When you’re mixing up a lot of colors in your outfit, sometimes you need just the right accessory to pull it all together. Think of this custom flower brooch as The Dude’s rug:

…well, minus the pee.

ANYWAY! What I love about this pin design is that you can incorporate quite a few colors to make it the center of whatever outfit you have planned. I made the brooch pictured above to wear with a grey dress that has a teal sash. I wanted to pair it all up with a yellow cardigan, but it felt a little bit sloppy to me. Custom pin to the rescue!

If you want to make your own custom flower brooch, pull out your stash of fabric scraps, and click here for the tutorial!

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As you know from How To: Spruce Up an Old Jewelry Box, I love unique jewelry storage. This week I noticed my rings were getting out of hand, so I came up with a way to keep them organized and on display!

What You Will Need:

1. A teacup. You can easily find one at a thrift store or garage sale.

2. A spoon

3. Hot glue/hot glue gun

How To Do It:

1. Bend your spoon like so:

2. Hot glue the bottom of the spoon to the bottom of your tea cup. Make sure it’s at a good angle to hold your rings.

Now you have a cool place to store all of your favorite jewelry. I hung earrings on the side of the cup, put rings on the spoon handle, and put my upcycled watch bracelet in the cup.

Looking for more jewelry ideas? Check these out:

• 10 Repurposed Accessory Storage Ideas
• 10 DIY Jewelry Projects from Recycled Materials
• Upcycled Toy Charm Necklaces
• How To: Spruce Up An Old Jewelry Box
• Eco-Elegant Earrings by Rebekah Green via Feelgood Style

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I was shocked to read this morning about the tragic deaths of Whip Up founder Kathreen Ricketson and her partner, Rob Shugg. The couple was on vacation in Australia with their two children. Their children are safe and staying with relatives right now.

Ricketson was a cornerstone of the crafty community. Whip Up has inspired countless crafters to get making, and her legacy is going to live on as that site continues to inspire!

Our hearts go out to Ricketson’s children and to Rob’s and Kathreen’s families.

The folks at Whip Up are working on putting together an education fund for Rob and Kathreen’s children, and they’ll share more details about that once it’s ready to go.

You can read more about what happened over at Whip Up.

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Remember when I told you that I had a huge bag of wine corks in the Wine Corks to Wall Art tutorial? Well, inspiration struck again and I decided to create wine cork earrings!

What You Will Need:

1. One wine cork

2. A knife with a serrated blade

3. A permanent marker

4. Hot glue/hot glue gun

5. Earring backs (you can find these at your local craft store in the jewelry section)

How To Do It:

1. With your serrated knife, cut your cork into thin slices.

2. Draw your own art on the cork slices. I drew hearts because that’s basically the extent of my drawing skills.

3. Turn the corks over and hot glue the earring backs to the cork. I glued mine towards the top of the corks.

When the hot glue has dried, you’re ready to wear them! Wasn’t that simple? They have such a natural and unique look. All your friends will ask you to make some for them, too!

Looking for more cork projects? Take a look at these tutorials:

• Wine Cork Magnets
• Wine Cork Plant Markers via Eat Drink Better
• Upcycling with Cork, Wine Glass Charm via The Green Divas
• 8+ Ways to Recycle Wine Corks Creatively via Sustainablog

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Finding sustainable, waterproof fabric can be tricky. Even recycled synthetics contain quite a bit of new plastic in addition to the recycled content. That’s why I was super excited to learn about a brand new waterproof fabric made from lotus flower stems. The fabric is a blend of lotus flower fibers and silk, and it’s sustainable and waterproof!

The coolest part about this fabric? Not only is it beautiful and water resistant but the company that’s producing it is creating jobs for women in Cambodia to help support their families! According to Leena Oijala at EcoSalon:

Recognized as an old Burmese tradition, lotus fabric weaving was brought to village of Kyaing-kan in 2009 by Awen Delavel, a French designer and founder of eco-fashion label Samatoa.  He has been working with local women in order to provide them with the skills to produce the fabric and create a local economy that they can rely and make wages on.

The company is committed to fair trade, and they also use eco-friendly dyes, so you don’t have to worry that this fabric is polluting local rivers like you do with conventionally-dyed fabrics. Pretty awesome, right? Check out this video for more about how they developed this fabric and how it’s helping change lives in Cambodia:

Right now, Samatoa is the only company selling lotus flower fabric, and you can only buy yardage wholesale, but hopefully if there’s enough demand for this natural, fabulous fabric, they’ll be able to open up sales to hobbyists, too!

Image Credit: Photo via Samatoa

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Little kids look super-cute playing their summer team sport of choice. And the littler the little kid is, the cuter it all is… except, of course, when the kids are so little that their uniforms don’t actually fit them right.

My daughter’s softball team of four-to-seven-year-olds all wear an X-Small uniform, and still those knee socks, sleeveless shirts, and athletic shorts utterly swamp them. At our first game, my kid’s knee socks went up to her thighs, her shirt went down to her knees, and those shorts, cinched tight with a drawstring, billowed out around her when she ran.

And she’s one of the older kids on her team!

