DIY Gifts For The Artist On Your Holiday List: Eco-Art Box

DIY is already a part of an artist's creative ethos. But it can be a challenge to find art supplies that are both healthy and eco-friendly. Artists welcome gifts that don’t add to the toxic soup they are often faced with daily. Why not give the artist on your holiday list all the makings for an earth-friendly, non-toxic art set? 3 Eco-Tips:

1. Read labels on art materials carefully. If a label says the product presents a health risk, chances are it will also pollute ground water when disposed of. 2. To determine whether a product is nontoxic, look for the AP (Approved Product) seal from the Art and Creative Materials Institute. AMI reviews art materials for toxicology. These products are safe for children and adults. 3. Take a whiff. Smell is a good indicator of toxicity. If it stinks, leave it out.

How to make an Eco-Art Box:

Turn an old silverware chest into an art supplies box, repurpose a fishing tackle box, or make a box from scrap wood to house art supplies.

Fill the Eco-Art Box:

Ecoartworks provides all the makings for creating green art: plant-based pastels, natural paint sets, hemp sketch pads, plant colored pencils, recycled sketch books, drawing books with onion paper, soy crayons and more. Include a copy of the Green Guide For Artists. This fabulous book contains non-toxic recipes, green art ideas and resources for the eco-conscious artist.

For more DIY gifts for the artist in your life CLICK HERE.

Truly Gifted: It's DIY December!

You've heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, right? But, have you heard about DIY December? Probably not, because I am introducing it right here, right now on econesting!

Last year, I created an ambitious holiday gift guide for Planet Green. It was called, Truly Gifted: An A-Z DIY Holiday Workshop For Everyone On Your Holiday List. It was my anecdote for curbing spending, raising my eco-consciousness and reconnecting with something I love to do: create handmade gifts for my family and friends.

The introductory post to the Truly Gifted series is the only post not showing up on the Planet Green site, so here's an excerpt:

"I did the unthinkable. I ventured into New York City on Black Friday. It was mostly a social visit, but it was hard not to get caught up in the shopping frenzy. You would never guess from the amount of people who braved the stores with their fellow throngs of holiday revelers that there was ever a weakness in our economy, or that our planet was overdue for an eco-consciousness-raising. I found myself tripping over a minefield of holiday stuff and compromising my personal eco-footprint right and left. After an exhausting few hours, I was happy to be tucked back into my nest. The experience reached my deepest resolve to buy less and make more.

Sure, you could go out and buy eco-friendly gifts for everyone on your list, or save gas and time by shopping online. But why succumb to more spending and unnecessary waste? Creating gifts for others allows you to share your great green intention of respecting the planet, by passing along to your recipients the awareness of treading lightly on the environment."

5 DIY Gift-Making Tips

1. Take stock of what you already have. Scavenge around and give homage to items and materials that are ecologically sound. These items are just waiting for their secret life to unfold so that they can be restored, renovated, recycled and reused.
2. Be thoughtful about the person you are gifting. Creating items by hand takes time (maybe not as much time as finding a parking spot at the mall). Personalizing a gift is a sure-fire way to get it right.
3. Choose materials that are recycled and renewable.
4. Not only is making your own gifts green, frugal and clever, a handmade gift allows the giver to express their love in a whole new way.
5. Giving a handmade gift is a truly satisfying experience. It has the ability to transform the way we think about the holidays.

DIY December

During the next few weeks leading up to the crescendo of all winter holidays - Christmas, I will provide an alphabetical array of green DIY inspiration for everyone on your holiday list. Since I wrote a post for every letter of the alphabet (absolutely exhausting, but fun), I'll be including excerpts and new information. The posts will have an eco-friendly DIY project for everyone on your list. How cool is that?

Revving to get started?  Here's a real easy project to get you in the DIY gift-making and giving mood: DIY Gift Tags Forget store bought gift tags, Lolly Chops provides stylish free patterned, downloadable gift tags to print out and personalize.

I'll be posting a blizzard of DIY projects. So don't forget to check back each day for greenest of holiday gifts you can make yourself.

Photos: Emma Innocenti via Planet Green, Lolly Chops

Solutions For Living With Wood

At the beginning of the heating season, I'm all gung-ho about heating with wood. Hauling wood is exhilarating exercise, and the oh-so-toasty radiance of a wood fire is enchanting. After the initial infatuation wears off, I start grumbling about it…mostly, about the mess.

2 Problems, 2 Solutions:

Problem: There are splintery pieces of wood that gather around the stove which makes walking barefoot treacherous (and messy).

Solution: Remodelista presented a beautiful wall-mounted log holder via Skona Hem. Not only does this wood holder look handsome, it frees up floor space. While it may be an  inspirational solution, I can't read a word of Swedish, and there are no particulars of where to purchase such an item. Has anyone found an off-the-floor solution for the in-house wood stash?

Problem: This morning I piled up a few logs into my arms, stoked the fire, then ran out to have breakfast with friends. Someone commented that my jacket made me look like a porcupine. I looked down and there were spikes of wood embedded into the fleece. Geeze.

Solution: While writing Stalking The Wood Pile, I came across this DIY wood tote on the Whipup site. It’s stylish, functional and easy to make. The creator of the project was in the process of building a house and says, “I made this firewood tote to help move all the logs to the house site. This firewood tote sews up super fast, and will make carrying wood to your fireplace, or building a house just a bit easier.” Brilliant!

Download the DIY pdf instructions and CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Photo Credits: Rais, Remodelista, Whipup

Cuff Cup Cozy: The Easiest DIY Project Ever

Last year, a new laptop inspired me to transform an old sweater into a laptop case. The sweater I used had a complicated Fair Isle design and a gaping hole on the sleeve. It was too short to repair and wear.

It's magical the way a sweater will shrink up in the washer and dryer to create a thick piece of felted fabric. The fabric can be cut (just like store bought felt) and will never unravel like a handknitted item will. You can see the process and learn how to make a felted laptop sleeve from a sweater here.

When I wrote An Inspired DIY Idea: Recycled Sweater Sleeve Cozy, I retrieved the sweater from the pile of felt scraps. The sweater cuffs are getting repurposed to make cup cozies. I’m lovin’ these cup holders because you can cradle a hot beverage in a stylish heat-resistant cup without a handle.

Once the sweater is felted, this has to be the easiest DIY project ever:

To Make: Measure the cup you want to cover and cut sleeve cuff to size. I positioned the ribbing on the bottom because the cup I used tapered.

What do you think of this sweater cuff cup cozy?

Photo Credits: Jen Kiaba

Random Halloween Sightings

Halloween comes and goes without much hoopla in an empty nest deep in the woods. Trick or Treaters that spook the living daylights out of my dogs haven't ventured up my driveway in years. My own little zombies (below) are all grown up and have flown the nest (as they should). There is a glimmer of regret about not being able to enjoy Halloween vicariously through my babes.

Do not shed a tear for me – Halloween may not be my holiday anymore, and the kids only mildly resemble grown-up versions of those little zombies, but I still enjoy the holiday. Even if you have given up participating in the kitchier side of Halloween (parents do the strangest things), one does not have to relinquish all the treats.

Here’s an adult-sized dose of Halloween eye-candy:

Pumpkin Pillow

Eerie White Pumpkins

Knitted Skull

Halloween Spoon Garden Markers

Don't forget a Black CFL.

Happy Halloween!

Main image: Devils Thorn via Garden Design