Crafting a Green World

Something about being a crafter just automatically makes you green to a certain extent since most of the time we use whatever we find to make our little baubles and treasures.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

One of my favorite publishing companies, Chronicle Books, is holding its biggest sale of the year through August 5, with 35% off your purchase plus free shipping when you use the promo code FRIENDS at checkout.

I like Chronicle Books for a lot of reasons, some of them a little random–their e-postcards, their manuscript submission policy, and the awesomeness of their craft and graphic design books.

One of the really cool things about the book selection at Chronicle is that so much of it is eco-friendly, and so much of it emphasizes the DIY lifestyle over mass-market consumer culture.

Here are some of my favorites: Read the rest of this entry »

I check out a lot of craft books from my public library, and when I happen to have a little extra cash on hand, I might buy one of my favorites. I rarely follow the instructions or tutorials inside just exactly, however–I always tweak them to fit within the boundaries of my Green Crafting Manifesto. The way I evaluate a book, then, is dependent on the following criteria:

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)?

Here, then, based on those criteria, is my review of Weekend Sewing, by Heather Ross: Read the rest of this entry »

Here at Crafting a Green world, you know we love making our own beauty supplies or a good gardening project. Heck, some of us even are growing natural crafting supplies in our gardens! So you can imagine my excitement when I ran across Regina Briggs’ book full of DIY projects to “craft a sustainable domestic life!”
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If you have not gotten your hands on one of the Junk Beautiful books you are totally missing out.

Sue Whitney is the ultimate when it comes to taking a piece of whatever and re-purposing it into awesome decor. Examples: an old grate becomes the centerpiece of a magnificent winter wreath, washboards and a printer’s drawer become a stylish outdoor patio table, a tire and drum become a side table, a vintage wooden milk crate becomes a garden cart, dominoes become a soap dish, an old urinal becomes a planter…and that’s just ideas from the Junk Beautiful Outdoor Edition.

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The best thing about making stuffies and soft dolls is how eco-friendly the craft can be. You can make stuffed toys and animals and dolls from recycled materials, such as felted wool or the fleece that is made from plastic bottles; from natural materials, such as hemp or organic cotton or peace silk; from any of your stash fabrics or the tiniest bits of pieces leftover from other projects. You can stuff them with buckwheat hulls, cotton, eco-friendly fiberfill, crystalline silica-free play sand–anything!

Even if you’re an experienced sewer, however, three-dimensional design can be hard. I sew well, for instance, but when my daughter asks me to sew her a stuffed dinosaur toy or I want to sew a stuffed turtle for the child of my partner in a Craftster swap, it’s many (silent) swear-words later before I can come up with something half-decent.

So unless I’m trying to create something really weird, I often check out from the library the crafting books that have the best patterns for stuffies, and I’ll make or modify those. Here are five of my favorites: Read the rest of this entry »

Recently Becky shared Re-Construct: Eco-Friendly Crafts Made Easy here on Crafting a Green World and when the Re-Construct project designer wrote in sharing this amazing diy ottoman for the project I was also thrilled.

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I think being green and crafting go hand in hand, especially when it comes to anything that involves decorating- mainly events like parties and weddings.

I love making things for parties and when it came to decorating my wedding I was very hands on. That’s why I really like The Green Wedding Guide: Creating a Celebration That’s Elegant and Ethical  by Valerie Edmunds.

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Inspiration abounds on the internet these days, but I still find great comfort in picking up a real book. I have loaded up the shelves in my craft room with some great reads for the beginning and green crafter. Here are my top recommendations. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you an avid reader and fan of the literary arts? Have you ever been to a book art opening? Reading Elle Decoration recently, I found this lovely post on the subject.

“Food and Interior Stylist, Paul Lowe of Sweet Paul has been styling a series called The Written Word“. The paper sculpture vases and the picture holder in the pics above show some of Paul’s creative spark.

If your in the mood to create functional upcycled art here is an adorable tutorial on how to make a book table, if you are looking for a stylish book recycling project.

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