The snowboard company RAMP Sports has a mountain of waste from its factory. Rather than send all of those materials to the landfill, they want to find a creative way to reuse it, and they’re having an upcycling contest to find the best reuse! Jeff at our sister site Sustainablog wrote about the RAMP upcycling contest. If you need some inspiration, he has some ideas for possible reuses and a video that you can watch about the contest....
Crop Suey has an awesome video showing how to make a record into a custom wrist cuff! Once you make sure your second hand record isn’t a rare one, you’re ready to grab your scissors, head to the kitchen, and get crafting: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/bw0I9uZjlAw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6] Green it Up Really, this project is pretty much all recycled. The only thing I’d recommend is that you crack a window open! Any time you’re melting plastic, there are some not so great fumes involved....
These stylish new bags are made from recycled plastic bottles and transformed into micro-suede and satin. The bags also feature vegan friendly 100 per cent cruelty free leather and zippers made from recycled materials. REVEAL is a truly innovative and sustainable handbag and accessories line. Their new line features eco-friendly handbags, wallets, messenger bags and bamboo accessories, all made with the highest-quality eco-friendly materials. Today you have the chance to win a luxury REVEAL handbag....
Created by Nadine Storyk Curtis, Be Sweet is one such company that has all those lines covered. While living in South Africa, Curtis became enamored with the local craftspeople and wanted to share in their creativity and resourcefulness. Working with a rural South African community, Be Sweet offers over 15 different yarns that are hand spun and dyed by women who work within a job creation program. All of Be Sweet’s yarns are made from natural fibers and most are created from using leftover yarn tid-bits and environmentally friendly fibers like bamboo....
This chart shows just how far droplets can travel with certain types of masks and without: Now, everybody who knows how to sew has been taking up needle and thread and digging out that stash quilting cotton. Finally, all that fabric hoarding has become a superpower! Just as quickly, crafters have been developing free patterns and tutorials for a wide variety of DIY cloth masks, and the useful accessories to go with them....
If you’ve got an unloved clipboard that you wish you didn’t, check out this list of my favorite upcycled clipboard crafts. Get inspired and then get crafting! 1. Chalkboard Sign https://www.instagram.com/p/6z-PtSis6v/ I love the idea that you can own a chalkboard signboard and repurpose it as your everyday clipboard when you’re not taking your cheezy first-day-of-school pictures. Free free to also loan it out for birth announcement, new baby, graduation, and engagement photo shoots....
Y’all, do not freak out that I’m not showing you any cute ways to decorate Easter eggs in this post. Eco-friendly Easter eggs are a Big Deal to me, and they’re going to get their own series of posts later. In the meantime, here are all the eco-friendly non-Easter egg ways to decorate your home for Easter! 1. bunny blocks. Scrap blocks and paint and bunnies! 2. bunny luminaries. Upcycle old jars into these sweet Easter luminaries....
Each project link, below, leads to a completely free tutorial. Each project uses primarily eco-friendly ingredients, and each is easy enough that you’ll have plenty of time to finish it AND change into your favorite “Kiss Me; I’m Irish” T-shirt before the big day! St. Patrick’s Day Crafts from Recycled Materials painted Mason jars. This is a great way to upcycle any jar that passes through your kitchen! pallet art....
Glass bottles, whether they held your spaghetti sauce yesterday (here’s how to get the label off) or a Coca-Cola fifty years ago (here’s how to make it look shiny and new!), make excellent craft supplies. Here are 30 projects that you can make, all starting with a glass bottle: 1. apothecary jar. It has a vintage look. 2. beach in a bottle. Make a memory! 3. bird feeder. Feed the birds in style with this feeder made from a vintage glass bottle....
1. Paperback Wallet by Refabulous If you’re always buying your dad a new wallet for Father’s Day, this is the perfect tutorial for you! Mix it up this year and create a wallet for your dad out of an old paperback book! You can use a book that has a cool color or design on it, or you can use his favorite book. Also, vinyl isn’t the greenest craft supply, so consider using an old shower curtain liner that you plan on replacing or something similar instead....
