Low budget craft ideas – tiurn that junk into jewels!
Junk craft materials are so important in a world dominated by very expensive craft supplies.
It’s easy to make beautiful paper bead bracelets using rubbish that would usually get thrown away.
You will need a couple of other supplies but the main material used is scrap paper.
You may want to check out this video for other low budget craft ideas, but don’t forget to come back!
If you prefer to go straight to the tutorial I discuss in this post, click here to go to YouTube.
So, junk paper – how can we use even the smallest piece?
My favourite trick is to use small, colourful paper bags.
When I buy a birthday card, I make a beautiful bracelet from the bag it came in.
It’s always tricky giving friends and family handmade presents.
There’s that fine line between something that looks badly handmade and something that is very pretty and wearable.
These bracelets are brilliant if you are looking for low budget craft ideas for making presents.
If you are very careful with the finish, you could also sell these at craft fairs.
The beautiful beads on the right were made from this small, flimsy paper bag that many people would throw away. And they make gorgeous, delicate bracelets.
So you can see, low budget craft ideas don’t have to look cheap.
People are shocked to realise the bracelet is made from the paper bag their birthday card came in.
The beads actually look like china if you finish them properly with a few coats of glaze.
And if you are someone who doesn’t have a ton of money to spend, a well made hand crafted gift is a great alternative to a shop bought present.
I would be touched if someone spent their precious time making me something.
The beads below were made from a paper bag and wrapping paper from one of my birthday presents.
The low budget craft ideas I show you in my current YouTube video will probably get you thinking differently about scrap paper.
The technique I show you for how to use the wrapping paper to make paper beads means that you can use any kind of printed matter as the base for the beads.
Anything with a standard page size and rectangular shape can be used – old bank statements, letters or junk mail.
What about the tools I use in the video?
The paper bead rolling tool I use is my own design. I manufacture them myself and sell them online at a very reasonable price.
I also design and sell the printed templates which you can buy online and download to print off but for those who don’t have a printer, I have designed some paper bead strip template stencils that you place on to top of your paper and draw inside.
The stencils come in one sheet with four different size stencils on it.
Please note – I no longer sell my physical items on etsy. You can still get my digital templates there though.
If you want a bead tool or plastic bead strip template contact me on Instagram to discuss.
Click here to buy the printable 1 inch paper bead strip template in my Etsy shop.
If you are looking for any of the other craft supplies in my videos, visit my Amazon craft supplies page, Rainbow Lane.
Items that were available at the time of posting may no longer be there.
For those people who don’t have access to a craft store or who don’t have time to search around online, I have created this page where you will find some of the products I use and some other products that are similar.
However, I do urge people to shop around to find the craft supplies they need – my Amazon page is there to give you suggestions if you don’t know where to get your supplies.