Crafting a Green World

The Salvage Studio: Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain, and Inspire is the perfect book to get you in the mood for Spring cleaning, creative organization and inspiration, and some very inspired eco-craftiness.

This book even made me head out to the local antique mall and resale shops to see if I could find some amazing stuff to get my creativity flowing. Unfortunately my trip was a bust but the book is still a must.

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Confession time: I am sort of a journal fiend. I feel incomplete leaving the house without some sort of notebook for jotting down ideas. It’s fun to buy a journal, but my inner crafter sometimes wishes I’d get it together to make my very own recycled notebook. Here’s some book-binding inspiration to get you going if you’re feeling the same way!
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Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures by Amanda Blake Soule is the green craft book for those of you who love the shabby chic type of decor that not only feels comfortable but is almost necessary when you have small children.

The book is full of wonderful ways to use everyday discarded items and make them into heartfelt treasures, shabby chic decor, and fun family memories. Read the rest of this entry »

Since I craft through an eco-minded ethic, I have a habit of reading regular craft books through a green perspective, looking for the following characteristics: how friendly are the projects to being performed with eco-friendly practices, how mindful are the projects to a sustainable worldview, how well do the projects work in opposition to a consumerist, commercial culture?

Although Jeffrey Yamaguchi’s 52 Projects, based on his 52 Projects blog, is a little light on the how-to, step-by-step, hands-on tutorial component of your typical crafty book, 52 Projects works through a premise that we have the responsibility to bring meaning to our own lives through our own work, and this is a very green and crafty mindset. Read the rest of this entry »

This amazing video tutorial is a lesson in more than just sewing. Annika Sanders of UK clothing shop Junky Styling shows that green crafting is all about your mindset.
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I like to make educational toys for my girls–matching games from their artwork, file folder games, extension activities for the books they read, anything that will allow them to incorporate what I want them to learn into the pleasures of their lives.

These particular bean bags were inspired by my three-year-old, who hasn’t yet memorized her numbers. Sure, she can count on her fingers and plays a mean game of Uncle Wiggily, but sit down long enough to figure out the difference between a 5 and a 9? Eh. Why not just call everything an 8?

The beauty of the stenciling, however, is that you can put anything that you want on these bean bags–kids’ names, states and capitals, letters (I really want to make this alphabet bean bag set), or instructions for the craziest Game Night game ever! Here’s how to make them: Read the rest of this entry »

Valentine’s day will be here before we know it, and if you want to do the whole thing handmade, it might be time to start planning! Here are some awesome recycled projects to get you going:
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Browsing through my local library’s green section I recently came across A Greener Christmas. Wow! I really wish I would have had this book at Christmas. What a great book filled with crafts and recipes to bring back the old fashioned feeling of a true Christmas, not a glitzy glammy one.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Crop Suey has an awesome video showing how to make a record into a custom wrist cuff! Once you make sure your second hand record isn’t a rare one, you’re ready to grab your scissors, head to the kitchen, and get crafting:
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Oh dear, I love my recycled T-shirt crafts! And, it appears, so do many of my fellow bloggers. In our defense, T-shirts have a world of things going on for them in terms of crafting: they’re pre-washed (and wash well), they’re readily available and affordable at pretty much any thrift shop, and they add huge graphic impact, as well as personality, to one’s work.

T-shirts have another benefit when one is crafting specifically for babies: oh, my, they’re so super-soft! They’re also light, and the seams that you create aren’t itchy. In other words–perfect!

Here are some perfect T-shirt crafts to create for babies: Read the rest of this entry »