If you've been sitting on a pile of paper scraps, empty tea bags, fabric offcuts, and old CD cases with no idea what to do with them — this is the video. Twelve quick, low-pressure project ideas, all built from the stuff most crafters would have tucked in a drawer or thrown out. Some of these take under ten minutes. A few make beautiful gifts. All of them are the kind of thing you can batch-make on a low-creativity day so you have a stash of beautiful pieces ready when the mojo returns.
What we cover
Twelve project ideas across three loose categories: things to make for your journals (packing paper pages, pocket envelopes, tea bag embellishments, circle-stamped book pages, altered safety pins), things to make for embellishment and gifting (mini book necklaces and charms, beaded keychains, altered paper clips, altered CD cases), and a couple of purely tactile scrap-busting experiments (paper strip scrappy rolls, braided fabric, decorative balls). Most include a short demonstration; a few are more of a "here's what I made and how" walkthrough.
What you'll learn
How to make a paper strips scrappy roll from offcuts and masking tape, including:
- Rolling and taping strips continuously without cutting them into separate pieces
- Sewing the finished roll with a freeform machine stitch to keep everything together and give it a fabric-like quality
- What to use it for — tabs, pocket edging, collage elements, page embellishments
Why masking tape beats sticky tape for paper strip rolls — the non-glossy surface is much easier to glue down later when you're actually using the piece in a journal.
How to make journal pages and covers from packing paper, including:
- Doubling up sheets with a glue stick before folding so the pages have enough body
- Why to start machine stitching from the folded edge rather than the open edge — it stops the layers shifting as you sew
- Stacking four pages per journal and binding with thick yarn for a grungy, textured result
- Making chunky multi-signature journals by gluing several packing paper signatures together
How to make tea bag embellishments from used or expired tea bags, including:
- Cutting open the bag, removing the tea, and inserting a trimmed book page as the base
- Layering stickers, rub-ons, napkin decoupage, or found images — either under the bag mesh (for a muted, aged look) or on top (for a crisper result)
- Sealing everything with wet glue over the bag to adhere the paper and give the whole piece a unified finish
Circles play — mark-making with acrylic paint and lids, including:
- Using three sizes of lid (glue stick cap, masking tape core, larger household lid) as stamps on book pages
- Getting fifteen or more pages from a small amount of paint by refreshing the lid edge periodically
- Cutting the finished circles out individually so they become standalone collage elements or journaling spots
How to make altered safety pins as journal embellishments, including:
- Hand-stitching lace onto the non-opening bar of the pin and looping the thread over the top for a secure hold
- Laying out doilies, appliqué flowers, and butterfly pieces on a glass surface before hot gluing — the glass lets excess glue peel off cleanly from the back
- Why working on glass matters — hot glue seeps through lace holes, and glass means a perfect, invisible back
How to make mini book necklaces and charms, including:
- Cutting and rounding chipboard covers with a nail file for a finished edge
- Covering front and back with decorative sticker sheets or paper, then inking all edges for a professional look
- Cutting pages to size using an X-Acto knife against the cover rather than measuring separately
- Setting eyelets in the covers only (not the page stack), then punching the page stack separately and aligning with a jump ring
- Attaching the finished book to a necklace cord, bob pin, key ring, or charm loop
How to make pocket envelopes from book pages or 12×12 paper, including:
- Starting from a square — measuring the short side and trimming the long side to match
- Aligning the diagonal folds on a grid so the shoulders land evenly on both sides
- Gluing or folding the bottom flap and two side flaps to create a pocket, leaving the top open
- Using as a belly band (gluing two sides only), a standard pocket (three sides), or a stand-alone envelope
How to make beaded keychains from cord, split rings, and mixed beads, including:
- Stringing a few beads through both strands together, then separating to bead each strand individually with knots between each bead
- Rejoining the strands to finish with shared beads at the base
- Why to cut cord generously — tying a finishing knot with a tiny leftover piece is genuinely difficult
How to braid scrap fabric strips for closures, tassels, and bracelets, including:
- Threading strips through a large bead before braiding for a finished starting point
- Pinning the knot to a pillow or waistband to keep tension while braiding
- Keeping strips similar in width and braiding loosely so the finished piece has movement
How to alter CD cases with gathered lace, including:
- Hot gluing gathered lace in a spiral from the center outward
- Wrapping wider lace to the back of the case and gluing it down flat so the edges are covered
- Turning the finished case into a mini shaker (fill with sequins before closing) or a small display frame
How to make altered paper clip bookmarks, including:
- Positioning the short side of the clip on the hidden back of the card so the long side grips the page
- Layering cardstock, burlap, and a smaller decorative paper scrap with hot glue or PVA
- Inking edges and adding small flowers or shimmer paper for a finished, grungy look
Tips & gotchas
Use masking tape rather than sticky tape when making your paper strip rolls — it's less glossy and takes glue much better when you come to actually use the piece later. If you're not going to sew the roll, add glue between the strips as you go, because masking tape alone isn't tacky enough to hold long-term. And if your machine needle does pick up stickiness from the tape, just run a finger down it — it comes straight off and isn't worth stopping for.
When sewing packing paper pages, start your stitch line from the folded edge, not from the open sides where the layers can shift apart. You don't need to wait for the glue stick to dry before taking it to the machine — the paper's texture holds things in place. If you're not sewing or hand-stitching, make absolutely sure your glue reaches all four edges or the layers will separate at the corners over time.
For the altered safety pins and the CD case lace work, always work on a glass surface when hot gluing. The glue seeps through lace holes and sticks firmly to paper — but peels cleanly off glass with no residue. Never put hot glue directly onto the plastic of a CD case; glue close to the paper edge instead or the plastic will pucker and melt.
On the mini book necklaces: round the chipboard corners with a nail file before covering them — it only takes a moment and the difference in the finished piece is immediately obvious. Ink both the chipboard edges and the paper covering for that same polished, deliberate look rather than a raw edge.
For beaded keychains, cut your cord much longer than you think you need. Finishing knots with a two-centimetre tail is genuinely fiddly and wastes time. With braided fabric, keep your strips roughly the same width and resist the urge to braid tightly — a slightly loose braid moves better and looks more intentional.
When making the CD case lace covers, wider gathered lace is noticeably easier to manage than narrow lace. It wraps to the back cleanly without bunching at the corners.
The pocket envelopes, the packing paper pages, the paper strip rolls, the altered safety pins — none of them need to go somewhere immediately. Make a batch when the creative pressure is off, tuck them away, and when you're ready to put a journal together, you're not starting from zero. That's the real point of a video like this: not to make one beautiful thing, but to keep your hands moving so the beautiful things are waiting for you when you need them.
