Green Options » green crafts

FaveCrafts.com Full of Green Holiday Inspiration

Wenona Napolitano — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:03:12 +0000

Are you looking for more ideas to make the holidays handmade this year? Drop by FaveCrafts.com.

There’s a great article Go Green This Christmas full of ideas and links to fun Christmas crafts that would make great gifts. Make sure to check out the list of 34 green Christmas crafts.

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New GreenCraft Magazine

Wenona Napolitano — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:21:49 +0000

Stampington and Company launched a new magazine on August 1st.

GreenCraft is their ode to all things green, recycled, upcycled and more.

In the premier issue you’ll find over 50 stylish and sustainable projects to inspire you.

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A Review of Green Crafts for Children By Emma Hardy

Wenona Napolitano — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:33:53 +0000

Ever time I pick up a new eco-craft book I am so amazed at the creativity I find inside and I swear I like each new one even more than the last, though every book I have found has fun, new ways to take old things and recycle or more accurately upcycle them into fabulous new items.

Green Crafts for Children: 35 Step-by-Step Projects Using Natural, Recycled, And Found Materials is full of cute, whimsical and super adorable crafts that kids, especially little girls, are going to love.

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Get Free Green Craft Ideas at FaveCrafts.com

Wenona Napolitano — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:38:33 +0000

I just came across a craft site I had not been to before- FaveCrafts.com. It’s pretty great for a free site full of crafty ideas, how-to’s and step by step tutorials.

Learn more about FaveCrafts.com after the jump.

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A Review of The Green Crafter

Wenona Napolitano — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:47:39 +0000

The Green Crafter: 52 Eco Friendly Projects for Every Week of the Year is a cute book by Richela Fabian Morgan.

In the book you’ll find a bunch of cute eco-craft projects for adults and kids. You’ll find detailed directions for fun projects like sock monkeys, very awesome paper dolls, garden butterflies, paper flowers, rock animals, ghosts on a string, photo ball ornaments, and keepsake boxes…just to name a few of my favorites.

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A Review of the Big Green Book of Recycled Crafts

Wenona Napolitano — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:15:34 +0000

The Big Green Book of Recycled Crafts ( Leisure Arts #4802) is a collection of fun and fabulous crafts made from all kinds of trashy, upcycled products.

I see quite a few old favorites in this Leisure Arts publication from other Leisure Arts books including the Trash to Treasure books.

I also see a few new crafts and one that I am thrilled to have found the instructions for.

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Create Gift Boxes Out of Soap Boxes

Wenona Napolitano — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:07:18 +0000

Soap boxes (from bath size bars of soap) can easily be transformed into fun little gift boxes. These soap boxes are small and cute and can easily be made by anyone, even the youngest children. They can be customized for any occasion.

Kids can easily decorate them with stickers, scraps of old wrapping paper, cutouts from old greeting cards, foam shapes or anything on hand in the craft box.

The boxes can be decorated in so many ways and are the perfect size for gift cards. Stuff the box full of tissue and slide the gift card in, that way the receiver still gets to open a gift not just a card. Plus the hand decorated box makes it so much more personal.

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Yogurt Cup Creations

Wenona Napolitano — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:00:36 +0000

My family goes through a lot of yogurt, mainly my toddler. He’s on this thing where just about all he eats is yogurt and he’s picky about it. Wants it straight from the little containers not in a regular old bowl. So we end up with a lot of yogurt cups which aren’t accepted for recycling at the local drop off site.

So I have come up with easy and fun ways to use the yogurt cups for crafts with my kids.

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Handmade Holidays: Green Gifts for Crafters

Autumn Wiggins — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:59:58 +0000

Do you like to make things for people who like to make things or would you rather just give them things that they can use to make things? Or, are you Julie’s mom? Either way, check out these affordable eco-friendly craft supplies that would make great gifts…maybe even to yourself!

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Eco-Crafty Events this Weekend: November 15th-16th

Autumn Wiggins — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:55:04 +0000

Have you checked out the indie craft show circuit lately? It has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years. There is definitely a trend toward eco-friendliness and charitable initiatives, but with a signature grass roots flair.

At the Giant Dwarf Make and Take Trunk Show on Saturday in Philadelphia, PA, Sue Eggen will be sewing her gorgeous hats from recycled materials. She is inviting attendees to customize their item, and will whip it up for them, right there on the spot. This is a fantastic way to not only demonstrate a craft, but let the consumer witness part of the fabrication process.

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The Upcyclist Party Contest

Autumn Wiggins — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:23:36 +0000

We are pretty sure this contest is right up our readers’ alley! Do you find yourself perusing through your local big-box during the holidays and getting a little worked up about all the cheap plastic junk they have on the shelves just for the sake of temporary decorations? Here is your chance to show ‘em what stuff like that should really be made of.

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DIY: A Recycled-Materials Matching Game

Julie Finn — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:36:55 +0000

Color/pattern recognition? Check! Memory skills? Check! Additional stuff for your kids to fling onto the floor? Definitely a check! Make a matching game with your kids out of recycled materials, and you can have all that and more for the price of nothing.

