It’s so easy to have a junky Easter. Everything in the big-box stores is cheap, everything is made in China, and EVERYTHING is plastic.
Want to do better?
Whether you want to incorporate just a few eco-friendly ideas or go whole-hog sustainable, check out the following plans to green every part of your Easter basket.
The Eco-Friendly Easter Basket: Tips for a Sustainable Easter Morning Read More 👉
The Base Project, a small company founded by brothers Christopher and Doug Akin, works with various tribes in Namibia and Ghana to create beautiful, upcycled jewelry. After traveling to the African nation many times, the brothers wanted to give back to the local communities, and The Base Project was born.
Upcycled Jewelry for People, Planet and Profit! Read More 👉
Did YOU win a recycled snap book? Read on and let’s see!
Announcing the Winner of the Full Circle Crafts Giveaway Read More 👉
I’ll show you how we made our restaurant book using the eco-friendly supplies given to us by Full Circle Crafts, and–best yet–tell you how you can enter a giveaway to win even more Full Circle Crafts supplies.
Kids love to play Memory! Here are a ton of handmade memory games that you can craft using sustainable supplies.
Handmade Memory Games Crafted from Sustainable Supplies Read More 👉
On Wednesday, I shared a question about a pop can craft, so of course I’ve had soda cans on the brain all week. Want to get your soda can craft on? These are some of the coolest soda can crafts I’ve run across!
A reader recently ran across a really cool photo of a toy camera made from reclaimed coke cans, and she’s looking for a tutorial so that she can make her own soda can camera!
Reader Question: Coke Can Camera? Read More 👉
Using nothing but wire hangers, hot glue, and duct tape, I created a hoop skirt. Here’s how:
How-to: A Hoop Skirt Made from Wire Hangers Read More 👉
Like everything else handmade, handmade makeup is the way to go when you want something just a little different from what everybody else has.
Do I really need to tell you WHY I want to draw on rocks? Or wood? Or seashells? Just think up a reason that makes sense, and pretend that’s why.
Use Faber-Castell Pitt Pens to Draw on Wood, Rocks, and Shells Read More 👉
Scrapbooking chipboard is really easy to repaint and embellish. Here’s how I did it.
How-to: Remake Scrapbooking Chipboard Read More 👉
After lots of testing, retesting, retesting again, breaking, fixing, and maybe a few tears, it’s finally here! You can now list craft supplies to give away, post about supplies you need, or list supplies you’d like to swap right here at Crafting a Green World!
It’s HERE!: Share and Swap Craft Supplies Read More 👉
Play the guitar? Use a guitar pick? Ever wanted to make your own?
You can!
Review: The Pick Punch for Making DIY Guitar Picks Read More 👉
Have a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces? You totally do!
Crafts to Make with Puzzle Pieces Read More 👉
I need all my stuff to be crazy awesome (or just crazy!), so I like to pretty up my thrifted dishes using the most simple, most brilliant craft supply that you’ve ever heard of: ceramics markers.
How-to: Refurbish Thrifted Dishes with Ceramics Markers Read More 👉
Seed starters made from food scraps are even more economical than recycled seedling pots–you’ve got to eat even more than you’ve got to read the newspaper!–and even better for your garden, because all those eggshell seedling pots, orange peel seedling pots, and pumpkin shell seedling pots? That’s compost, right where your garden needs it the most.
Here’s a selection of food scrap seed starters–no matter where your tastes lie, you’ll find something here to eat and then plant.
How-to: Start Seedlings in Food Scrap Containers Read More 👉
Do you need a little help finding organic sewing notions? Check our our guide to organic sewing supplies!
Sustainable Sewing Guide: Organic Sewing Notions Read More 👉
Having trouble finding organic ribbon for your latest sewing project? I am in love with the organic cotton ribbon from May Arts!
Product Review: Organic Ribbon from May Arts Read More 👉
Black clothing is the hardest clothing to maintain, because it’s so vulnerable to fading. Even red clothes fade more gracefully than black! Here’s how to use black fabric dye to refresh your faded black clothing.
How to Refresh Black Clothing with Fabric Dye Read More 👉
Back in October we asked you guys what kinds of things you’d like more help reusing or upcycling, and you had some great questions, both via comment and email. We’ve addressed quite a few of them, from how to reuse old jeans to new ideas for old books, but there was one question that’s been stumping me for ages: how can crafters upcycle e-waste?
