Craft Recycled | greenUPGRADER

How to Turn a Blown Out Bike Tire into a Fancy Headband

by Becky Striepe on March 17th, 2010

Last week, Beth talked about recycled shoes made from TVs instead of leather or vinyl, and I've been coveting them ever since. I love a good leather alternative, especially one that isn't vinyl, so you can imagine my delight when I came across Becky Stern's detailed video tutorial on making a headband out of a spent bike tube. Her tutorial is based on one for making a chain link leather necklace, but in a stroke of genius she subbed a blown bike tire for the leather. The results are stunning! Check out the video:

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Fabric Flowers from Your Scrap Bin [Craft Recycled Tutorial]

by Becky Striepe on January 27th, 2010

Conventional cut flowers are bad news. Those lovely bouquets come from far away, and that means a gigantic carbon footprint along with your bunch of Gerbera daisies. Not to mention the water it takes to grow all of those flowers that live for a few days before wilting in their vases.

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Craft Recycled: Greeting Cards and Wrapping Paper

by Becky Striepe on December 28th, 2009

The gifts are unwrapped, the out of town guests have made their way home, and you’re probably staring at a mountain of gift wrap and cards feeling a bit of the old green guilt. Don’t you fret! With just a little crafty love, you can keep the spoils of Christmas day out of the bin!

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Craft Recycled: Brooke and Ben’s DIY Wedding

by Becky Striepe on December 14th, 2009

Weddings in the U.S. produce, on average, 63 tons of CO2 and 400-600 pounds of trash. That’s for one wedding! With over 2.5 million weddings per year in this country, that adds up to a crazy amount of pollution and waste. When Brooke and her fiance Ben got engaged, they knew they wanted no [...]

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Craft Recycled: No-Sew Owl Ornament from Recycled Felt

by Becky Striepe on December 2nd, 2009

I thought it would be fun to take Craft Recycled in a new direction this week with a holiday-themed tutorial! It’s about time for tree-trimming parties, and ornaments make lovely hostess gifts. You could even get crazy and make a whole flock of wise little owls for your own tree! Ready to get crafting? [...]

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Craft Recycled: Corrugated Cardboard, Tofu Boxes, Socks and Stockings

by Becky Striepe on November 22nd, 2009

As much as we try to reduce, it seems like our recycle and trash bins still manage to slowly fill up. Rather than feel guilty, you can put your crafty skills to work and upcycle those materials into something useful! This week we’ve got projects for corrugated cardboard, empty tofu boxes, and worn out socks [...]

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