With just a week and change to go, it’s probably tempting to go shopping and just pick up a Valentine’s Day card. Before you hit the big box store, though, check out the list below for some last-minute DIY Valentines that you can make in a flash! Handmade cards have more heart (Get it? Heart?), and when you create your own DIY Valentines from reclaimed materials you’re also reducing waste instead of creating more....
Need something sustainably fashionable for that next big event, formal occasion, or fashion show fundraiser? Here’s how I sewed a formal dress for my daughter to model in our town’s Trashion/Refashion Show–from bloomers to bodice, it was created entirely from one silk sheet. The entire garment is composed of a fitted bodice, a cascading petal skirt in three layers, and a matching pair of bloomers to wear under the dress....
It turns out that wise use of resources is a hallmark of Amish quilts even beyond avoidance of applique. The Quilter’s Ultimate Visual Guide has this to say about Amish quilts: All of the quilters I know keep a collection of fabric scraps and leftovers that we are just positive we are going to use someday. Throwing away a bit of fabric is tough, even when it’s only 1 inch by 1 inch....
We’re on a vintage craftivism roll here this week! On Wednesday I shared Betsy Greer’s 48 Weeks of Historical Craftivism. The video below is yet another example of craftivism before we knew what that really was. It’s part of a series of videos on upcycling called At Your Fingertips. It’s a little bit hokey but also sort of amazing. I discovered this video series thanks to the awesome folks at RiffTrax....
No, you don’t really know what’s in it. Homemade bubble solution is also super cheap, easy to do, and benefits from the fact that you know exactly what you’re putting in it, and what your kids are putting their lips against every time they blow a bubble. Using common household ingredients like dish soap and glycerin, you can make a season’s worth of bubbles in just a few minutes. If you’re adventurous, however, or if you want to turn summer into the best kind of science project, you can check out more elaborate recipes for different kinds of bubbles, all of which are still pretty easy to put together....
Nothing beats a warm pair of slippers on a cold winter morning! Crafters are recycling old sweaters, vintage fabrics, and warm felt into some of the warmest styles for our tired and chilly feet. Why not treat yourself this holiday season and snatch up a pair! I absolutely adore these “Toebitter Socks” from Etsy seller Zerkahloostrah. Constructed from recycled salmon hued lambswool, the artist describes their design as a “modern take on traditional Japanese tabi socks”....
We just encountered painted rocks for the first time on our Spring Break road trip, when my older daughter found two separate painted rocks hidden in two separate national parks. The message on the back of each rock stated that you could keep it or re-hide it, so my daughter decided to keep each rock, but replace it by painting her own and hiding them for others to find around our hometown....
It seems like all the cool kids are crazy about tablescapes these days! I keep seeing lovely ones on crafting blogs that I follow, and the Indie Craft Experience wedding show, Wedding Day Hooray, is even had a tablescape contest last weekend. There’s something really fun about arranging things just so and setting a table that’s a beautiful as the food is delicious. Of course, if you’re shopping at conventional stores for tablescape supplies, chances are they’re not so eco-friendly....
Do you want to craft with a seasonal, natural material in the moment, or do you want to create some faux dandelions from eco-friendly materials to remind you of happy summer days? No matter which it is, I’ve got the project for you below. Soon you, too, can be drinking dandelion lemonade while wearing pajamas printed with dandelions, a plate of dandelion cookies and a vase of felt dandelions at your side....
The weather is warming up, and it’s about the right time to start planting your spring garden! Whether you’re living in an apartment with just a little bit of window or patio space or a house with a yard, you can still grow some of your own food to save a little cash and reduce your food miles. Rather than spend money all season on expensive (and often petroleum-derived) fertilizer, why not get yourself a worm bin, and make your own nutrient-rich compost?...
