Craft with Cardboard

Craft with Cardboard

It's only natural that this unnatural state that everyone is in due to the pandemic {& all its mayhem that it has caused} is to find ways to better ourselves as well as keep motivated. 

I know that I have taken this time to better understand photography & editing. However, living a creative lifestyle & {feeling} as if I have little to nowhere to go to look for inspiration I have also been crafting--just a little.  

An article I read on Tailwind's Blog, stated that parents are crafting with their kids more so now than ever before. In fact, they're crafting with supplies found right inside their homes. Think of crafting with paper towel tubes, cardboard boxes, containers & so on! The article stated that Pinterest searches for cardboard crafts are up 85%. 

Cardboard Crafts 

I have to admit, I am an at-home crafter where I shop my recycling bin for supplies. You'd be surprised at what you can DIY out of what's in your recycling bin. 

In this post, I have two cardboard craft ideas to help you with your own recycled cardboard craft projects. 

The first is a chic pair of binoculars made from toilet paper rolls, perfect for watching all the early signs of spring appear. 

The second cardboard craft is a camera made from a granola bar box.

Toilet Paper Spring Binoculars Supplies:

• Two Toliet Paper Rolls, Empty 
• A Sheet of Pretty Cardstock 
• Hot Glue
• String
• Beads {4-5}

Method:

After selecting your color scheme, measure the paper to wrap around each individual paper tube & glue it into place. Tip, have the seam of the paper on the bottom part of your tube. Do so for both toilet paper tubes. 

After each tube is wrapped in paper, glue them side-by-side with hot glue. Using the remaining paper, cut a slice & wrap it around the glue tubes to create a decorative band for your binoculars. You can embellish this part more if you want with ribbon, tape, and so on. 

Lastly, at the end of the binoculars that you'd look through glue your yarn at each tub's looking end. 

Before gluing the yarn, you can add beads for a decorative touch. 

Cardboard Camera Crafting at Home 

Cardboard Box Camera Supplies:

• One Empty Granola Bar Box
• Hot Glue
• A-Cap from Milk or OJ Container
• Decorative Cardstock/Paper
• String 

Craft with recyclables 

Method:

Wrap your empty box in your desired paper as you'd wrap a present. I used leftover paper that one would wrap china in for protection & I used remaining stripes of paper from the toilet paper binoculars to embellish the box's sides. 

For your camera's 'lens' you can glue your juice container lid to the front of the box. Look at your real camera & see what kinds of buttons it has on it. Fashion your own buttons from scraps of paper, washi tape, & stickers. 

I hot glued yard on the camera's sides so it'd have a strap. 

While I don't have any kids, I made both of these cardboard crafts for photo props, but I have them in different places in my home because they turned out so cute! The moral of the story, you don't have to have kids to craft with what you have in your home. It's a great way to stay creative & inspired. 

Follow me on Instagram @Katelynchef