Summer vacation will soon be over and you will be rejoining your school in a few days. While most of you would be excited to meet your school friends, some would be wishing that the vacation never ends so that the long lazy days of fun never stops.

When I was in school, I preferred making my surrounding neater, cleaner and greener during the holidays. Sometimes what I created was something very useful for me and my siblings, and once in a while my projects even impressed everyone in the family.

even impressed everyone in the family.

Since everything these days is much more expensive than it once used to be, we have to struggle convincing our parents to get us what we want, especially, when it comes under ‘wishes’ and not ‘needs’. So, instead of going for purchasing new things, it’s always a good idea to go for do-it-yourself (DIY) hacks and create them on your own by recycling different material.

So today, I am bringing to you some of the DIY crafts that you can make at home with a little or no help from elders (the supervision from the elders is always advisable, nevertheless!) from mostly recycled stuff that won’t cost you much.

What you need for most crafts:

• Empty cardboard boxes

• White papers or old newspapers

• Scissors

• White glue (German glue)

• Paper cutter

• Glaze paper

• Pencil

Photo frame

Handmade things like cards and gifts are very special because of the time, effort and thoughts that went into making them. Some people do, however, prefer readymade stuff or anything that is easily sent through email. Readymade stuff is attractive and beautiful but it also costs.

Here are some easy steps to show you how to make a photo frame for yourself or as a gift for your friend or anyone else. All you have to do is to make reeds, a lot of reeds from magazine pages.

Things you’ll need:

1. Discarded magazine pages (the colourful ones)

2. Glue stick

3. White glue

4. One skewer or barbecue stick 6-8 inches long (if you don’t have any of these you can use pencil or a thin stick from a broom)

5. Scissors

6. Cardboard pieces

Directions: Take the pages and two fold them, cut them from the centre. Now you have two halves. Put the stick at one corner of the half page and start folding it gently so that it doesn’t get a crease and you have a smooth reed.

When you reach near the end, paste the glue and fold, now very gently and carefully take the stick out from inside the reed. Repeat until you get the desired amount of reeds for your frame.

Keep in mind the size of the picture you are making the frame for. You can either give full cardboard base to the frame (like the one shown in the picture) or just the boundary in whichever shape you like (round, rectangle, heart or square). The design you make with the reeds again depends on your imagination and creativity. Use white glue on the base of the cardboard cut-out and start pasting the reeds without pressing them, keep in mind that they are close enough and there is no gap in between. Place the picture in the frame.

For back support, make a triangle out of the cardboard pieces as shown in the picture and paste it behind the frame.

Voila, your very own photo frame!

Wall art

You can make superheroes, scenery, animals, or anything you would like to see on your wall. I love nature so I made a tree.

Things you’ll need:

1. Empty cardboard box (large)

2. White glue

3. Glaze paper (brown, green, (red optional))

4. Scissors

5. Paper cutter

6. Pencil or marker

7. Transparent adhesive tape

Directions: Flatten the empty cardboard box, it doesn’t matter if it’s soft or hard. Decide the length of the tree and then if you are good at drawing, draw a tree with a pencil or marker on it. If you think an elder will do the best job, ask for help.

After drawing, cut the tree out with scissors and paper cutter, don’t throw the scrapes left from the carton as we will use them for the leaves.

Paste the brown glaze paper on the tree trunk, cut out the extra paper from the corners and the sides. Then with an adhesive tape paste the tree on the wall.

For the leaves: Take the scrapes left from the cardboard boxes and draw leaves of all sizes and paste green glaze paper on it with glue. This will take considerable time and your patience but the outcome is worth it.

When you have enough leaves, paste them on the twigs, sides and on the tree.

I was left with a lot of carton scrapes so I also made grass using the same procedure — that is drawing, cutting it out and pasting glaze paper on it. You can also make flowers, birds and sun in the same way.

Curtain holder

As you grow up, the plush toys that were once so dear to you seem to be of no use, stored away in a corner in your cupboard. But hey, they still can be a part of your room (mind it, not your parent’s or the drawing room). If you have a window in your room there will of course be a curtain and if there is none, you still have the door with a curtain.

You can go through your or your sibling’s toys and find a medium-sized stuff toy, it can be monkey, teddy, lion, elephant anything. Try searching for some stuff animal that is big enough to be seen on the curtain, preferably one with big arms and legs.

(I couldn’t get a bigger one at my home).

Things you’ll need:

1. A stuff toy (old or used)

2. A string (not more than five

   inches) preferably elastic string.

3. Large button or pompom

4. A needle and a thread

Directions:

Here you will need a little help from your mum. Take the string, make a loop at one end according to the size of the button or the pompom and ask your mum to stitch the other end of the string to the hand or paw of your stuff toy, and the other hand with pompom or the button.

Now adjust the size according to the size of your curtain’s thickness by shortening or tightening the string. Here you go! Dress up your room with a cute little curtain holder.

Book or toy shelf

This may look difficult to you, but believe me it’s not at all hard to make and you also don’t have to go miles to get the supplies. You will find everything in your home. The main items are empty cartons, which come with things like oil, milk, juices, etc.

So let’s start, in my case, I used an AC carton, white paper boxes, shoe, milk, etc. Just look for the more sturdy and hard boxes, not the softer ones (don’t throw the softer ones as we can use them for making the tough sections.)

The size of the shelf depends on the number of cartons you have, you must have around five or six, (eight to ten is ideal) cartons. The tougher ones will make your base. Arrange them in various ways by positioning them horizontally and vertically, to see which shape and design you like the most. After trying two or three different designs I came up with the one in the picture.

Directions

Step 1:

When you finalise the design, paste the cartons with white glue in between them and clip them with cloth pins. Leave for around 10 to 12 hours before you proceed to the next step. Then, remove the clips and start joining the rest.

Step 2:

Paste any paper inside and outside the shelf to give it a neater look; you can use old newspapers, white sheets, or patterned wrapping sheets.

Here you go, arrange your toys or books in them and see how nice your room looks!

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 30th, 2016