Are your mailboxes flooded with free newspapers and brochures that you often throw away unread? We have put together some ideas for you on how you can put old or unusable newspaper to good use and make lots of useful things out of it. Crafting with newspaper is the right technique for you if you want to create creative and individual items easily and inexpensively.
Crafting with newspaper – woven basket
With a little patience and newspaper you can do it easilyweave a wastebasket. For this and numerous other craft projects using newspaper, you can make rolls of paper that are actually remarkably sturdy. Cut the newspaper lengthways about the width of your hand and place a knitting needle or wooden skewer at an angle on one corner of the newspaper strip. Using light pressure, roll up the entire strip, glue the remaining corner and pull out the rod.
For the bottom of the basket you will need a round piece of cardboard and, depending on the desired size, around 18 longer sticks, which you attach all around the cardboard like a sun with a stapler. To get longer sticks, you can insert two rolls into each other and glue them together. Gently fold the rolls upwards and start braiding.
Now wrap a roll of paper around this structure by threading the horizontal rolls alternately over and under the vertical ones. Continue braiding until you reach your desired height. Bring the rolls into position by gently pulling them and pushing them tightly together. Finally, you can braid the upward-standing rolls down a few rows and weave the ends into the basket or fix them with glue.
Make flowers
If you miss the summer blooms outside, you can make beautiful roses out of newspaper pages and decorate them at home. If you want to achieve a great, colorful effect, the pages with colorful images are particularly suitable. For a uniform color, you can carefully spray the flowers from a distance with colored varnish spray or paint the upper edge of the rose petals.
First, draw a snail and cut it out straight or wavy. Then cut spirally into the snail. Start rolling up the flower in a V shape at the outer end of the strip. Let the paper rose bloom by carefully pushing it apart with a skewer.
Finally, glue the end of the paper so that the flower doesn't unwind again. You can also make paper flowers from old book pages or old sheet music and use this decoration to give your home a touch of vintage flair.
Nice lamp
Did you know that this Japanese-style lamp was made from newspaper? You can easily make this craft idea at home using papier-mâché. Take a larger balloon, blow it up and place it on a bowl or cooking pot. Mix wallpaper paste with water according to the instructions on the package, let it thicken and dip pieces of newspaper into the glue.
Then cover two thirds of the balloon with newspaper and let it dry completely. Make a small hole in the balloon, preferably near the knot, so that the air slowly comes out. Paint the lampshade on both sides with acrylic paint. Carefully cut a hole in the middle for the lamp holder. Now you can decorate the homemade lampshade with delicate cherry blossoms.
Decorative bowls
A great craft idea is to make bowls for fruit or sweets, for example. The procedure is the same as with the hanging lamp, only you need smaller balloons. After the newspaper with the paste has dried, you can cut off the excess paper residue so that you get a smooth edge.
You can also use a glass bowl as a template for your individual bowl, which you first brush with a little cooking oil. Finally, for more stability and shine, you can paint the bowl with clear varnish or paint it colorfully with acrylic paint.
Make your own night light
You can create a creative globe night light for your children using a balloon, newspaper and paste. You are also welcome to let your little ones do some crafting. You will love smearing and pasting with your hands. Follow the same steps as when designing the hanging lamp.
To get the typical globe look, finally cover the balloon with blue-green tissue paper. After the newspaper has hardened, use a wooden skewer to make holes in the globe. The larger the holes, the more light will pass through. You can use an electric tea light as a light source.
Decorate the picture frame with newspaper rolls
If you are in the process of creating your personal picture gallery, you can embellish your old picture frames or make new ones using newspaper rolls. Your pictures will certainly stand out much better this way. A personal picture frame as a gift will also create enthusiasm. Cover a simple wooden frame with rolls that are cut to size and fit tightly together. For more color you can also use pages from magazines or brochures. You can also make small rolls out of thin strips of paper and glue.
Schmuck
If you are looking for the right jewelry for a specific occasion or outfit, you can stand out with unique, homemade paper jewelry. A necklace made of newspaper rolls or feather-shaped earrings with a colorful accent are truly unique pieces that look exactly the way you want them.
Fold bags
Once you've run out of wrapping paper, a paper bag made from newspapers is a decorative and creative alternative that's sure to amaze. Even for inexperienced people, folding paper bags is easy to do. Fold a large newspaper page in half and fold the right and left sides towards the middle so that they overlap slightly. Glue this excess together.
For the base, fold a piece up to the desired width. Open it and press the sides on the right and left to form triangles. Now fold the straight edges of the floor towards the middle and glue the places where they overlap. Fold the finished bag slightly on the sides. You can make two holes for the handles and reinforce them with scotch tape.
In just a few simple steps you can make these cute gift bags out of newspaper, in which you can wrap smaller items or home-baked items and give them away. You can also design small labels yourself and use them to close the packages or send a nice message.
Wrapping gifts
Why not wrap gifts with newspaper instead of wrapping paper. Decorated with a gift ribbon, sticker or card, this packaging is a pretty eye-catcher.
