Remember the Trash to Treasure books that Leisure Arts started putting out back in the nineties? I loved those. I was always amazed that they could take things like crushed soda cans and old takeout containers and turn them into crafty works of art and cute little gifts. I’ve always made use of things that were on hand but books like Trash to Treasure and Junk Beautiful never cease to amaze me....
This “driftwood dress” is simple yet stunning for a day by the sea: Wouldn’t this blue flower dress be perfect for an outdoor picnic or party? This dreamy dress is a delightful choice for an afternoon stroll: I also really like this colorful draped gown for a romantic summer evening: How about this one shoulder leaf green dress? In showcasing these exclusive organic looks, my hope is to inspire more organic material use....
Over 500 entries were whittled down to a 20-strong shortlist with an astonishing diversity of projects. The winning entry, this super-cute dog bed is as ingenious as it is stylish. My only worry would be finding a suitcase big enough to squeeze my long-legged lurcher into. My favourite entry though has to be this rather macabre baby doll coat rack. I’d love to make a version with teddy bear parts....
The American Girl war machine wants all your money. All of it. Every spare cent, every few bucks that you can save, they want you to spend on American Girl doll shoes and American Girl doll Halloween costumes and American Girl doll outfits that perfectly match kid-sized outfits that they also want you to buy. Fortunately, American Girl dolls, and their other 18″ doll counterparts, have a big advantage for the DIY-er: they’re actually pretty easy to craft for....
This Tower of Hanoi is NOT made from plastic! Instead, it’s made from that likely-looking piece of corrugated cardboard hanging out there in your recycling bin. Cut it up, add some decorations, and you’ll have yourself a brand-new version of a 140-year-old logic game. Here’s everything that you’ll need to DIY your own Tower of Hanoi: corrugated cardboard. Since the pieces are manipulatives, I prefer the thicker, sturdier corrugated cardboard over the thinner kind for this project....
You will need: your recycled denim bunting, freezer or sticker paper, pre-washed wool or acrylic felt (wool felt will shrink a lot!), matching thread, a glue stick, a free-motion presser foot if you’ll be doing machine-applique Make a template for your applique. Letters or simple, stencil-like images are all good choices–you’ll need a simple and large design because, although you’ll only be putting one letter or image on each individual pennant flag, they’ll still need to be discernable from a distance....
I love the look of a framed chalkboard, but those suckers are expensive! Here’s how to make a DIY framed chalkboard for under $25! This is actually a refresh of a project that I did many years ago. The before picture is long gone, but trust me when I tell you that underneath that pretty chalkboard is some seriously terrible hotel art. The type that you would paint over without a second thought....
So your garden’s all planted, and your rows are marked. Maybe you’ve got some upside-down tomatoes going, and your compost bin is chugging right along. You’ve probably got quite a few thirsty plants to take care of! Rainwater collection is controversial in certain parts of the U.S.. If rainwater harvesting is allowed in your area, though, it’s a great way to water your garden without drawing from the municipal water supply!...
Using newspaper instead of a pad. Using a cornhusk instead of a tampon. This is what many girls around the world have to do if they want to go to school or work while they’re menstruating. If they can’t find a way to make newspaper or cornhusks, or leaves or rocks, or anything else that they have access to work for them, then they simply have to stay home, falling behind and losing opportunities to succeed....
To celebrate reaching over 5,000 “likes” on our Facebook page, Everyday Eclectic graciously offered one of our readers a prize package that includes a matching candle, foaming hand wash, and room and linen spray! With all of that said, here is the lucky winner (randomly picked by Rafflecopter, which is powered by Random.org): Congrats, Natasha Stroud Hoover– we’ll be contacting you through email soon! I’m so jealous of you right now!...
Now that you are planning a stress-free Halloween by starting early, let me throw you a curve ball (or not) and tell you about some extreme Halloween costume ideas. If you start planning now, you can make any of these costumes that’ll “wow” any costume contest judge. Optimus Prime Costume – if you saw the movie, “Transformers”, then, you know Optimus Prime – the almighty leader of the Autobots. Well, here is an awesome tutorial on making this “Optimus Prime” costume for just $40-$50....
