Customer Reviews

Craftcycle: 100+ Earth-Friendly Projects and Ideas for Everyday Living

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Heidi Boyd has once again created a craft book that is both inspiring and hip. She gives ideas of what to do with all that stuff we've been saving such as old albums and obsolete CDs. She demonstrates how to turn a favorite old sweater into warm felted mittens. Our over packaged and cluttered homes become a source of materials for these craft projects. Some examples include using plastic toy soldiers to make snack bowls and old slides to create a lampshade. Take that collection of plastic bags in the kitchen to make a tote that can be used again and again at the Farmer's Market. This book also offers construction projects and ideas towards living a green life.

The day after I got the book I showed it to my daughter and we cleaned out my cupboard of old material and sheets and she started making the laundry basket that day. Fun and easy stuff. Nice pictures and good directions. Something for everyone.

The projects in this book are easy to do and make great family projects if you are interested in teaching your kids to "re-purpose" items rather than throw them away. I was amused to see the bag that is made from used chip bags (front cover) - these were selling like hotcakes in Mexico last fall. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw so many women buying them - after all, how many chip bags have you thrown in the trash?

I believe in leading by example so I try to lead as green a life as I can. It's easier than you think. I realized however, that my biggest consumption outside food is crafting supplies. It takes up a whole closet in my tiny apartment. If I could reduce my consumption while still feeding my crafting habit I'd be thrilled. This book has given me some really great ideas. I loved the potato chip bag. I'm asking friends at work to save thier chip bags so I can make one. The ideas for green living are also well thought out and practical for daily living. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to "green" up thier life.

sent this as a gift for my almost-14-yr-old niece. she was immediately asking her mom for her younger brother's old pajamas to make some kind of bag. lots of fun ideas to keep her busy over the holidays.

The projects are fun and whimsical as well as useful. There's a nice mix of knitting, crocheting, sewing (by hand, no machine needed), several projects using melting/iron/heat gun (so it would be okay for older teens, but not children), etc. The author mentions that the odd project might not be green (there's a lot of plastic melting and use of polymers) but this should only bother the purist. These projects truly repurpose items you'll have around the home into useful and appealing items. I've actually seen these some of these items in department stores, so you can get the same look for a fraction of the cost.

Since I've recently purchased this book, I haven't tried the recipes that are scattered throughout, but they appear to be easy, with foods that are readily available in any grocery store and using items in just about any kitchen. I plan on trying several, which I can't say about other similar books I've bought.

Finally, I've read a lot of book reviews for the Kindle where people complain about typos. I guess I rarely notice the typo problem in a book of fiction, I'm too wrapped up in the story. However, now I understand what the armchair editors are talking about. This book is LOADED with typos that are distracting from the great, fun projects the author put together. I don't know yet if the typos impact the instructions/end outcome of a project. Also, since this book/author is from Australia, you might also be doing some internet research on a few of the words used and weren't Americanized. It appears that measurements for the crafts and recipes were converted.

Overall, I really wish the publisher had taken the time to work with this book for the Kindle. In addition to the typos, little to no attention seems to have been made to formatting of the pages, making for more distraction and awkwardness of use. The pictures of the projects are not good on the Kindle, but I also view the book on my PC to see the same pictures in color. The nice thing about the Kindle, I have the project lists and recipes when I'm out, so I can pick up what I need to work on them. However, I'm not entirely sure this is enough for me to buy another Kindle edition of a book from this publisher.

There are a lot of interesting ideas in the book and I will be able to learn some new techniques. However, some ideas are just too basic - weaving strips of cereal boxes seems like a very easy project for a child in kindergarten.

I like some of the ideas very much. But I found the directions hard to follow, somewhat ambiguous. Also, what's the big deal with "felted sweaters"? I don't even know what "felted" means, let alone have so much of it to cut up to make into other stuff.