Knowing how to sew means that you don’t have to make do with something that doesn’t fit and is uncomfortable to wear. Here are the easy ways to fix the three most common areas of ill-fitting kid uniforms–and one of them doesn’t even REQUIRE sewing!

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Want to throw a party for a kid and NOT serve a bunch of crap to eat?

That was my challenge for my kiddo’s recent dinosaur-themed seventh birthday party. No potato chip “dinosaur scales,” no jelly bean “dinosaur eggs,” no dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets or snack crackers or grocery store cookies.

It may take a little imagination to see the dinosaur in these healthy fruit and cheese dinosaurs, but kids have a ton of imagination. They also have a love of fun food, and, yep, a love of wholesome apples, grapes, and cheese.

Because of the toothpicks, these dinos aren’t for a toddler’s party, but this herd of healthy, edible dinosaurs looked pretty cute on the snacks table at my kiddo’s birthday party, and they were a big hit with her and her friends, ages ranging from five to eight. Here’s how to make them:

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Add a little cheery springtime color to your ‘do with some recycled DIY hair accessories!

Headbands and fascinators are such a fun way to add a little oomph to your outfit, but the store-bought variety are not so hot for the planet. You have no idea where a headband from the big box store was made or what conditions the workers labored under. Plus, department store accessories are shipped all over the world, which comes with a huge carbon footprint.

Luckily, you can dive into your crafty stash to make some cute, upcycled hair accessories instead of supporting that wasteful, exploitative business model! Check out these cute DIY ideas!

Next>> Peacock fascinator from recycled felt

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Thanks to Pinterest, I’ve been searching thrift stores high and low to find a ladder to upcycle into a shelf. Finally, I found an old bunk bed ladder to transform! I simply propped it up against the wall and added decorations. In the future I might paint it and give it a shabby chic look like the Shabby Chic Coffee Table, but for now, I’m loving the rustic wood.

Here are 10 ladder projects that inspired me to make my own ladder shelf:

1. Laundry Ladder Rack by Little Lucy Lu — This aqua blue ladder rack would actually make me want to do laundry… maybe.

2. Ladder Lantern by Unskinny Boppy — Looking for a lighting idea for your porch or patio this summer? Look no further!

3. Yellow Ladder Table by Mom 4 Real — Wouldn’t this be a precious side table or patio table?

4. Vintage Ladder Pot Rack by A Beach Cottage — If you need a place for your kitchen pots, a vintage ladder is an awesome solution.

5. Christmas Tree Ladder by Funky Junk Interiors — I’m amazed by Donna’s ability to create something so beautiful from “junk” like this ladder Christmas tree.

6. Ladder Bed Canopy/Headboard by Chipping With Charm — Chipping With Charm’s ladder bed canopy took her bedroom to the next level. It’s gorgeous!

7. Ladder Display Makeover by A Beautiful Mess — A one-of-a-kind ladder shelf like this would be great for displaying items at craft booths or shops.

8. Picture Display Ladder by Kammy’s Korner — Isn’t this such a great idea for a large empty space on the wall or in a hallway?

9. Ladder Quilt Rack by The County Chic Cottage — Hang all of your handmade quilts on a cute shabby chic ladder.

10. Use a Ladder for Yarn Storage by Fresh Stitches — This yarn storage idea makes me want to learn how to crochet!

What would you do with an old ladder? There are so many possibilities, it’s hard to choose just one. If you’ve created your own ladder project, share it in our Green Crafts Showcase!

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I’ve admired Becky’s Burlap Sunglasses Case for quite some time now, but I have no sewing skills at all. My solution? Create a no sew sunglasses case with my handy-dandy hot glue gun!

What You Will Need:

1. Two different colors of felt. If you can, use recycled felt or felt an old sweater.

2. Scissors

3. Hot glue/hot glue gun

4. A pen

How To Do It:

1. Get your sunglasses and determine what size your felt needs to be. You will essentially cut out a large rectangle. Be sure to add a little extra fabric to each end– we will be folding and gluing the ends and you don’t want to make it too small.

2. Fold your felt in half.

3. Hot glue the sides together. First, hot glue the two sides together. Then, fold it over and hot glue it again like so:

4. Hot glue one end of the felt. Make sure you hot glue the end that you cut instead of the straight edge. You will repeat the same steps you did in step 3–hot glue the ends together and then fold it over and hot glue it again.

5. Once your hot glue has dried, turn it inside out.

6. Draw sunglasses on your other color of felt. Then, cut it out and glue it to the outside of your case.

7. As you can see from the picture above, the hot glue is peeking through the yellow felt. I was super sad, but decided to fix it with some “lenses.” In retrospect, I would probably use a darker or thicker felt so it masks the hot glue.

Now your cute case is ready to hold and protect your sunglasses! I didn’t add a closure because my glasses fit pretty snug inside. However, if you want to add one for extra security, check out the How To: Make a Burlap Sunglasses Case post. Oh, and if you want to buy some stylish eco eyewear, check out this post from Feelgood Style!

Isn’t this perfect for summer? What summer projects are you working on? Share them in our Green Crafts Showcase or on our Facebook page!

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