Making recycled crafts is one of the best inexpensive pastimes there is. It's a great way to spend time with your kids, too. If you're planning to decorate your home for the holidays, making recycled crafts can help you stay on budget.
Making crafts from recycled materials is simple and inexpensive. Recycled crafts are wonderful for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's and Mother's Day. In many cases, your kids can help you make them. Chances are your home is filled with materials that you could recycle to create beautiful craft projects. You may need some new materials, such as glue and paint, but most likely you can create craft projects using mostly recycled materials. Before you get started, go around your house to find things you can reuse. Look in your closet, jewelry box, sewing box, craft supplies, junk drawers and recycling bin, and you'll find plenty of recyclable materials.
Recycled Cardboard Crafts
Before you start making recycled cardboard crafts, it's a good idea to save up some cardboard boxes. Place these materials in a recycling bin or a larger cardboard box. Be sure to save both corrugated cardboard and chipboard. Cereal boxes, shoe boxes and gift boxes make ideal materials for crafting. Also make sure that you have some scissors, a craft blade and a pencil. You can download free craft patterns from the Internet for printing or make your own; however, whatever you do, be sure to use recycled paper. Color and cut out the craft pattern and use a glue stick to adhere it to the unfinished side of a piece of chipboard. Recycled toilet paper and paper towel rolls are also useful materials for craft projects. Use them to build a skeleton for craft creatures and figures such as mummies, angels, dinosaurs, elephants and more.
Recycled Paper Crafts
Making origami is one way to use recycled paper. There are many websites that host free origami projects. You can also use construction paper and scraps to make holiday greeting cards. To keep the project green, purchase recycled construction paper to use as the base of the card. You can also use recycled paper to create a craft pattern for making the holiday greeting card. The best way to do this is to design characters with separate pieces in a graphics software program, but drawing it directly on the recycled paper will do. Then cut out the various pieces from the pattern and place them over recycled construction paper scraps. Cut them out and use a glue stick to attach them to the front of the card.