If your Amazon shipment of craft supplies (click here for my list of essentials) hasn’t arrived yet, you’d be surprised that you have some fun materials in your closet that can work as a great starting point. And when we say closet, yes, we mean your clothing closet! Raise your hand if you have a lone sock, missing its mate. Or a single glove? Or a t-shirt that has a pesky stain? Or jeans that are too grungy to donate?

Here are four crafts that you can make using defective clothing items that you have laying around the house.

MONSTER GLOVE PUPPETS

At least twice a year my kids come home, complaining that they lost a glove. I always keep the lone ranger in the hopes that the other one will reappear, but alas, I end up with a bag of single gloves. Raid your craft bin and use anything you can find to add personality to your glove monster puppet—the wackier the better! We recommend using Aleene’s® Tacky Glue to keep everything nice and secure. Click here to find the instructions for the blue puppet!

PENGUIN BOOKEND

Do you have any itty bitty baby socks left over from the early days? If not, you can always just cut off the toe of a cute sock to make the head of this penguin book end. Upcycle a plastic bottle as the base, and fill it with sand or pebbles to keep it weighted. You can find the instructions for this craft here.

DENIM HOBBYHORSE

This project has a bit more heavy lifting for the parents, but it makes such a cute result and you’ll feel so proud of the work you’ve done. If you don’t have cotton batting at home, you can always empty out an old pillow (that you didn’t know what to do with!) and use that. You can find the instructions for this here.

T-SHIRT JEWELRY

I always end up with a pile of t-shirts that have holes or stubborn stains that aren’t suitable even for donation. But the colors and patterns are so great, so cut them up to make jewelry! Here’s how to do it…

1. To make a beaded necklace, cut T-shirts into strips as thin as possible, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 inch wide. The strips should be at least 2 inches long.
2. Glue the ends of each strand together, then slip on a bead to cover each joint. Use a toothpick to help thread the fabric strips through the bead holes. Add a dab of glue at each point so the bead stays in place. Repeat to reach the desired length, and then knot.
3. To make a tassel necklace, cut a 1-inch wide- by-2-inch-tall piece of T-shirt and fringe it vertically. Roll it horizontally and glue the unfringed end into the hole of a bead. (Use the toothpick to help get the fabric into the bead.)
4. To finish the tassel necklace, glue the ends of two 10-inch-long T-shirt strips into the other hole of the bead. Knot in the back.

Giddy up and get crafting to make this adorable denim hobbyhorse from old jeans!

What you’ll need:

• Old kids’ jeans, about a size 4

• Scissors

• Seam ripper (optional)

• Rubber band

• Batting

• T wine

• Brown felt

• Hot-glue gun

• 2 small black buttons

• 2 large colored buttons

• Long stick

• Bandanna

1. Cut the jeans in half vertically, through the fly. Remove both back pockets (a seam ripper makes this a bit easier) and set aside.
2. Turn one leg inside out. Rubber band the ankle tightly, then turn the leg right-side out. Fully stuff the leg with batting.
3. To create the horse’s head, tie the center of a 4-foot-long piece of twine around the leg about 3 inches from the rubber-banded ankle, wrapping it two or three times. Knot the twine and then bend the stuffed pant leg and wrap the twine around the thicker part of the leg (the horse’s neck). Tie in a knot, leaving the remaining twine to hang off the back as reins.
4. Cut a 3-inch-wide piece of brown felt, about 24 inches long. Cut a 1-inch-deep fringe along each long edge (leaving about an inch intact in the center). Have an adult apply a line of hot glue in the center and fold the felt strip in half.
5. Have an adult hot-glue the edge of the fringed mane down the center of the horse’s head and neck, in between the two pieces of twine.
6. Have an adult hot-glue each small black button to a larger green button and hot-glue in place as eyes.
7. Fold the outside edges of each jean pocket to form an ear shape and have an adult hot-glue the ears on either side of the mane.
8. Insert a long stick into the bottom of the horse’s neck and wrap tightly with the bandanna, making sure to seal in all of the batting. Giddyup!

Using a mix of household, recycled, and traditional craft supplies, your kids will feel so proud of the work they’ve done when they see this colorful penguin holding up her books!

