Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several really cute mini Christmas trees. You know, the little ones that are just for decoration, cost an arm and a leg, and are far from eco-friendly? Yeah, those. Enter: a bottle I saved from the trash.
How To Make a Mini Christmas Tree Read More 👉
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.
How-to: DIY Mosaics–No Kits, Just Concrete! Read More 👉
Check out how to sew cloth napkins that fit nicely into my children’s packed lunches. And, as a bonus, I sew my napkins with a double thickness, so that they have extra absorbency for mopping up spills…not that your kids are messy, of course.
How To Sew Cloth Napkins for a Waste-Free Lunchbox Read More 👉
I have a habit of hoarding things like shoe boxes, newspapers, scrap paper, etc., because I know they can be recycled into a project. An incredible blog called Spunky Junk shared this project on how to use shoe box lids as wall art. Shoe box lids are less expensive than canvas and it’s a great way to recycle! So, I took my shoe box lid, newspaper, and scrap paper and combined it into my own personal wall art!
How-to: Newspaper Art Read More 👉
I always thought these faux Christmas “candles” were somewhat creepy—especially the ones with red bulbs. Even so, they are definitely a symbol of Christmas! I wanted to make a cover for the candles to make them pretty, but still keep them festive. Something you all should know about me is that I am slightly addicted to using toilet paper rolls in my craft projects. Naturally, I used them in this project as well!
How-to: Transform Classic Christmas “Candles” Read More 👉
From clove apples to apple votive candles, there are some really cool things that you can do with your surplus apples, and the beauty of these projects is that when you tire of them, the apples that you used can generally go right into your compost. So check out these five projects for inspiration to use with your own surplus apples.
Five Apple Crafts to Make with Your Surplus Apple Harvest Read More 👉
Yes, a dried apple wreath is amply countrified, but only if you hang it in the kitchen. If you embrace the ancient folklore that imbues the apple with meanings such as life, sexuality, or wisdom, then you can find the other rooms in your home in which a dried apple wreath holds valuable symbolism.
How-to: Make a Dried Apple Wreath Read More 👉
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!
How To: Make an Upcycled Faux Headboard 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 👉
Nuno Magazine is published seasonally, with all its projects tied together under one theme, yet with a broad variety of crafts to choose from. The fall Star Gazing issue includes cool weather projects, such as the hat and a crocheted cowl, autumn crafts, such as sweater pumpkins and a bat mask, and crafts that use everything from felted wool to newspaper to tin cans to mimic the stars in the night sky.
Star Gazing: Nuno Magazine’s Fall Issue Read More 👉
If you’d like to make decorations that you can leave up from now through Thanksgiving, check out these five tutorials for fall garlands and autumn buntings that make use of upcycled materials.
Five Upcycled Autumn Buntings and Garlands Read More 👉
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.
Make an Upcycled Cardboard Leaf Garland for Autumn Read More 👉
Here are five crafty ways to upcycle wine glass bottles. Start collecting wine bottles so you can make a few of these crafts for the holidays and as gifts.
Halloween decorations can be incredibly wasteful, but they don’t have to be! You could buy plastic decorations that you’ll probably only use once, but with a little crafty know-how, you can whip up your own custom decorations that are less wasteful and have a whole lot of heart. Karen showed you how to mummify glass candle holders and make paper luminary covers, and you can use reclaimed tin cans to make some light-up Halloween decorations, too!
How-to: Make Upcycled Tin Lanterns for Halloween Read More 👉
A light and airy mobile, whether it’s hung over the dining room table or the kitchen sink, is a wonderful way to show off the colorful autumn leaves that you’ve preserved, and it’s a fall decoration that easily works all the way through Thanksgiving.
How-to: Autumn Leaf Mobile Read More 👉
Confession time: I am obsessed with bunting. Anything strung up in a row just seems strikes me as so sweet and eye-catching. When one of my very favorite people had a birthday coming up, I decided to whip up a bit of bunting for his party. He’s an amazing writer, so book pages felt like the perfect medium for his birthday streamer. Here’s how you can make your own!
