Craft Ideas for Adults – Fun and Practical Projects for Grown-Ups
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These days, it’s easy to forget that artistic creativity is one of the few exclusive joys of the human experience, after all, there are bills to pay and kids to feed. This doesn’t mean that you should limit yourself to work and Netflix though. There are loads of fun things to do out there that don’t involve spending hours and hours in front of a screen, and one of those happens to be arts and crafts. If you’re thinking that crafts are only for kids, you might be surprised to find out that there are entire craft kits out there specifically geared towards adults, which span a wide range of crafting disciplines and are suitable for people of all skill levels. This being said, let’s have a look at some craft ideas for adults that will allow you to unwind and connect with your creative side once more.
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Practical Crafts for Adults
Sure, there are loads of crafts for adults out there, but they aren’t much good if they are going to be stuffed into a cupboard collecting dust for the rest of their lives. This is why we’ve decided to cover a few DIY crafts for adults that can be used in everyday life, plus you can show off your new skills to your family and friends! For the really extroverted amongst us, you can even start your own crafting blog, once you get the hang of it. Let’s have a look at a few practical DIY crafts for adults.
Homeware
Considering how expensive it can be to simply furnish your home, you might have considered simply making some of your own homeware. This can be really fun, save you a ton of money, and you’ll no longer be limited to a selection of generic color-coded products that everyone else probably already has. This being said, let’s have a look at some homeware crafts you can make all on your own with little to no experience.
Coffee Bean Fillers
Looking for something that won’t take up too much time and serves a practical purpose? Why not try out a repurposed coffee bean holder? We understand that coffee is basically lifeblood these days, but this crafting exercise doesn’t only look great, but it doubles as an air freshener that you can place all of your pens and pencils into.
Pretty cool right? Plus, you don’t even have to use coffee beans! Use things that are around the house like some old marbles or some rocks you found on your last trip to the beach. This craft allows you to take something you love and leave it in plain sight, and if you want to you can even take it to work to remind you of good times.
Don’t want to show everyone at work your new hobby? No Problem! Why not use it as a centerpiece for a coffee table or as a conversation starter at the family dinner table? The possibilities are endless, and you have the option of adding little scented things or filling your container with something new every week! These kinds of craft ideas for adults are easy to make and don’t require any prior skill.
Repurposed Flannel Shirts
In 2018, Americans threw away nearly 14 million tons of clothing, and while there are loads of people donate their old clothing to places like goodwill or thrift stores (or even re-sell them online) there are still far too many of us who simply add our old garments to the top of the garbage heap. This being said, why not repurpose some of your old clothing into something new?
One of the easiest and most environmentally friendly ways to repurpose things like flannel shirts specifically is to use them to make things that you could use every day like quilted blankets, curtains, rags, or even other clothing! This only takes rudimentary knowledge of sewing/stitching and within a couple of hours, you could have brand new crafts that can be used around the home!
While these are relatively simple art projects for adults, if you intend on making new clothing out of your old flannel, we recommend at least watching a few YouTube tutorials as that can be a bit more challenging. You could even use the flannel to customize your existing clothing and considering that patchwork doesn’t have to be perfect to look interesting, you don’t have to worry about your skill level.
Creative Outlet Cover
The amount of electronics present in any given household these days simply boggles the mind, but something that most of us overlook is just how many wires and chargers often accompany these devices. When they’re all on charge together, it can create quite an unsightly mess on your kitchen counter, or even on your bedroom floor.
So, why not use your crafting skills to neaten up the aesthetic of your charging situation? Using an old shoebox to create a space for your extensions and your chargers is a great way to re-use some things that might be thrown away and it will ensure that your wires never get tangled up again! All you need to do is use a scissors or knife to cut the holes you need into your box of choice and then place your multi-plug and chargers inside. If you are more skilled, you can try your hand at making a charging station out of wood.
Besides being extremely practical this also functions as one of the few useful art projects for adults that can be made on a whim and can even be gifted to your family, friends, and little ones. Feel free to get creative with the types of boxes you use and how you decorate them. Why not them with your kids’ favorite characters or photographs of your significant other? You are only limited by your imagination and of course the length of your plug points.
Woven Ribbon Plates
Do you have a kid’s birthday party coming up? Don’t have time to run to the store for cool plates? Amazon Prime not fast enough for you? Are you considering taking things into your own hands in a manic attempt to make your little one’s special day as memorable as possible? Well then, we have just the kind of adult crafts project to solve your problems.
Woven ribbon plates are easy to make and have an instant impact on the place setting of a kid’s party, all that you need is some ribbon (you might have some leftover from the holiday season) and some paper plates (that you might have left over from your last barbeque) and you’re good to go. Use a knife or hole punch to make the grooves you’ll need and weave the ribbon through them.
