7 Ideas: How to Use Plain Paper for Home Crafts

Paper is the most affordable and simplest material for home crafts. Parents can learn new creative tricks and get toddlers involved. The children will get a lesson in scissors and glue, and will also feel the pleasure of working together. Pliable sheets are easy to turn into unique and very beautiful gizmos.

Origami

One of the most popular arts is origami. The oldest Japanese technique of folding various paper sculptures allows you to get unique crafts.

Lightweight gizmos can be made from a regular white or colored office sheet, and sticky notes and thick magazine pages are also suitable. It is recommended to start comprehending the art of origami with simplified diagrams. For example, it is easy to create paper flowers or animals. Cranes are considered classics of the genre. The easiest job for beginners is to create a butterfly.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. Fold a square piece of paper in half and unfold.
2. Fold diagonally and straighten again - you get 8 folds that divide the sheet into the same number of triangles.
3. Bend the side parts inward.
4. Bring the corners together on one side.
5. Fold the top triangles in 2 times.
6. Turn it over with an acute angle downward and slightly overlap the base.
7. Wrap the corner and unfold the craft with the other side so that the rotated part is on the front side.
8. Bend and unfold the lower wings.

Volumetric flowers

A great pastime idea is to create paper flowers that look as good as real flowers but will never fade. With their help, you can decorate the house for the holiday, set the table, pack gifts, update the interior and even arrange a photo session. For the first experiment, something very simple is suitable, for example, chamomile, and then you can start creating voluminous tulips, roses, asters, hyacinths.

Here's how to make paper roses:

1. Draw a spiral flower with wavy lines on a white sheet of paper.
2. Cut along the lines to form a spring.
3. Transfer the template to colored paper, circle and cut out.
4. On the tip of the wire, greased with glue, wind a colored blank, forming a bud.
5. Fix the resulting flower with a glued sepal.
6. In the same way, create the required number of flowers and make a bouquet.

Home decor

Paper can be used to make creative and stylish home accessories. One of the brightest ideas is three-dimensional shapes. Making a cat, deer, hare or any other animal will require time, colored paper or cardboard, glue, scissors, a ruler, a pencil, and a diagram of work. You can pick up the instructions on the Internet or come up with your own.

Crafts of incredible beauty are obtained from the remains of paper using the quilling technique. It can be a decorative panel or a photo frame. You can choose paper of any quality and color. Sheets or pages from glossy magazines are cut into strips and rolled into tubes.

They will make spectacular details of a decorative composition on cardboard, board or canvas: a floral ornament, a realistic landscape or an abstract image. Long (glued together) rolls can be woven, like straw, the most intricate creations. Such a simple technology is easy to learn, and the result of the work will look no worse than professional models.

Fancy garlands

The simplest paper decor idea is a garland. It will add lightness to the interior, help create an atmosphere of comfort in the house, and on the eve of the holidays - the appropriate mood. First you need to decide on the form. There are simple garlands of paper butterflies, circles, flowers, animal figures, postcards strung on a string, as well as voluminous ones from figures made using the origami technique. On flat details, it is easier to write a phrase you like, a family motto or a holiday wish.

Garlands of hearts look very gentle. There are many ways to make them. For example, one of them:

1. Cut straight, multi-colored strips 1 cm wide and of any equal length.
2. Connect the two strips on one side with a stapler, and on the other - wrap inward to make a heart.
3. Connect the opposite ends by inserting the elements into each other, fasten with a stapler.
4. Repeat the steps until the selected length is obtained.

Chains

Simple paper chains that can be hung as festive garlands or made as an everyday decoration at home. Manufacturing is elementary: you need to cut colored strips of the same length and width, roll up, connect and secure.

Such a simple garland will become a colorful and free Christmas tree decoration, replacing expensive tinsel. Instead of simple rings, you can make a chain of their elements of any shape: flowers, hearts, butterflies, angels.

Toys

Most often, paper toys are made for the New Year. On a Christmas tree, you can hang do-it-yourself volumetric balls, animal figures, cones and flowers, and decorate the house with openwork Christmas trees.

An indispensable attribute of the holiday is snowflakes. They can be made voluminous using the origami technique. To do this, cut out six squares of the same size from paper, fold each of them diagonally, and then in half. Along the fold, parallel cuts need to be made. Expand the square, bend and fasten the inner tongues to each other, and connect the outer petals with the same parts of the remaining squares. You can use glue or a stapler to fix it.

Crafts with children

You can involve a child in the creative process - it will be useful and interesting for him. You will need: paper, scissors, glue, some free time and neatness.

An example of making a cute paper puppy:

1. Cut a square for the head out of colored paper and fold in half, connecting opposite corners.
2. Bend the corners down to form the ears.
3. Bend the center corner back to form the muzzle.
4. Take the second square for the torso, fold in half.
5. Connect opposite corners by folding a square into a triangle.
6. Wrap the shape so that it takes on the shape of a rhombus.
7. Bend the corner at the back, sticking out the tail.
8. Cut out of paper in a different color or draw eyes, nose and tongue.
9. Draw paws with a black felt-tip pen.
10. Glue the head to the body.