Earth Day - April 22nd

Plant a tree this Earth Day! Make a new resolution to honor the Earth, maybe, involve your whole family in energy and/or water conservation. Or use natural cleaning product and grow organic vegetables in your garden.

There are so many simple things we can do. Donate items for those who need them or repurpose them for a new use. Choose reusable products and materials. Check your vehicle's emissions and make changes if necessary. Try carpooling once a week or even use a public transport when possible. Get outside more and enjoy and respect nature more. It's good for your health and will keep you inspired.

The world will become better if everyone will make some efforts.  After all, the Earth is our home and we should take care of it better!

Here is a small collection of Russian Artists team members items for sale which are eco-friendly. Visit us on Etsy to see more!

OOAK handmade Christmas balls

This Christmas ornament look so good on a tree. The bonus is it is made with mostly recycled materials which you might easily find in almost every household.

 

The idea came from our team member, Yulia from bysiki shop on Etsy. Yulia lives and works in Moscow, Russia and her shop is filled with wonderful products for a baby. 

To make a ball like this you will need:

a plastic grocery store bag for each ball (a great way to give them a second life!)

sequins and beads

threads of your choice:

#1 - thread of any color you don't need for other projects  for securing the ball shape

# 2 - pretty thread you want to see you ball decorated with

ribbon

fabric glue

needle

Form an even shaped ball from the plastic bag and secure it with the thread #1. Add some glue to the surface to make sure it will stay in place. Let it dry.

Wrap the thread #2 around your ball in one direction, either, horizontal or vertical. Sew the sequins and beads on top of your ball, while securing your threads from unwrapping. Do not use too many beads to prevent your ball from being too heavy!

Make a ribbon loop and you are done! Your new one of a kind Christmas ball is ready to be hung on your Christmas tree!

Have a wonderful Holidays and fun decorating!

How to Make a Recycled Gift Box.

Has it ever happened to you: you desperately need a beautiful box for a gift, but all the boxes you have in your possession are a wrong size? Of course, sometimes it is possible to just use wrapping paper, but that will not work if you need to package something fragile. That's why Svetlana from NESWeddingGarden shop on Etsy came up with a great idea how to make a recycled holiday gift box.

What is needed to make a beautiful gift box?

1. Any box of a suitable size (I used a box from a set of two moisturizers)
2. Sheets or scraps of colored or craft paper
3. Any pre-cut shapes or stickers for decoration (I used paper butterflies which are often used for
scrapbooking)
4. A pencil, scissors, a ruler, glue, a brush
5. Acrylic paint (can be replaced by markers)

Step 1. Choose beautiful paper scraps or cut sheets of craft paper into small pieces of different size and shape.

Step 2. Glue the paper pieces onto the gift box, so that all areas you do not want to be visible are covered (all the text and product pictures, for example). If there are areas that are beautiful enough as they are, you can leave them uncovered.

Step 3. After the glue has dried, decorate the holiday gift box by drawings, stripes or spots of paint.

Step 4. Pre-cut shapes, such as butterflies, can be added on after the paint dries.

Step 5. Now wrap the gift in tissue and put it in the box - your gift is ready to go in the beautiful holiday gift box!

Enjoy!

Tutorial by Svetlana (NESWeddingGarden)
Translation by Alla (FleetingStillness)

Crocheted necklace bracelet giveaway from TomBjornDesigns

This year's Earth day comes closer and we decided to contribute to it by having this earth-friendly giveaway from TomBjornDesigns.

This versatile piece of jewelry is made of upcycled beads taken from several old broken and forgotten necklaces and bracelets. Ira can never resist giving old items a new life, and tries to upcycle old jewelry as often as she can.

Ira hopes the person who wins will love this summer bright and earth friendly piece and enjoy wearing it!

As all of TomBjornDesigns' necklaces, you can wear this item as a bracelet, belt, or a thousand different necklaces.

Go to see her shop to get inspired!

