How To Make Eco-friendly Paper-based Crafts

It's easy to make eco-friendly crafts by reusing everyday materials. Recycling household items and turning them into artistic and imaginative crafts helps keep waste out of landfills, and is a great activity for making one-of-a-kind crafts. Here are some great ideas for making eco-friendly crafts.

Reusing materials

There are endless possibilities when reusing products in craft projects. Materials that are reused are eco-friendly and usually free! Get creative in searching for items around your house that can be recycled into an eco-friendly craft project. A few ideas for reusable materials commonly found around the home are:

glossy magazines
pages from old books
postcards
photographs
maps
tissue boxes
catalogues
menus
advertisements
foil wrap
old compact discs
newspapers

These materials and more can be used for a myriad of different projects. A few eco-friendly craft ideas are:

Decorate greeting cards using recycled materials
Personalize greeting cards by affixing reused materials found around your house. Get creative, you can use ideas from the list of recycled items above, or even incorporate 3D objects such as colourful bottle caps and hardware.

Turn old CD cases into magnetic shadowbox frames
Fill a clear CD case with colourful recycled materials such as photos, labels, bits of yarn, metal scraps, or any other items you can find. Close the case, and glue shut if necessary. Glue a magnet strip to the back of the case and your creation can now be displayed on the fridge.

Make wall hangings from old paper
Cut up an assortment of old paper products into a theme of shapes like trees, flowers or butterflies, and arrange them on a painted cardboard backing. Tissue boxes are great for finding artistic designs on durable paper. Use eco-friendly glue to affix your composition, then use an old frame (perhaps from the thrift store or by attaching wood pieces together from the yard) to hang on your wall. A wonderful creation using only recycled materials.

Wrap and tag gifts with reusable materials
You can reuse almost any thin type of paper to wrap gifts in such as old maps, magazine pages, and of course the funnies section of the newspaper. Take eco-friendly gift wrapping a step further by decorating your gift using old yard or string as ribbon. You can also craft a unique gift tag by cutting a square of cardboard from a cereal box, punching a hole through it, covering the printed side with paper and a message and affixing it to your gift through the recycled ribbon.

Make a photo/storage/gift box by decorating a shoebox
Instead of purchasing a storage box to hold your photos and other memorabilia, you can customize your own by decorating a shoebox. Start the project by either cutting clear shapes out or tearing apart various paper products for a more abstract look. Then proceed to collage the pieces onto the box using an eco-friendly glue or papier-m'ch?. Once completed, you can even spread a thin layer of glue over the finished product to give your box a glossy, varnished finish that also helps to preserve the paper.

Ivy Newport is the president and product strategist at Every Little Bit, an online retail store featuring eco-friendly products for your every day needs. You are welcome to use this article provided you include a link to Every Little Bit to credit authorship.