Adorable Halloween Pizza

I came across this cute pizza and had to share it with you!  Looks like it’s totally easy to make!

How to make:

1. Mozzarella stretched or cut into ghost shapes, then add faces using Japanese Nori or you can also use small bits of black olives.
2. Add pitted green olives for the spiders and pierce the sides with rosemary for the legs.

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Garden

Garden

Gardens have tons of fresh materials that you can use as is, dry or preserve for beautiful crafts. Each season will have a lot of different items to choose from. This not only helps you save money on crafting materials but also help you save money on beautiful home and party decorations!

Ideas:

1. Here is a post to make a fresh succulent wreath from Prudent Baby.
2. Make decorative leaf masks (find out how at Martha Stewart).
3. Preserve leaves or flowers with wax or even ModPodge. String them up for lovely home decor.
4. Make pressed flower stationery. Find out how to do it here.
5. Wrap dried, fresh or preserved flowers/leaves/twigs around vases and jars for beautiful candle table decorations.

How to – Stained “Glass” Craft for Kids

There are many different ways to recycle plastic packaging that would otherwise get thrown into the trash.  Plastic packages are actually very useful around the home. You can flatten them out as a drop sheet, protect tables or flooring from messy projects, place them on the ground to prevent grass stains while working in the garden or use them in craft projects.

Here is a lovely and simple project to make faux stained glass. It’s a fun craft for children and there’s no worry of broken glass in the end.

You will need:

• plastic packaging
• colourful cardboard paper
• markers or colourful pens
• scissors
• hole punch
• double-sided tape or glue
• string ribbon
• optional: stickers

First, you will need to cut the plastic into manageable pieces. I cut out all of the clear pieces that didn’t have writing or graphics. You are welcome to use those pieces as well to give the stained glass a look of texture.

Next, draw different shapes on the cardboard.  Ask the children to draw any shape -squares, hearts, triangles and so on. Once they are done, either have the children cut out the shapes or help them along with it.  The next step to complete the main “frame” is to cut out different objects or words within the main shape. *These will then have to be cut out with care to avoid cutting the edges*

Whatever these inner shapes are, they will be the ones to be illuminated by the sun.

Once that step is complete, place the newly cut pieces on the plastic to see how it will look in the end:

Secure the plastic to the back and cut off any pieces that may stick out from the edges.  Punch a hole at the top, tie off a string or some ribbon and you are ready to hang it anywhere you please.

This one had clear plastic as the backing, but you can easily have the children colour it in with markers or pens:

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Basement, Garage and Attic

Basement, Garage and Attic

These three places of the home are generally treated like an endless pit… which is probably why they get stuffed with everything under the sun.  They are the home for the long lost and long forgotten items that we just can’t seem to find -ever.

Take one weekend to clear out these rooms and finally get rid of the unnecessary clutter. You may be surprised at what you might find.

As a general rule when clearing out these massive spaces, sort everything into piles under:

Keep – Items you really truly need on a daily basis or even for a particular season.

Donate – Items you don’t really need or want anymore. These items should be in good condition and clean.

Crafting/Repurpose Materials – Items that are perhaps not needed and are not in the best condition for donating… but there is still some use for them in one form or another.

Recycle or Freecycle – Any items that are no longer useful and are unable to be donated or used as a DIY project. Check for freecycle groups in your city. You never know, someone may take some of stuff for free, making your recycling job easier!

Trash – These are the items that have definitely seen their last day. Items that are broken, moldy, or falling to bits.

Ideas:

1. Turn furniture into play areas. Check out these tutorials to make a children’s play kitchen out of an old TV cabinet.
2. Make beautiful (and simple) decorative containers like these from the Gilded Hare.
3. Make incredible toys and playhouses from regular boxes.
4. Decorate old lampshades with fabric flowers for a new look. See an example here.
5. Take old furniture, sand it down and repaint in a bright solid colour.  They instantly look modern and new!

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Play Room

Play Room

Ah, the play room. So many items that find their way into this room and so many forgotten toys just collecting dust.  This room is perhaps one of the best for finding crafting materials that can be used for fun, create new toys for the children or even to make DIY gifts for others.

For those items that are still clean and in good condition, consider donating them before using them for crafts. There are many children out there who are not as fortunate and they will surely love a “new” toy to play with.

Ideas:

1. Make planters out of old plastic toys. Check out this great tutorial from The Thrillz of Hillz.
2. Stick on some magnetic strips to the back of the toys for some fun magnets.
3. Arrange small toys on an old picture frame for a fun way to show off children’s work of art.
4. Arrange and hang up old toys to make a fun canopy.
5. Make interesting bookends for the children or adults! Check out the tutorial at Mad in Crafts.

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Bathroom

The bathroom is an unlikely space to have free crafting materials, but if you use your imagination, it’s quite possible to find a lot of great things.

The main sources will generally be product packaging. Think about used up body lotion bottles, bottles or boxes for refills, facial soaps and creams and so on. While you can certainly recycle these items, they can also be turned into useful items around the home.

Other items that can usually be found are random elastics, ribbons, plastic caps, old towels, shower curtains, fabric, toilet paper rolls and more.