Reader Question: Crafting with E-Waste Read More 👉
Kids love to make their own jewelry, and these pendants, crafted from upcycled cardboard, are especially fun to create and wear. The pendants cost no money, slip easily inside a letter to a pen pal, and, if the kid gets tired of wearing them, can be tossed right back into the recycling bin.
How-to: Kid-Made Recycled Cardboard Pendants Read More 👉
Beeswax cut-outs take seconds to make, and can be used to decorate candles (even boring store-bought ones!), make candles of their own, or just hang out in your house and look pretty.
How-to: Make Beeswax Cut-outs to Decorate Candles (or Your House) Read More 👉
Remember those Crafting a Green World forums we asked you guys about back in November? We didn’t forget! Our awesome developer has been working with us to find a solution, and we are so close to launching them!
Green Crafts Forums Update! Read More 👉
My kids LOVE to make ice cream in their Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker. But is it worth the fuss?
Depends.
Review: DIY Ice Cream with the Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker Read More 👉
Here’s how to turn yesterday’s newspaper into a temporary toy that your kids will love using to increase their spatial reasoning abilities.
How-to: Build Newspaper Structures with Your Kids–It’s a Toy that You Can Recycle! Read More 👉
A friend of mine in Hawaii sent me a photo of these DIY beer can “ornaments,” and they were too hilarious not to share with you guys! Obviously, these are meant to be a joke decoration, but there are lots of fun ornaments that you actually can make from empty soda cans. Check out our 10 ideas.
Spotted: Beer Can “Ornaments” in Hawaii (+ 10 soda can ornament ideas!) Read More 👉
If you’re fond of making rolled beeswax candles (it’s an easy, fun, kid-friendly craft, and beeswax candles are much healthier than store-bought, petroleum-based candles), then you’ve had to answer the following question:
Where on earth do you BUY those honeycomb beeswax sheets?!?
Honeycomb beeswax sheets are rarely found at local, indie crafts stores (although you can request that they be stocked), rarely found at big-box crafts stores, rarely found at the honey farm booth at your neighborhood farmer’s marker.
I buy my honeycomb beeswax sheets online from Knorr Beeswax, and here’s what I think of them.
Review: Rolled Beeswax Honeycomb Sheets from Knorr Beeswax Read More 👉
Eco-friendly containers, made either from natural or recycled materials, make great indoor planters. They’re cheap, they’re customizable for whatever spot you want to put them in, and in May, when I’m raring to get back into my outdoor gardens, they can go right back into the recycling or compost bins.
Read on for ideas to create your own eco-friendly indoor planters.
We’re building a green crafts forum for you guys, and we want to know what you want! Check out the poll below to tell us what you’d use a CAGW form to do.
What would you post on a Crafting a Green World Forum? Read More 👉
Got a stash of plastic bags that you can’t bear to toss? Try some of these plastic grocery bag crafts to give them a new life instead!
It’s not too late! Get inspired by one of the projects below, then pick up your carving knife (or hammer and nails, OR solar light and glass jar) and whip out the Jack-o-lantern of your dreams before Halloween night!
6 Last-Minute Jack-o-Lanterns to Make in Time for Halloween Read More 👉
I am super passionate about reusing because I love taking one person’s “trash” and turning it into treasure! So many people take the easy way out and go to big box stores on items they could easily find at garage sales and thrift stores. Buying second hand reduces landfill waste and helps you skip the impact of buying new! To help inform and inspire you, I put together the top 5 items that I look for when I go to garage sales and thrift stores
Reusing is Green: Finding Second Hand Craft Supplies Read More 👉
One fallen tree branch, one handsaw, and a couple of easy cuts are all you need to make a ton of natural craft projects.
Wood slices are hard to mess up, and they’re a very versatile craft supply. Add some paint, some wood polish, maybe a drill, and you can make for yourself any of the eleven cut tree branch craft projects listed here.
Cut a Fallen Tree Branch and Make Something: 11 Nature Crafts from Upcycled Wood Slices Read More 👉
Want to bring more nature into your art?
Crayon, colored pencil, and marker holders are easy to make from reclaimed fallen branches. They organize your art supplies, make them visible while you work, and, if you’re creating with kids, display a manageable (and easy to clean up!) number of utensils that the kiddos can access independently. Here’s how to make one for yourself.
With the right bit, you can use a Dremel to drill through just about any material, natural or recycled, that you can think of. From bottle caps to rocks, here are my tips on the best bits and the proper technique to make your work perfect and keep your fingers safe.
