To offer a unique and green approach to the gift wrap industry Gift Bags Gone Green have created fun and funky fabric gift bags that are washable and reusable. The bags are not only green because they are reusable but they are made from upcycled, reused, and vintage fabrics.

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Abe’s will offer a comprehensive selection of all natural products, with the best and latest in health, beauty, food, home and consumer goods with the ease and convenience of the most modern e-commerce services. The site aims to be a place for customers to find their favorite natural brands as well as a place to discover some of the newest and unique undiscovered lines, as well as “meet” the creators of the brands and gain knowledge about the ingredients, processes and stories behind these products.

In addition to being the source for purchasing all-natural goods, Abe’s Market will be the place and opportunity for up and coming producers of natural products to feature, market, and grow their brands. Abe’s will continually seek out new brands and welcome new sellers to the site. Additionally, the Abe’s Market management team led by co-founders Richard Demb and Jon Polin, who have their professional experience in both natural businesses and the retail environment, will help these newer brands gain exposure with natural retailers to establish distribution.

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This season I also noticed the Green and Clean Guild of Esty handmade soap makers have some fabulous summer soother recipes. Another bathing beauty crafter I like is Alchemic Muse, a popular Green and Clean Guild member, who makes a fantastic cocoa bee soap:

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One of the great things about visiting the web sites of craft fairs, however, is the vendor list–most artists have a web presence these days, so perusing the list of vendors is one way to check out all the Renegade-worthy artists even if you can’t be there for the ambiance.

Web shops also help me decide where I want to shop in person, if I am attending a craft fair. I like fair trade, natural, and recycled work, which info is generally available at an artist’s web site, so I don’t have to feel bad about grilling a super-busy vendor in a super-busy booth on the opening day of a major craft fair.

So, nope, I wasn’t able to make it across the entire country to visit San Francisco for Renegade (although I’ll be there in about three weeks, darnit!), but here are some of my favorite vendors who were there without me:

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Here are directions to make super cute diapers out of t-shirts.  How’s that for a reclaiming project?  The best part is you can put the fun saying or cute part of the shirt right onto babies bum!

Need some liners for inside the diapers, here’s a tutorial for that.

How about making your own felted wool covers out of second hand sweaters?

Need to know where to find diaper making fabrics and kits, here’s a link.  (Stay with us after the jump to find out more about the adorable diaper in the photo.)

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Editor’s note: The opinions in this post do not reflect those of Crafting a Green World as a whole or other writers on the CAGW team.

It can be hard to be an indie crafter these days. Perhaps Oilily will steal your designs and resell them as cheap knock-offs, perhaps somebody will smear your name all over the Internet because you disagree about the usage of the word craftivism, perhaps someone else will comment on one of your blog posts and call you retarded because you object to wool felt.

And then, just when you’re feeling better about all of that, Etsy will steal some of your hard-earned money.

What’s up with that, Etsy?

Now, I understand that technology is complicated. And I understand that Internet Explorer, although it’s the standard browser that most people, especially the internet un-savvy (Hi, mom!), use, basically blows. And I understand that when Internet Explorer updates, or Bill Gates sneezes, or the stars misalign, web sites tend to go all to hell for a while until some other programmer writes a fix.

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In Wisconsin for Matt’s grandma’s garage sale, the family and I took a couple of days to recover up in Door County. Along with cheese curds, beaches, and dairy farms, we spent half a day at the Hands on Art Studio in Fish Creek.

Holy cow.

For a lady who loves to dabble in anything DIY, who hates cookie cutter crafting, and who plans to move everyone out to a farm before the eldest baby is more than a decade old (I’m speaking of myself, here), the Hands On Art Studio? Was awesome.

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I love vintage glass. I have a few hoarded bottles and unique finds that are currently stashed away so my kids don’t break them. Eventually I will have all my antiques displayed around my home and not stuffed in boxes…after the kids have grown up.

If I displayed everything now it would just get broken. But broken glass pieces don’t always get wasted. There are many artists who have found creative ways to turn broken glass into works of art. Some make mosaics, others make new bottles, glasses or tumblers, and some, like Laura Bergman of Bottled Up Designs , make pretty pieces of jewelry.

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Two long tables with all my stuff piled on? Nobody could see anything from outside my booth, and thus didn’t bother to enter. Two big hinged display boards for vertical display? People could see them, but they were hugely heavy to haul and couldn’t actually hold much. Store-bought displays? I don’t buy new things, and I don’t pull enough profit to spend that kind of money, anyway.

And thus, over time, I’ve come to my trifecta of craft fair display requirements: 1) It must be made primarily of recycled, salvaged, or scavenged materials (just like the items I sell). 2) It must be a VERY effective display, ideally taking up little space and able to display more than one item. 3) It must be AWESOME.

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Like a lot of crafters, Brooke grew up in a handmade household. Her mom even ran a crafty business in the 80’s selling handmade “hair poofs.” Mom’s craftiness didn’t stop there! She also made a lot of Brooke’s clothes, including “this crazy pair of poofy overalls” out of old curtains.

Now, Brooke makes clothes, accessories and housewares constructed out of repurposed materials, like vintage fabric and linens, for her own crafty business. She sees vintage and found materials as a way to avoid “contributing to the raw textile industries which aren’t always fair to their workers overseas.”

I’m also totally digging her clutches and pouches made from fused plastic bags that would have been headed for the trash bin. I couldn’t even tell that it was plastic at first glance!

Brooke says she draws her inspiration mainly from the materials she finds and her “love of indie style.” She takes some of her cues from “international street fashion blogs like hel-looks.com.” Put it all together and you get beautiful, unique pieces like this teal and black dress that I’m coveting:

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Whatever your reasons, there’s no reason to necessarily shop at a big-box store’s web site; not only are there tons of sites for Fabulous Fabrics and Yearn-Worthy Yarns, there are loads of awesome craft stores, some selling supplies and some selling handmade goods, who would looooove to have your business:

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As an indie crafter, I’m always bummed that the majority of awesome indie fairs–Maker Faire, most of the Bazaar Bizzare locations, three-fourths of the Renegades–choose to operate on the peripheries of the continental U.S. (it’d probably suck even more if I lived in Hawaii, but I’m willing to bet there are compensations to make up for the inconvenience of living in Hawaii).

So I’m always extra stoked when there are good, national-level indie craft fairs that operate right here in the heartland (occasionally known as the “armpit of America”). Here are two good ones, and how to get involved:

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Tracy Prince of Sea Find Designs transforms pieces of found sea glass into beautiful jewelry and jewelry supplies.

She and her family make daily trips to the beach near their Rhode Island home to hunt down bits of glass shaped by the ocean’s currents. Tracy calls Sea Find Designs “a family affair,” since the whole Prince family is involved in much of her process. She says she’s drawn to sea glass because:

It’s gorgeous, why would you throw anything usable away! It’s free, I get to go to the beach for my work! And…. the end result is… I’m doing my part to save the Earth for my kids….. It’s my responsibility!

What a beautiful way to do your part! Tracy also uses recycled packaging to ship her goodies. Check out some more of her lovely pieces after the jump!

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This “driftwood dress” is simple yet stunning for a day by the sea:

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