Ideas:

1. Create toilet paper roll rockets or beautiful toilet paper roll wreaths and wall art (yes, it can be beautiful!)
2. Make multi-purpose holder from old soap/lotion bottles. Here is one great tutorial from make it and love it.
3. Make an outdoor quilt with old towels.
4. Cut the tops off old plastic bottles, paint or cover with decorative fabric for fun vases.
5. Create a fun indoor/outdoor canopy from old shower curtains. You can find great canopy ideas from Apartment Therapy.

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Living, Dining and Office

Living, Dining and Office

Most homes will have a living area, some kind of dining area and perhaps even an office. Each of these places are great for finding crafting materials, whether they’re from junk drawers, bookshelves, filing cabinets or any other area that seems to get random bits quickly stacking up.

Look for old or unused papers (old or stained files), coffee table magazines, empty tissue boxes, random string, old fabric (tablecloths, table runners, napkins, curtains), and anything else that may inspire you for a craft (broken clocks, old vases, small storage boxes, random pieces that may or may not be important for something long forgotten.

Ideas:

1. Try making a children’s folder game. You can find my folder game post here: Children’s Folder Games
2. Use old (but still clean and usable) fabric as furoshiki. These Japanese wrapping cloths can be tied as gift wrapping, carry bags, backpacks and more.  You can see several tying options from the video  in my old post about Furoshiki.
3. Create a quilt from old fabric.  You can even make a children’s art quilt like I did with felt -but any fabric will do!
4. Make sturdy envelopes from empty tissue boxes.
5. Wrap and glue packing cords around old vases, jars, tins or boxes for a new decorative look.
6. Check out my “craft ideas” Pinterest page for more!

How to Make Folder Games for Children

Folder games are wonderful for young children and for parents as well. Not only do these games help children learn to match objects, but it’s also easy to customize these games to help children learn many other things like colours, numbers, country flags and more.

I loved using them in my preschool classes because they are quick, fun and easy to store dozens of them in one file folder box.

If you would like to make your own  folder games, start off with:

• a standard file folder
• cardboard paper
• double-sized tape
• scissors
• matching cards, gift wrapping with images on it, children’s Valentine’s Day card sets, draw your own images or print some off the computer
• a pack of self-laminating sheets
• optional: stickers

Here I made one of hand-drawn sign language letters:

This is one of hand-drawn space images (the kids loved this one):

Throughout a year, preschool children will receive various Birthday invitations, holiday-themed cards, certificates of achievements and more, so why not turn each of these items into a new folder game?  It’s a great way to store all of these keepsakes and make them more educational!

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Kitchen

Kitchen

The kitchen is a great area of the house that seems to naturally collect many different items that are perfect for crafting. Although we all try our best to keep the kitchen neat and clutter free, there are always little things that manage to creep their way into several cupboards and drawers.

Some people may have old utensils they no longer need, broken glass, china or pottery that still have a pretty colours and designs on them and even old containers that are no longer used can be transformed into something new.  Other items that always seem in abundance in most households are product packages, bags, plastics, cartons, elastics, strings from produce and random little tags from bread bags and grocery items.

All you need is a little imagination to create something wonderful out of otherwise useless trash.

Ideas:

1. Create mosaic gifts by covering old jars or vases.  You can also add a little flare to existing furniture. (You can see some examples on my Pinterest Mosaic Board.
2. Create fashion accessories from old utensils.  They are becoming more popular to the point that even Amazon sells watches made out of spoons!
3. Upcycle old packages into pretty storage items or turn them into home decor. One of my previous posts shows how to make picture frames from food boxes and another to make a mystery holiday bank.

Check back again tomorrow for more craft ideas from random places around the home!   If you have any project ideas to add to this list, please comment below and share 😀

How to Find Free Crafting Materials at Home – Mail

Many people (like myself) love crafting because it’s a great way to get creative, make something new, recycle materials that would otherwise go to waste, but most of all, because it’s fun and relaxing.

For those of you who love crafting as much as I do, you will notice how expensive it can get when it comes to getting materials from shops like Michael’s or even the dollar stores (because you go extra crazy in those shops!)

In order to get yourself some free crafting materials and recycle unused items, take a look in and around your home to see what you can find. I regularly do this at home….and my family’s home….to help them clean up  😉

Each week, I will suggest an area of the home to find various crafting materials. I will also give you a list of crafts that can work with these materials to get you started.  *Keep these crafts in mind for the holiday season!*

Junk Mail, Old Notebooks, Magazines

Everyone will have at least a few old magazines, flyers, notebooks or letters that are no longer needed. Instead of tossing them in the recycling box, or leaving them as clutter at home, why not use them for paper crafts?

Ideas:

1. Perfect wrapping paper for small gifts.  Add some pretty ribbons, stamps or simply tape on an ornament and you are pretty much done.  Here is a quick gift wrapping tutorial to show you easy gift wrapping techniques and how to fix a wrapping problem (not enough paper!)
2. Great to make unique mobiles.  Why not try a story/poem mobile like the one shown here).
3. Origami (Japanese paper folding). (Please check out my old post to make a traditional origami crane).
4. Unique greeting cards. Use some of the plain or decorative pieces for layers in card decorations or cut out silhouettes for decorative details.
5. Kirigami (Japanese paper cutting). (Please check out my old post to make a kirigami sakura).
6. Make boxes to help organize your home. Get some ideas from my creative boxes tutorial.

If you have any other craft ideas for scrap paper that you would like to share, please comment below to let everyone know.  I love to learn new things from others, so don’t be shy 🙂