If you know any kiddos who enjoy painting, and you’d like to provide them with some special materials–say, an organic, eco-friendly, earth- and mineral-based paint set–then you’re in luck!
Read on to enter a giveaway for one set of Earth Paints for Children.
Giveaway: Win an Earth Paints for Children Organic, Eco-Friendly Paint Set Read More 👉
My kiddos do a LOT of painting, with all different kinds of paints. They’ve done tempera and acrylics, oils and watercolors–heck, they even spray paint!–but I can say for a fact that they have never before used completely natural, completely toxin-free, completely artificial chemical-free paint (other than mud, of course) until they painted with Earth Paint.
Review: Earth Paint Eco-Friendly Paint for Children (and a Giveaway!) Read More 👉
We love glass jars around here! They’re durable (unless you drop them), versatile, and with a little bit of love, you can turn them into all sorts of fun things.
10 Crafty Ways to Reuse Glass Jars and Bottles Read More 👉
Is that perfect glass jar a little bit stinky from whatever it used to hold? Are you having trouble getting the label off? Don’t despair! We’ve got you covered.
How-to: Prep Reclaimed Glass Jars for Crafting Read More 👉
We all know how much better we, ourselves, craft when we use quality materials. And think about how much more likely a kid is to really love working with yarn if the yarn that we hand her feels good in her hands, is beautifully dyed, and does exactly what it’s supposed to.
Review: Inca-Eco 100% Organic Cotton Yarn from Galler Yarns is Good for Wrapping Things Read More 👉
Hey there, green crafty peeps! Have you had a chance to enter your eco-friendly project in this month’s Green Crafts Showcase? It’s easy as pie to enter, and there are a few days left to get your entries in for the very first one!
Reminder: A Few Days Left to Enter the Green Crafts Showcase Read More 👉
I know it’s a spoiler alert, since I want you to read my entire review, but I have to tell you that my girls and I LOVED this Make Your Own Gummies Kit from Glee Gum. It’s easy enough for the kids to do with adult supervision, it incorporates lessons in science and geography, it’s eco-friendly and encourages a sustainable global marketplace, and–something that you will appreciate if you don’t choose to eat gelatin that is processed from animal bones–it’s vegan.
But I know what you’re really wondering: Did I manage to give myself second-degree burns by pouring boiling sugar syrup all over my foot like I did with the Make Your Own Gum kit? Well, I guess I should leave some surprises for my actual review…
Want to decorate your cakes without springing for expensive organic sanding sugar or settling for the cheaper (but still expensive!) conventional sanding sugar? Fortunately, making your own colored sanding sugar takes about ten seconds, and you can use the same high-quality organic sugar and natural food coloring that you already have in your pantry. Here’s how:
How-to: Make Your Own Organic Colored Sanding Sugar Read More 👉
Read on for several recipes for liquid soaps that you can make yourself–some are very frugal, some are very fancy, and some will clean your dishes or your laundry as well as your hands.
We have been all about the beeswax this week! Julie shared a recipe for natural beeswax furniture polish on Monday and then a whole roundup of beeswax crafts yesterday. I’ve got to say that as a vegan crafter, I want to get in on all this eco-friendly waxy action! But since beeswax comes from bees, that makes it off limits for vegan crafting purposes. So! I did a bit of digging and turned up a great vegan beeswax alternative!
Vegan Crafting Made Easy: A Vegan Beeswax Alternative Read More 👉
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.
Bath and Body Beeswax Recipes (and a Few Recipes to Keep Your House Honey-Sweet, Too) Read More 👉
From my antique library table to my unfinished wood kitchen countertops to my children’s many wooden toys (especially the hand-stained wooden toys), my homemade beeswax wood polish keeps them all in good condition, with all-natural ingredients and scented with essential oils.
How-to: A Recipe for Natural Beeswax Wood Polish Read More 👉
Whether you’d like to use a wax seal on a letter, a gift, or your own altered art, this candle + stamp method is just as quick and easy as using traditional sealing wax supplies–and it’s cheaper!
How-to: Craft DIY Wax Seals Using Crayons and Stamps Read More 👉
It can be tricky to scale your production up and keep that packaging green. Minimal packaging is always best, but when it comes to beauty products there are some things that just need a package. You can’t exactly spoon a glob of lip gloss into your customer’s hand, right?
Reader Question: Eco-Friendly Containers for Beauty Products Read More 👉
DIY chewing gum can be a surprisingly eco-friendly project (hint–it’s the chicle), but be warned: in the process of making this chewing gum from a kit, I got a really, really, REALLY bad DIY chewing gum-making injury.
If you’re a recycled artist or crafter, you may think that you know everything that can be done with old soda cans and plastic packaging, but trust me–Mahe Zehra Husain has some very new things to teach you (and something to give you, as well–read on for the details!).
