Crafting a Green World

One of the most prominent tips for Etsy sellers and others in the craft and handmade communities is to make your packaging special.  Your customer should feel special when opening their purchase.  Many crafts people excel in this area, the rest of us lack the time or inspiration to make beautiful, handmade packaging.  This week I plan to share a series on handmade eco packaging with a little twist; it is handmade by someone other than you.  You can purchase handmade eco packaging elements to decorate and ship your handmade products.  Let’s start with envelopes.

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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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Not all of us are lucky enough to be craft divas ready to whip up the perfect gift for Mother’s Day. For the rest of us there is Etsy where you can find a beautiful handmade gift mom is sure to love.  Whether or not you want to fess up to buying your handmade gift is up to you.

Flowers are a traditional fall back gift for mom, but this year consider a handmade floral-inspired gift that will last a bit longer.  Here are my top picks for eco-friendly Mother’s Day gifts.  All of the gifts in this roundup are floral-inspired and made from natural and sustainable materials. Read the rest of this entry »

My first craft fair of the season was this weekend, and it suuuuuuucked. Well, partly sucked. Most of the stuff that I really like about craft fairs was still there–checking out the other vendors, gossiping with customers, my daughter drawing with permanent markers on brown paper bags at my feet.

There was really only one thing that didn’t happen: the buying.

There was looking, mind you, from the fewer than normal customers who attended the craft fair. There was admiring. There even was buying, of some of my items in the $1-$5 range. Overall, though, it was slow, slow, slow.

It was a pretty conventional craft fair, with a few fair trade craft  or indie craft vendors like myself. And it left me wondering–is this whole craft fair season going to suck? Read the rest of this entry »

Since a recent Valentine’s Day pillow fight cost the city of San Francisco $20,000, officials have been talking about a crackdown on flash Mobs. We think this pillow party could be transformed into a craft festival the day after, recycling the wasted feathers into magical crafty creations!

Bridal feather headdresses are stunning and the ideal example of how to upcycle feathers. More ideas include: Read the rest of this entry »

While we’re on the topic of Weddings this week, I noticed that these lovely spring flower pins would look just darling on top of a veil or as an exquisite bridesmaid’s corsage.

Have you ever made fabric flowers? Read the rest of this entry »

Paper N Stitch is an amazing online exhibition space created specifically to promote talented artists, designers, makers selling handmade goods, and indie boutiques. The exhibition space is currently curated monthly and showcases the best of the best in handmade highlights on an international level.

The Paper n Stitch Blog is a constant source of inspiration too. Shown above is the Studio Fuller shop from their recent reviews, and below are their picks from Blue Thimble’s hand screen prints and textile art.

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Weeks back I highlighted Etsy and their brilliant blog curator spotlights. Now we’re on the topic again with our very own Kelly Rand! Here are some highlights from the exhibit:

Shown above is Glue and Glitter’s (another talented CAGW teammate) lovely Spring apron. What a darling color combination. Read the rest of this entry »

Atlanta artist Stephanie-D uses vintage and scrap fabric to construct her beautiful Hip Bouquets

[Nuclear Picnic Hip Bouquet]

“But what’s a hip bouquet?” you ask. Stephanie describes her creation:
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Cosa Verde is a new marketplace where green crafters can showcase their goods to eco-minded shoppers.

Liz Grotyohann and her fiance, Jeff Fein-Worton, launched Cosa Verde to focus on green crafters, and they’re committed to “not just walk the walk, but talk the talk.” They donate 10% of their profits to charity and plant ten trees for every new shop that opens on the site. Liz says that means they’ve planted almost 1000 trees already!
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