Ready, Set, Craft!: Green Projects

Showing posts with label Green Projects. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Guest Post: Terrariums

I constantly find myself in awe of the wonderfully talented people I encounter daily - especially here in the land of blogging. I share links to some of the fabulous projects I come across each weekend in my Week in Review posts, and now on (most) Wednesday's... at least for a awhile... I'm going to be going a step further and inviting one of those creative folks to guest blog here at Ready, Set, Craft!

You may remember today's guest, angelina la dawn tomato, from her crafty ornaments guest post here during the holidays last year. She's back today with a fun terrarium how-to that is a perfect project for kids and adults alike. When you're done here be sure to pop over to her place to check out what she's up to there!

i know this craft is kind of not super crafty, but let me just tell you how much i love terrariums. it's a lot. one of my kitties refuses to let anything green and growing in a flower pot survive in our apartment, so this is the perfect plant for me. it's also a great activity for kids, and they make great gifts. really, i love these things!

so go grab your supplies:
- large glass vase, candle tumbler or fish bowl {like i used}
- colored rocks, pebbles, sand, sea shells, mosaic tiles, or any other accent you'd like to use {look around at the craft store- there are tons of options!}
- potting soil {optional, depending on how big your container/plant is}
- a succulent or cactus to fit your container

step 1: fill the bottom of the bowl with your colored pebbles or other accent material. {i usually go for 25% full}

step 2: add an equal layer of dirt.

step 3: add your plant of choice.

step 4: add sea shells {i used the shells i've collected over the years at various different beaches} or other accent material around the plant.

step 5: voila! you're done! i put mine in the book shelf for something unexpected.

you only need to water your plant once a week, and by putting the pebbles {or whatever} at the bottom of the bowl, you prevent over-watering. pretty fool-proof. and i love anything that seems to have endless possibilities- go make it your own :)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Guest Post: Recycled Sweater Business Card Holder

Recycled Sweater Business Card Holder

Hi, I'm Dot. I blog over at Dabbled.org and I've been loving the projects here at Ready, Set, Craft! for a while, so when Joanne asked me if I'd do a guest post for her, I figured it would be fun!

I've chosen a quick and easy project that doesn't take much sewing skill or time, and is a great way to use a small piece of fabric that you might have lying around from another project. I had been saving
this little scrap of sweater, with a lovely beading detail, in my bag of tricks for a while. (It's actually a scrap from one of my first recycled sweater projects back in 2007 -- the Ele-purse!

Old sweaters are a great material to work with. They are 'free' (a great use for that sweater that was shrunk in the wash, or got a mothhole!) or very cheap (your local thrift store will have a bunch!). And you're up-cycling old materials. They are also extremely forgiving fabrics for those of us who are not overly skilled in the sewing department. This is totally a project that YOU can do, even if you're not an experienced seamstress.

This project is for making a business card holder or mini-wallet (because I needed one, and because this fabric scrap was particularly small), but the same process can be applied to a simple case for a
compact camera, or anything you need a small pouch for.

So, on the the project:

Materials:

Fabric scrap large enough to wrap around the front and back of a business card, with some to spare (somewhere around 3x8 inches). Credit card sized piece of plastic (I used an expired insurance card -
those pretend credit cards that come in the mail work too. This will stay in the card holder to keep it stiff.) Ribbon for trim and button loop. Coordinating button.

Sew the Body:

Fold your fabric in half, with the good sides facing each other, and the fold at the bottom. Use a plastic card to estimate the size of your pouch-- the 'front' of the pouch will need an extra inch or so of fabric (for the flap), but the back should just a little higher than the height of the card-- use pins to mark where you'll sew the seams and where you'll cut (see photo below.)

Stitch a seam on either side. Trim the excess. (See photo below - you may want to leave more 'flap' than I did) Turn pouch right side out, and insert the card to keep it stiff.

Sew the Flap:

You should now have a pouch with an opening at the top, and enough fabric to fold over for a flap on the pouch. You're going to secure a loop of ribbon to the top of the flap, and hem it. So, as shown in the photo below, you're going to make a small hole in the center of the flap. Thread your ribbon through it to make a loop.

Then fold down a hem, and sew to secure. This doesn't have to be super neat, as you're going to cover it with ribbon. Trim off excess ribbon from the ends of the loop.

