Green Options

As part of the Pretty Little series, Pretty Little Potholders has step-by-step instructions and some patterns for several very different kinds of potholders.

Since I won’t be wearing any of these potholders, this crafty green book review, unlike my review of Weekend Sewing or The Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing, doesn’t have to think about whether or not the patterns are appropriate for my body. Instead, I’ll look at whether the patterns look like something I would actually want to make for myself or for gifts.

I’m also interested, in this review, in how amenable the patterns and instructions are to the use of natural or recycled materials. Are natural or recycled materials asked for, or, even if they’re not, can I easily see places in which they could be substituted?

Here, then, is what I decided about Pretty Little Potholders.

You have to love a two-step tutorial. I wrote a while back about how I made gift tags from greeting cards–all vintage, all from people we only hung out with, um, pre-divorce, all awesome, and it took all of about five minutes.

My other big obsession (as if I have only two!) is comic books–not just the big players, but also the less popular ones. Lately I’ve been getting really into scrapbooking, while also being completely turned off by the insane amount of consumerism embedded in this one craft (a subject of another loooooong post to come, I’m sure), and I’ve been looking for ways to both recycle and incorporate some of my less mainstream fangeek loves, like comic books, into my scrapbooking and card-making. Crafting a green scrapbook, indeed.

If you’re also into utilizing some cool paper in your work–comic books, magazines, wrapping paper, foreign language newspapers, vintage books–check out this quick and easy way (not two steps, but still quick and easy) I make sturdy gift tags and scrapbook embellishments out of flimsy comic books:

We are agreed that in our house we do NOT like holiday consumerism, but nevertheless, we do heart ourselves some Valentine’s Day. I’m all for any holiday that encourages us to share a little more love with our loved ones, and between me and my sweet girlies, by February 14, we can share a lot of love.

If you’d like to share some love with your sweet little sweeties, here are some fun, thrifty, and eco-friendly projects that you and your kiddos can do together for Valentine’s Day:

The holiday season is AWESOME for learning a new skill, especially sewing. Maybe somebody gives you a sewing machine for Christmas. Maybe somebody you can take advantage of gets one. Either way, sewing for kids is easy (they’re such straight little noodles that fitting is a breeze), quick (kids are little, and so is their stuff), forgiving (kids? They look good in ANYTHING), and inspirational (Oh, and kids? They love stuff).

One of my favorite places for sewing is Burdastyle, an open-source, copyright-free community of people who love to create and use sewing patterns. Out of their entire site, here are my favorite of their easy-peasy freesie patterns for kids:

I’ve been very inspired this season by 30 three-, four-, and five-year-olds.

In my daughter’s Montessori classroom, the children are crafting shoebox busy boxes for the CASA children’s advocacy group. Each shoebox, which will also be decorated by the preschool children, will be filled with craft kits, books, and small toys. These shoeboxes will be given throughout the year to CASA advocates, who in turn will give the shoebox to the child for whom they are advocating, at their first meeting. The shoeboxes will serve as an icebreaker, provide cooperative activities to help adult and child bond, and relieve boredom for children who must sit through court trials and meetings on their behalf.