Saturday, October 22, 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Clothes as Craft Materials

Have you ever thought of repurposing your old clothes as craft materials? Over the last 100 years, clothing has become so cheap and easy to create that it is being purchased and discarded at an alarming rate. Give your old clothes to those in need, rather than throwing them out. If they have holes or are torn, put them to use as craft material. I've spent several years collecting ideas for crafts from clothes. You can find these ideas with photos of the finished projects.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Tutorial for Making Fabric Roses

Tutorial for Making Fabric Roses:

If you are looking for a rose that won't die, look no further. Great as gifts during Valentine's Day, for a birthday, or simply to decorate your latest craft. You can use any old fabric that needs recycled into something new to make these fabric roses. The edging or seam of fabric works best, such as the bottom hem of a pant leg, or the hem of an old t-shirt. Place the finished edge of the hem so that it is showing as the edge of the rose petals.
The step by step tutorial is available here.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Looking for a Special Gift for Valentine's Day?

If you are looking for a special gift for your sweetie this Valentine's day, consider a homemade gift. It comes from the heart and shows you care. Here is a list of dozens of homemade Valentine's day gift ideas that won't break the bank of require loads of time! Psst... You can also make them from recycled materials around your home!


Homemade Valentine's Day Gifts

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Reuse Everything

Several years ago, I became interested in the concept of reuse before recycling. I began composting fruit and vegetable scraps from my kitchen for my garden. I also began rethinking anything that I was about to put in the trash, or recycle bin. I learned that there are a lot of cool crafts that you can make from reuse, as you can tell by this blog. I also learned that there are a lot of practical ways to reuse things around the home outside of crafting.

I documented the journey as I learned to reuse household waste on Squidoo lens. I titled it "Reuse It All - Waste Zero." If you are interested in reading more of my reuse ideas, outside of crafting, please check it out.

Happy Reusing!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Natural and Organic Beauty Recipes

This isn't per say a recycled craft, but most crafters will also enjoy making their own homemade cosmetic recipes. Commercial lip glosses may contain allergens, or worse, carcinogens. Stop swallowing cancer-causing ingredients and opt for these healthier alternatives.
Natural and Organic Beauty Recipes

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Magazine Holder from Old Magazines

More poetic reuse: you've heard of a trash can from trash (old paper). Now, here is a magazine holder made from old magazines.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Book Review - "Craft Cycle"

I've been reviewing books of recycled crafts lately. I went on a bit of a book shopping splurge. Of the recycled craft books that I purchased, this is my favorite! Why? It has detailed instructions for how to make each craft. It's also loaded full of crafts. It has 100 projects to be exact. The recycled craft projects in this book aren't the ones that you've seen over and over again. It offers practical reuses that you may have never seen before, or thought of on your own. I felt inspired when I finished reading it. You will too!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Book Review - "1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse," by Garth Johnson

I ordered this book from Amazon.com and it arrived today. I opened it up and it wasn't at all what I expected. It is a book of photos. There are no instructions to make the ideas listed in the photos. In fact the only text at all associated with the photos is a number, the name of the photo contributor and the contributors location.

I flipped to the back of the book and noticed that the photo numbers are indexed in the back. By each number appears again the name of the contributor and a small blurb, less than a full sentence, with the craft name and the materials used to make it.

I was encouraged that at least I could figure out the materials used to make the craft, by flipping to the back index. I browsed through the book photos once again, trying to decide if I was going to send the book back or keep it.

The book is divided into sections including: soft goods (clothes), jewelry, crafts, housewares, and art. To be fair, I am a very practical person. I want to make crafts that are functional. The majority of the ideas (photos) in the book are artistic, but not very practical, or functional. There are many ideas for artwork that is rather interesting, but would serve no real role in the home other than a conversation starter. From the book, I personally picked out 10 ideas that I enjoyed and thought I could use, but I had no instructions on how to make the ideas that I saw. Soon I will start working on that.

I decided to keep the book. I guess that I felt the 10 ideas were interesting enough to keep the book around. However, if I didn't have to pay shipping to send it back, I probably wouldn't order it again.

Here is the book on Amazon:


I also ordered some other recycled craft books at the same time. They haven't arrived yet, but as soon as they do, I will review them as well. Stay tuned! :)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Make a Bank from Denim and a Pringles Can

Today, we made a bank from a Pringles can and some old jeans. Here's how we did it:

You will need:
Pringles can
old jeans
tacky glue
sharp scissors

Instructions:
We rinsed out the can.
Cutting along the double stitched seam of the pants leg, make a flat piece of denim.
Wrap the denim around  the can, so it fits just under the top lip and cut it to fit the bottom edge.
Mark where you need to cut it to get it to fit vertically and horizontally.
Cut the old denim jean fabric.
Tacky glue the denim into place.
Cut a small slit in the lid for the coin hole.
Lie the lid on a flat piece of denim and using a marker outline a circle about 1/4 wider than the lid.
Cut the circle.
Tacky glue the circle over the lid, making sure you use glue around the edges.
Use a rubber band to hold that in place around the lid, while you embellish the bank.
Some ideas for embellishment are:
  • pockets
  • using the inner seam of the jeans to run up the side of the bank.
  • buttons
  • ribbons
  • faux fur
  • hand-drawn artwork
Tacky glue the inner seam of the jeans around the outer edge of the lid.
Use sharp scissors to cut the opening in the denim where the opening in the lid is.

Herbal Honey Recipes

Herbal honey can be used to treat common ailments or simply for the pleasure of its wonderful flavor. If you enjoy herbs and honey...