Earth Day was born on April 22, 1970 as was the foundations of the environmental movement. Now, forty-two years later, we are still finding new ways to live a greener lifestyle and create a smaller carbon footprint for the good of our planet and future generations. Crafters have even picked up the baton and found new ways to repurpose clothing and recycle household waste into some pretty amazing craft projects.
I confess that I’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning around my home and I am starting to realize just how much plastic and paper I’m throwing away each day. Plastic lunch sacks, grocery bags, and all the mess that goes along with gift wrap. It’s just too much to contend with. So, for a solution here are my 3 easy ways to reduce my clutter, help save the planet and celebrate Earth Day.
3. Sew Your Own Lunch Baggies!
We are all guilty of buying plastic lunch baggies to use only once and then toss. Just imagine how that must add up year after year in the landfill! As a green solution you could pick out a novelty print from our vast selection like this Chicken Soup Recipe fabric and sew your own lunch baggies. Just copy the style of the plastic counterpart and you are good to go. Toss in the washer for easy clean up.
2. B.Y.O.B. Bring Your Own Bag
On a similar vein another major source of waste is shopping bags. Have you ever taken a drive and seen plastic grocery bags dangling from tree limbs? Talk about a source of pollution and a huge eye-sore. To help curve the use of plastic grocery bags many stores are encouraging their customers to bring their own bag and even charging upwards of $1.00 per plastic or paper sack. If you aren’t in to advertising for your local grocer by using one of their reusable sacks then be a Savvy Shopper and sew your own!
1. Green Gifting
The card and gift wrap industry is huge and where does all their products end up? Usually in the trash can! So, here’s a novel idea which you can start on now for the holidays. When you want to give someone a gift–make it! There is nothing like receiving something that is personalized and handmade. Then, sew a drawstring gift bag with coordinating fabric. Top off the Pretty Present with a handmade card using a die cut silhouette with coordinating fabric. Your recipient will be simply in awe of how thoughtful and creative you are, and on top of that, you will be doing something good for the planet.
