Published on September 30th, 2009
According to Gift Bags Gone Green every year Americans spend more than $5 billion dollars on gift wrap, bags, and tissue paper of which the majority ends up in landfills.
To offer a unique and green approach to the gift wrap industry Gift Bags Gone Green have created fun and funky fabric gift bags that are washable and reusable. The bags are not only green because they are reusable but they are made from upcycled, reused, and vintage fabrics. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on August 28th, 2009
Abe’s Market, a new online natural marketplace, is about to launch and is looking for the latest and greatest natural products to create the best array of products for the site.
Abe’s will offer a comprehensive selection of all natural products, with the best and latest in health, beauty, food, home and consumer goods with the ease and convenience of the most modern e-commerce services. The site aims to be a place for customers to find their favorite natural brands as well as a place to discover some of the newest and unique undiscovered lines, as well as “meet” the creators of the brands and gain knowledge about the ingredients, processes and stories behind these products.
In addition to being the source for purchasing all-natural goods, Abe’s Market will be the place and opportunity for up and coming producers of natural products to feature, market, and grow their brands. Abe’s will continually seek out new brands and welcome new sellers to the site. Additionally, the Abe’s Market management team led by co-founders Richard Demb and Jon Polin, who have their professional experience in both natural businesses and the retail environment, will help these newer brands gain exposure with natural retailers to establish distribution.
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Published on July 23rd, 2009
As you may have noticed we’re smitten with our glorious handmade skinnyskinny soaps featured below:
This season I also noticed the Green and Clean Guild of Esty handmade soap makers have some fabulous summer soother recipes. Another bathing beauty crafter I like is Alchemic Muse, a popular Green and Clean Guild member, who makes a fantastic cocoa bee soap:
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Published on July 19th, 2009
I looooove the Renegade craft fairs, although only Renegade Chicago is close enough to attend.
One of the great things about visiting the web sites of craft fairs, however, is the vendor list–most artists have a web presence these days, so perusing the list of vendors is one way to check out all the Renegade-worthy artists even if you can’t be there for the ambiance.
Web shops also help me decide where I want to shop in person, if I am attending a craft fair. I like fair trade, natural, and recycled work, which info is generally available at an artist’s web site, so I don’t have to feel bad about grilling a super-busy vendor in a super-busy booth on the opening day of a major craft fair.
So, nope, I wasn’t able to make it across the entire country to visit San Francisco for Renegade (although I’ll be there in about three weeks, darnit!), but here are some of my favorite vendors who were there without me: Read the rest of this entry »
Published on July 15th, 2009
If you sew your own (or others) cloth diapers, does that make you a crafter or an eco-conscious Mama? Of course, it makes you both.
Here are directions to make super cute diapers out of t-shirts. How’s that for a reclaiming project? The best part is you can put the fun saying or cute part of the shirt right onto babies bum!
Need some liners for inside the diapers, here’s a tutorial for that.
How about making your own felted wool covers out of second hand sweaters?
Need to know where to find diaper making fabrics and kits, here’s a link. (Stay with us after the jump to find out more about the adorable diaper in the photo.) Read the rest of this entry »
Published on July 6th, 2009
Editor’s note: The opinions in this post do not reflect those of Crafting a Green World as a whole or other writers on the CAGW team.
It can be hard to be an indie crafter these days. Perhaps Oilily will steal your designs and resell them as cheap knock-offs, perhaps somebody will smear your name all over the Internet because you disagree about the usage of the word craftivism, perhaps someone else will comment on one of your blog posts and call you retarded because you object to wool felt.
And then, just when you’re feeling better about all of that, Etsy will steal some of your hard-earned money.
What’s up with that, Etsy?
Now, I understand that technology is complicated. And I understand that Internet Explorer, although it’s the standard browser that most people, especially the internet un-savvy (Hi, mom!), use, basically blows. And I understand that when Internet Explorer updates, or Bill Gates sneezes, or the stars misalign, web sites tend to go all to hell for a while until some other programmer writes a fix. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 27th, 2009
This place is not your grandma’s pottery painting studio, I’ll tell you that much.
In Wisconsin for Matt’s grandma’s garage sale, the family and I took a couple of days to recover up in Door County. Along with cheese curds, beaches, and dairy farms, we spent half a day at the Hands on Art Studio in Fish Creek.
Holy cow.
For a lady who loves to dabble in anything DIY, who hates cookie cutter crafting, and who plans to move everyone out to a farm before the eldest baby is more than a decade old (I’m speaking of myself, here), the Hands On Art Studio? Was awesome. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 19th, 2009
I love vintage glass. I have a few hoarded bottles and unique finds that are currently stashed away so my kids don’t break them. Eventually I will have all my antiques displayed around my home and not stuffed in boxes…after the kids have grown up.
If I displayed everything now it would just get broken. But broken glass pieces don’t always get wasted. There are many artists who have found creative ways to turn broken glass into works of art. Some make mosaics, others make new bottles, glasses or tumblers, and some, like Laura Bergman of Bottled Up Designs , make pretty pieces of jewelry. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 9th, 2009
I met Brooke Bennett of So She Sews at the Indie Craft Experience last weekend and fell instantly in love with her designs.
Like a lot of crafters, Brooke grew up in a handmade household. Her mom even ran a crafty business in the 80’s selling handmade “hair poofs.” Mom’s craftiness didn’t stop there! She also made a lot of Brooke’s clothes, including “this crazy pair of poofy overalls” out of old curtains.
Now, Brooke makes clothes, accessories and housewares constructed out of repurposed materials, like vintage fabric and linens, for her own crafty business. She sees vintage and found materials as a way to avoid “contributing to the raw textile industries which aren’t always fair to their workers overseas.”
I’m also totally digging her clutches and pouches made from fused plastic bags that would have been headed for the trash bin. I couldn’t even tell that it was plastic at first glance!
Brooke says she draws her inspiration mainly from the materials she finds and her “love of indie style.” She takes some of her cues from “international street fashion blogs like hel-looks.com.” Put it all together and you get beautiful, unique pieces like this teal and black dress that I’m coveting:
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Published on June 8th, 2009
Sometimes you gotta shop online. Maybe you live somewhere a little bit country, like I do, or maybe you have two little kids who would rip apart a bead store in the time it took you to pick out a single package of 3mm crimp beads, like I do, or maybe you have a favorite independent craft shop that you discovered on a vacation a couple of years ago and every now and then you have to have a fix, like I do.
Whatever your reasons, there’s no reason to necessarily shop at a big-box store’s web site; not only are there tons of sites for Fabulous Fabrics and Yearn-Worthy Yarns, there are loads of awesome craft stores, some selling supplies and some selling handmade goods, who would looooove to have your business: Read the rest of this entry »
According to Gift Bags Gone Green every year Americans spend more than $5 billion dollars on gift wrap, bags, and tissue paper of which the majority ends up in landfills.