Here's how you enter for a chance to win this:

- Visit the TomBjornDesigns shop, take a look around and leave us a comment of what your favorite item is (1 entry per comment)
- Follow our blog - 1 entry
- Subscribe to our blog via RSS - 1 entry
- Grab our button and place it on your blog - 2 entries
- Blog about this giveaway - 2 entries
- Tweet about this giveaway - 1 entry
- Leave a link to this giveaway on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow Tombjorndesigns on Facebook - 1 entry
- Follow TomBjornDesigns blog - 1 entry

Please leave a separate comment on each entry and don't forget to leave us your email address so that we can contact you!

The more entries you submit the more chances of winning!

A winner will be chosen by Ira using random.org on April 22th and we will announce the winner on our blog.

Interview with a Star, Albina from GoodWeather

Recycling is a great way to give a new life to the things people don't want anymore. Albina from GoodWeather shop on Etsy is sharing her own vision of this with us.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

I think the ideas of recycling are in my blood. My father is good at inventing things that are practical. He made a wash stand for their garden out of 2-liter plastic soda bottles. He also made a sauna oven out of metal barrel and built a green house out of old window frames.

I use “soft” materials for my crafts such as old sweaters. I know that unwanted sweaters can have several new lives.

Some of the things you can do with sweaters is unravel them to get some yarn for your new projects and make something from it like this handbag:

Also I often felt sweaters and make lots of cool stuff out of sweater! I love to make gadgets like this smiling cat iPhone sleeve:

Since I love to make jewelry I also use felt in it!

Do you use only recycled materials to create your beautiful items?

I use both used and new materials to make my products. Things like my cup cozies or knitted iPone sleeves are made from new materials only.

Do you take custom orders?

I love custom orders! Once, I had an order for 9 owls. I made all of them look a little different and I enjoyed making them. 

What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?

I appreciate all the feedback I get from my customers, even if it is short and simple like “Thank you”. One I really like that I got for this brooch, "I love this so much! I attached it to my sweater coat and I have gotten tons of compliments on it already! Thank you so much for such fast shipping! You rock!"

Recycled coasters DIY

Coasters are a great way to protect your furniture from scratches or those ugly water rings made by drink glasses and coffee mugs. Use leftover materials you used for some other projects and you will make one more step to saving the planet!

These double sided coasters were made by Albina (GoodWeather) from an old sweater which was previously washed and felted. The main part of sweater was used to make the protective covers for electronic gadgets and the rest of it got a new purpose now!

To make coasters like these you will need:

- Felted pieces not smaller than 5" across
- Scissors
- Sewing machine with thread
- Steam iron

1. Cut out circles with your scissors, 4" in diameter. Make twice more circles than coasters needed (i.e. for 6 coasters cut out 12 circles):

2. Arrange circles in pairs putting one on top of another:

3. You may want to pin the circles in place. Using either simple or zigzag stitch, sew the edges together:

4. Using zigzag or another decorative stitch, sew through the center:

5. If you desire, make another stitch perpendicular to the previous stitch:

6. Your coaster may look a little"wavy" like this:

 7. Steam iron your coasters so they look nice and flat.

Happy crafting!

Interview with a Star, Yaroslav & Natalka from ReComputing

Today we'd like to introduce the Recomputing shop to you, a geeky project on Etsy.

We are a family company of husband and wife Yaroslav and Natalka. The ReComputing shop was opened in October 2011 but Natalka already had her Skrynka shop. So we wasn't new on Etsy.

What would you say makes your shop unique?
The idea of ReComputing is to make cute geeky things through recycling broken computers hardware. As Yaroslav worked with computers for a long time, we have plenty of broken hardware at home.

What is the most important about your work?
We think that recycling is the great way to save our planet. And we are proud of ourselves that we are involved in such an important thing.

We are trying to make usable things. Our product isn't a cute stuff that you put on the shelf to admire. We make the key chains, jewelry, bookmarks, and we are planning to make clocks, coasters, magnets, business card holders, etc. We don't plan to stop on one category and have so many ideas! Our only regret is that there is only 24 hours in a day!

Do you have a favorite item you have made?
Yaroslav's favorite item is a microchip necklace and Natalka like almost all items made from blue circuit board.

Name 3 things you can’t live without?
Our amazing little son, each other and our dreams.

What do you want to tell our readers?
We'd like to wish health and happiness and LOVE to everyone! Don't forget to wish everyone you care about a happy Valentine's day!

Green World

Russian Artists Team shops in Green World category:

GoodWeather