STEP 1: Gather matching materials. For my matches, I used leftover paint chips from our playroom makeover (I am totally not the only one with leftover paint chips!). I cut each paint chip into two identical pairs, and used decorative scissors to cut away any writing–this will be a color matching game. For other kinds of matching games, you could make color/color word pairs, pairs of family or friends from surplus photos, alphabet pairs using cut-outs from magazines, color pairs made from painting or coloring on used typing paper, etc.

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Last Minute Craft: Go Batty Before Halloween is Over

Wenona Napolitano — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:59:10 +0000

Halloween is almost upon us, then it’ll be over in a flash. But before Halloween goes into hiding until next year make one more fun, green Halloween craft to your collection. This time make it out of small yogurt containers and black craft foam. It’ll make you go batty, but it’ll be worth it.

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A Green Crafting Manifesto

Julie Finn — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:51:10 +0000

Do you have a manifesto? I mean, do you have a clear, guiding philosophy through which you can mediate between your sometimes competing identities as an environmentally conscious person and as a person who thinks crafting up cool stuff is awesome?

I’ll tell you–a manifesto helps, because sometimes environmentalism and crafting don’t play well together without forethought. For instance, do you prefer wool felt, which comes from animals, or acrylic felt, which is synthetic? How big is that fabric/yarn/bead stash, all consisting of items you bought brand-new and are now just sitting on? Do you think it’s okay to craft with vinyl or not? It’s important to think through the environmental/ethical issues behind how you like to craft, so that whatever you do, you are working in harmony with your beliefs.

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Go Green This Halloween: 5 Spooky Kids’ Crafts

Reenita Malhotra — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:28:41 +0000

Because I love encouraging my kids to be creative, Halloween becomes another excuse to get them to make some great artwork that I will invariably want to put on display for the rest of the year. Best of all, there is more than enough in the way of recycled materials to use as raw materials for their artwork.

Here are my kids’ five of my favorite Halloween activities this year:

Green Monster Mask

Make a scary green monster mask from bits and scraps left lying around the house. In addition to what is described in the how-to, I like the idea of using an egg carton for scary teeth. Go here for complete details.

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Indieconomy

Autumn Wiggins — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:26:44 +0000

It’s amazing that I know far more artists and crafters with successful microbrands or intentions of starting one than those who are purely hobbyists. I, for one, so enjoy the process of constructing an identity for my creative outlets. They can define one more than the car you drive, the movies like, or the body you’re in. Many of us love it so much that we forgo financial gain so that more people can afford to own a piece of it. Suddenly the world is thrown into an economic crisis, and I’m seeing varied reactions around the community ranging from flippance to great concern.

Where do we go from here?

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Diversify Your DIY

Autumn Wiggins — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:09:29 +0000

Or make several thousand aluminum flowers…

or 250 Aluminum Can Granny Square Tote Bags…

or 1000 Aluminum Can Maracas for your kids, because music can help fill the void in your financially depleted soul…

or you could smelt all of it into molds to make mod lawn furniture.

The possibilities are endless. Bottoms up, my crafty friends!

Image courtesy of sandossu

The Sort-of-Sustainable Craft Show: Food For Thought

Autumn Wiggins — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:22:41 +0000

As many of you know, I’ve been on hiatus planning Strange Folk, which took place this past weekend in O’Fallon, IL. We had amazing weather and an estimated turn-out of 10,000 people. On a shoestring budget, I set out not only to lessen this event’s impact on the planet, but also to wisen the public to the ways of upcycling.

The first part of this equation poses many obstacles. For instance, enough cash to order all the marketing materials I need printed on recycled cardstock with soy based ink from a company across the country (because no one does that locally) and offsetting the carbon emissions it takes to ship them to me. But that’s just the beginning. I’m truly starting to understand the woes of the organizers of this year’s Democratic National Convention, even if they had $70 million to work with. Pfft… pocket change in terms of going uber-green.

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Pack O Fun Magazine, Halloween Issue Full of “Green” Crafts

Wenona Napolitano — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:00:24 +0000

I love Pack O Fun Magazine, they always have great crafts for kids made from garbage and every day items you can find around the house.

The November edition, which features Halloween and Thanksgiving crafts is full of clever and cute crafts for kids of all ages (including my toilet paper roll treat boxes for Halloween on page 36) and many of them use items that would normally get tossed away. There’s a haunted house made from a milk carton, luminaries made from tin cans, jar lights made from assorted glass jars, a treat box made from a cereal box, candy holders made from Pringle’s cans, cute treat holders made from plastic jello cups and cheese boxes and more. I didn’t see any CD ideas though (mine keep piling up, haven’t found an idea that suits me yet).

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Origami and a Movie

Autumn Wiggins — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:56:33 +0000

I love those NetFlix commercials where all the different movie characters deliver themselves around the neighborhood. Maybe the fantistic voyage the actual envelopes take is less evocative than portrayed, but you have to give them props for the clever design that allows the movie to be returned in the same packaging. All you are left with is a puny flap of paper, and I’m happy to report that you can now put it to good use.

Netflix Origami has over a dozen different well illustrated examples of folded critters, containers, and more. Thinking ahead to the holidays, many would make great substitutions for bows on small presents. The cube and heart would be cute tree ornaments too!

If any of you get Blockbuster instead, I’m wondering if those flaps work for this as well? Experiment and let us know in comments.