Green Options

At an Upcycle Exchange event a couple of months ago, I scored the awesomest vintage wallpaper swatchbook ever. I have loads of vintage upholstery swatchbooks that I craft with probably every day, so I was super-stoked to receive a wallpaper swatchbook.

Until I actually tried to work with it. After totally thrashing the cutting mat for my Cricut, I realized that the wallpaper in this particular swatchbook was waaaaay too brittle to do most of the wallpaper craft projects that I’d had in mind.

And of course, there’s no point in actually wallpapering with any of the hundred or so 20″x20″ samples.

Or is there? Imagine a huge number of wallpaper swatches, all in complementary colors and patterns. Are you imagining what I’m imagining?

You betcha! Decoupage!

We all have a pile, a bin, a drawer of fabric scraps.  We thought about making an ipod cover, a rag rug, or just stuffing the whole stash in the freezer to increase our refrigerator’s energy efficiency.  We keep saying some day we’ll find a use for them, but the pile keeps growing.  Today I have 5 great ideas for skimming at least the top off the scrap pile.  Turn your fabric scraps into wall art to fill that blank space on your wall or to give as a gift.

1. First up is this truly inspirational Fabric Poster by Erin Jang.  Cut letters, numbers, or shapes from coordinating fabrics to make your own poster.  This would be a fun project to do with kids.  (via Black Eiffel)

Welcome to the first Carnival of Green Crafts!

For more information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page here at Crafting A Green World.

We’re pleased as punch to announce that the next Carnival will be August 9th at BlogHer, courtesy of Hobbies, Crafts & DIY Contributing Editor Debra Roby. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today!

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this Carnival.  Let’s dig in!