Christmas in July - April Theme Eco Friendly Crafting

The April theme for the Holiday Handmade Crusade was "eco-friendly crafting." The challenge was to re-use, revamp, recycle and upcycle! It was a bit of a slumpy crafting month for the crusaders, so I only have one favorite project to share today. It's a brilliant one though! Hope this inspires you to hit up the Goodwill instead of the mall this Christmas!

Okay, ready to fall off your chair in a fit of cuteness overload?

MUSTACHE MUGS!!!



Craftster user LrsChic writes: I made mustache mugs for my Dad, myself, and either my brother or my boyfriend. I can't decide which of them would enjoy this more. Yes, I did say there's one for me! I love these mugs.

I found the mugs at the dollar store, already with the black circle around the top. I thought some black mustaches would look wonderful on them. Since Michaels craft store was having a sale, the ceramic paint pen only cost me $1.99. Hooray!

The adorable action shot:



Project variation: Awhile ago, on Craftster, I saw a fun project where the crafter had personalized mugs with a ceramic paint pen by putting the recipients coffee preferences on it. For example if I were making one for myself I would write: Milk only, no sugar.

There are so many coffee mugs waiting to be embellished at your local Goodwill or Salvation Army for 50 cents and up. This idea is eco-friendly, affordable and unique! Thanks LrsChic!

If you would like to learn more about the Holiday Handmade Crusade, visit this post. Otherwise, join me for more Christmas in July goodness tomorrow!

How to Make a Recycled Stationary Set

In honor of Earth Day and April's Holiday Handmade Crusade Theme, eco-crafting, I completed two Christmas gifts this month. My recycled magazine sets are for my two teenage nieces, but they would make a perfect gift for a letter-writing fan of any age.



This project is cheap, because it uses common found materials, earth friendly, because it is made from upcycled junk that is totally recycle-able and the finished product is just plain cute. What's not to love?

Materials

• An envelope. I think the one that I used was 4"x5"


• Paper with fun imagery on it. Think magazine pages, junk mail, old catalogues, etc.


• Paper with a clear enough surface to write on. Think recycled office paper, lined paper, graph paper, etc.


• Glue Stick


• Writing Utensil

Tools

• Scissors


• Pinking Shears (Optional)

Step One: Make the envelopes.



Take your envelope apart carefully, and unfold it. Use your unfolded envelope as a template to create your recycled envelopes by tracing around the template envelope onto your fun paper with a writing utensil of your choice. Fold in the appropriate tabs and glue with your glue stick. Careful not to glue the top tab shut, or you won't be able to use your envelope! Repeat for however many envelopes you would like per set. I made five envelopes per set.

Step Two : Making the Stationary Flats

Use more of your fun paper. Choose one side to be the "party side" of your flat. Use your scissors to cut the paper down to a size that will fit into your envelope.



Decide how much of a margin you would like on the "business side" of your paper. Cut your writing paper to reflect that margin, and glue to the business side of your flat. Trim around the edges with pinking shears if you like.



Repeat for however many flats you would like to have in your set. I made ten flats per set.

Your recycled stationary is now ready to use!

Eco-Friendly Things That Are Rockin' My Universe!

These random thingies are rockin' my world as of late, so I thought that I would share...

Every once in awhile I re-evaluate our little household's sustainable, green practices and I try to tweak things, and make things run a little better. My latest tweak has been trying to cut down the amount of paper and plastic disposable products we use in the house.

My latest target has been paper towels. People lived for centuries without paper towels. And what did they use? Rags. Cloths. Highly absorbent. Highly re-usable. Another target has been sponges...I've not used "natural" sponges to wash my dishes in the past, instead I've used the freaky yellow plastic kind which eventually get thrown "away," wherever that is...



In an attempt to fight the good fight I made my first ever dish cloth! Oh boy, this works like a dream. I used a free pattern for a bobble stitch wash cloth that I found on Ravelry. I used fingering weight cotton, instead of worsted, because it's what I had handy, and it made a lacier cloth, but it gets the job done. Those bobbles are awesome for scrubby action, and I'm already working on a second one!

Next topic, off to the laundry room! My French friend, Stephanie, was asking my mum and I if we knew where to get "laundry nuts" in the United States. We had never heard of such a thing. A few weeks later, I was browsing Flickr user Graygoosie's photos when low and behold: laundry nuts, and a source to buy them online!

Also from the pages of graygoosie's photos, GMO FREE cooking oils in bulk. Want to cook with oils pressed from vegetables that haven't been genetically modified and sprayed with pesticides? Then give a big ole' middle finger to Monsanto and check out the info in graygoosie's photo!

Lately I've become obsessed with the notion of building our own green home like hardworkinghippy via Flickr. Thanks to links from These Days in French Life I now know that that dream home would be insulated with sheep's wool. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking...and no, this isn't some sicko knitter fantasy I dreamt up, you can actually insulate your house with wool. The website I linked to has some very interested facts. For instance, did you know that sheep's wool has a very high burning point? It will singe away from fire and extinguish itself. So cool!

Lastly a little local excitement. My beloved Beach Pea Bakery has released a cook book! To quickly recap the article that I linked to - Beach Pea is a fantastic bakery in Kittery, Maine that uses organic ingredients in their baking and is a champion of sustainable business practices. Now you can bake their treats no matter what part of the country you are in. The cook book is available from Blue Tree publishing company.

Well, that's a lot of things to explore so I'll leave you all to it. Hope you enjoy!

Today I am grateful for a yummy local dinner: burgers in buns that were baked in my bakery and corn. I'm grateful for beautiful movies like Persepolis. What are you grateful for today?

THOM :: THIS IS A CHRISTMAS SPOILER :: DO NOT READ BELOW!!!

My brother Thom has really been riding the green wave so to speak, and seems more interested than ever in all things environmentally friendly. This melts my hippie chick sisterly heart! For his Christmas gift I wanted to do something that was up-cycled, preferably from something that he had owned before, into something useful.

I enlisted my mom to scour her attic for me and she brought me three of his old t-shirts, which I turned into...

re-usable shopping bags!



The idea popped into my head when I came across this listing in zJayne's Etsy shop. She makes re-usable bags by the dozen, if you don't have the time to make these and you'd like to purchase them instead. I, however, felt certain that I had access to a ready supply of t-shirts, so I chose to make them myself. I *did* add a nifty detail to make them look a little more finished.

*suh-weet wrapped handles*



The handles really ice the cake for me - I'm feeling complete nerdy happiness over how sturdy the handles are! And since both of my brothers are kinda lumberjacky, not only are these bags sturdy, they're HUGE! I could fit a load of laundry in one of these puppies. Hopefully they're a hit!

Cheers, S