31 No-Buy DIY Crafts Using Stuff from the Thrift Store (or That Weird Drawer in Your Kitchen)
Let’s face it—summer is long. The kids are bored. You’re bored. Even your cat is considering picking up cross-stitch just to pass the time. Joann’s is dead and you don’t want to run to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to get crafty. So, let’s get inspired with some no-buy DIY crafts! With a little imagination (and maybe a glue gun that smells slightly burnt), you can turn secondhand junk and household “treasures” into artsy golden treasures.
What is no-buy DIY? It means you raid your thrift store, dig through your junk drawer, and rescue that candle jar from the recycling bin. This artsy article is about upcycling, repurposing, and making magic from what you already have. It’s creative. It’s sustainable. It’s basically witchcraft, but don’t tell anyone my secrets!
Plus, I’ll toss in a few Amazon art supply suggestions in case you wanna upgrade your glue game.
Let’s dive in, hot glue guns blazing. 🔥
Table of Contents
✨Gateway Crafts: The Beginner’s Magic Portal
New to crafting? Check out these DIY crafts if you’re just getting into art, and it hasn’t turned into a full blown addiction quite yet. These artsy crafts are great for newbies, kids, parents who aren’t self-proclaimed artists, and anyone wanting to dip their toe into crafting without a whole arsenal of supplies.
1. Crayon Meltdown Canvas – Use old crayons and a hair dryer to create wild, colorful drip art. It’s easy, cheap and just the right amount of messy.
2. Upcycle Old Buttons – All you need for this DIY craft is a basic sewing kit and some old buttons. Sew the buttons wherever you like: on jean pockets, spaghetti straps, or on a cute tote bag.
3. Rose Stamps with a Baggie of Water – I found this DIY craft on TikTok, and linked the video below. You fill a plastic baggie with some water, dip it into some paint and “stamp” the baggie onto some paper. It creates a circular shape that looks kind of like a rose flower!
4. T-Shirt Yarn Bracelets – Cut old t-shirts into strips, braid or knot them into bracelets. It looks like you’ve been to Coachella, even if you haven’t left your house. Fun fact, I used to create these bracelets all the time growing up. They’re perfect accessories for road trips, camping, and beach trips. They’re knotted to your wrists, so you sleep and swim in them, and when they get gross you just cut them off!
5. Magazine “Ransom” Notes – Cut out letters from magazines and arrange them in a fun note on a sheet of paper. It’s up to you what the message says. Glue sticks work best for this DIY craft!
6. Learn How to Paper Mache – It’s actually super easy and a really cost effective way of creating unique items. All you need really is white glue and magazines or newspaper.
7. Plastic Off-Brand Shrinky Dinks – Don’t want to buy Shrinky Dink Paper? Recycle a plastic container with this fun DIY craft!
8. DIY Mossy Terrarium – Use a recycled jar with a lid to create a thriving ecosystem! This craft is perfect paired with a hike to find dirt, pebbles, moss, and any small plants to grow in the terrarium. Then, simply spray the inside with a good amount of water and place it in a sunny spot. If all goes well, you may see some creatures or mold growing!
9. Diet Coke and Mentos Rocket – Draw a rocket on a plastic 2 liter jug of diet coke. Add Mentos to make it take off! Do this DIY craft outside and watch for fallout on the way down.
10. Walk on Water with Oobleck – Mix up this fun DIY craft with cornstarch and water! Oobleck is so cool!
11. Get Creative with Jewelry Organization – Check out these recycled and repurposed items used to arrange jewelry! From a chess board to cricket rackets, your organization can adorn your walls and serve a purpose.
🧵Emotional Support Crafts: Because Therapy is Expensive
Knitting? Soothing. Embroidery? Meditative. Cross-stitching a tiny mushroom while binge-watching the new season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? Literally self-care. Emotional support crafts are sticking around because we all need a low-stakes way to decompress and feel accomplished when life feels like a cluttered junk drawer. So, this is your sign to clean out the junk drawer, both literally and the one in your head. Here’s a few fun ideas for inexpensive DIY crafts that make you feel good.
For legal reasons, I am not a licensed therapist nor am I in any position to advise on mental health conditions. If you believe you are a threat to yourself or others, don’t use silly crafts as a temporary solution, actually get help.
12. Googly-ify everything – Somehow, I want you to find a bunch of googly eyes and put them everywhere. Evolve every appliance, anything that looks like it could be a face, into a monster staring back at you. These googly eyes come in a pack of 500 for $5. I bet you can’t do this DIY craft without laughing.
13. Make Your Own Slime – Add white glue, an activator like Borax and mix it till it looks about right. Even as an adult, playing with slime calms me down.
14. Sock Puppets with Personality Disorders – Talk to your hand, not a therapist! This DIY craft may be more fun with real human friends. Use old clean socks and work through some issues with a sock friend.
15. Photo Wall of Happy Memories – Design an empty frame, poster board, or cork board with things that make you happy! From photos of friends and family (using this easy Kodak Smartphone Photo Printer) to receipts from your favorite travels, include anything that reminds you of a happy moment or feeling. Even use that trash you found for your bullet journal, but never glued in.
16. Zentangle Doodling – Learn all about this free easy drawing style with Linda Farmer, a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT®)!
17. Cute Metal Toaster Bath-Bomb – kids, don’t try this at home!
18. Hammer Out Your Anger, and Make Flower Prints – Collect some pretty flowers, grab a paper towel and a hammer and go to town! Check out this easy diy craft on Craft Invader’s website.
