5 Craft Ideas for Sustainable Living

These planters are a great way to re purpose old tins. An old soup can is used here ala Andy Warhol, but syrup tins, tea caddies and any other kinds of tin can you have around can be used to create these eye catching planters.

You Will Need

Cans
Drill - with a metal drill bit
Soil
Plants

These vintage plates are such a wonderful talking point to add to your home decor, instead of throwing away old plates which may have small chips, or broken glazes, re invent them by adding beautiful drawings or family motos. I got each member of the family to draw something on one and I love the results! These plates are for decorative use only, why not make a quirky plate wall by assembling all your mismatched plates and hanging them on
display.

You Will Need

Posca pen

Plates

Quirky heart elbow patches are just the thing for injecting new life into your wardrobe. It's often said that the most sustainable fashion is already in your wardrobe, so avoid buying more clothes and add a few handmade touches to your favourite garments instead.

You will Need

Red felt

Pins

Sewing needle

White cotton thread

Scissors

Heart Cookie Cutter

Pencil

Old Cardigan

Sinking into a deliciously hot bath at the end of a busy day is one of life's greatest pleasures, and these wonderfully fragrant bath salts really enhance that experience. Making your own bath salts is not only a sustainable habit to start, but is also thrifty, fun and an extremely therapeutic thing to make.
The base is epsom salts and then you can simply add whichever elements you have to hand and experiment with whichever scent combinations you like. These beautiful salts would also make wonderful homemade gifts.

You Will Need

Perserving jar

Epsom Salts
Dried rose petals
Dried lavender
Sweet orange essential oils

A bowl and spoon to mix with.

Hand painted wrapping paper not only looks beautiful, but is a wonderfully mindful thing to make. Often much cheaper to make then buying, you can either paint lovely big swishes all over some large paper yourself - the bigger the better so you can wrap all kinds of presents! Or you can get your children to do it as a great creative activity or simply use their paintings. If you have young children you may have a stack of paintings ready to use which is fantastic - if the pieces are too small you could tape them together using patterned washi tape. Using the paper roll is a brilliant thing to roll out in the garden for a great outside art session.

You Will Need

Kids Colouring roll

Watercolour paint

Ribbon

Paint brushes