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You can make gifts look beautiful even without store-bought plastic ribbons and bows. This bow from How about Orange uses only a magazine page–not even any glue! The magazine’s text and graphics turn into an abstract illustration on the bow, and the glossiness looks right at home on a package. The original tutorial for the origami bow is from Let’s Create, and I think it would look well in a variety of sizes and made from a variety of papers–graphic novels, book pages, and the kids’ artwork or homework would all look well....

A suncatcher is my favorite way to spread a little light inside. It’s quite possible that my collection of suncatchers huddled in front each of our sun-facing windows is… a little extreme. But I find rainbow sparkles dancing along my walls to be enchanting, and I think we should encourage our harmless enchantments, whatever they may be! So whether you’re making your very first suncatcher or your, ahem, sixteenth suncatcher, check out my list, below, of my favorite DIY suncatchers from upcycled materials....

Need some handmade Valentine’s Day ideas? We’ve got you covered with this ultimate list of lovey-dovey DIY goodness! Do you have any sweet heart decor in the works for Valentine’s Day? Tell us your Valentine’s Day ideas in the comments!

Or perhaps you make beautiful things on your bead loom all the time, but you’d like to try something a little different? Whatever your preference, I’ve got you covered! Check out this list of my favorite bead loom patterns; there’s something for everyone, from the brand-new beginner to the expert looking for inspiration. And best of all… all of these patterns are free! American Flag Bracelet https://www.instagram.com/p/BTe1AGvh8CY/ Here’s how to create a US flag out of seed beads!...

Just like Be Sweet, Conserve is a company with a conscience. Based in Dehli, India, Conserve employs rag pickers in the slums of the city to collect an abundant resource; discarded plastic bags (the bags are so prevalent that they clog water drains and cows will try and eat them.) The bags are then washed and prepared and made into beautiful fashion bags. The process they use to make the bags produces no extra pollution and uses less energy than conventional recycling methods....

We are all about the green crafty inspiration around here, so of course we love Pinterest! If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, think of it as a place to create virtual inspiration boards. If you see a craft project, a recipe, or anything else that inspires you, you can “pin it” on your Pinterest account to find later. We use the CAGW Pinterest board to bookmark and share awesome, eco-friendly craft projects that we stumble across and occasionally a super favorite project from here on the site....

In my daughter’s Montessori classroom, the children are crafting shoebox busy boxes for the CASA children’s advocacy group. Each shoebox, which will also be decorated by the preschool children, will be filled with craft kits, books, and small toys. These shoeboxes will be given throughout the year to CASA advocates, who in turn will give the shoebox to the child for whom they are advocating, at their first meeting. The shoeboxes will serve as an icebreaker, provide cooperative activities to help adult and child bond, and relieve boredom for children who must sit through court trials and meetings on their behalf....

Paint chip crafts are SO cute that it’s hard to remember that crafting with paint chips is not actually “upcycling.” I know that paint chips are free. I know most hardware stores don’t even care if you take them (I once asked a paint dude at Lowe’s if they gave away or sold discontinued paint chips. He told me that companies rarely discontinue paint colors, and was all, “Just take the ones out here....

How amenable is the book to using (or how easy are the instructions to modify to include) natural or recycled materials? How appropriate is the book’s sizing for my body, if it includes adult clothing projects (I have a 42″ chest, a 36″ waist, and I’m 5′2″)? How reader-friendly are the instructions (I have at least the basic skills for any craft, with my best skills being in sewing, probably, but since I’m self-taught in everything there are often huge gaps in my knowledge)?...

Well hopefully you are a careful unwrapper, like myself. I exude extreme restraint when I denude any gifts. Not only do I want to know what’s inside, but I also want the paper, too. Even if you aren’t as a restrained unwrapper, you can still salvage the paper and reuse it in many many crafty ways. If your paper is a bit crinkly or has seems from its previously held shape, you can easily flatten the paper out using your iron....

Related Reading: Homemade Baby Food: Recipe and Resources Of course, there are some baby things you can’t really make yourself. I dare you to crochet a baby monitor or construct a safe car seat. But for smaller baby items, you can often opt for making things yourself rather than hitting the store. If you need some DIY baby ideas to get you going, check out our slideshow! Next: Reusable Baby Wipes Image Credit: Baby DIY photo via Shutterstock

Do you need recipes for DIY beauty products? We’ve got you. Check out this list of food-based beauty ideas for everything from herbs and oils to fresh fruit. For the past few months, I’ve been looking at beauty uses for different foods, and today I wanted to share a sort of index to all of those resources. Check your pantry and your produce drawer against the list below, and let’s make some homemade beauty products, y’all!...

To keep the beast at bay, I try to dress it up with cute and whimsical garden accents, some of which I like to make myself. So this week I’ve been on the lookout for easy DIY projects with a green, upcycling kind of vibe. Here’s what I found: The above teacup bird feeder is both practical and whimsical. Teacups are easy to find at yard sales and flea markets and I’m sure I have a few mismatched and semi broken ones lying around that I wouldn’t mind turning into a bird feeder or two....

Is your house really clean if, when you’re done, it’s covered in toxic chemicals? Here are 6 resources for DIY green cleaning products to help you clean green on the cheap! Conventional cleaning supplies are chock full of mystery chemicals, including some that are potentially very harmful to your family’s health. Some of these carcinogens and endocrine disruptors are right on the label, while others hide behind misleading names like “fragrance....

Mind you, I don’t care what you look like, but at this point in the summer, most of my kids’ wardrobes consist of cut-offs, mostly of the pants that they’re not going to fit into come winter. That’s fine most of the time, but occasionally, sigh, we do have to look a little more put together. And of course I don’t want to spend a bunch of time doing it, because come on–they’re cut-offs!...

The last day of my crafting class is coming up in a few weeks, and I was talking with a friend about how to make the last class extra special. Since it’s an after school program, the kids are hungry and a little wound up when they get to me, so my pal Shannon suggested edible playdough. What a genius idea! Store bought playdough is full of artificial coloring, and after a while it starts to get dried out and unusable....

Last night I got an email from the HarmonyArt Organic Design mailing list, and WHOA MAMA! Here are two of the four new fabrics they’re releasing, called Garden and Space Cowboy. Space Cowboy also comes in a red and green colorway. The final fabric is Fields of Honey. I’d been looking forward to that last one for quite a while. All fabrics are 110″ wide organic cotton sateen that’s fair trade certified....

Since I am learning to sew (better) right now and actually don’t own t-shirts I want to cut up I decided to delve into the saucy project #69 “Cinch City” with some organic cotton scrap fabric. I bought my organic cotton for $2 downtown Asheville NC where the Spiritex warehouse sells off the leftovers from their locally woven organic fabric production. (Major score!) The “Cinch City” skirt truly was easy, although they say to only cut one rectangle to make the tube skirt, I actually had to go back in and make more of an angle to fit my waist....

Summer is officially over, which for folks in the northern hemisphere means the end of tomatoes, watermelon, berries and other summery produce. If your garden has been productive, or the farmers market or CSA is overflowing with fruits and veggies, now is the time to preserve all of that good summery food! Not only do canned foods help stretch your food budget, beautifully canned produce makes a lovely handmade gift around the holidays....

Artterro kits use high-quality materials sourced in environmentally ethical ways, with eco-friendly recycled packaging done in the United States and assembled by workers from Goodwill Industries. And now you can win your own Artterro craft kit! There are four possible ways to enter, and you can do all four: Simply comment on this blog post for one entry–don’t forget to enter your correct email address into the comment form! It won’t be visible in your comment, but it’s the only way that the blog admins can send Artterro the winning email address....