Announcing the Winners of the Knit Picks Full Circle Yarn Giveaway
Knit Picks is giving away three skeins of Full Circle yarn to TWO lucky winners! Are you one?
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Giveaway: Win Three Skeins of Knit Picks Full Circle Yarn–There Will be TWO Winners!
Did you read my review of Knit Picks Full Circle yarn yesterday? Do you want to check out some of this 100% reclaimed wool yarn for yourself?
You’re in luck! Knit Picks is giving away three skeins of their Full Circle yarn to two (count them, TWO) lucky winners! Read on to discover all the ways that you can enter this giveaway.
Giveaway: Win Three Skeins of Knit Picks Full Circle Yarn–There Will be TWO Winners! Read More 👉
Announcement: The Winner of the Earth Paints for Children Set
Did you enter the giveaway for your own set of Earth Paints for Children, an organic, eco–friendly, mineral-based painting kit from Earth Paint?
If you did, then today may be your lucky day! Read on to see who our winner is
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Review: Knit Picks Full Circle Yarn
I want the yarn that my children craft with to be made of natural fibers, to be easy for fumbling little fingers to work with, and to be comfortable on their delicate skin. I would like their yarn to also be both texturally and visually interesting, to hold their attention while they build their muscle memory and practice their fine motor skills.
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Giveaway: Win an Earth Paints for Children Organic, Eco-Friendly Paint Set
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.
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Review: Earth Paint Eco-Friendly Paint for Children (and a Giveaway!)
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.
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Review: Inca-Eco 100% Organic Cotton Yarn from Galler Yarns is Good for Wrapping Things
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.
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Announcement: The Winner of the Make Your Own Gummies Kit from Glee Gum
It’s time to announce the lucky winner of the Make Your Own Gummies Kit from Glee Gum! Is it you?
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Giveaway: Win a Make Your Own Gummies Kit from Glee Gum
Glee Gum is giving away one copy of their Make Your Own Gummies kit to one lucky reader. Read on to see how YOU can be that winner!
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Review: The Make Your Own Gummies Kit from Glee Gum (Spoiler Alert: It’s Vegan!), and a Giveaway
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…
How-to: Make Your Own Organic Colored Sanding Sugar
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:
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Make Your Own Liquid Soap: Natural Recipes for Liquid Hand Soap, Dish Soap, and Laundry Soap
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.
From Cloth Pads to Crocheted Tampons: DIY Menstrual Supplies
Even though there are a lot of great manufacturers of reusable menstrual supplies out there, if you’re feeling crafty, there’s no reason why you couldn’t make nearly everything that you need all by yourself. When you DIY, you can make your stuff extra comfy, extra cute, of just the right absorbency, and even completely from stash, if you’re super-resourceful.
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Project Show-and-Tell: A Child’s Rainbow Dress (with Detachable Wings) Sewn from Prom Dresses
I’d do anything for that kid of mine, and armed with six rainbow-hued thrifted Prom and bridesmaid dresses, a ruffler foot for my sewing machine, and not a little hot glue, I made her Rainbow Fairy Dress a reality.
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: A Recipe for Natural Beeswax Wood Polish
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.
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Project Show-and-Tell: An Upcycled Smash Book for My Anniversary
Smash books are quicker, easier, and more creatively amenable to recycled components than traditional scrapbooks can be, and frankly I much prefer the look of a smash book to that of your typical carefully engineered scrapbook. If you’d like some more examples, then please feel free to take a look below at my own upcycled smash book–it’s by no means perfect, but the beauty of a smash book is that it isn’t meant to be perfect. Instead, it’s meant to be meaningful, fun, crafted with lots of upcycled materials and stash components, and beloved by its recipient.
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How-to: Craft DIY Wax Seals Using Crayons and Stamps
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!
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Review: The DIY Chewing Gum Kit from Glee Gum, and a Cautionary Tale (Involving Second-Degree Burns)
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.
Giveaway Announcement: Winners of The Christmas Guide to Upcycling, by Mahe Zehra Husain
Were you one of our 25 winners of The Christmas Guide to Upcycling, by Mahe Zehra Husain? Check here to see!
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Giveaway: Win a Copy of The Christmas Guide to Upcycling, by Mahe Zehra Husain
Twenty-five people will win a copy of Mahe Zehra Husain’s ebook, The Christmas Guide to Upcycling. Enter now, and one of those winners could be you!
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Green Crafter Book Review: Crafty Cans and Perplexing Plastic, by Mahe Zehra Husain
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!).
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How-to: Repair an Umbrella
Fortunately, one of the most common points of breakage in an umbrella–that tip that comes unmoored from the metal support–is quite simple to repair.
How to Sew a Drawstring Bag (an even easier tute!)
In the year since I crafted my first drawstring bag tutorial, I’ve refined it to correct these fiddly bits and to make the bag even quicker and easier to sew. Read on for the quickest, easiest, drawstring bag tutorial that you’re ever going to find.
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DIY Buttons: Make Your Own Buttons from Natural or Recycled Materials
Using tools ranging from scissors to drills, using materials ranging from fallen tree branches to clamshell packaging, and, most importantly, using absolutely no additional money, I’ve been able to make a wide variety of sturdy buttons for all my sewing and craft projects. Check out the following tutorials to see how to make some DIY buttons of your own.
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Upcycled Clipboard Projects: You Never Knew that an Old Clipboard Could be This Useful!
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!
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What are You Making Under There? Upcycled Underwear Tutorials from Around the Web
Instead of wearing cheap, mass-produced, low-quality undergarments that have to be replaced regularly, I’ve found that sewing panties and boxer shorts, for people both big and small, really isn’t that hard. You can sew underwear from your own stash fabric–even scraps, for kids’ underwear!–or from awesome thrifted clothing, and the results are unique, way cheaper than store-bought, and often sturdier, since they can be made from higher-quality fabrics and sewn with care.
To make your own upcycled undergarments, check out these patterns and tutorials from around the web.
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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: Dyed and Glittered Clothespins
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.
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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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How-to: Sew a Nine-Patch Potholder Entirely from Stash and Upcycled Materials
Have any ratty bath towels or blankets or other thick fabric to upcycle? Have some stash cotton to rescue from your scraps basket? Read on to find out how to turn that stash into potholders!
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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: Painted Popcorn Garland
Popcorn garlands are a kid-friendly, easy, and fun holiday craft that the whole family can make together. Edible, natural popcorn is a great environmental choice, especially since you can simply take it outside to compost or leave for the birds and squirrels to enjoy after the holiday, and if you’re looking for a food craft to do, then popcorn is also a great choice for everyone’s tummies, since you won’t have to worry about all that candy, meant for gingerbread houses or sugar cookies, that somehow ends up in your mouth!
Of course, since I’m from the South, a plain white popcorn garland isn’t nearly gaudy enough for me, so read on and I’ll show you not only how to easily make a great popcorn garland, but also how to easily paint it to match (or NOT match!) your holiday decor.
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