DIY Earth Day Recycled Crafts

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to reuse and recycle. Try out these Earth Day crafts with recycled items and picks from the garden!

SEED BOMBS

 Materials:

• Construction paper
• Food processor
• Wildflower Seeds
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Start by cutting each piece of paper into 1-inch squares and separate colors in separate dishes.
2. Fill each dish with water just until the paper is covered. Soak the paper for about 20 minutes.
3. Take one of the bowls of paper and wring it out about half way. Put it in the food processor and pulse the paper into a pulp. Repeat this with all the paper colors and put the pulp back into each bowl.
4. Sprinkle some seeds into each bowl of paper, mix them a little, and press the pulp seeds into balls. If the pulp is a little dry, put a few sprinkles of water onto the pulp. Be sure to choose wildflower seeds that are native to where you live so that they will grow better.
5. Set the seed balls on a sheet pan to dry overnight.
6. Put into your garden or anywhere you want flowers to grow.

DVD MOSAIC RESIN TRAY

Materials:

• Tray
• DVSs
• Hot Glue gun
• Heat gun
• High gloss resin (Enviro Tex Lite High Gloss Finish)

Instructions: 

1. Start by cutting your DVD’s in half with some strong scissors or clippers.
   DVD’s have 2 layers with the metallic foil in between the layers. Gently pry them apart with your fingers.
2. Cut the halves so they are in little tile pieces of different shapes and sizes with the rainbow metallic side up. Try not to touch the shiny metallic surface as it will leave fingerprints.
3. Hot glue each piece on the inside of the tray. Cut pieces to fill in spaces. Fit them in like a mosaic tile craft. The empty spaces between the mosaic tiles look like grout, so try to keep a uniform spacing around all the little tiles.
4. Head somewhere that will be undisturbed for 24 hours to use the pour on gloss. Read the directions carefully and follow it exactly. This is a one to one ratio. It needs to be mixed in one cup for 2 minutes and then poured into a second cup with a different stirring stick and then mixed for another minute.
5. Pour the high gloss in the tray. Gently move the tray around so the resin fills the base of the tray all the way to the corners.
6. Instantly there are bubbles forming. Cover with a board and wait 20 minutes. Then use a heat gun on low heat and gently blow over the tray, it will instantly pop the bubbles.
7. Cover with a board again to prevent dust from settling on the surface of the resin. Then wait 24 hrs.

NO-SEW T-SHIRT TOTE BAG

Materials:

• An old t-shirt (the thicker the better)
• scissors

Instructions:

1. Start by cutting the sleeves off of the shirt.
2. Next cut out the neck of the shirt. Instead of cutting the neck exactly around the stitching, you can cut a little bit lower down into the shirt so that the opening of your tote bag is large enough to get stuff inside.
3. The last step is to cut a fringe and tie up the bottom! First, decide how long you want the bag to be. Remember, as you use it the fabric will stretch out a bit, so it might be too long if you use the full length of the t-shirt.
4. For this bag, cut the hem off of the t-shirt, then cut the fringe up about 3″. The longer you cut the fringe, the shorter the bag. Make sure your fringes are about 3/4″ wide and that you’re cutting through both the top and bottom layers of the t-shirt as you go.
5. Then start tying your fringes together. As you tie them together the fringes will help close up the bottom of the bag, but there will be holes between each set of tied fringes. To fix this, just lay out your tied fringes (one fringe going up out of the knot and one fringe going down out of the knot), then tie the “top” fringe from one pair to the “bottom” fringe from the pair next to it. This will close up those gaps between the pairs of fringes.
6. Just keep tying pairs of fringes together, then tying the top fringe from one pair to the bottom fringe of the next pair to close the gaps. Once all your fringes are tied and all your gaps are closed, you’re done!

PRESSED HERB MASON JAR CANDLES

Materials
(Makes 2 8oz candles)

• 1/2 lb beeswax
• 1/2 lb soy wax
• #2 medium candle wick
• Metal tabs
• Glue dots
• Essential oils (see blending notes in the instructions. This project used: Fir Needle, Bergamot, Himalayan Cedarwood and Juniper Berry)
• Pressed young rosemary sprigs
• 2 8oz canning jars

Additional Tools

• Metal wax pitcher(or tin can)
• Saucepan (to create a double broiler)
• Craft paintbrush
• Pliers
• Clothespins
• Popsicle stick
• Tea towel

Instructions

1. Harvest young, thin-branched rosemary sprigs, lavendar or other herbs from your garden and press them between heavy books or a wooden press for a week, until they are very flat and dry.
2. Cut the rosemary sprigs to length so they will sit at least 1″ below the rim of the jar.

When making candles, you can use anywhere from one-half ounce (300 drops) to a full ounce (600 drops) of essential oils per pound of wax, depending on how strong the scents are. Some essential oils can overpower a blend, so adjust accordingly. This recipe uses one-half ounce (300 drops) to create an evergreen scented blend because of the potency of the oils.

• 125 drops fir needle essential oil
• 75 drops bergamot essential oil
• 75 drops Himalayan cedarwood essential oil
• 20 drops juniper berry essential oil

Once you have the pressed herbs and essential oil blend ready, it’s time to start making candles! Create a double boiler using a saucepan with an inch or two of water and a metal pitcher or tin can. Place the wax into the pitcher and let melt completely.

3. While the wax is melting, use tongs to dip the rosemary sprigs into the melted wax and then place against the side of the jar. Use a craft paintbrush to brush melted wax over the rosemary to hold it in place.
4. Cut your wick to size and use pliers to attach a metal tab. Then add a glue dot to the bottom and place into the center of your jar. Use clothespins to secure the wick and keep it centered.
5. Once your wax is melted, remove from the pan and use a popsicle stick to stir in the essential oils. Then pour the wax into each prepared jar. Let dry.
6. Wrap the outside of the jars in a dish towel and set aside to set. Cooling slowly and completely will create the best looking candles.
7. Allow your candle to cure for 48 hours undisturbed. Once cured, trim the wicks with scissors.

TIN CAN MACRAME HANGING PLANTERS

Materials:

• Empty, cleaned tin cans
• Paint
• Ball of wool

Instructions:

1. Paint your cans, let them dry completely.
2. Cut 6 lengths of wool (cut them pretty long so that you have plenty to work with). Take these and tie them together to form a tassel, then lay them out so that you can see what you are doing.
3. Take two of the strands and tie them in a knot about an inch from the tassel. do this twice more with the remaining strands.
4. Next take one strand from one knot and another strand from the knot next to it and knot these about one inch from the previous knot. Do this again twice with the remaining strands.
5. Repeat this method another three times, always take a strand from the previous knot and knot it an inch down with a strand from the knot next to it. Also this size works with a regular sized baked bean can. If you use a bigger can you would need to add more strands and leave a bigger gap between knots. If you have done it right you should now be able to slot the can into the hanger.
6. Decide how long you want the tin to hang, make sure all the stands are the same length so it hangs straight and then tie a loop. Cut off any remaining wool.
7. Plant herbs, succulents or flowers into the planters and hang.