You could do a few of them in a matter of minutes, and the best part is you could either use a few colors of ribbon to create some variety or, if the party has a color theme, you could use some ribbon to match it! Or you could use more than one ribbon color per plate to make something really special. Why stop there though? Add some glitter or pain on the rims of the plate to make your woven ribbon plates the talk of the town!
Home Lightbulb Vases
This is definitely a more advanced craft for those of you who are just starting out, but if you feel like rolling the dice, we think that the risk is worth it. We’ve mentioned repurposing things a bunch of times before, but this is by far one of the coolest ways to make something amazing with your crafting skills while still doing your part for the world around you.
All that you need to pull this one off is a set of pliers, an Allen wrench, a lightbulb, and you’re ready to get started. Use the pliers to remove the metal contact point at the bottom of the bulb and pop your Allen wrench inside there. Twist it loose from the internal housing and use long-nose pliers to remove the diode completely. You should now be left with what is essentially an open-ended lightbulb.
Now, all that you need to do is create a stand. You can do this by bending an old metal coat hanger into the shape of your preferred stand. To make things a bit easier for yourself we recommend heating the hanger up just a bit to ensure that you’re wearing gloves graded for use with direct heat beforehand. Once you have your vases suspended all you need to do is fill them with water and add your flowers.
Balloon-Shaped Luminaries
What are luminaries? They’re essentially cool little candle holders that both protect the candle from strong gusts of wind and distribute the light of an open flamed candle evenly and create an overall softer tone compared to just the plain candle. This crafting idea can be used to make quite a bit of luminary and can be modified as your confidence and skill levels increase.
All you need to do is fill your balloon with water until the halfway point. Next, pop some candle wax in pot and heat until it becomes a liquid. Next, dip the balloon into the candle wax slowly, and be sure not to dip it past the waterline. Once you have a good amount of candle wax on the surface of the balloon, remove it slowly from the wax and allow it to harden up a bit.
Repeat the process as many times as is needed to achieve your desired thickness. Once you’re happy with the thickness of your luminary, pop the balloon and allow the water to drain out of your newly formed luminary. That’s pretty much it, feel free to experiment with different wax colors or you could even try modifying the shape of your luminary before inserting your tealight candle. An alternative balloon casting version for this project would be to use paper and plaster of Paris instead of wax.
Home/Office Organization
Since more and more of us are working from home these days, it’s important to stay organized in an effort to remain productive. Plus, it sucks to look for something when you need it urgently, so why not have some fun while making crafts that will ensure all of your crafting and office supplies will be neatly packed away and ready to use any time you need them. Here are a few crafts you can make to ensure that your things are a little more organized.
Paint Swatch Calendar
These days we throw loads of things away, but if you use just a little bit of imagination, you’ll find that you can make wonderful craft pieces out of just about anything if you put your mind to it! A good example of this is paint swatches. Once we’ve selected the color we want, these typically spend the rest of their lives in some dusty drawer or go straight into the trash can.
However, if you’re willing to get creative all that you need to do is mark your pant sample pamphlet with days of the week (or months of the year) and place it in a frame and you’ll have a practical craft piece that you’ll be able to make use of every single day! Not only is this ideal but it can be used by everyone in your home, which means you can cross creativity and community service off your to-do list.
If you don’t have a paint sample pamphlet and you feel like personalizing your calendar even more, why not try and create the same aesthetic effect with some colorful post-its? This isn’t only a creative alternative to the paint sample pamphlet, but it will allow you to pick the colors that you like for each day of the week or month!
Bar Seat Gift Wrap Hamper
Let’s face it, most of us don’t use gift wrap every day and on the odd occasions that we need it, it’s pretty difficult to remember where it is. This craft solves this problem by ensuring that your gift-wrapping paper is always where you left it, and what’s more, is that it’s portable! All that you need is an old bar seat, some wheels, and some chair bags that kids use in kindergarten.
These elements might sound strange, but we promise these are very much used for an adult crafts project. All you need to do is mount some wheels (which you can find at essentially any hardware store) and mount them to the seat of the bar seat. Once mounted, place the chair upside down on its wheels and attach the chair bags to the cross members of the stool and you’re pretty much good to go!
By placing your rolls of gift-wrapping paper in the center you do not have what is essentially a gift-wrapping station on wheels. This is perfect for those late-night gift-wrapping sessions on Christmas eve, or when you know you have a few birthdays coming up. If you’re using a particularly tall chair, why not attach a hinged board to the legs so that it doubles as a worktable too?
Baby Crib Workstation
So, straight off the bat let’s acknowledge that this one is more than a little ambitious, but the end results are incredible so let’s have a look at how to make this awesome take on an improvised workstation. If you have little ones that have since grown up, this is a great way to get your money’s worth out of their old crib, and you’ll save some money on an activities table for them too!
