Craftiness part two

My desire to do crafts has become a little bit of a problem, and I’m having to limit myself to certain days and times, so that I can still do the other important things in my life.  But here are some of the fun craft projects I wanted to write about in my last crafty post:

I’m making a t-shirt quilt out of my old softball shirts.  This has been a project I have wanted to do for years.  I’ve never made a quilt before, and I’m still not sure how the actual quilting part is going to go, but I am loving the piecing so far.  It’s a good new use for my old shirts, because most of them were too ratty to be donated (or had my name on them).  After cutting the square out of the shirt, I’m cutting the rest of the shirt into strips for future rag rugs.

I wrote in my last post about my new love of crocheting.  There are so many different yarns out there, and there are some neat, earth-friendly types of yarn.  I’m attempting to buy those kinds of yarn for my projects (although I’m also using yarn from my mom’s giant stockpile).  There is organic cotton yarn, bamboo yarn, recycled cotton (made from scraps from manufacturing clothing), and recycled polyester (made from plastic bottles).  So far I’ve found the recycled polyester to be the most economic, but even that is still a little expensive, so I always use a 40% coupon from Jo-Ann’s – which fortunately I can get every week.

One of the cutest things I’ve ever made was a grocery bag for a friend of mine who was headed off to college.  I’m not the most patient person in the world, so I don’t always do well in making things look nice in sewing, but I tried really hard on this one.  Besides being handmade and being a reusable bag, there wasn’t really anything in the making of the bag itself that is particularly sustainable.  However, I love the pattern, so maybe next time I make one, I’ll find some ways to use earth-friendly materials.

The inspiration for my linen pinboard came from two different places.  First, the idea to even have one came from a Real Simple idea for organizing jewelry.  But the pinboards that Real Simple bought at Pottery Barn are ridiculously expensive, so I found a site with DIY instructions. (There are actually a ton of tutorials out there that say essentially the same thing – search “linen pinboard” and choose the one you like best.)  My pinboard consists of a bulletin board I got for $2 or $3 at Value Village, a linen-looking napkin for $1 at VV, and a bracket for wall-mounting for a couple of bucks at the fabric store.  I think the most expensive thing was actually the pretty pins that are used to hang the necklaces.  And by the way, most of the instructions say to use a staple gun, but I don’t have one and found that a regular stapler worked just fine in the cork.

There is a Web site called Crafting a Greener World that I haven’t had a chance to explore much yet, but it seems to be along the lines of the things I’ve posted above.  I’m not sure how I got linked to it – probably off of etsy.  Cool place to check out for more sustainable craft ideas!

Not Such a Material Girl

I love that being "green" is getting so much attention lately; I think that when environmentally-friendly items are readily available, then even people who don't really care can live a little more responsibly. Buying items that are recycled, organic, or just all-around take less of a toll on the earth are better; however, buying less is still the best option. There's absolutely no waste if you skip buying something you don't really need.

That being said, I'm not very good about buying less. I'm fascinated by all the things I see in the world around me -- I want to try the various gadgets, have the cute clothes I like, etc., etc. And then of course, you get to the holidays, when everyone wants to know what you want. You can ask for all of those things you restrained yourself from buying throughout the year. In my family, asking for specific items is actual doing people a favor, because we don't like having to figure out what someone else wants.

So I was excited about finding a couple of cool online gift registries. The first is the Alternative Gift Registry. It allows you to create a wedding or baby registry with both tangible and intangible objects - anything you want. The samples show people asking for, yes, a DVD player or some place settings, but also for recipe cards with people's favorite recipes or used books or cleaning advice. It allows for people to ask for the things they think they really need for their lives and not just things to fill up a registry. It emphasizes the relationships between people instead of the presents, can cost significantly less, and can have positive environmental impact.

A less altruistic option but still something that I find really cool is TheThingsIWant.com. It's a "universal" wish list, meaning that you can add items from any Web site to your list. I see this being particularly useful for family Christmas and birthday lists. I tend to make an amazon.com wish list with books and movies on it, then have to send around e-mail lists with in-depth descriptions of the exact bag I want or the color and size of these shoes from REI. If I only want one item from a store, then there's no point in creating a wish list on its site. This option can be a one-stop-shop for all those material things I can't help from wanting.