Green Craft Supplies: How to Keep Crafting Sustainable

Many crafters have taken up their hobbies due to a wish to go back to basics, lead a simpler lifestyle and create less waste, but using green craft supplies takes it a step further. Knitting your own sweater definitely saves energy, but if the yarn is acrylic, is it truly green? Following are some suggestions for green craft supplies in the most popular crafting categories.

Green Craft Supplies For Knitting and Crochet: Corn Yarn

I thought I knew everything there was to know about green craft supplies for knitting and crochet until I came across corn yarn. Cotton and bamboo yarns are frequently touted as the best green alternatives to wool or synthetic yarn, but cotton is difficult to handle and bamboo yarn doesn't always wear well. Fortunately there's a new entry in the green craft supplies for knitting category: corn yarn. Made of 100% corn fiber, this yarn has a great drape, creates comfortable garments and holds up amazingly well considering that it's made of broken down starch from corn. Right now corn yarn is available from two yarn brands: Cornucopia and and A-MAIZing. We'll forgive them for using corny names, because these sustainable yarns really are a great product. You can buy Cornucopia from www.yarnmarket.com and A-MAIZing from www.soysilk.com.

Green Craft Supplies For Scrapbooking: An Environmentally Friendly Binder...and Sustainable Glue?

Let's face it, scrapbooking isn't the most sustainable hobby on the planet, although if you look around you can certainly find recycled paper. The one area where scrapbooking has really fallen down on the job until now is the actual books-most of them are chock full of nasty things like plastic, vinyl, and toxins. Naked Binder is a leader in green craft supplies for scrapbooking because their binders are made of 100% recycled board. Even better, it's guaranteed to be at least 97% post consumer waste and they minimize packaging. These binders are lab-tested for endurance and they held up to 250,000 flexes. To start switching to green craft supplies for scrapbooking from the outside in, visit www.nakedbinder.com.

An eco-binder is one thing but sustainable adhesives? That seemed to be the stuff of fantasy until recently. The good news is that there are several companies out there currently working on viable solutions to sustainability for adhesives. It won't be long until you can find green glue on a website near you.

Green Craft Supplies For Beading: Upcycled Jewelry

Beading is one of the easiest areas to find green craft supplies for. The beading community has come up with the term upcycling, which is similar to recycling but means repurposing something that's destined for the trash to turn it into something beautiful that will be treasured for years. Upcycled beads can be made out of paper, old leather, or fabric and as an added bonus in the sustainability factor, these beads are often hand produced by women in third world countries who obtain microloans to start their own businesses and use their handicraft to pull them out of poverty. To learn more about upcycled jewelry, visit www.firemountaingems.com.

Green Craft Supplies: Fun With Felt

Crafting felt can be used for a variety of crafting applications including textile art, doll making and plain old kids' crafts. Felt can be created from a lot of different materials, some of which are scary, but Kunin recently come out with a felt made out of 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles. One pound of fiber equals approximately 10 of the bottles, so this is a great use for all of that non-degradable waste. The recycled felt is entirely lead-free, making it ideal for children, and it behaves just like ordinary felt and comes in a spectacular range of colors. To purchase Kunin felt visit www.feltorama.com.