Crafting and DIY projects are food for the soul. They can be an outlet for all that bottled-up creativity and ways to solve problems with your own inventions. But the ghosts of past projects can haunt you in the form of fabric scraps, half-finished rolls of ribbon, and odd bits of yarn. Leftover craft supplies can cause crafting chaos!
Even when they’re well organized, you’re bound to get some overflow in some of those craft drawers. So before dumping everything in the trash, think about recycling all that good stuff. Recycle with these ways to use your leftover craft supplies in new projects. We know you’ll come up with more, and you can head to Pinterest for even more inspiration.
Googly Eyes
Yes, there truly are more uses for those googly eyes. If you’ve dabbled in making jewelry, wire some eyes together for long, dangly earrings. We’ve seen googly eyes adorning old plastic bangle bracelets and even party shoes. Googly eyes are lightweight, so you can have fun with the young ones by using removable mounting putty to attach eyes on anything to guarantee laughs.
You can whip out that hot glue gun and attach the googly eyes to tacks. You can then use the tacks for a bulletin board that has a lot of personality. Or you can attach them to a Christmas ornament to give your tree a graphic, modern vibe. If you’re always looking for more Halloween decorations, you can add eyes to any picture frame for a spooky accent.
Ribbons
You can add to your organizational tools by tying your favorite ribbons onto a wall grid. Add some calendars or lists, even some pockets, to create a one-stop reference center. Or use the same idea to decorate a sentimental photo grid for a teen starting high school with ribbons that match their school colors.
Washi Tape
We love using washi tape to color code bullet journals. If you haven’t tried dot journals yet, you’ll be in awe of their uses for organization and motivation. Interested in learning more about getting started with bullet journaling? Check out our course on Bullet Journaling for the Overwhelmed Beginner! Even more, get the course free when you become a Gold Member! Another infinitely easy way to use up those washi tape odds and ends is to decorate an old phone case with a pattern or freestyle approach. Otherwise, you’ll probably never use the phone case again, and the used tape rolls will free up a lot of space in your craft cabinet.
Crayons
If you ever take the time to think about the amount of broken, used crayons in the world, you will vow not to add to it. You can melt down the wax and combine them with bits of string to create your own amateur candles. Or combine the colors carefully—you don’t want a brownish mess—and pour the melted wax into cookie cutters to make new, fun crayons.
Try some of these ways to use your leftover craft supplies, and you may even end up saving money in the long run. Just challenge yourself to use them all up, or you’ll just…create more leftover supplies.