Talk about getting bang for your buck! In my opinion, the best autumn decorations are the ones that work well for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. So no bats or jack-o-lanterns or ghosties around here, but instead LOTS of acorns and pumpkins and brown and orange. If you’d like to try your hand at your own decorations that you can leave up for a good long time, check out these five tutorials for fall garlands and autumn buntings that make use of upcycled materials: Rough-looking fabrics like denim and burlap and sacking all look well in autumn buntings, but out of those, denim is probably the easiest fabric to upcycle from old blue jeans....
The wonderful think about folk art is its utter versatility. You can use anything you own, broken or intact. You can super glue some broken plate pieces, old car keys, a car battery, ten randomly bent paper clips, and a torn washcloth together to make a diorama of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Some of you may have the unfortunate affliction that causes everything in your house to break. This problem, commonly known as “Children” can turn everything you own, expensive or priceless, into useless junk....
Felt is SO much fun to craft with, and felt crafts are even better when you realize how eco-friendly they can be! Prefer crafting with natural materials? Wool felt is for you. Prefer crafting with recycled materials? You’ll love Eco-fi felt, made from recycled plastic bottles! Whichever kind of felt you prefer, you can settle happily into any of the felt crafts below, knowing that whatever you make, it will be a great choice for the environment:...
On Wednesday we shared a video about how to position your crafty business just like any other green business, and you guys seemed excited about it! I thought you might like this list of resources for green business owners, including ones with crafts to sell. The list below comes from our sister site Ecopreneurist, and it includes 19 resources to help you grow your green crafty business. If you’ve got crafts to sell, it’s important to focus as much on the business side of things as on the making side....
If you’re not familiar with the American Craft Council (ACC) shows, they’re a bit different from the indie shows that most of you are probably used to. The ACC is a large organization, and this is more like a mainstream trade show than a craft market. The show was at the Cobb Galleria in their large event space, and hosted over 200 vendors. I was happy to see a “Green Craft” category included as a show highlight, though I found it harder to track down the green crafters than I thought it would be....
The DCWV website has a great idea gallery with sample pages from each collection, like the Guess Who sample page shown here which features the Green Stack collection. Check out the other awesome Green Stack sample pages after the jump. Click on any of the images below to get complete list of the Green Stack products used to make the page. I personally love the My Little Stinker page, because my own little stinker wore a handmade skunk costume for Halloween....
A long time ago I worked for a furniture store. One day they were clearing out all the sample fabric swatches and books that had been discontinued. And what were they going to do with it all? Toss it in the dumpster. Stacks and stacks of rich, fancy, and fabulous pieces of fabric. All to the trash. I just couldn’t let it happen. Now I know I’ve mentioned several times that I don’t sew, much to my chagrin, but I just couldn’t let all that beautiful fabric end up in a landfill somewhere....
Looking for a quick craft? A cute craft? A kid-friendly craft? InstaCraft, given to me by Ulysses Press, has become my kiddos’ and my go-to reference when we’re looking for something fast and easy to fill up a Sunday morning or a rainy afternoon with a little color. InstaCraft has teeny-tiny tutorials for super-quick projects, and most of them, such as the chess jars, the cookie cutter frames, the brick bookends, or these boo bottles, upcycle materials that you’ve already got on hand....
The best crafts, in my opinion, are thematically appropriate (red, white, and blue, you know) without being too slavish (the flag isn’t for wearing, my friends) or too country (denim is best if it’s ironic). And, of course, the best project has to be eco-friendly–what’s up with craft foam, anyway? It’s like wool felt for anti-environmentalists(not that I’m automatically a fan of wool felt, mind you–it comes from sheep). Anyway, here are five 4th of July projects that satisfy my own discerning tastes AND are quite able to be completed by the big day....
