Try this plantable paper project that I posted over at Alpha Mom in celebration of Earth Day. Homemade paper with embedded seeds for planting. These are just the right size to use as gift tags or add to a gardening themed Mother’s Day gift.

Check out my bird’s nest project over on Alpha Mom. Made from shredded paper bags and glue, this is a messy and fun project for the kids.

I made these cereal box books with my five-year-old last week. Very similar to my cereal box journals from last year, but your kids can sew these themselves. The instructions are over at Alpha Mom.

We’re planning ahead for Valentine’s Day. Since it was a gloomy weekend, the kids and I made some melted heart crayons for my first-grader’s Valentine’s Day cards. If you haven’t ever tried this project, it’s simple with great results and is a nice way to recycle broken crayons. We followed the directions from Marie at Make and Takes. The only advice I have is that the brighter colors look much better, so hide the browns, blacks and dark blues from your kids. I also used a knife on one batch to cut the crayons into even smaller bits, which I think worked well.

I made two versions of this card. One can be used without the crayon in the center, and the other has an open middle to attach the crayon. We used foam adhesive tape to attach the hearts to the cards. Simply click on an image below to download the .pdf file, print it out on card stock and cut. We also used a corner punch to create rounded corners.

My daughter is going to send the crayons with her own drawing below, which we scanned in and will print out. That way she can decorate them as much as she likes, but if she gets tired of it, they are still done. I’ve got another idea for my five-year-old’s valentines because she really requires that everything be covered in glitter. The teachers will love that.

I took some old ribbon scraps and made a sleeve for a glass jar. This is a quick and easy project, a good way to use your embroidered ribbon scraps, and a free project if you’re using an old glass jar or tin can. You could also make smaller versions with votive holders or a larger version with a wide vase. Just be sure that the sides of the jar are straight (not tapered).

Simply cut pieces of ribbon approximately 1″ longer than the circumference of the jar and sew each ribbon right sides facing with barely any seam allowance until you have one large rectangular shaped piece. Press after each additional ribbon is sewn. Fold the piece over and sew right sides together with a 1/2″ seam allowance, forming a sleeve. Easy! I planted a primrose in this jar, but put some rocks in the bottom for drainage. I’m sure to kill it, but then I can use the jar for fresh flowers or as a pencil holder.

If you sent us a holiday card, it’s likely to end up under our tree next year. Don’t worry, I didn’t cut up anyone’s family photographs. This is certainly not a new idea, but just a reminder to re-use. I cut our cards with a circular hole punch, added a small hole for ribbon and stored the tags to use next year.

Well, maybe I can make all of our holiday decorations from two thrifted sweaters.  Here’s a quick tutorial for a felted sweater stocking.  I never can seem to find any good striped sweaters at the thrift store, so I thought I’d make my own.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Betz White has visited every thrift store in the land and is hoarding all the cool sweaters in her closet.

This makes a 12″ long stocking, but you could increase or decrease the pattern to suit your needs.  Print the template here.

1. First, you’ll need 100% wool sweaters, washed and dried.
2. I cut my sweaters into 1 1/2″ strips (the width of my yard stick).  I used about 15 strips in all.  I sewed them with a straight stitch right sides together until I had a somewhat rectangular striped piece.
3. I then cut the pattern front from this piece, adding 1/2″ around the outside for the seam allowance.  I cut the back from a solid color (with a band at the top).  Be sure to cut the front and back in mirror image.  I then inserted a quick loop and sewed it all together.

This wouldn’t be a sewing blog without a picture of a cat, would it?  Here’s the the best cat in the world with her new stocking.  Seriously, this cat comes when you call her and she would meow at my door when the girls were babies and cried at night.  She was the only family member who didn’t have a stocking yet.  I will not be making one for the fish.

I’ll be making some projects from repurposed materials in the coming weeks. First off, I made some more trees from felted wool sweaters — a miniature version of my thrifted trees from last year. This version has a new template to go with it. So get some wool sweaters, wash and dry them, cut 15 circles according to the template, string them together and hang them or add them to your miniature winter village. I’m hoping to make one of those this year, but we’ll see. You know, because everyone needs a miniature winter village, right?

My six-year-old finished up her dollhouse rug the other day.  We used old t-shirts like we did in my tutorial for Alpha Mom.  This time around, we used t-shirt strips for the warp strings as well.    I think it turned out to be pretty cute!

Here’s a fun project to make with the kids.  These are papier-mâché bowls made from paper bags and tissue paper.  We plan to use our bowls for Halloween candy.

I’ve never had much luck with the flour mixtures (maybe because of the humidity here), so I used a mixture of equal parts white glue and water.  I used a full bottle of glue for each bowl.  For the pumpkin bowl, I cut off the top of an actual pumpkin and used that as our base, but we just used a metal mixing bowl for the ghost bowl.  If you do use a pumpkin, be sure to cut it at the widest point so that you can remove the paper bowl when dry.

For both, I first covered the base with a plastic grocery bag (you could use plastic wrap), dipped strips of newspaper in the glue mixture, squeezed off the excess and laid the strips across the top until the bowl was covered.  Oh, if you’re working with kids, you will definitely want to do this project outside.  We let the bowls dry for a day, then brushed them with more glue mixture and laid tissue paper (cut into strips) on top.  We then brushed more glue on top of the tissue as we laid it around the bowl.  Once dry, you can trim your edges or leave them ragged.  We painted our bowls with acrylic paints and left the insides unfinished.  If you used colored tissue paper, you wouldn’t need to paint at all.  I just used some brown tissue paper leftover from packaging.  Now the kids are ready to fill up the bowls!

A couple more ideas to add to your list of Halloween decorations using recycled materials.  Here, I used etching cream to create a jack o’ lantern face on the jars.  It’s a subtle effect, but would be pretty with an orange votive.  I simply put masking tape on the jar, cut out the shapes with a craft knife, and let the etching cream sit for about twenty minutes (not a kid-friendly project, obviously).

And for the jack o’lantern cans, I cut out the face with a craft knife and glued the paper onto the can.  A quick tip for holding the paper in place while you wait for the glue to dry — painter’s tape.  I love painter’s tape and use it all the time in my crafting.

More Halloween crafts with bottles and cans (just clap your hands).

• Martha Stewart’s Tin Can Jack O’ Lanterns.
• Martha Stewart’s Jar O’ Lanterns.
• Decoupage Jar Jack O’ Lanterns from Instructables.

This is not a vehicle for the caped crusader, but rather a hanging mobile!  I’ll be periodically featuring recycled projects for Halloween over the next month.  In addition to my disdain for plastic crap made in China, I am just frugal.

So here’s an easy project made with thin cardboard.  You can use cereal or cracker boxes, or save chipboard from packing materials, like I did here.  I think these would also be pretty cut from patterned paper, if you are so inclined.  I just cut these from cardboard, poked holes where the eyes should be and hung them to a branch using clear thread.  This clear thread looks completely invisible and is light enough for the bats to fly around a bit.

I’m feeling for bats these days after hearing about the decline in the bat population along the east coast.  We need these little critters.  I’ll try to post some more batty projects over the weekend.

Just click on the image below and print out the template.