I have only been doing crafts for a few years now, and am always coming up with ideas for new crafts. I also like to think of things that don’t cost a lot of money because I know how important it is to keep your cost down. I have found that thrift shops, yard sales, and even peoples trash can be filled with some wonderful materials.
If you like to paint, and know how, I have a wonderful idea for you! I used to go around on garbage day and look for wood to paint on. Now if you are not into the ‘garbage’ scene, which I wasn’t, I thought of an idea for ‘canvas’ to paint on. I make wooden signs, and I sell them. Now if you are going to the hardware store and buying wood all the time, you won’t be making a lot of money. What I discovered while throwing an old dresser out one day, is that the shelves, when taken apart,(and using the unfinished side of course),make for a great clean slate to paint your sign on!Plus you can get two nice thick pieces of wood out of each dresser drawer, along with the bottom piece, which is a little thinner, but still useful. What I like to do, is turn the dresser drawer pieces on the horizontal, placing the grooves that attach to the rest of the drawer pieces, on the top. You can apply wire, or ribbon to those grooves, on each end of your horizontal drawer piece, and that will allow you to hang the finished sign up too! The possibilities for signs are endless too. You can make welcome signs, house numbers, funny sayings, pretty pictures…the list goes on and on. And you can pick up old dressers at rummage sales, or yard sales, or yes, on the side of the road too. Besides being cheap too, most dresser drawers are the perfect shape for a sign too, so you more often then not won’t have to cut the wood either.
If you are good with a sewing machine, (well, even if you are just so/so), here’s an idea for you…throw pillows, quilts, and curtains!!It may sound hard, but it’s really not too bad. It can be very inexpensive to do as well. You can use just about anything that is made out of a fabric to make a pillow or a quilt. I love to use old shirts that don’t fit anymore. This is great for a kids room too. When your kids grow out of there favorite t shirts, just use the shirts to make pillows for their bedrooms! You can even pick up very inexpensive shirts at yard sales, thrift stores, etc…that way you can choose colors that match your home, or choose shirts with neat designs to make pillows to sell at your craft shows, or wherever you may sell your crafts at. Old sweaters make for great quilts too! Gather up as many sweaters as you can, and just cut then into four inch squares. Once you collect enough sweater squares, all you will need is some batting for the inside of your quilt, and some one sided interfacing to use at your seams, so they will sew together nicely. Those two things will only cost you a few dollars, and for next to nothing, you will have a quilt!Of course you can make a quilt out of t shirts as well, just cut them into squares, and there you have it! If you are looking for an inexpensive way to make curtains, use old table clothes or sheets! I just went to a store that was going out of business. All there stuff was 80% off, but the sheets were too big for my bed, and some of the other stuff there I couldn’t use…or at least I thought I couldn’t use. I went back the next day and loaded up on table clothes, sheets, and duvet covers, just for the fabric. I made a pair of curtains for my son’s bathroom out of a duvet cover that I got at 80% off. I still have enough to make a couple more pairs of curtains too, and it only cost me $9.00!
Another great project that I do, and actually sell a lot of at craft shows, are sun catchers. I make them out of coffee filters, embroidery hooks, ans dried flowers, that I pick from my yard. These are very inexpensive to make, and they are beautiful. Buy coffee filters and embroidery hooks that will fit each other. The coffee filters will only need to be a tad bigger then the hooks. Next you will need to take some household glue, and thin it just a tad bit with some water, and use a paintbrush to brush it onto one of your coffee filters. Place your dried flowers where you would like them on your coffee filter, and then place the second filter over the top. Use a little more of your glue mixture to paint over the top filter. Let this dry and then just slip it into your embroidery hook, and a pretty ribbon to the top, and you have a beautiful sun catcher. They really look great in a window!
If you like the dollar stores, and thrift shops, you already know that you can pick up inexpensive wooden frames there, in all shapes and sizes. You can add all sorts of embellishments, or you can paint these in various ways, and they make great gifts, as well as great sales! I like to paint the plain wooden frames I come across with a crackle medium. Just follow the directions on the crackle medium to make gorgeous antique looking frames. I also like to add silk flowers, and beads, with hot glue, to make for beautiful frames too. The possibilities are endless if you have a little imagination.
Next time you find an old sheet set, or an old shirt, think of what you can make out of it! If you come across any old dressers, snatch up those drawers! One person’s trash is another persons treasure, just remember that!!