Pin a ribbon around the front and back of the flap, to cover the stitching.

Sew on ribbon by stitching around the edges on the front of the flap (use a matching thread -- here I used a contrasting thread for demonstration purposes).

Stick several business cards inside the pouch, and fold over the top to estimate where to place the button (whereever the end of the loop is!). Find a coordinating button (make sure it fits through your
loop!) and sew it on to the front.

Enjoy your new card holder!

In retrospect, I would have made the flap longer (perhaps an inch or more), so it would fold down neater, but I had a stain on the sweater that I was working around, so I went small. You could also do the flap rounded or to a point, instead of squared off as you see here. The possibilities are really endless with something like this. Just use your imagination!

Thanks to Joanne for inviting me! I hope you've enjoyed this simple tutorial -- I'd love to see anything you make with it! You can find me at Dabbled.org, my Arts & Crafts blog, and I'm also the editor of
Foodwhirl.com --the website dedicating to answering the question of "What's For Dinner!?" Drop by either place and say hi!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Guest Post: Making Paper

Making your own paper using recycled paper is fun and easier than you might think!

I first made paper back when I taught museum programs for kids. But it’s not just a great project for kids. I’ve enjoyed making paper for my own cards and crafts over the years.

Here’s what you’ll need:

A cheap wooden picture frame (You can find frames at almost any dollar store or discount chain, I think I paid a dollar each for mine). Any size you like is suitable but 8x10 or 11x14 are the easiest work with.

Roll of fiberglasss window screen. You don’t need anything fancy. Mine was inexpensive (6 dollars at a home improvement store) and there is enough to make more paper frames than I’ll ever need.

Staple gun

¼ inch staples (or the smallest that will fit into your staple gun)

An old blender

Scissors

A plastic container that’s larger than your frame

2 more containers for holding scraps of paper and water

A cup (to our water into the blender)

Various papers that are ready to be recycled

Felt Sheets (At least dozen is good- you’ll need about two per sheet of paper you want to make)

Newspaper and some hand towels or paper towels

Dry sponge

Duct Tape (Optional)

First you’ll have to make a paper frame. Remove the glass and cardboard backing form your frame- you’ll only need the wooden part.

Cut a square of screen that fits over your frame.

Lay the screen over the front side of the frame and staple once to hold it in place.

Pull the screen on the opposite end of the frame so it’s tight and staple in place.

Work you way around the screen, pulling the screen tight over the frame and stapling it into place.

Cut the excess edges of the screen off.

If you want you can use duct tape to cover the staples and ragged edges of the screen. (I didn’t but it’s probably a good idea if you are going to do this project with kids).

Once you have the paper frame made you’re ready to get going.

Start by ripping paper into small pieces. I like to rip paper in big bunches at a time so I wind up with a container full of paper bits that I can grab anytime I need to make more paper pulp.

Mostly I’ve used white and cream colored printer and notebook paper so I get a white/off white pulp that can be left white or colored if I want (by adding bits of colored tissue paper into the blender with the white paper). But you can use colored paper if you like.

Note: You can also use paper from your shredder but you’ll end up with a confetti paper texture. The blender doesn’t chop of those small shreds very well.

Place a few handfuls paper into the blender.

Use an old blender that won’t be used for food anymore. Once you’ve blended the paper you’ll want this to be a “craft blender” form now on.

I don’t fill the entire pitcher- this is just asking to burn out the blender!

Add about twice as much water than you’ve got paper and blend on high about 15 seconds until you get a fairly smooth looking pulp. (the occasional pulse also helps to break up any large clumps).

Pour the pulp into your large container.

(There is about 3 batches in here.)

Now add enough water so you are able to dip the screen into the paper slurry.

It’s time to dip the screen into the slurry. It should go in staple side down.

Dip your frame in like your digging or shoveling (tilting front end in first followed by the back) so that you get a slight scooping action. If you’re doing this project with kids- younger ones usually need help dipping to avoid the screen plopping in straight down.

The key here is to get the water to sort of flow over your screen evenly. The water will go through the holes in the screen but the little bits of paper suspended in it will get stuck.

You’ll get this nice pretty screen of sopping wet paper pulp.

