Summer is here! That means cookouts, porch parties, and backyard picnics! You can fancy up your next outdoor shindig with this easy peasy fabric scrap banner. Here’s what you need to make one:
Read the rest of this entry »
We use billions of plastic bottles every year, at a huge environmental expense. Sure, you can recycle them and feel a bit better knowing that they’ll be turned into products like Ecospun felt, but recycling requires energy and raw materials and not all plastics can even be recycled.
Why not divert all that plastic from the waste stream entirely by turning those old bottles into something new? Here are ten plastic bottle craft ideas to get you going!
Read the rest of this entry »
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
My littlest monkey is at her very first day camp this morning with her big sister (Singing! Snacks! Nature hikes!), which means that, rarer than a blue moon, I. Am. Alone.
When I’m chilling alone and also have a craft fair coming up, I often like to whip out one of my most favorite but also rarely used (it’s fairly child-unfriendly) toys: the Dremel.
Now, this isn’t a commercial, so if you have any kind of hand-held rotary tool, whether or not it’s the same brand as mine, you’ll be able to follow along with the latest craft creation I’m making for my fair this weekend: vinyl record album pendants. Read the rest of this entry »
Kids love play dough. There is no getting around it. If we’re being honest here, I’ll confess that I love the stuff, too! The store bought sort is pretty pricey, though. It comes in those plastic containers and contains preservatives to prolong its shelf life. On top of all that, I’m betting that the chemical dyes that turn it those lovely colors are none too natural. There are some more natural alternatives out there, but nothing beats making your own from scratch!
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. Enough reminiscing….let’s make some play dough!
Read the rest of this entry »
Despite our best efforts to stop marketers from sending us junk mail, the stuff still seems to find its way into our mailbox. We use some of it for things like grocery lists and keeping score when playing Scrabble, but what to do with the rest? Here are some project ideas and junk mail art inspiration.
Read the rest of this entry »
[Freshly stained dresser. Photo by Lenore MacLeod-Bickley]
We’ve all got pieces of furniture that look like they’re on the way out. When I first moved to Atlanta, a friend gave me a coffee table. I had no money and very little furniture, so I was grateful even though the table was sort of…well…it was ugly, alright? It was an ugly, ugly table. Rather than pitch it, I decided to give it a fresh coat of white paint and try my hand at a mosaic. We still have that little coffee table living out on the front porch! It’s a little bit dusty at the moment, but I’ll show you a picture if you promise not to judge my housekeeping skills:
Read the rest of this entry »
I am cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Oh, and also eco-friendly, but mainly just cheap.
My favorite thing about the D.I.Y. lifestyle is that it’s also a thrifty lifestyle. It’s inspiring to take an unwanted, perhaps even damaged material something that someone else might discard or donate, and turn it into something that’s beautiful and useful again.
Take those sweet, knitted or crocheted afghans that I’m always coming across in thrift stores or dumpster-diving, or that often get re-gifted to me because I like handmade stuff.
I respect the love and time that goes into the act of knitting and crocheting, and the dedication, especially, that it takes to create an entire afghan, but frankly, I have enough of my own already, and I don’t necessarily need another one, especially if it’s just so-so or (gasp!) ugly.
An entire afghan, though? That’s a nice, large swatch of material to work with. I’ve been sewing up a storm with my thrifted and re-gifted afghan stash, lately, making some simple summer dresses for my little girls. Here are some tips so that you, too, can sew with knitted or crocheted materials–it’s not as tricky as it seems: Read the rest of this entry »
My girls and I tend to craft with scrapbook paper often enough that I buy it when it’s on sale, but not often enough that I tend to use up all the paper that I’ve bought. Coincidentally, I also love photography, long to display my photos more around the house, and loathe store-bought photo frames–it just seems like I’ve sold, donated, given away, or thrown out enough photo frames over my lifetime for various reasons, you know?
Here’s another stash-busting project that I’ve been working hard on this week: covering recycled cardboard with pretty stash scrapbooking paper to use as wall photo frames around the house. The benefits of these photo frames are that they’re cheap, light and easy to mount without a lot of hardware, amenable to a plethora of modifications that will allow you to match your room or express your personality, and quick to make, letting you get as quickly as possible to the point of the project: getting your beautiful artwork out there on your walls. Read the rest of this entry »
Presentation is everything. Your business card is no exception. Make yours stand-out with a unique, handmade envelope. These stunning, memorable envelopes are made from repurposed security envelopes. Read on for the complete instructions to make your own. Read the rest of this entry »
Crafting a Green World
Crafting a Green World features do-it-yourself projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials. Find knitting, sewing, crocheting, and other project ideas for eco-friendly and fashionable clothes, crafts, gifts and more.
Subscribe via email
Crafting a Green World is a Green Options Media Production.
Some Rights Reserved
