Uses For All Those Mismatched, Leftover Stickers

If you've been crafting for any length of time, you probably have a stash of something cool. For paper crafters, it can be any number of things - eyelets, ribbon, die cuts, stamps, even paper itself. But for many of us, it's stickers!

Stickers come in all shapes and sizes, plus all price ranges, so they're super addictive. Even if you have them organized in bags or folders, it may seem impossible to get them all used in creative ways.

Never fear! Here are 10 uses that you may not have thought of, a little something to put your own personal take on.

1. Create a seek-and-find game. For our Youth Group lesson last night, using the hidden treasure parable in Matthew 13:44, I made this sticker game. I found a floor-sized paper pad and covered the first page with stickers. We gave them lists of things to find among the hundreds of images on the page, and the first one to finish their list won a prize. This used up LOADS of stickers in a fun and useful way.

2. Use stickers to decorate a new water bottle. We give each of our youth their own water bottle when they join the group, and every week they get to pick a new sticker to add. My own water bottles all have stickers on them, and many of them have been conversation starters about my faith.

3. Customize your gifts with cards and wrapping paper accented with stickers. Coordinate them with the recipient's likes and interests to make them even more personalized. 

4. Create a custom border for a journal or scrapbook page. Think random stamping like you would do to create a patterned paper, but use stickers instead. This is a fun way to thin out your stickers and make one-of-a-kind accents.

5. Make sure every envelope you mail out has a sticker on it. To friends and family, yes, you may do that already. But what about a happy face on your bills? Flowers on a get-well card? Scripture stickers can touch anyone's heart. Get creative and make someone's day.

6. Leftover alphabet stickers have so many uses. Make a personalized bookmark with just their initials, collage them for backgrounds on cards and pages, or let the kids mix and match them in a game.

7. And don't throw away the sheet when you've used all the stickers. You can adhere them to paper and use ink or chalk on them like a stencil. Just peel away the backing and create a brand-new design.

8. Getting them organized may be the spark of creativity you need. I found tons of stickers I didn't even remember that I had when I was creating the seek-and-find game. Having them tucked away for several months made me forget them, so now I have ideas for many of them. Put them in new bags, folders, or albums until you're ready to use them.

9. Have a swap and share. It doesn't even have to be an event, though it could be. Let your friends and family bring you their stickers, and you send some of yours with them. Not only will you find a new home for your overgrown collection, but you'll also be able to spread the love - and the savings - with other crafters. Plus ... inspiration!

10. Maybe it's time to donate some of those stickers to a school, church, or retirement community. They'll love having something new and creative to use, too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more