What you’ll need:

• One 17-ounce plastic drink bottle

• 2 to 3 cups of sand

• Funnel

• 1 baby sock

• 4 to 5 cotton balls

• White and yellow felt

• Scissors

• 2 tiny black pom-poms

• Tacky glue

• One 2.-inch piece of wire

• One 2 cm felt bead 

• 1 Tyvek envelope

• Washi tape

• 2 colors of yarn

1. Clean out the bottle and remove all labels. Fill it with sand and replace the cap.
2. To make the penguin’s head, stuff the baby sock with cotton balls and slip it over the top of the bottle.
3. To make the eyes, cut two circles about the size of a plain M&M from white felt. Glue a tiny black pom-pom to each. Glue the circles onto the sock.
4. To make the beak, fold a piece of yellow felt and cut a 1⁄4-inch triangle on the crease. Glue the crease onto the sock about 1⁄2 inch below the eyes.
5. To make the earmuffs, bend the wire into a headband shape. Cut the felt bead in half and glue a piece to each end of the wire, rounded side facing out. Slip the earmuffs onto the penguin’s head and glue to secure.
6. Cut two wing shapes (pointed at one end, cut straight across on the other) from the Tyvek envelope, about two-thirds the height of your bottle and about 3 inches across at the widest point. Cover the wings with strips of washi tape and glue the top, straight edge of each wing around the neck of the bottle.
7. To give the penguin a scarf, braid three 20-inch strands of yarn (the finished scarf will be about 16 inches long). If the yarn is thin, you may want to double or triple it (as shown) to give it some thickness.
8. Finally, to make the feet, fold a 3-inch square of yellow felt in half and cut a 2-inch-tall half heart shape on the crease. Glue it to the bottom of the bottle, rounded points facing out.

Excerpt from Project Kid. Photo by Alexandra Grablewski. 

Whether your kid is playing Kermit in the school play or you just have a big ole pile of green cupcake liners laying around, this frog-mask craft is so cute and fun to make. Here are the step-by-step directions that are as easy 1-2-ribbit.

Step 1: Make the Base

Make a base for the mask by drawing two slightly overlapping 3″-diameter circles onto green cardstock; cut out the shape without cutting through the intersecting lines.

Tip: Use a jelly jar or similar size jar to trace the circles. Fold two matching regular-size green baking cups in half. Attach the folded cups to the bottom half of each mask circle using glue dots.

Step 2: Form Face

Flatten a mini green baking cup, and fold it in half for the nose. Mark two black dots for nostrils on the center, unpleated portion of the baking cup. Cut a regular-size green baking cup in half, then fold one piece in half to make the mouth. To make a tongue, cut two 3/4 x 2″ strips from a red baking cup. Adhere the pieces together with right sides facing out. Round one end, and glue a black pom-pom to the end. Cut a small heart from white paper, and glue it to the pom-pom to make a fly. Adhere the nose, tongue, and mouth together with an adhesive squares as shown. Attach the pieces to the center of the mask using adhesive squares.

Step 3: Add Eyes

Fold four regular-size green baking cups in half. Attach the pieces to the mask as shown using adhesive squares. Add details using a black marker. Place a mini white baking cup inside a standard green baking cup. Cut a circle through the layers in the center. Then, use a marker to outline the hole with a thick black line. Join the pieces using adhesive squares to make an eye. Repeat to make a second eye.

Step 5: Finish Mask

Attach the eyes to the top of the mask using adhesive squares. Trim the mask base to prevent it from blocking the eyeholes. Attach a crafts stick to the back of the side of the mask base for a handle.

Crafted by Project Kid; originally published at Better Homes and Gardens. 

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Just a week ago when I heard that schools had closed in Japan, I was flabbergasted and thought there is no way that can happen here in the United States. But now it appears that a quarantine of sorts is upon us and while chatting at the school bus stop this morning, my fellow parents were really panicking about what they were going to do with their kids for weeks on end, with all after-school activities closed and no kids’ entertainment venues open.

So today I put together this list of craft supplies — some you may already have in your craft cabinet and some might surprise you a bit. We’ve got the basics…a glue gun, paint, buttons…and some that are way more random like shaving cream and clothespins.

In this post, I’m highlighting three of the materials that might not be as obvious to you, in hopes that it inspires you to craft, and perhaps invent your own creative uses for these things.

Clothespins

Clothespins usually come in packs of a gazillion and seriously that’s okay! They are useful for so many things beyond hanging the sheets out to dry or closing up the pretzel bag. Here are some of my fave crafts to do with clothespins.

