How to Find Free Craft Supplies
Stop. Don't Throw it Away!
You may be surprised to learn that you don't have to go far to find free craft supplies. Raising a family of four on a single income has taught us to create some pretty thrifty treasures from items that would have been on their way to the recycling center had we not thought of another creative use for them.
Check out the list below for upcycling everyday items into crafty creations.
What is Upcycling?
Besides being one of my favorite excuses for saving almost anything from entering a landfill, upcycling is the process of giving new life to otherwise useless material . For eco-friendly & crafty folks, like myself, it's also a fantastic way to turn trash into treasure.
Books on Upcycling
Toilet Paper Rolls
Toilet paper rolls are probably the easiest item to collect. You may be surprised to find out how they can be recycled with style after checking out the resources below.
Rainy Day Kid's Crafts
All your kid's need to make these cute characters are a bit of paint and a lot of imagination. The ideas for decorative accessories are endless. Be sure to have your children hunt around the house (and the recycle bin) to dress up their latest creation.
- Little Monsters by Alisa Burke
- Butterflies by Bo Bunnie
- Owls from the Creative Jewish Mom blog
- Cat Puppets by Maya*Made
Around the House
- Faux Metal Wall Art from the In My Own Words blog
- Cord Keepers from Apartment Therapy
- Seed Starters for Your Garden from Garden Therapy
Party Accessories
- Pillow Boxes from Bell In Spires
- Yule Log Favor Boxes by Martha Stewart Crafts
Art
- Dioramas from The Paper Place Blog
- Sculptured Faces from Design & Ideas on Dornob
To see photos of each of these ideas and find even more creative ideas for upcycling empty toilet paper rolls, follow my Toilet Paper Rolls Craft board on Pinterest.
Broken Crayons
Did you know that it is very simple to make new crayons from old broken ones? It is. The best part is kids can help! Follow the steps below or check out the list of resources for more fabulous ideas on upcycling broken crayons.
- Collect broken crayons. Recycle an empty container, preferably with a lid, to store broken crayons in.
- Remove paper & break crayons into smaller pieces
- Place the broken pieces in a silicon or metal cupcake or small mold pan
- Bake at 250 degrees for 15-30 minutes (depending on size of mold)
- Allow to cool completely
More Inspiration for Saving Broken Crayons from the Garbage Pail:
- Heart Shaped Crayon Valentines from Chef Messy
- Crayon Cars by Craft Apple
-
How to Make a Candle out of Crayons by Kathryn Vercillo on Hubpages
Wine Corks
Wine corks can be crumpled up and used to make homemade compost or sprinkled in your garden. They can also be collected and made into stamps, bulletin boards, home décor, toys, etc.
For a full list of ideas and tutorials, check out the hub: Uses for Wine Corks: Crafts, Home Décor Projects, Garden Ideas, and More.
Cardboard Milk/Juice Cartons
Blocks for Imaginary Play
Recycled cartons are great for creating blocks that children can use for imaginary play to create towers, castles, and forts!
Materials Needed to Make 1 Block
- 2 empty & clean cardboard cartons
- scissors
Directions
- Using scissors remove the tops from each carton
- Slide one carton into the second carton
- Decorate, if desired, or use as is.
Other Craft Ideas for Upcycling Cardboard Cartons
- Scratch Art Desk Organizers by Michael's
- Potted Planters at Family Chic by Camilla Fabbri
- Bird Feeder by Lakeshore Learning
Cereal Box to Desk Organizer
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Glass Bottles & Jars
Glass Jars
- Rope Vases at Green Wedding Shoes, Wedding Blog
- Lace Jars at House of Humble
- Painted Bottles by Wilma
- Finial Topped Jars by poindextr at home sweet homemade
- Glass-etched Vase by Natali at The Full Moxie
- Time Capsules (Memory Jars) from Oh! Crafts
Mason Jars
- Mason Jar Lanterns: DIY Wedding Décor by Christina at Intimate Weddings Blog
- DIY: Winter in a Jar by Elisa at McLaughlin Designs
For even more ideas on upcycling mason jars, check out the hub: Mason Jar Crafts and Décor: Ideas and Inspiration by Jamie Brock at Hubpages
Wine Bottles
- Chalkboard Wine Bottles by MaryJanes and Galoshes
- Wine Bottle Centerpiece at Weddingbee DIY Projects
If your planning a wedding and trying to keep costs down, check out this creative & thrifty centerpiece.
Cereal Boxes
Cereal boxes can easily be cut and decorated to form functional desk organizers. The cardboard used in food packaging can also be used to make traceable templates for drawing, sewing, etc.
Check out the photos to the right for easy instructions. Once your box is cut to the correct shape, decorate with paint or cut up magazines and decoupage for a fun collage.
More Crafty Ways to Upcycle Cardboard Packaging
- Hanging FIle Boxes from Small Fry & Co.