All that you need to do is remove the sliding guard rail on the end of the crib which can be done with some basic tools, and replace the mattress surface with either a blackboard for chalk drawings or another hard-wearing surface that should be able to take whatever punishment your little ones can dish out. Also, feel free to surface the wood structure of the crib with a fresh coat of paint to match their favorite colors or you could even go so far as to adorn it with their favorite characters.
Please keep in mind that this isn’t a small undertaking, and although it might bring joy to the eyes of the little ones that receive it, it could take a day or two to pull off a project of this scale. Consider the time that you have available, as well as the skill and tools, are your disposal before you bite off more than you can chew with this one.
Desktop Organizer
Still have some old shoe boxes laying around that you’re thinking about throwing away? Well, we have just the craft that won’t only allow you to recycle your old shoeboxes but allow you to get some organization on your desktop. These shoebox desk organizers not only make use of those old shoe boxes but integrate something else you likely throw away regularly, toilet paper rolls!
All that you need to do is put those old paper holders upright in your shoebox and you have loads of slots for all of your pens, pencils, markers, and pretty much anything else that you can think of that would otherwise be lying around and cluttering your workspace. Just be sure to pack them nice and tight so they don’t move around in there, which could result in even more of a mess. If you’re a minimalist, you can even opt for the simplicity of a single pencil holder for your desk.
Feel free to decorate both your shoebox and the cardboard cylinders to suit your own personal style, and if you tend to move your stationary around a lot, use some glue to secure the cylinders to the bottom of the box. Not one does this ensure that your stationary won’t be all messed up when you open it, but it will help retain the shape of the cylinders too.
Home/Office Decorations
Mental health is important, and some good decorations for your home can really improve your overall mood if you’re having a particularly bad day. Crafts are also often used as a healthy creative outlet for millions of people, so why not craft some awesome decorations for your home or office? Here are a few easy-to-make crafts that will immediately liven up your home or workspace.
Clothing Peg Flower Holders
If you’re looking for really easy crafts for adults, then why not give the clothing peg flower/plant hold a go? This is so easy to make, and you could make dozens upon dozens of them if you were in the mood to. All that you need is a few old clothing pegs (wooden or plastic will do) and place them on the edge of a used open-ended can. For the latter, you could use old sauce or tuna cans.
You don’t have to stop at simply placing the pegs on the edge of your cans though, if you have wooden pegs why not paint them with fun patterns or flue some fun trinkets like googly eyes to them too? The possibilities are endless and if you have a little one, it’s a fun way to teach them about crafts and plants, effectively killing two birds with one stone.
These might be easy crafts for adults on the surface, but they’re always a great way to lessen your environmental impact, as all of these items would likely be thrown into the trash if they weren’t repurposed into these fun little crafts. It just goes to show that difference doesn’t have to involve you starting a compost heap or switching your home to solar power (but these things help too!).
Cola Bottle Flower Art
Making use of something else that we typically throw away, soda bottles have loads of uses and are some of the most underrated recyclable DIY tools out there right now. For this particular craft, you will be making use of the bottom of the soda bottle to make craft flowers. These can be imprinted on loads of surfaces including canvas, cardboard, wood board, and even metal if you have the right paint.
All that you need to pull off crafts of this style is a (preferably empty) bottle of soda, a surface of your choosing, and some paint. Using the studs, at the bottom of the soda bottle, dip them in some paint and use them to create flower petals on your work surface. This effectively works as a stencil that you can use to make flowers pretty much anywhere that you want.
Why limit yourself to just making flowers though? You could use this as a starting point to make intricate tapestries of an entire forest, or simply use it as an easy means to decorate some of your other workpieces or even the walls of a room (if you’re feeling really confident). This is also a great way to ensure that your soda bottles don’t go to waste over time.
Woven Heart Basket
Some crafts take a lot of skill, and others involve you bringing together a whole host of skills that you have already acquired. The woven heart basket is one of the latter, allowing you to showcase your weaving skills, structural skills, and lastly your ability to make a passable heart shape. The last one is easily remedied with a stencil from the internet though so don’t worry about it too much.
It might seem complicated, but if you follow this step-by-step guide, you’ll be perfectly fine. Either freehand or by using a stencil, cut out a heart shape out of some corrugated cardboard and lay it flat. Once you’ve got that sorted, plant some toothpicks into the edges of the heart all the way around the perimeter, feel free to add some glue beforehand.
Once all of the toothpicks have been placed all that you need to do is weave some colorful string of your choice through the toothpicks and you should have what resembles a 3D box with no lid.
