Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.  Normally I would try to come up with an environmentally friendly craft project to share with you.  Today I decided to do something a little different.  Charity:Water posted this new video on their website in honor of Earth Day.

I feel like sometimes we forget that this is going on all over the world because we are so caught up in our own lives.  We don't have to worry about having clean water.  It's just there.  So many people have never even known what clean water is.  And the worst part is this is such an easily solved problem.  We just have to be willing to help.  That's where Charity:Water comes in.  They build wells in places where there is no clean water with the help of donations from regular people like us.

Some of you already know this but or my new followers...

I made a plushie in honor of Blog Action Day last year.  His name is Rio.  

I will donate all money made from this plushie to Charity:Water.  If you are interested in purchasing one he is available at Dreaming in Craft on Etsy.  If you live in the Austin area I will always make sure to bring Rio to shows with me as well.  I hope that you will consider helping Charity:Water raise money to help bring clean drinking water to the entire world.  If you prefer, you can donate directly to Charity:Water on their website.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Earth Day.  Did you do anything fun to celebrate?

Earth Day

{Area Kids}

Happy Earth Day, everybody!!!  I hope you are having a wonderful day and that you are able to take some time today to celebrate.  This is a perfect day to spend some time doing something to help the environment, no matter how big or small. 

Since I love to craft I thought it would be fun to try a project using some recycled materials for my Earth Day celebration blog.  I love the idea of using the things I love to do in a way that can impact my community.  I'm not saying this particular project will impact my community, but I think it's a step toward moving in that direction with my crafting.  This is just a small project but it's a start.

I worked on another project last month that could fit into this green category. Remember this collapsible shopping tote? I want to try to find some inexpensive fabric and make some sets to give as gifts.  Fabric made from recycled material would be even better.

I have seen these really cool purses and wallets made with recycled materials all over the place recently and I love the idea!  Some people make them with candy wrappers.  Others make them with juice boxes or chip bags.  I decided since I already had some magazines around the house that I would use those to make my first purse.  The plan is to make a coin purse to start out.  If it works out okay I will move on to a purse made from juice boxes.

Aren't they amazing???

{Becca's Unique Boutique}

I wasn't able to finish the whole project by today because I've just been so busy lately.  I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and work on it.  I thought I would tell you about what I've done so far and then I will write an update with the finished product as soon as it's done.  It just means that my Earth Day celebration can last even longer!

I couldn't find any really good patterns online so I used multiple sites and videos for this one.  The basic idea and instructions came from this candy wrapper purse blog.  I got the instructions for how to make the paper chains at gumwrapper.com.  Can you believe I never learned how to make a paper chain before???  Me either!  Crazy!  :-)

I started out by cutting 112 strips of paper that were 2"x 4.5".  112!!!  That's just for the coin purse!!  I'm glad I decided to start small!

I won't bore you with all the folding details.  You can just go to gumwrapper.com if you want to learn how to make the chain.  I had to make four chains of 28 strips of paper.

After that was done I connected the chains to make a ring.

This is actually as far as I have gotten.  I planned to sew the chains together earlier in the week but realized that I didn't have strong enough thread so I will finish it and post the rest as soon as I finish.

I hope that you have an awesome Earth Day.  If you have any fun ideas for eco-friendly crafts I would love to hear them.

My friend Velma decided to join in on the Earth Day fun, too!!  Look what she's working on...

It's a knitted shopping tote!

{Lion Brand}

How are you celebrating Earth Day?