- DIY Cereal Gift Box by Doug Gunzelmann on greenUPGRADER
- Cereal Box Business Cards by Ashley Weeks Cart on Blog A La Cart
How to Paint Decorative Glass
Light Bulbs
- How to Make a Tiny Terrarium in a Light Bulb from The Hipster Home blog
- Light Bulb Vase from the Free People blog
Plastic Grocery Bags
- Wrapped Baskets from In Words and Pictures blog
- How to Make Plarn by hot dorkage on Hubpages
Plarn is essentially "yarn" made from plastic bags that you can then use in knitting and crochet projects to make handbags, bracelets, doormats, etc. - Pot Scrubbers Crocheted from Plastic Bags from My Recycled Bags.com
Magazines
In addition to making great collages. Used magazines can be recycled into many stylish items including coasters, baskets, and even jewelry. Check out the resources below for tutorials.
- How to Make a Magazine Reed Box from CraftStylish
- Recycled Magazine Coasters from the How About Orange blog
- Cute Rolled Paper Flowers Made from the Frugal Life Project
Newspaper
-
How to Make Beautiful Beads From Recycled Newspaper from A Storybook Life...
- Seedling Pots from the Garden of Eden blog
How to Make Newspaper Yarn
Other Miscellaneous Crafts made from Recycled Material
- Tin Can Robot from Small Hands Big Art Blog
An adorable kid's craft perfect for rainy days. All you need is a tin can, duct tape, scissors, miscellaneous bits and pieces and an imagination. - Egg Cup from a Bent Fork from the What I Made... blog
If you are a fan of soft boiled eggs and have a creative side, this is the perfect craft for you. I think it would also make a unique Father's Day gift (my dad is the only person I know that likes soft boiled eggs) - Hand Towel Beach Bag from Martha Stewart Crafts
- Bottle Cap Ladybug from Craftideas.info
This simple craft requires metal bottle caps, some acrylic paint, and creativity. The tutorial is specific to a ladybug, but really you or your child can paint whatever you would like. - How to Recycle Ruined Clothes from Veggie-mom at Hubpages.com
Need More Inspiration?
Follow me on Pinterest! I'm forever finding lots of ways to reuse everyday garbage as craft supplies and have created a Recycled Craft board to keep track of everything I find.
More Places to Find Free Craft Supplies
Check your local recycling center to see if they have a swap shop available. Our town allows usable items to be stashed for others to pick up for free. There are also some similar online resources available below:
Comments
This is filled with great craft ideas, I love the toilet paper roll creations! :)
- Author
Thank you, Roxanne! I was surprised myself to find so many fun ways to reuse a toilet paper roll.
Chocked full of wonderful ideas. Super ways to reuse items that typically end up being thrown away!And I learned a new term--upcycling! Thanks for the inspiration! Voted Up, useful and interesting.
This is almost a mini-encyclopedia of ideas - and they're super useful! I wish I'd heard of the crayon tip back when my kids were little. We certainly threw away a ton of stumps over the years. Once a crayon breaks, it loses its magic or something. This was a new term to me, too, but I'll keep my eyes focused upward from now on!
Voted up, useful, awesome and shared!
This hub is so wonderful!
I could be a craftswoman someday. Thanks for this very informative hub.
Vote up!
What an endless list of wonderful ideas! Someone gave me a Christmas ornimant made from a light bulb...it was so pretty. I am going to challenge myself to doing one of your upcycling ideas. Voted up and useful!
A brilliant list of resources. It would never have occurred to me to use some of these items for crafting but I will certainly give it a go now.
- Author
Thanks everyone, I'm happy to hear that you have been inspired to craft with items that many people often throw away! Imagine how much waste we could save from entering landfills through upcycling & so many of these projects would make wonderful (& unique) gifts!
Our kids are too old for these ideas but I was blown away at home many different ways there are to reuse items that would be recycled or thrown in the trash. I have see toilet paper rolls and wine corks reused before but the newspaper yarn one floored me! Amazing list of ideas.
Awesome, creative ideas! I love recycling "trash" into treasures. Voted up!
- Author
@adjkp25, too old for crafts, I don't believe it :) I'm glad you enjoyed the list of ideas!
@habee, thanks so much, I love recycling "trash" into treasures too!
Thanks for all of the great resources! I have been on a kick writing articles about craft projects with recycled materials and can't believe how many great ideas there are out there.
I agree that there are so many things that we can use for our craft projects at home. To minimize wastage, look around and you can see that boxes and plastic items that you can turn into a piece of craftwork. This reminds us that with everyday items such as old newspapers, printed receipts (which can also be shredded with the help of http://www.houstonshredding.com - for instance), paper towel tube rolls and empty cereal boxes can be used for other purposes once their original purpose have been accomplished.
Great ideas !. I've got a lot of inspiration in crafting after reading this hub. Thank you for sharing. God Bless You.
I've always loved giving kids and preteens access to 'junk' and watching what they create.
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