19. Create a Fairy Cottage – Feed your crazy delulu brain with this mystical craft! Design a small size dwelling for your neighborhood fairies, pixies, and small bugs. Make sure you use all natural materials like rocks, moss, flowers, and sticks. The more details the better!
🎨Social Crafting: Hot Glue is Hotter With Friends
Craft nights are the new happy hour. Crafternoons (yes, it’s a thing) are officially replacing bottomless brunches. In 2025, it’s all about gathering your people and getting creative together—whether it’s a cozy paint night, a DIY TikTok challenge party, or bedazzling wine glasses while watching bad movies. Making things is more fun when you get to see just how creative your friends are!
Looking for more inspiration for DIY crafts specifically tuned for Girl’s Night? Check out this list of 55 Creative Crafts for Girl’s Night!
20. Create Painted Rock Pets – Go outside, collect some rocks, and set up a station for you and your group to paint rock creatures. Bonus points if you use google eyes! You can paint them as a very real cat or dog you own, or a mystical green toothy creature you’re a little scared of. Either way, at the end of the night everyone must present their DIY craft creature and talk about how they plan to care for them.
21. Mood Board Collages – You can use poster board and printed images, or old magazines and cardstock to create a collage of the person you wanna be! Manifest it baby!
21. Bob Ross Painting Night – Host a craft night for your friends, and have Bob teach! Bob Ross is a famous painter known for tutorial videos featuring mountain landscapes and “happy trees.” While Bob uses oil paint, I find this project is easiest on pre-stretched canvas with acrylic paint. You will also want an array of brushes to make this process as easy as it can be for your art friends, and non art friends.
22. Paint Bird Houses – My thrift stores almost always have raw wood figurines, from small bird houses to frames to jewelry boxes. I recommend taking a trip to see what yours may have, and painting what you find! This DIY craft can vary a lot, which allows for a wide array of creativity and fun. No time to visit the thrift store? Check out this birdhouse painting kit which comes with the wooden houses and paint!
23. Macramé Photo Holders – Grab some string and create these fun boho macramé photo holders to house photos of you and your friends! Or photos of you if you don’t have friends.
24. Paint Plant Pots – There’s a lot of room for creativity and different skill sets with this DIY craft. Use Pinterest, or your imagination, to come up with a fun design, paint it on using acrylic paint (I prefer Deco Art’s eco friendly paint) and a sealant or varnish so it doesn’t come off in your garden.
25. DIY Purse Chain – “Jane Birkinify” your handbags with the cutest bag charms, scarfs, beads and ribbon. You can use this jewelry making kit for all the clasps and beads too!
🎁Handmade Gifts: Give Treasures
Personalized gifts are stealing the spotlight—and honestly, thank goodness. Forget grabbing a random candle off the sale shelf. Making something by hand is meaningful, memorable, and way cuter. Whether it’s a painted mug, a homemade bath bomb, or a handmade photo book, people are finally realizing that giving gifts with soul > buying last-minute junk.
If the slightest shred of artistic talent, you can absolutely create a custom DIY craft card to go with your custom gift. Check out this article I wrote about how to make your own holiday cards!
26. Eco-Friendly Homemade Simmer Pot – Collect your favorite smelly items you’d usually put in a simmer pot: cinnamon sticks, cloves, thyme, and dried lemon or orange rinds. Fill a sheer organza drawstring bag with these dried items! Your giftee just needs to dump the bag’s contents into boiling water for a incredible scented mixture that is organic and healthy, easy to clean up, and makes the whole house smell great.
27. Custom Jewelry – Thrift stores always have old necklaces, bracelets, and out of fashion jewelry, but that doesn’t mean its useful life is up! Repurpose these treasures to create new jewelry pieces for your friends and family, that have a personalized twist. Use a favorite color, or a decorative charm that reminds them of a trip you took together. Get creative and personalized with it! Also, if you are missing some key clasps and tools, I recommend getting this jewelry making kit on Amazon.
28. Personalized Book Markers – Use magazines, photos, and scrapbooking materials to design fun bookmarks for your bookworm friends.
29. Pet Portrait – You may have to be slightly artistic for this DIY craft, but a drawing or painting portrait of a favorite pet goes a long way as a gift. I recommend using a watercolor paper and framing it (bonus points if it’s thrifted) to make the gift look more professional.
30. Crochet Plant Hangings for your Dashboard Mirror – I don’t personally crochet, but I would absolutely love to get this handmade DIY craft as a gift! It brightens up your car decor and you’ll think of them every time you drive.
31. Keychain of Memories – Collect a series of handheld things that reminds you of your giftee, and dangle them on a keychain! From shells to small photos to a favorite destination, you can really get creative with this DIY craft.
Bonus Art Supplies You Can Grab on Amazon – Still fighting artist block and can’t think of what to make? Here is a brief list of some of my favorite art supplies I use almost everytime I craft. You can’t go wrong with these items:
- Posca Paint Pens – for painting anything from rocks to records
- Mod Podge – because glue is life
- Googly Eyes (1000pc) – the more, the better
- Acrylic Paint Set – if your kid’s watercolor phase turned into Jackson Pollock
- Hot Glue Gun with Extra Sticks – because there’s no such thing as too much glue
Conclusion
So there you have it—31 slightly chaotic, very creative crafts you can make without your shiny pennies (okay, maybe one or two if you hit the thrift store for extra flair). Whether you’re entertaining kids, roommates, or just your slightly unhinged inner artist, these projects are all about making something weird and wonderful out of the forgotten stuff around you.
Go forth, craft something weird, and remember: perfection is overrated, but glitter is forever. ✨
