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Yeah, my kids don’t even go to school. We homeschool, and yet you’ll still find me trolling the aisles at Wal-mart in the middle of every summer, elbowing aside all those families with their school lists as I stock up on 15-cent folders and 75-cent binders and 25-cent packs of crayons. The fact is, of course, that you don’t need all that crap. You especially don’t need the super-expensive licensed-character pencils and folders and notebooks, and yes, you can still use last years’ binders, even if they’re a little beat up this year and have the wrong boy band written on them in permanent marker....

Container gardening is a great way to grow some food or just add some green to your space when you don’t have a back yard. Heck, even if you do have a yard, growing in containers can be a great way to add a little interest to your garden and can help you get around some typical urban problems like poor or contaminated soil. You could head to the big box store for your planter-y needs, but why buy something produced in a factory and shipped thousands of miles when you can whip up cute, DIY planters from reclaimed materials instead?...

Vancouverite Katherine Soucie turns used dryer sheets into fantastic pieces of clothing. As she mentions in the video below, dryer sheets are not biodegradable, yet they’re made to be used once and then sent to the landfill. Rather than let that happen, she’s gathered up dryer sheets from the building where she used to live and turned them into a beautiful, intricate dress and top! Here’s the video: My only concern with this project is that dryer sheets often use pretty harsh chemicals to get that clean and fresh scent....

Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to track down a good variety of vintage fabric, but Megan over at Moxie makes it a bit easier with her fantastical selection of vintage fabrics! Moxie has a fantastical selection of vintage prints, from florals to stripes to polkadots. Confession: I’m sort of a sucker for polkadots and am totally coveting this blue 60’s polkadot sateen cotton! As usual, my first instinct is a skirt....

We rounded up a bunch of fabric scrap projects back in April, but somehow that scrap stash just keeps accumulating! Sure, all of those leftover bits and pieces can be a pain to store, but they’re also an awesome resource for fabric that’s basically free! Here are just a few more ideas for ways to incorporate those sweet scraps into your crafty projects: Skinny scraps are perfect for making your own patchwork scarf....

Some of the fabrics are as low as $7.25 per yard, some as high as $20, and as I’ve come to expect with hemp, I’m seeing mostly solid colors. HempTraders has a wider variety of fabrics all in one place than some of the other online shops I’ve covered, and the photographs of the fabrics are exceedingly clear. “But what’s a specialty weave?” I thought, and clicked on that link....

I live up north, and although we’re still having our warm-ish days, the nights are chilly, a few leaves are starting to fall, and I just harvested my first bushel of apples. It’s time to start thinking about fall! Along with dragging out the long-sleeved shirts and the hoodies, and fighting over whose family we spend Thanksgiving with, autumn is an excellent season for crafting. There’s a whole new color scheme to work with, and fall harvests provide some excellent decorative elements and art materials....

There’s a great article Go Green This Christmas full of ideas and links to fun Christmas crafts that would make great gifts. Make sure to check out the list of 34 green Christmas crafts. There’s even directions to create easy quick stitch holiday ornaments. FaveCrafts also has two Christmas and holiday craft ebooks that are free to download Quick and Easy Christmas Crafts and Creative Ideas for the Holiday Home....

Wow, the holidays really started off with a bang this year! Can you believe Thanksgiving is already behind us? With Christmas drawing close, it’s time to deck the halls and trim the tree. Here are some eco-friendly handmade ornament ideas to help you add a little DIY to your decorations. 1. Fabric Scrap Ornament Grab some scraps from your stash, and you’re ready to sew your very own handmade ornaments!...

1. Cardboard Loom Cardboard is a material that always seems to be around. Use up some of it by creating a loom with the instructions found here on CraftStylish. Since you probably have a lot of cardboard floating around, you can create many looms in varying sizes for different weaving projects. Next » Picture Frame Loom 2. Picture Frame Loom Over on Unplug Your Kids, learn how to make a loom from an old wooden picture frame....

1. DIY Dog Toy E-How’s Deana Case walks you through a few different ways that you can make your own dog toys at home using reclaimed materials. Next »T-shirt doggie bed

Outerwear can feel like some of the more complicated garments to sew. So many structural elements! So much hardware! So much interfacing and lining and piping and casings! These free patterns from indie pattern companies are a great way to ease yourself into sewing outerwear. You can gain needed skills, probably discover that it’s not as hard as you thought it was, and familiarize yourself with standard pieces like hoods and kangaroo pockets and drawstrings....

Fused plastic fabric diverts waste from the landfill, but is it green? Let’s weigh the pros and cons! A couple of weeks ago, I fused plastic to make fabric for a couple of craft projects. Since I’m pregnant, I took the “well-ventilated area” thing seriously and carried my supplies, ironing board and all, out onto the back porch, then donned a very attractive white paper face mask while I ironed. While I was out there pressing and flipping my grocery bags, I got to thinking about whether this is truly a green fabric or not....

“More ways to spend time on the internet instead of working.” Probably true, but slightly too cheeky. “More ways to spend time on the internet instead of crafting.” Again, probably true, or maybe I’m just projecting my personal issues? How about: “These are cool, you should read them!” Slightly dull, but honestly I’m a bit tired today and that may be as good as it gets. So without further ado, here are some of my personal favorite green craft blogs, big and small....

Sea Glass Jewelry – Nautical Sea Glass makes sweet handmade jewelry using recycled glass. Recycled Newspaper Coasters – Forgotten Property uses upcycled newspapers to make some other cool products, too! Bike Wheel Clock – Stuff Made from Stuff uses makes clocks from industrial-looking materials, like bike wheels and old computer hard drives. iPad Sleeve – Recycled kites and sails are Think Sea’s medium of choice for creating pouches and gadget holders....

Have you been wanting to make some homemade chalk paint but weren’t sure which recipe is the best? Denise at Salvaged Inspirations tried a bunch of recipes, so you don’t have to. There are a lot of benefits to making your own homemade chalk paint. You get the creative freedom to create chalkboard art in any color you want, of course. But my favorite upside to homemade chalk paint is that you can choose zero VOC paint as the base....

You need maybe a couple of tablespoons to thicken gravy. You need three teaspoons, tops, for laundry spray starch. I try not to over-use my resources, of course, but when I have a certain supply sitting around on my kitchen or crafting shelves for years at a time, then I start to look for more useful ways to incorporate it into my life. It turns out that there are a million uses for cornstarch, and just because you know a few of them by no means makes you a cornstarch know-it-all....

There are lots of tutorials for how to make patches, but I’m loving this crochet method that turns a simple repair into a cute new detail. One of my favorite things about mending is when I can show off my repair. That can mean using contrasting thread when I stitch up a separated pocket or using reverse applique to cover a tear. So, of course, Craft Stylish contributor CalPatch is a woman after my own heart with this sweet tutorial for how to make patches using crochet....

If you’re an advanced sewist, you’re likely comfortable with just cutting out your fabric applique and stitching it right on, with no interfacing and no fuss. It really is just that simple when you’re familiar with how to guide all types and weights of fabric through your machine without pulling it, and you’ve got a feel for stitch length and width. If you’re a beginner, though, in this post I’m going to walk through exactly how to choose your applique fabric, how to prep it, and how to sew it absolutely perfectly....

In conjunction with my Guest Curatorial post on the Storque, I will be sidling up to my computer to share some awesome Etsy finds that are both amazing and green to boot in a Shop Live. If you’ve never participated in a virtual labs, this is a great way to get your feet wet and learn a bit more about the fabulous crafters that we highlight here on Crafting a Green World....