DIY Home + Garden

5 Upcycled Party Decorations {slideshow}

Party planning can be as fun as the party itself, but those store-bought decorations are often far from eco-friendly. When you shop at the big box store for bunting, streamers, and table decorations, chances are you’re getting products made in a far off factory from questionable materials. No, thank you! Here are five ideas for upcycled, handmade party decorations that can keep your next shindig as eco-friendly without giving up any of the fun!

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How-to: Reusable Party Streamers from Recycled Felt

One of my very best friends is having a baby in May, and last weekend we threw her a baby shower. Of course, we wanted to make things extra fancy with festive decorations, so a couple of us party planners got together for a crafternoon, where we schemed up the party layout and made some decorations. I had a great time churning out these felt streamers, and they were super simple to make! Here’s how you can make your own.

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Bath and Body Beeswax Recipes (and a Few Recipes to Keep Your House Honey-Sweet, Too)

Because I’m always looking for a way to reduce the toxic chemicals that we keep in our home, I also like to make my own cleaning and bath supplies, and beeswax has proved itself to be just as versatile, and just as useful, in recipes that keep our house and bodies clean and happy as it is in all the other ways that we use it. Here are some of the best beeswax recipes for bath, body, and cleaning supplies that you can make yourself.

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How-to: Make a Repurposed Table Runner

Of course, I could have hit up the big box store for a table runner, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, those store-bought situations tend to involve either conventional cotton or some type of polyester, and they’re made in far-off factories. Who knows what the labor practices are there, right? Instead, I hit my stash and whipped up this reclaimed table runner that’s exactly the right size for my new sideboard. Here’s how you can make a table runner of your own!

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How to Upcycle a Coffee Sack into a Burlap Box

5 Awesome Ways to Repurpose a Burlap Coffee Sack

We’ve talked some about the joys of burlap before. Burlap is made from jute, a very low-impact plant to grow. Not only that, it’s pretty easy to get second hand burlap, if you know where to look. Local coffee shops, especially ones that roast their own beans, tend to be rich with big, empty burlap sacks. If you frequent a local coffee shop, get friendly with the staff and ask nicely – I bet they’ll be happy to give you a burlap sack or two!

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How-to: Dehydrated Orange Garland

When I saw that my family was clearly not going to eat through that entire 10-pound bag of navel oranges before the last ones went bad, I thought briefly about marmalade and fruit leather, but then I thought, “Nah–craft supplies!”. Read on to see how to turn leftover oranges into shelf-stable craft supplies, and how to make a garland that shows off the lovely translucency of the preserved orange slices.

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How-to: Rolled Beeswax Tealight Candles

Beeswax tealight candles are expensive, petroleum-based tealight candles are polluting and unhealthy, and yet my lovely little essential oil warmer won’t work with anything larger.

In the mornings, I MUST waft the scent of peppermint and rosemary essential oils through the air, lest I never escape the desire to just go back to bed, and so I’ve gotten into the habit of making my own rolled beeswax tealight candles. They’re quick and easy to make, inexpensive, and you can do them in any colors that you fancy. Read on to see how it’s done.

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Projects to Personalize, Decorate, Embellish, and Otherwise Jazz up Your Clothespins

Plain wooden clothespins are as versatile as they are inexpensive, but unlike their plastic cousins, plain wooden clothespins are…well, plain!

If you’d like a little more variety in your clothespin stash, check out these simple crafty projects that will show you how to decorate, embellish, paint, color, and otherwise jazz up your clothespins.

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Easy Organizational Pages to Include in Your Daily Planner

So whether you’ll punch your pages and put them into a three-ring binder create your own multi-folio hand-bound book, I encourage you to consider crafting your own daily planner this year. If you’re still on the fence, here are some of the types of pages that I’ll be including in my own planner–if the thought of all these handy organizational tools that I’ll have at my fingertips makes you jealous, then you’re halfway to a DIY planner of your own.

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Five No-Pattern Potholder Projects

While you’ll have to wait until after the holiday season for my own favorite nine-patch potholder tutorial (there’s only so much craftiness I can do while spending Christmas ten hours away from my sewing machine), here are five more potholder tutorials that you’re going to love. Some are scrappy, some are sturdy, some are cute, and none of them even require so much as a pattern to sew–how much easier could you get?

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How-to: Pretty Packaged Mason Jars for Gift Giving

If you give a lot of homemade gifts, you’re probably well aware of the versatility of the Mason jar. Perfect for everything from spice mixes to cranberry granola, party mix to cake in a jar, Mason jars get passed around between me and my crafty friends and family like the holiday version of hot potato.

The only thing about Mason jars is that..well…they look all the same. Sure, they’re lovely enough, but so uniform! Fortunately, with a little fabric, some thread, and a bit of upcycled cardboard, you can package your Mason jar gifts for the holidays, personalizing them by gift or recipient or just making them look nicely festive.

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How-to: DIY Mosaics–No Kits, Just Concrete!

You know those adorable concrete mosaic kits that they sell in all the big-box craft stores, the ones with all the stuff that you need to make one concrete mosaic, handprint optional, to put in your garden path in the spring? The ones that look really fun to make, and you’re pretty sure that the grandparents would just adore one made by your kids?

Yeah, you can make dozens and dozens of your own concrete mosaics for the same price as one of those mosaic kits, and even more cheaply, if you use found and natural objects for the mosaic tiles, and recycle plastic packaging for the concrete molds.

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How To: Make an Upcycled Faux Headboard

Headboards make such a lovely focal point for the bedroom, but they’re often pretty pricey. Even mass-produced headboards from the big box store can get expensive, and those don’t have the best environmental footprint, either. Luckily, with some fabric from your scrap bin, some recycled felt, and our handy templates, you can whip up your very own upcycled faux headboard!

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Make an Upcycled Cardboard Leaf Garland for Autumn

As long as recycled cardstock or cardboard fits my color scheme (and painting counts!), I like to upcycle it into temporary holiday garlands to decorate those last bits of uncluttered surface in my house. Read on to see that my red Valentine heart garlands (made from Target photo processing envelopes) and my yellow and green autumn leaf garlands (made from Crayola boxes) are easy to make, and would look pretty great in your house, too.

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Here's a cute way to decorate a nursery or playroom:

How-to: Sew a Stuffed Fabric Alphabet from Upcycled, Recycled, or Natural Fabrics

As a children’s toy, a holiday decoration, or a wonderful present (a child’s name? A couple’s first monogram? How fun!), stuffed fabric letters are a way to show your personality and use up just about any kind of fabric in your stash. Neatly sewing up those letters with holes in them can be very tricky, however, but let me show you how, and you’ll be off and running.

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How-to: Make Cloth Napkins

Paper napkins are a huge waste of resources. Not only does it take energy and trees to produce all of those disposable napkins, but once the meal is through, you have to toss them in the trash, since you can’t recycle that food-soaked paper. Cloth napkins might feel like a fancy-dinner-party-only sort of thing, but that doesn’t have to be true at all! It’s easy as pie to whip up a batch of cloth napkins, and you can make yourself a bunch, so you have some for every day use and a set for special occasions, if you like.

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