Green Crafter Book Review: Crafty Cans and Perplexing Plastic, by Mahe Zehra Husain Read More 👉
I’m currently working on a project to revamp our clipboards from dust-catching shelf-clutterers into something actually usable–otherwise, they’re off to Goodwill next weekend–but until then, check out with me these DIY upcycled clipboard projects from across the web. Clipboards actually ARE useful!
Upcycled Clipboard Projects: You Never Knew that an Old Clipboard Could be This Useful! Read More 👉
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.
How-to: Dehydrated Orange Garland Read More 👉
When I shared with you my round-up of clothespins embellishment projects, I left out my own personal favorite. These dyed and glittered clothespins are so saturated with color, so sparkly, and yep, so darn useful that I find myself making up a fresh batch surprisingly often. Read on to see how they’re done.
How-to: Dyed and Glittered Clothespins Read More 👉
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.
How-to: Rolled Beeswax Tealight Candles Read More 👉
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.
Projects to Personalize, Decorate, Embellish, and Otherwise Jazz up Your Clothespins Read More 👉
We are all about the green crafty inspiration around here, so of course we love Pinterest!
Connect with Us on Pinterest! Read More 👉
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?
Five No-Pattern Potholder Projects Read More 👉
Have you ever fallen into a crafty rut? Been stumped by something that you want to repurpose but just can’t sort out how? Searched for an eco-friendly version of a craft supply with no luck? Well, lovely readers, we want to help!
Reader Questions, Answered Read More 👉
As a crafty business owner, business cards are a must! I am all about making your own business cards if you have the time, but let’s be honest: sometimes, you have to prioritize. When time doesn’t allow for making cards, the next best thing is finding business cards that are as eco-friendly as possible.
Green Business Cards: A Moo Review Read More 👉
Because desk calendars are made of that most versatile of craft materials–paper!!!–you’ll find that you can make some pretty great projects with them using some of our favorite methods here at CAGW. Here are five tutorials to get you started.
Reader Question Answered: Upcycling a Daily Calendar Read More 👉
A kid can build with her unfinished wooden blocks all day long, but if what she really wants to build is a rainbow, well…
Fortunately, unfinished wooden toys (or unfinished wood of ANY type), is quite simple to stain, and it takes color so beautifully that you may never want to paint wood again. Here’s how to do it.
How-to: Stain Unfinished Wooden Toys with Vibrant Colors Read More 👉
One of the recycled crafty resources that came up a lot during this year’s and last year’s Summit of Awesome was the Creative Reuse Center. But what’s a Creative Reuse Center, and how can you find one near you?
Creative Reuse Center: A Recycled Art Supply Resource Read More 👉
We had an overwhelmingly awesome response to our call for writers. A huge thank you to everyone who applied. It was so hard to choose between the amazing submissions, and I wish we had more room on the writing team right now. I am thrilled to introduce you to our newest writer: Bonnie Getchell!
Meet Our Newest Writer: Bonnie Getchell Read More 👉
To vat-dye multi-colored silks with clean colors and smooth transitions, there are a few different methods that work. This particular method is one of the easiest, since it blocks off all of the fabric that you’re not currently dyeing, allowing you to vat dye and machine wash as usual.
How-to: Vat Dye Multi-Colored Play Silks and Silk Scarves Read More 👉
Do you love Crafting a Green World? Are you a great writer with a passion for creative re-use? We’re interested in recruiting crafters, makers, and re-users!
Not only are they launching an eco-friendly line of cards, but they want to give away three sets to some lucky Crafting a Green World readers! Since I know lots of you guys own crafty businesses, I thought you might dig a chance to try out some eco-friendly promo materials from a small company. There are a few ways that you can enter to win your set of 100 MOO cards…
Giveaway: Win a Pack of 100 New “Green” Cards from MOO Read More 👉
Cotton has some really great marketing behind it, but conventional cotton has some dirty secrets.
Cotton: The Dirty Truth about “The Fabric of our Lives” Read More 👉
If you’re dreaming about a new way to organize your fabric, check out these five storage solutions that are constructed from eco-friendly upcycled materials.
Five Upcycled Fabric Storage Solutions Read More 👉
Leave those nasty foam stickers on the store shelf and show your kids how easy it is to make your own custom reusable stickers. While you’re at it, make yourself some stickers for your scrapbook, and that’s one more aisle that you don’t have to shop!
Make Reusable Stickers from Upcycled Paper Read More 👉
A natural modeling beeswax dyed with plant colors sounds pretty eco-friendly, but how do we know what’s really in it?
Review: Artemis Plant Color Modeling Beeswax Read More 👉
