Crafting a Green World

[Photo by Becky Striepe]

So your garden’s all planted, and your rows are marked. Maybe you’ve got some upside-down tomatoes going, and your compost bin is chugging right along. You’ve probably got quite a few thirsty plants to take care of!

Rainwater collection is controversial in certain parts of the U.S.. If rainwater harvesting is allowed in your area, though, it’s a great way to water your garden without drawing from the municipal water supply!

Store bought rain barrels can run you upwards of $100. Instead of dropping a ton of cash at the garden center, though, you can make your very own! Some restaurants will even give you their used 55 gallon food grade containers for free, which are perfect for making a rain barrel. Ask around…you might just be surprised!

Here’s a great video from HGTV on how to build your own rain barrel, complete with a spigot:
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If you’ve ever flipped on the TV during a bout of insomnia, I’m sure you’ve seen the late-night ads for the Topsy Turvy tomato planter. For folks trying to garden with limited space, this is a great option! One gardenista I know even says that growing tomatoes and other viney plants upside down makes them grow larger and helps keep garden pests away! You’re not limited to tomatoes with this project, either. Squash, zucchini, green pepper, and strawberries are just a few other plants that you can grow with this method.

Sure, you could make two easy payments of $19.95 and order the pre-made version, but that’s hardly in the green crafty spirit! It’s easy and cheap to make your very own, and you can keep some trash out of the bin while you’re at it. Check out this awesome video on how to turn a used plastic cat litter container into your very own upside down planter:
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[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:
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TerraCycle is best known for their garden products packaged in reused bottles and their recycled material fire starter logs.

Now they are expanding their selection of products made from waste to include rain barrels and composters made from discarded wooden wine barrels and cork boards made from used wine bottle corks. They’ve also expanded into making office products from various materials. The cork boards and other office products are available at Office Max stores. Read the rest of this entry »

The Rose and Radish gallery and boutique in San Francisco offers a fresh mix of springtime creativity!

I am inspired by this creative way to upcycle felt with these little tabletop cup cozies. Their goals for showcasing craft designs are admirable and charming: Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone has had experience with the Sock Monster.  This beast generally takes socks from you while your clothes are in the dryer, or they could mysteriously disappear under the bed never to be seen again.  What you’re left with is a bunch of socks without their mates, and if they have any sort of design or color, it’s hard to find a decent replacement mate to go with it.  I originally saw a little blurb in the recent Rachael Ray magazine about lost socks, and how you can use them to make your planters a little more exciting.  Since I have quite a few of these mateless socks myself, I decided to give it a shot.

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I don’t yet keep my craft room as green and organized as Lenore does, but it is one of my New Year’s resolutions to decorate my house more nicely (along with learning to sprout seeds, exercising every day, and getting a book contract), and it is part of our family ethic that anything we do must be done as green and thriftily as possible (per my green crafting manifesto), so Lenore and I are going to be craft room buddies pretty soon, I think.

I work almost entirely with found and recycled materials, so one of my biggest problems is the storage of…stuff. Old postage stamps, orphaned game pieces, costume jewelry, wrapping paper, comic books, beach rocks, buttons, and tinsel–you name it, and it finds its way into my work, and if I can’t see it and access it, I can’t use it.

Yeah, I’m tempted every time I wander into some big-box store, 40%-off coupon in hand, by all those clear, organized, neatly-portioned craft bins they always sell. Look, a different compartment for each kind of bead, and I can see them all! Look, slide-out drawers for each different kind of paper!

But I also want my craft room to have character, to not only contain the things that inspire me, but also, itself, BE an inspiration to me. So I have not bought those clear, organized, handy-yet-bland plastic bins. Instead, I try to find vintage, thrifted, or otherwise recycled containers for all my storage needs. Here’s part of my collection of vintage containers: Read the rest of this entry »

Are you in the process of starting a remodeling or renovation project in your home? Maybe you are sick of the plain white walls in your living room or that inefficient kitchen with very little storage space.  Before starting any project large or small, we should consider the impact on the environment and our health.

Paint, carpet and other materials and finishes are the leading cause of poor indoor air quality. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), this is considered to be one of the top five hazards to human health.  These materials release toxins called VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) into the air, which can remain for years after the application or installation. Read the rest of this entry »

This time of year is when hummingbirds start making an appearance in many of our gardens, but those cheap plastic feeders don’t lend much ambiance. Luckily, there are many methods out there for making them yourself out of re-purposed materials.

Kelly recently showed us some great examples of glass bottles turned useful again, and here is another project to add to the list. You will need: a glass bottle with an opening that would fit a standard cork, Heavy gauge wire and cutters, and a purchased stopper for a hummingbird feeder. You can find these on pottery supply sites such as Aftosa, and occasionally at specialty garden shops. Thoroughly wash out the bottle. Then, wrap the wire around it so that it will hang upside down or at an angle in the location you will be placing it. Fill it with nectar, cork and hang! Here are some simple instructions for mixing nectar from Hummingbirds.net. They stress not to add red dye, as it may be dangerous for the birds to consume: Read the rest of this entry »

I’m an Earl Grey fan myself, and the best kinds, bar-none, are in loose form. Having tried just about every reusable gadget out there for steeping, I have yet to find anything superior to the paper bag filter. Mesh balls are cute, but I like my peanut butter chunky, not my tea. What is the eco-crafty beverage enthusiast to do?

I’m going to create my own reusable muslin tea bag, thanks to this excellent tutorial over at Craft Leftovers! How brilliantly simple. I might add a few glass beads from my stash to the tie strings. Oh, but let’s not stop there…

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