by Talina Norris

Created on: January 08, 2008   Last Updated: January 12, 2011

Earth friendly crafts are a great way to take care of the earth, to save money and to do something you can feel good about. Earth friendly crafts can be anything from recycling/reusing supplies and items in crafts to crafting with natural substances. Did you know that crafting used to be earth friendly? In the past all there was to work with was what nature provided. People would raise their own sheep for wool that they would spin and then knit clothes from. Plants and other organic matter were used to dye fibers, woods would be made into decor and furniture and the list goes on and on. Some people today are still extremely interested in these types of craft projects; they are very rewarding and are often sustainable, simple ways to use the resources nature provides.

In times of war and economic insecurity crafting styles shifted towards recycling and eliminating wasted resources. Housewives turned scrap fabrics and old linen into braided rugs and did so much to conserve and reuse what they had already. This is when things like rag dolls, wooden dolls, needle crafts, knitting and more were popular. Resources were limited and scarce so little was wasted.

If you are looking for ways to make your crafting more earth friendly either by using items found in nature, or if you are just looking to reuse/ recycle, I have a variety of creative earth friendly crafts that you can try today:

Homemade paper

You can make some beautiful homemade paper from items that you may normally throw out. Things like dryer lint, newspaper, organic matter, junk mail, eggs cartons and much more can be turned into awesome paper that can be used in scrap booking projects or you can even make your own journal! All you need to make your own paper is a blender, a large tub of water, an old screen and some flannel or felt.

Biodegradable bird feeder

Biodegradable bird feeders can be made using a pine cone, some vegetable shortening, cornmeal/oats and some bird food. This craft is easy; it can help feed your neighborhood birds and it will bring you hours of enjoyment watching the birds too! To make your own biodegradable bird feeder find a nice pine cone, attach a string to the top of it so it can easily hang from a branch or nail. Next smear vegetable shortening over the pine cone and then you can roll the pine cone in the bird food. Once pine cone is covered in bird food simply hang it and enjoy watching them feed!

Homemade shoe scraper

Use some collected bottle caps to make your own creative

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