How-to: Make Glue-Free Book Page Bunting Read More 👉
Crafting with acorns is also special because you’ll always know that you collected them yourself–who would pay money for acorns!?!–and I bet that if you’re anything like me, whenever you look at the projects that you created with them, you’ll think back to your happiest autumn memories from that year.
Five Must-Try Acorn Crafts for the Autumn Read More 👉
Hand-dipping paper in beeswax gives it the patina of an antique and is a chemical-free way to preserve it. Here’s how to make your own beeswax paper.
How to Make Beeswax-Coated Paper Read More 👉
Scarecrow is a great porch prop for the Fall and for Halloween. This easy tutorial for a drunken scare crow uses everything you might have or can get from Goodwill.
Make these easy peasy candle holder cover to fancy up your home decor. All you need is a needle and some Halloween themed paper.
DIY: Paper Luminary Covers for Halloween Read More 👉
Preserving autumn leaves allows you to use their beautiful colors in fall crafts all year long.
Even if you already have a go-to method for preserving leaves, check out these other options–you might discover a way that will work even better for a particular project, or you might find a new favorite preservation method altogether.
Fall Crafts: 4 Ways to Preserve Autumn Leaves Read More 👉
Take the ephemeral beauty of autumn leaves and make it last forever when you preserve leaves with the one simple, natural ingredient that is pure beeswax.
How-to: Preserve Autumn Leaves with Melted Beeswax Read More 👉
A witch is one of the simplest and the easiest characters to be on Halloween. Put on a black outfit and a pointy hat, and you are reading to party. But buying one of those cheap plastic or polyester ones that last a short time is very wasteful. Here is how to make a witch’s hat that will last year after year.
How-to: Make a Witch’s Hat Read More 👉
Organize your fabric stash into a neat, ordered, uniform collection using recycled cardboard record album covers.
How-to: Upcycle Cardboard Record Album Covers for Fabric Storage Read More 👉
Make eco-friendly ghosts for Halloween that your Trick-or-Treaters will love. Who says ghosts are scary?
How to Make an Eco-Friendly Ghost Read More 👉
Make a wreath that you can interchange the look depending on the season and holiday but with just one wreath frame.
Instead of buying new, I decided whip up a sunglasses case using supplies that were already in my craft room. Hurrah! This case was a surprise, so those are my giant, white sunglasses in the photos. He wears pretty big glasses, too, so I modeled the size on my huge pair. If you wear less chunky sunglasses, you might want to size this sunglasses case tutorial down a bit to accommodate, so they’ll fit snugly.
How-to: Make a Burlap Sunglasses Case Read More 👉
Whether you have a child who’s learning her letters, or you simply recognize the decorative potential of a lovely font, a handmade alphabet can be simple to make out of a wide variety of eco-friendly materials. If your green crafting ethic prefers upcycling, or if you choose to use only natural materials, read on for a variety of ways to craft your own handmade letters.
Five Handmade Alphabets that You Can Craft from Recycled, Upcycled, or Natural Materials Read More 👉
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.
How-to: Sew a Stuffed Fabric Alphabet from Upcycled, Recycled, or Natural Fabrics Read More 👉
Make these upcycled glass jar mummy candle holders (lanterns) for Halloween. Group them as a family or put individual pieces on front steps or line them up on the walkway. No matter how you choose to use them, they’ll be sure to bring smiles to your trick or treaters.
Halloween Craft: Mummified Glass Jar Candle Holder Read More 👉
A pillowcase tote for Trick-or-Treating is easy to make and it’s a no waste way to upcycle a pillowcase. Here’s how to make this easy peasy Trick-or-Treat tote.
You can make this eco-friendly solar Jack-O-Lantern for less than the price of a real pumpkin. And it’s reusable! Here is how.
How To: Solar Jack-O-Lantern Read More 👉
Felting wool can alter its color. If you’re unhappy with the color of the wool sweater that you just felted, or even with an entire finished upcycled wool piece, you can easily overdye it to a new color.
How-to: Overdye Upcycled Felted Wool to Create Custom Colors Read More 👉
