The new reusbale fabric gift wraps by Chewing The Cud are printed on 100% organic cotton with soy-based inks. At only $10 a piece you are going to want to get one of each design. See the preview photos on Chewing The Cud website. The wraps are a generous 28 x 28 inches. They will be available in July at Chewing The Cuds Etsy shop. [Photos and Styling by Chewing the Cud]
It is made from Tyvek, a water proof material that is polyethylene based. It can be cut, sewn, wrinkled, folded, pierced, hung or hemmed like a fabric. I’m also convinced that this is another alternative to vinyl, which is really quite awesome. Another fantastic property that this fabric comes with is its own envelope for recycling. With each order of loop, it is accompanied with a prepaid envelope for shipping your scraps or your project (when it is no longer wanted or needed) back to MIO for recycling!...
Next » Puzzle Frame 1. Puzzle Pieces Frame There are so many puzzles at your local thrift store, or even around your house, that are missing pieces and no good for assembling. Over on Making Friends there is a simple how-to on turning a few of those pieces into a unique frame. Next » DVD Case Frame 2. DVD Case Frame This video on Wonder How To shows how to create an easy standing or spinning six picture frame....
Have you ever wanted to expand your crafty side and try stitching a creative texture on a fabric, hanky, notecard or decoration? If so, here are a few neat finds and tutorials on the subject this season: Above images courtesy of purl bee’s tutorial on crocheted valentines and Suili’s Crocheted Flowers for $22 etsy.
Luckily, making play dough is fun, easy, and you can even get your kiddos involved! My mom teaches preschool, and I still remember helping her make big batches of play dough during the last weekend of every summer vacation. We’d hang out in the kitchen, mixing and measuring ingredients. She’d even let me stir it in the pot while she supervised. I’ll admit that we did use that spooky food coloring that comes in the plastic squeezy containers, but I did a little digging and found some alternative coloring options that I think you’ll really dig....
Gluing junk to cardboard with the kids the other day, however, I had a flash of inspiration: that stuff in the kitchen? That smells good? That I don’t cook with on account of I don’t know how to cook? It could make my house smell less redneck! Come on–get some glue, some cardboard, and some smelly stuff you don’t know how to cook with from your kitchen, and your house can smell less redneck, too!...
Former CAGW writer Karen Lee and green beauty pro Mary Kearns have teamed up on a brand new endeavor: Herban Crafts. The duo is creating eco-friendly craft kits for folks who want to make their own beauty supplies but don’t know where to get started. Herban Crafts was kind enough to send me a kit to try out, so earlier this week I tried my hand at making my own lip balm....
I am a firm believer that skirts ought to have pockets. I mean, really – what garment isn’t improved with a little pocket action, right? Clothing designers do not seem to agree with my pocket philosophy, though, which I think is a terrible shame. Luckily, with a little crafty know-how, you can add a pocket to almost any skirt to stash, say, your key, money, and ID for an evening out....
You can’t recycle used guitar strings, but you can upcycle them into a super sweet dream catcher! A few weeks ago, my friends Christy and Davis came over, and when Davis, a musician, walked through the door, he handed me a set of used guitar strings. “You can’t recycle these,” he said, “Can you craft with them?” It was ON. I’ve been trying to think of how to use these suckers ever since, and when Jessica Swift posted recently about making dream catchers, inspiration struck....
Then, my son gave me his plaid shirt to sew a few buttons that were ripped. Ripped! Those college dorm washing machines!! While half listening to his explanation how it happened, I was designing a dress in my head, using both shirts. Yes, I’m sneaky. This project is so simple. It only took me half an hour and that included taking the pictures. What’s great is this method can be used for girls too with their outgrown shirts!...
Who says you need petroleum-based polyfill to stuff a pillow? Not me! I thrifted a very beautiful, mostly comfortable chair with a matching ottoman for my crafty studio. Unfortunately, this chair doesn’t offer the lower back support that I need, and after a few evenings nursing a sore back, it felt like time to do something about it! A rolled up blanket did the trick, but where’s the fun in that, right?...
The steps to make this tank top are the same as the skirt from yesterday so refer to that post for detailed instructions. But briefly, the steps are as follows: Cut the shirt under the arm pit, across the chest. Next » You will be left with a rectangular piece like this. The larger the t-shirt you start with, the longer the length will be. Next » Shir as many rows as you want, depending on the size of the t-shirt....
Have you accidentally become a collector of ugly magnets like the ones below? I saw these on the fridge this week and was determined to make them pretty instead of throwing them away. After looking through my craft kit, I decided I would upcycle some of my old paint chips and give a makeover to my ugly magnets! What You Will Need: Ugly magnets. I obviously got one of mine through a mail out from Direct TV and I can’t remember what the other one was from....
Take the ephemeral beauty of autumn leaves and make it last forever when you preserve leaves with the one simple, natural ingredient that is pure beeswax. Beeswax is perfectly translucent on the autumn leaves, making them shine but allows the vibrant colors to show brilliantly. The beeswax also causes the leaves (and the whole house!) to smell sweet, and the process itself is so simple that my children can do the whole thing independently, although why would I want them to?...
This week on Pinterest, I came across a really adorable scrap book paper tree from Two Girls Being Crafty (via Everyday Mom Ideas). I loved the concept, so I decided to turn it into a completely upcycled project by using reclaimed sheet music instead of scrap book paper! What You Will Need: Sheet music. I used the same sheet music that I used for my Sheet Music Bottle, Recycled Paper Mother’s Day Brooch, and Music Wall Art....
I bought this puzzle of Luke Skywalker gazing at the setting twin suns over Tatooine at Goodwill, so I didn’t let myself get too broken-hearted when my family and I put it together and discovered that it had SIXTEEN missing pieces! But even with sixteen missing pieces, I still love Luke Skywalker too much to subject him to his rightful fate at the hands of our Family Puzzle Policy; instead, I recycled only the landscape bits (So....
I know that you want to make a teacup candle, and I’m totally going to show you how to do that later this week, but first, let me try to talk you out of it. Teacup candles are super pretty, but they’re a tiny bit dangerous, as there’s a small chance that the heat of the burning candle could shatter the teacup (mind you, I make loads of teacup candles every year, and I’ve never had one shatter, but it remains a possibility)....
I have discovered several ideas in the book that can easily be transformed to fit Valentine’s Day so I don’t have to wait almost a whole year to put any of these nifty ideas into use. A Greener Christmas has several crafts and recipes that can be used as Valentine’d Day gifts and decorations like the glass jar candleholders, gift labels and cards (just switch out stars for hearts), the gift wrap ideas are good for anytime just find suitable colors and prints for Valentine’s Day, the felt slippers are a cute gift to make, so is the cotton bag made from fabric scraps, and the home made lip balms, bath oils and herb sachets are easy and scentually pleasing gifts....
Next, layers are key and making sure the extremities are covered (i.e. hands and feet). Buying a new pair of slippers has been tempting me for months, until I saw this Cut Out + Keep step-by-step project for making house slippers out of an old towel (we’ve all got some of those). Vegan and easily customizable, this project only take a little over an hour and is as easy as pie (oh, another good idea to warm up)....
Got a kid who’s eager to learn to sew, but you don’t have the skills to teach them? Tell me about it! I machine sew all the freakin’ time, so of course it’s HAND sewing that my kids are interested in. I don’t know all the good hand-sewing stitches. Apparently, I don’t even thread my needle right. Fortunately, if you give your kids the appropriate supplies, you can just let them go to experiment and play and, yes, sew!...
