Environmental Craft Hacks

Crafting is something I can’t live without. My room is decked in watercolor pictures, my closet is filled with hand-sewn clothes, and even a few books I’ve written have taken their place amongst my shelves. Simply saying, I MUST CRAFT. But I’ve been feeling bad lately. My trash can is filled with crumpled balls of paper, some sheets of plastic, and the usual debris. What is that doing to the environment?!?!

I also care a lot about the environment, seeing as I’m a vegetarian and try not to buy any animal tested makeup products. (ELF products all the way!!!!) But now that I’m super into crafting, I feel like the plastic, paper, and styrofoam I don’t use are going straight into the dumps and landfills. So I compiled a list of environmental ideas to help me be more environmentally conscious. And maybe you’d like to try these out too! 

Painting:

.You know that cup of water you use to rinse your brushes in before switching paint colors? Lately, I’ve been reusing the same plastic cup, so I don’t end up throwing away tons of plastic cups every time I craft. So after one painting project is done, I just rinse out my cup and put it back on the table, ready for next time. Or you can use a regular, non plastic cup. Also reuse the same paper towel blotter if you want. 

. Wear an apron. How is this environmentally friendly, you may ask. Well, if you wear an apron you won’t spill on your clothes, and you won’t have to use water washing your clothes more often than you need. 

Paper Crafts:

. Use all the scraps. I always throw away my paper scraps after making something, and my trash can gets filled at least three times a week. So try to use all the scraps. You can cut them up and modge podge them to a canvas in the shape of the first letter of your name, or use them to make cards. Or cut them up into even tinier squares and make miniature origami squares. 

. If you can’t use all the scraps right away, keep a separate container or bin to store them in until you have a project in mind.

Sewing:

. Use fabric scraps you would normally throw away to make quilts to donate to homeless shelters, or to animal shelters. You can make toys for newborn babies as a gift to the parents, or even make clothes for them. This way the parents don’t need to buy lots of baby clothes, which would be bad for the environment. Sew clothes for yourself for the same reason. 

Writing:

. Use a computer so you don’t waste paper. 

. If you do want to use paper, use one notebook to store all your thoughts, or use up those paper scraps.

Hope these helped! Love you all!