomes....
Though no certification is mentioned for fair trade, they also support and say they practice fair trade principles. Plover’s method of dyeing conforms fully to the American Organic Fiber Processing Standards (AOFPS) recognized by the OTA, as well as the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard and that of the Environmental Technology Advancement Directorate (ETAD) recognized in Europe. Plover Organic’s linens are certified by Oeko-Tex and by GOTS. I feel like I’m on a date with a guy who has a B....
If anyone should be put in charge of the craft supply store of our collective dreams, I nominate these people. Surely we can convince them to expand from fabrics into notions and other supplies if we’re persistent. Why am I such a fan, even though I haven’t ordered anything (yet)? Here is how their website describe their standards for their fabric: The owner sent me some additional information about why they focus on organic cotton, and I thought I’d share a bit of it with you as well: [Fair trade cotton] means that the people who weave and dye the cottons get a fair guaranteed wage and that their health and welfare is supported....
Valentine’s day will be here before we know it, and if you want to do the whole thing handmade, it might be time to start planning! Here are some awesome recycled projects to get you going: Are you guys working on any recycled Valentine’s day projects? Tell us all about it in the comments! Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by jek-a-go-go
You can search Folksy for items by type, including handmade supplies, and of particular interest – recycled! You can also search by materials and technique. Folksy also has a small campaign that brings you right to the bags page, stating that plastic bags are out and totes are in. For sellers, setting up a shop looks to be a pretty straight forward and simple process. It is only open to UK sellers, but plans to open up to international sellers is in the works....
There’s more to do with your average oatmeal container than throw it away after it’s delivered you a series of tasty breakfasts. Here are 24 fun crafts for kids that will get you upcycling that old oatmeal canister into something new and fun and useful again. 1. castle tower. If you’ve got a kid who loves castles, this fun craft for kids is the cheapest way to give them one....
Crafter Caitlin Wicker makes super-sweet recycled stuffies out of thrifted sweaters and retro-printed fabrics. By day, Caitlin works “with low-income high school students in an after school college prep program in Chicago.” Making these sweet little critters is her creative outlet after long, stressful days. Caitlin says she’s been crafting for her whole life, but she fell out of it in college, focusing on art and design instead. She says: How sweet is that?...
Q: Help! I am looking for a place that will show me how to basket weave plastic bags that does not require me to know how to knit or crochet. – Tamara A: Oh, how I love a challenge! Crocheting is the most common way that I have seen when it comes to using plastic bag “yarn”, but knitting comes in at a close second. Using plastic bags with a traditional weaving technique is just about as easy as using fiber yarns....
So I was stoked to receive a copy of Fat Quarter Bags and Purses and see that there was a project in there that looked quite useful, indeed, and would do its fair share to use up some of my cutest fabric scraps. And that’s how my kiddos and I are now well-armed with passport wallets for our road trip to Canada this summer! This project is one of the quickest and easiest in the book, although it does call for a couple of special materials....
Handmade paper can be made from many differnt materials or a combination of several materials, including bits of old scrap paper you have lying around the house or even scrap fibers such as cotton. Even dryer lint can be added to paper slurry for a colorful touch. Many types of plant fibers can be turned into usable paper too, though some raw plant materials need special preparations which can be a lengthy process....
Here’s how: Materials 2-3 pieces of magazine or newspaper approx. 8.5” x 11” Scissors and/or exacto knife Paper glue Printer (to print templates) Pencil Bonefolder or butter knife Ruler Download the Envelopetemplate and print it out full size (a scale has been placed on each jpg to help with printing at the correct proportions). Next » Cut out the template and trace the outside envelope on a piece of paper and cut out the envelope....
Protein fibers, like silk and wool, take dye differently than plant fibers do. This means that the materials and techniques that you use to dye cotton, for instance, are necessarily different than what you use to dye silk. Take tie-dye, which you might have noticed I’m a little obsessed with lately! Tie-dyeing cotton is pretty easy and user-friendly. It’s a great outdoor craft because although it’s messy, it doesn’t require a bunch of supplies....
Since it’s spring now (and I insist this even though the high temperature here yesterday was 41 degrees Farenheit), those little girls have also been hopping around the house and yard, just like little birds themselves, finding all the best tidbits for the yearly offering that we like to call the Nesting Materials Buffet. If you’ve got a plastic mesh produce bag that you’d rather not toss in the trash just yet, and a little time of your own to gather your own tidbits from your house and yard, then you, too, can set up a station for your own pampered neighborhood birds to come to and gather all sorts of goodies for building their nests....
My roommate, Crystal, had a blank wall in her room that desperately needed to be filled. She’s a musician, so naturally, we pulled out some records and upcycled them into really cool wall art! What You Will Need: Vinyl records. You can find records at garage sales or thrift stores, but you might even know someone that would give you a few from their collection! Tacks How to Do It: Decide where you want your records and how you are going to arrange them....
The zippered top that I’ll be showing you how to add to your tote bags uses a detachable zipper, so you can tuck the flaps away whenever you want a completely open-top tote bag. On those adventures when you’re worried about spillage, however, or even just during car rides home when a tote bag full of groceries is likely to topple over in the trunk, having a top that you can zip up can make your life that much more care-free and efficient....
