Fun and Clever Trash to Treasure Earth Day Crafts

Earth Day is coming up! I swear it was just Christmas. Where does the time go? In honor of this important national holiday, I thought I’d put together some fun and clever trash to treasure Earth Day Crafts.  Each craft has a step by step photo tutorial done by yours truly! I hope you try some out!

What and When is Earth Day?

Earth Day is the on the same date every year, April 22nd. It’s a holiday that is close to my heart. I started this blog on Earth Day 2011 with the tag line, “Repurpose, Reinvent”. It’s a day when we demonstrate our support for environmental protection. Read more about Earth Day history.

What Can You Do to Honor Earth Day?

Here are a few ideas of simple things you can do to celebrate Earth Day.

1. Bike more and drive less.
2. Conserve water both inside and outside by using these tips.
3. Educate others, especially our children!
4. Use less plastic. For example, bring recycled bags when you go shopping or use glass bottles instead of plastic.
5. Go green by planting a tree, start gardening and composting.
6. Make your own cleaning materials like this.
7. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
8. When crafting, use recycled materials.

Recycled Craft Ideas for Earth Day

Recycled Mason Jar Lantern

I still have these macramé lanterns hanging in my back yard. They are great especially this time of year in southern California while entertaining outdoors. I light the tea lights before sunset and they stay lit for several hours.

Recycled Book Page Butterfly Wreath

Don’t throw away damaged books. Reuse them! Can you believe it cost me nothing to make this butterfly wreath? I made it out of branches from my backyard and a wire hanger.  I decorated it with butterflies I cut out of an old book and used beads and twine for the antennas.

Recycled Milk Jug Flowers

Turn a milk jug into pretty flowers using this creative melting technique. Watch the YouTube video:

Repurposed Phonebook Flowers

Does anyone use a phone book anymore? Here’s a fun craft you can do with all those pages. Why do they still send these out?

Recycled Book Page Wreath Tutorial

This is another great wreath tutorial. I made this one also out of book pages from a damaged book. For the wreath I used Plumber’s insulation.

Hollow Book Safe How To

This makes a great gift. It’s a clever way of hiding some important things or extra money in an old hardback book.

Recycled Coffee Bean Sack Pillow

I had bought some old coffee bean sacks at a flea market and ended up making some fun outdoor pillows for my back patio.

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This article was updated an improved from April 2014.