Let the screen drain over the container for a minute. While it’s draining now is a good time to remove excess clumps from the edges of the screen and frame.

Now it’s all about removing the water!

Grabbing a piece of felt lightly press it over the pulp to remove some of the water

Remove that sheet and place another over the frame. Flip the frame over onto a stack of newspaper and paper towels or a tea towel.

Use a sponge to press out more of the water from the screen side. You can squeeze the sponge out in the container of paper slurry.

Now flick the screen with your finger to help the paper release (this is most little kids favorite part).

Once you remove the frame you can let your paper dry overnight on the felt.

You’ll end up with a lovely handmade sheet of paper!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Guest Post: Repurposed Clothes Collage Pillow

Hello! I'm Ashley from The Creative Place and I'm so excited to be sharing a tutorial here at Ready, Set, Craft! I love Joanne's blog - she always has fun crafty projects that are totally inspiring, as well as all of those cupcakes she shares (they always make me drool and want to drop everything and head to the store to get ingredients to make some ;)).

In honor of this week being Earth Week (Thursday is Earth Day!), I wanted to share a tutorial about recycling/repurposing old clothes that are no longer wearable for whatever reason - too worn (like threadbare in places :)), rips or tears that aren't mendable, stains that even oxi-clean won't get out... you get the idea :). So, if you have clothes like this up in your closet, but can't bear to throw them out, this is the project for you! :) All of the clothes I used have some sort of special meaning/significance to myself or my hubby, so this was a fun project to develop! :)

Repurposed Clothes Collage Pillow by Ashley @ The Creative Place

Supplies:
- Pillow form (whatever size you prefer, I used an 11"x16" form)
- Buttons (optional- if you want to embellish- I ended up not using any buttons, but they're pictured below ;))
- 2 pieces of plain fabric (or more clothes pieces!), each 11" x 11½" (this is for the back of the pillow)
And of course,
- Your old clothes
- Thread
- Ruler, cutting mat and rotary cutter
- Sewing Machine

First, I took apart the clothes by cutting them up into pieces I wanted to feature in the collage (I have strategically avoided showing you the awful rust and/or marinara sauce stains on my white shirt below ;)). I used the majority of the necktie (never knew what the inside of a tie looked like!), the sleeve of a white shirt, a big plain area of one of my hubby's shirts, the cuff of some PJ pants (which I'm making into PJ shorts!), and the buttoned up section of a floral shirt.

I loved how the floral shirt looked buttoned up, so I decided I wanted to somehow incorporate the buttons into the collage. I cut a section out (while it was buttoned) and sewed a straight stitch by the buttons so it wouldn't come unbuttoned (although, it might be nice for it to be unbutton-able, you could stash little notes or such about the ingredients of your collage pillow! ie- what clothes you used and why they have significance, etc)

Once I cut all of the sections out (make sure all your sections put together are big enough to cover the pillow- and don't forget to allow for seams), I arranged them to my liking on the pillow. Ready to start sewing some more? :)

Pin two sections and sew a straight stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press the seams open with an iron and keep pinning and sewing the sections together.

Voilà! A nice collage! Now, trim off the excess - trim the collage down to the size of your pillow plus 1/4" on each side. For example, my pillow is 11"x16", so I cut my collage down to a 11½"x16½".

Now let's work on the back of the pillow. I used white linen fabric, but you could use more clothes or any other durable fabric. Press a 1" fold onto the long side (11½" side) of each of the back-side fabric pieces. Sew a straight stitch down the middle of each of the 1" folds

Now, with right sides facing up (flaps will be facing down on the table), layer the two pieces so that the sewn parts are overlapping (see picture).

Now, put the collage front facing down on top of the back pieces you just overlapped with right sides facing up. Pin this together so you have a sandwich (with no meat or cheese, just the bread ;)).

Sew a straight stitch all the way around with 1/4" seam allowance.

Now it's time to flip it! Pull the corners from inside the sandwich to the outside.

You're almost finished! :)

Now put your pillow form into the cover :) Voilà! A fun-repurposed-clothes pillow cover!

Thank you so much for having me today! :) Feel free to email me with any questions about the tutorial- thecreativeplace@gmail.com :) Have a fabulous day! :)