Craft Materials

Paper Crafts

Save your trash for crafting!

Book Crafts

Books may not be the first thing to come to mind when you think of crafting, but book crafts can be fun and when you're done, you'll have a unique item like none other.

Books can be made into purses, secret storage containers (see photo here of a book safe), and wall hangings to name just a few fun crafts made from books.

Making Collages

Making collages is a craft that all ages can enjoy. Face it, it's fun to cut and paste! And with computers you can do all of your cutting and pasting online to create art collages, if you want! Collage is also called mixed media, altered art, art collage, and probably 20 other names.

Origami Downloads

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper to create designs. Origami is 3D art that everyone who can fold paper can enjoy. Most often square or rectangular paper is used. To learn to make origami, try some of these origami downloads to give it a try. Remember that practice makes perfect.

Make Egg Carton Flower Lights

For an inexpensive way to brighten a room (literally), make egg carton flower lights. This simple recycled craft is easy to make, cheap, and beautiful!

These strands of flowers can be used in a centerpiece, a floral arrangement, or hung on the wall to add a romantic touch to your room's decor.

Fossil Crafts

To learn about a new topic, like fossils, one way is to jump in and make some of your own. Fossil crafts give kids and adults alike the chance to create fossils to learn more about how the real thing came to be.

Fossils are the remains of animals, plants, or other organisms that have been preserved, often in rock. Make fossil crafts like leaf rubbings or cast objects like plants stems and leaves, or toy animals or bugs in play dough to create their own fossils.

Metal Crafts

Metal is a wonderful craft material.

Silverware Crafts

If you've seen wind chimes made from vintage silverware, you have an idea of what silverware crafts are. Many types of items are fashioned into something else using silverware.

The shiny finish or vintage patina on silverware make these eating utensils an excellent medium for crafting.

Key Crafts

If you're like me, you have a junk drawer (or two or three) with loose keys. You don't remember what they went to. Maybe one was to that house you sold or a friend's house key they wanted you to keep, but you've lost track. Put those keys to good use and make some key crafts.

Some of the craft projects listed below use just one key, and some use a whole mess of keys.

Crafts Using Tins

Do you have empty tins that you hate to just throw away? These crafts using tins will give you lots of ideas for putting these little containers to good use.

You may have tins sitting on your kitchen shelf that hold tea, spices, or cookies. Many bathroom shelves have tins of bandages or salves. Your purse might have a tin or two that holds mints or even tobacco.

How to Make Stitch Markers

If you want to know how to make stitch markers, you've come to the right place.

Knitters and crocheters use stitch markers to, well, mark their stitches. I have to admit that I personally don't knit or crochet, but I do like beading. I think of making beaded stitch markers as making jewelry for yarn.

Bottle Caps Crafts -- Making Art with Bottle Caps

Bottle caps crafts range from simple bottle cap necklaces or magnets to this grand lady shown herewith bottle cap arms and legs. I like using metal bottle caps but I've included some links to plastic bottle caps too, which are safer for little fingers to craft with.

Making art with bottle caps is versatile, fun, and inexpensive.

Fabric Crafts

Fabric, ribbon, lace, and buttons make for some fun crafts.

Lace Crafts

Lace crafts can be delicate and beautiful. Embellishing items with lace, using lace as a stencil, or creating lace by knitting or crocheting are all fun lace crafts you can try.

The lace craft projects provided here offer ideas for using lace in crafting. But some of the best items are created when you use your imagination and create something brand new.

Button Crafts

Crafting with buttons is one of the most fun ways to show off pretty buttons whether they're vintage buttons or new ones. Buttons are made of all types of materials like glass, shell, plastic, Bakelite, and wood to name a few.

Ribbon Crafts

Ribbon crafts are any crafts that use ribbons as the main craft supply to complete the project.

Crafts using ribbons encompass an assortment of hands-on crafting projects. Some of the most common crafts with ribbons include hair bows and embellishment on all sorts of items but there are some clever ways to use ribbon that hopefully will be new to you.

Rope Crafts

Crafting with rope can be a fun hobby that results in some useful objects with textures you just don't get with another medium. Macrame is a well-known technique where rope is used to create all sorts of items like belts, plant hangers, jewelry, and more. There are a lot more crafts that can be made with rope.

