Craft with Nature - win stuff!

Our friends at Singer and Craft Magazine are putting on a contest to create projects inspired by nature.
The grand prize winner gets a Singer sewing machine, plus their project will be featured in a Singer ad in the spring issue of Craft.

Sew be sure to tune in to your inner outdoorsman before February 4, because that's when these puppies (or whatever you come up with) are due.

Recycled memories can keep you warm

Hats off to my friend, Kellie from Fancy Felting, who sent me these pictures of her handmade Christmas gifts.

She said the stripey hats are made from remnants of yarn from her grandma’s 70’s-80’s projects. The one her grandpa (far right) is wearing is made from an old wool vest knit by the red cross when he was in the coast guard. And they were all lined with remnant fleece fabric. What a crafty way to preserve memories and give a really thoughtful, personal gift. The ones below are on location for a few relatives that were snowed out of the above Christmas celebration.

There can't be a better way to preserve a beloved family member's memory than to build from something they created. It's the crafty version of passing stories from generation to generation - taking somthing from a family member, altering and embellishing it to suit your style and passing it on to those around you.

I love craft projects because there's always a story behind them.

built to last

Going home for the holidays reminded me of how I grew up and how my family was eco-friendly long before we knew we were being ecofriendly. We heated a large portion of our house with a wood burning stove fueled by fallen trees from the woods in our backyard. We put vegetable peels in a backyard compost pile. It was nice to return home again to take part in these rituals.

In fact, the way most everyone lived 20 - 30 years ago, before plastic bags became popular and 100 calorie single serving snacks appeared on store shelves, would be considered eco-friendly by today's standards. Back then it wasn't considered special. Now, more effort is required to tell a cashier that you don't need a plastic bag, rather than taking one. And it's more convenient to buy a plastic bottle of water than to drink from a drinking fountain. What changed?

My dad pulled out his toy train from when he was a kid and set it up to see if it still worked. Sure enough, the train still went forward, in reverse and even whistled as it went (along with some entertaining sparks when we added toy cow obstacles). It was over 50 years old and still worked just fine. My dad recalls that it probably cost his family around $100 at that time, which by today's standards would be a lot of money. And the plastic toy train that my 2 year old nephew received this year probably cost less than 40 bucks. That's a pretty amazing feat that, even with inflation, manufacturing costs were lowered after 50 years. But I bet you a herd of toy cows that long after my nephew's train is broken, my dad's train will still be running. Which one would you rather have - the fancy new plastic one, or the old, black vintage train with tin toy tunnels and curious looking conductors? Call me crunchy, but I think I'm more of the vintage-type.

I love craft fairs because...

before hat


after hat

...I can get a custom hat made in my favorite color in an hour! I went to the Bust Craftacular this weekend and found a knitted hat style that I loved. But there wasn't a good color for me. So this lovely Alison lady offered to knit one up while I shopped! While I shopped! I came back an hour later and, voila! Brand spankin' new hat. Made just for me. With cute little rhinestones on the side.

I also love to talk to the people that make the things that I purchase. We are often so far removed from what we buy that it doesn't really seem as if someone actually handmade things. When I worked at a toy company the activity book pages were still being hand-collated overseas because it was cheaper to do it that way. Hey at least it gives people a job. We're called consumers for a reason. We consume so much and then toss it away without a second thought. But I bet if you had hand-collated that SpongeBob activity book and then hand-glued on the cover, you'd color up and down every single page. And then turn it over and color the back side.

I love to hear the stories behind my purchases. Like that my vintage wallpaper necklace was made from wallpaper swatch books bought at garage sales. And the hand lotion was brewed up in someone's basement in North Jersey. And the lavender sachets were made from leftover scraps from a friend's screenprinting project. We all know how much I loves scraps of things.

Just as I feel that garbage has feelings, too, so do the products and clothes that we surround ourselves with and the gifts that we give others. There's always a story and it's way more interesting to know the stories which will make us more attached to our goods. And make people think twice before discarding something. Buying fewer, more meaningful objects makes for less garbage. Now that's an interesting concept.

Craft fairs = a celebration of handmade things and their stories. Yay that!

RePlay ReParty!

This weekend I held the second annual RePlayGround holiday party. And friends of RePlayGround stopped by to celebrate a great year in recycling! Nothing makes me happier than when my not-so-crafty friends get excited about recycling projects. And since no party is complete without a DIY recycling project, we colored and melted piles of #6 plastic into shrinky dinks in true recycled style.

We have lots to celebrate! This year brought the ReMake It recycling kits to store shelves. They've made lots of nice appearances in places like the NYTimes, Treehugger, and Core77. We've helped create oodles of new products for our fellow garbage-loving TerraCycle folks. Our eco-events are taking off and big corporate sponsorts like Pepsi are starting to take notice and get in on the green. There was a nice segment over at the brand new Planet Green network.

And best of all, we got to celebrate with all of our friends that have helped make this year great! Plus, the beer was generously sponsored by the Brooklyn Brewery. That really helped with the celebrating, too.

ReMake It with More Hip than Hippie

The More Hip than Hippie podcasters Dori and Val called me up this week and asked me a few questions about my ReMake It kits. You can listen here at podcast #198. Their eco-funny podast is so much more than granola and tofu. It's beer and chocolate and green tips that won't make you feel guilty about what you don't do. It'll make you feel good on the small green things that you can do.

And if you're listening and that recycling urge comes over you, be sure to visit their store at Greenfeet.com and pick up your favorite ReMake It kit.

Yay Hipsters!

recycle, regift!

It's gift giving season and with the economy on the downswing, there's no better time to save some dough and make your gifts this year.

Wool sweaters work great for reuse projects, like this scarf and potholder project I wrote up for Craft Magazine.

Grab your brother's old football jersey and make a reusable tote bag - which will be a perfect tie-in to your New Year's resolution to use fewer plastic bags.

Then, kick back with a local brew and when you're done, turn the glass bottle into a beaded vase.

Or simply regift something that you aren't using anyway. It'll save time and money and gives you an incentive to clean out the closet. See, this recession thing isn't all bad. It makes us more resourceful.

Regifting reminds me of a holiday at home years ago when my mom was getting our stockings ready on Christmas Eve. She realized that while she had plenty of gifts for my dad, she didn't have many stocking stuffers. Stores were closed, so my brother and I excitedly went on a scavenger hunt through the house to see what we could come up with. We found a few filler items, but the most memorable was a pair of thick wool socks we found buried at the bottom of my dad's sock drawer. And, bonus, they still had the tags on them! My mom promptly stuck the socks into my dad's stocking. On Christmas morning when my dad pulled the socks out, he genuinely exclaimed, "I needed some good wool socks! Thanks!" My brother and I exploded into a fit of giggles, but we were specifically instructed not to tell where they came from. Since my brother and I often exploded into giggles, my dad didn't think much of it. He was just happy with his new socks.