Clothespin dolls

I made these cute, colorful ones for a story in Make It Yourself magazine—instructions are below!

What you’ll need:

• Clothespin
• Black and red markers
• 2 colors of yarn
• Scissors
• Felt
• 1” wood doll head/knob
• Colored wooden beads
• Aleene’s® Tacky Glue

1. Color the  bottom “feet” 1/2” of the clothespin black.
2. Make a pom-pom by wrapping yarn approximately thirty times around an object about 1 ½” inches wide. Cut the bundle from the skein, slip it off of the object, then cut and loosely tie a 6-inch piece of yarn around the bundle. 
3. To get the clothespin in the middle of the pom-pom, wiggle it down through the middle top of the loops until it comes out the bottom. Tightly tie the center tie, and snip through all loops until a pom-pom is formed. Trim pompom to form a tutu shape.
4. Wrap yarn around the clothespin just above the pom-pom, leaving about ½” of the tip of the clothespin exposed. Add a dot of glue to secure end.
5. Fold felt in half and cut a 1”-long wide heart shape. Glue on the back of the wrapped yarn as wings. 
6. Paint hair onto the wooden doll head and let dry. Draw eyes and mouth on, then glue bun bead to the back top of head. Push head onto the closed end of the clothespin.

Clothespin Family Magnets

Design each one to look like a member of the family and use them as an old-fashioned message center…no texting required! You can find the instructions here.

Clothespin Watermelon Fan

As we are nearing warmer weather, we gotta get our gear in gear! This accordion-folded fan uses a clothespin to keep it all together.

What you’ll need:

• 2 sheets of thin pink scrapbook paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Green, pink and thin light green washi tape
• Black marker
• Pink clothespin

1. Cut each piece of paper to 8” tall.
2. Stripe the top edge with dark green washi tape and then a light green strip just below.
3. Accordion fold the papers into about ½” segments. Glue stick the two ends together.
4. Draw watermelon seeds on the pink paper.
5. Clip the clothespin to the gathered side and wrap pink washi tape around it to secure.

Wood Blocks

I know this sounds like a random supply, but wood blocks are such a simple material and kids can get really excited and inventive when presented with a 3D solid wood shape. And…don’t feel left out! You can get in on the fun too with this fun decor DIY below!

Painted Blocks

You can paint them with abstract patterns on the blocks, with letters and numbers, windows and doors to create buildings, or paint little pictures on each to make story-telling blocks. (If you are looking for the basic cubes, those are also available.)

Painted Block Pendant Light

This painted wood block pendant lamp hangs in my kids’ room and I still love it as much as the day I made it! The instructions that are linked in this post are super easy.

Painted Box Car

This craft is made with paper boxes, but imagine how sturdy and awesome it could be with a few tweaks when made with wood?

Cupcake Liners

Aside from the obvious baking use, cupcake liners are a great craft supply! They come in bright colors, adorable patterns, and they hold paint and marker pigments really well! Here are three projects that were featured in Better Homes and Gardens many years ago.

Award Ribbons

We could all use a little encouragement these days, so go ahead and make award ribbons from cupcake liners, celebrating all of life’s little accomplishments. Stack your faves and trim the inner ones down to let the outer ones show. Use ribbon or paper or even strips of cupcake liners as the pieces that hang down. We used glue dots to hold it all together which keeps this craft super clean.

Frog Mask

I have no memory of what possessed us to make this craft, but I love it! Follow the step-by-step photos here to turn you little one into your own living Kermit the Frog using cupcake liners!

Cupcake Liner Butterflies

Cupcake liners AND clothespins! This craft wins the prize for using two of my favorites. Use paint or markers to add some color to the wings.

1. Fold four cupcake liners in half, then in half again. For younger kids, draw a scalloped line with a pencil, then have them cut each baking cup into rounded edges.

2. Dampen a foam paintbrush before dipping into watercolor pigments. Paint the edges of each wing using watercolor paint, or grab a marker and get coloring! You can use glitter and glue, markers, stickers, and more to make each butterfly unique.

3. Overlap two wings so the scallops are staggered and don’t line up exactly. Glue the wings together and repeat with the remaining pair of wings. Hold the wings together at the inner folds using a clothespin. Cut a single piece of twine for antennae, and insert it into the clothespin above the wings. Bonus points if you color the clothespin, too!

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