Quilt Crafts

If you have some vintage quilts that are not useable as blankets but that have lots of charm left in them, consider making crafts using quilts.

Quilt crafts can be as simple as cutting out a useable portion of an old quilt and framing it. This type of craft makes a beautiful gift to remind family of the care taken to make the original quilt and to remember the quilt maker.

Craft Supplies You Can Make

using what you've got for crafts

How to Make Potholder Loops

You've got one of those little metal potholder looms, and now you need to know how to make potholder loops. After all, the point of this fun craft is to make a great, useful product for next to nothing. Make sure the socks or other clothes you're using have a little stretch to them so they start out a bit smaller than the loom so you can stretch them onto the loom pegs.

How to Make Candle Molds Using Recycled Food Containers

I've decided that making candle molds using recycled food containers is the way to go. I've done it in the past and they've worked great, but yesterday I made six votive candles using a candle mold I'd bought on clearance. "On clearance" is the operative phrase in that sentence. This was a hard plastic mold, and I'm guessing it was a poor design. Here's why.

Tips for Crafting with Ease

8 tips for how to use acrylic craft paint. - Mod Podge Rocks!

I am a long time user of craft paint. I pretty much paint every Mod Podge project before the Podge goes on, and I use it on projects that I don't Mod Podge as well. If I can get away with using acrylic, even on a furniture re-do, I will. Why? Because it's easy to use and it's non-toxic. It's inexpensive and clean up is simple.

Craft Techniques

A little know how goes a long way in crafting. The craft techniques I'm including in this article include a range from knitting and crocheting to distressing paper to using wax for different effects.

Labels -- Crafting Materials

These labels can be used for decoupage, card making, scrapbooking, and more.

Vintage Perfume Labels

Vintage perfume labels can complete the look of a shabby chic bedroom or bath. Crafting with vintage labels is a great way to inexpensively bring new life to your empty bottles and boxes. Dress up a room with craft projects using vintage perfume labels, too.

Vintage Jar Labels

If you're a big fan of vintage jar labels, you're at the right place. These graphic designs from years past adorned jars and bottles for all sorts of products like perfume, apothecary items, food, beverages, and more.

Free Downloadable Labels

The variety of free downloadable labels available online is as close as your fingertips. Why buy downloadable labels when there are so many free labels to download? No reason!

Miscellaneous Crafts Worth Trying

using craft materials like pencils, paint, pinecones, and rocks!

Rock Painting -- How to Paint Rocks

I saw an article online about rock painting and decided that I had to try that! I don't consider myself to be artistic at all, but I do love crafts. I have no problem trying new things (or stopping if I am no good at it!). I figured painting on rocks would be a perfect new thing to try.

Paint by Number Painting

Paint by numbers pictures have been around since 1951 when the Palmer Paint Company sold the first kits. Max S. Klein was owner of the Detroit, Michigan company, and Dan Robbins, an artist, came up with the idea for paint by number paintings. Most paint by number kits contained scenes like landscapes and seascapes, or clowns or animals as the subject.

How to Decoupage Flameless Candles

Instead of using flameless candles plain as they come when you buy them, learn how to decoupage flameless candles to dress them up. These candles make great hostess or teacher gifts or use them in your home to decorate with just the right touch, made by you.

Rock Crafts

Rocks provide an inexpensive material for crafting. Rock crafts can be made with rocks and stones that often can be found for free in rivers, or a nice pebble or two can be picked up here or there while you're out on a walk. Of course, if you want to go crazy with rock craft projects, you can seek out more special rocks that are just right for your rock crafts.

Pinecone Crafts

I love the look of pinecones, all by themselves. This vintage planter full of pinecones sits on my living room floor. But if you want to get creative with pinecones, this free craft medium lets you go crazy for cheap!

Making Bookmarks -- Book Thongs

Making bookmarks, like book thongs, is a fun craft that ends in a useful bookmark to use to keep track of where you left off. Beaded book thongs also make great gifts for teachers, kids, friends, just about anyone who likes to read.

Pencil Crafts

I don't know about you, but I love pencils. I'm talking about the old-fashioned cylinders of wood with lead (or graphite) inside, not mechanical pencils. Those things annoy me.

Wooden pencils are lovely: they feel good to hold, they are chewable (not that I chew on pencils but they give, making them desirable for people who enjoy chewing on objects), and writing with a pencil is just something I like to do.