To make the lid, create another heart out of corrugated cardboard and use some hot glue to adhere some of the same string to the surface of the board, but you don’t have to do this if all that you want is an open-ended basket. Finally, decorate the edges of your new basket with plastic gems, more colorful wool, or even some seashells if the mood takes you.
CD Shard Mosaics
Let’s face it since the advent of YouTube and Spotify there hasn’t been much use for CDs. Even the classics that you spent your hard-earned money on and waited in line for are simply obsolete. This doesn’t mean that they have outlived their usefulness though, so why not use them to make some awesome craft while you still have them on hand?
How do you make crafts out of old CDs? Well, there is more than one way to go about it, you could simply decorate and suspend old CDs as they are if you’re going for a retro-futuristic aesthetic. On the other hand, you could use scissors to cut your CDs up and use them as little bits of reflective mosaics that you can adhere to things like Christmas decorations, murals, and even installation art pieces.
This is one of the most inexpensive arts and crafts for adults to make, all that you need is one or more old CDs, a pair of scissors, and some craft glue to make these awesome arts and crafts for adults which are great for any occasion. this being said, we should let you know that you should be extra careful when attempting to cut a CD.
DIY Candle Garden Torch
It’s easy to forget that your garden is part of your home too, and there are loads of outdoor DIY crafts for adults that will allow you to breathe some life back into yours if it’s become a bit long in the tooth. If you’re looking for something simple and elegant though, we recommend looking no further than the DIY candle garden torch.
Inspired by the Tiki garden torches on shows like Survivor, this garden torch strips away tall the straw in favor of a more sophisticated hurricane candle holder and a sleek metal base, which can be attached to an old copped (or wooden) pipe adaptor with a simple screw if you feel like lighting up your pathway.
The glass hurricane isn’t a must, but if you like them, they are relatively cheap and can be picked up at both hardware and thrift stores, essentially anywhere you shop. The best part about their arts and crafts for adults is that they can be modified to your personal space, and you’ll be able to show them off when guests come over!
Plaster of Paris Flowers
If you’re a fan of ornate garden statues like little white angels or granite grey thinking men, then this might be just what you’re looking for. Typically used to decorate the tops of jars for events like weddings, funerals, and even the odd birthday party, plaster of Paris flowers are one of the best ways to class up your mason jars or pretty much anything else you can imagine.
By far one of the best parts about these is how they seamlessly integrate into any environment, simultaneously drawing attention to themselves while equally remaining part of the décor. They’re really easy to make too, all you need to do is mix together some plaster in the correct consistency and then give each of your flowers a dip. You can go all the way up to the stem or simply do the petals, the choice is yours depending on your preference and final application.
The problem with these is that they look good on pretty much anything, which can lead to slight obsession if you aren’t careful, but we wouldn’t blame you if you decided to pop them all around your home just to give it that haunted Victorian feel. The flowers themselves can be pretty expensive though depending on the quality, so choose your supplier wisely.
Maple Leaf Rose Bouquet
We’ll be the first to admit that turning leaves into other flowers seems like a weird idea, but trust us, it looks amazing and is also a really unique way to use some leaves that you might find in your backyard when the seasons change. The part about it is that you can make an entire bouquet, or you can go ahead and make one for that special someone in your life.
This requires some patience and before you know it, you’ll have a completely unique craft piece that you can show off to your friends, family, and guests, or you could even package it as a gift for a special occasion. You can also modify the composition of your bouquet and add little roses made of other flowers or actual roses if you were so inclined.
If you’re having trouble retaining the shape of the leaves don’t hesitate to use some glue to keep them rolled up nice and tight. These make excellent table centerpieces and are both a good conversation starter and demonstration of your expert-level crafting skills. Just don’t forget that they are real leaves, and they will decay over time.
Custom DIY Sneakers
We decided to save the best for last. Shoes are something that we pretty much need every day of our lives, but the ones that we like are often some of the most expensive ones on the market. This being said, why not take a pair of blank sneakers and make them entirely your own? This crafting project is perfect for kids, teenagers, and even adults!
You can put virtually anything that you want on your sneakers, all you need is some fabric glue and/or some fabric markers and you can decorate your shoes with patterns, characters, letters, numbers, or you can get some fabric paint and simply paint your entire shoe a single color! You also have the option of adding things like glitter, stickers, and even small photographs to your shoe.
You don’t just have to make these for personal use either. Customized shoes have the potential to be an incredible present that your kids, friends, and/or family can enjoy all year round! Just be sure to use good quality paint and/or high-quality fabric markers when you make these. The last thing that you want is for all your hard work to be ruined by a little bit of water.
Now that you’ve had a look at which crafts for adults are most popular, it’s time for you to get out there and put your newfound knowledge to the test. Remember to work within your skill and comfort level at first, and to always look for new ways to make your crafts bigger and better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Do Adults Do Crafts?
If you’re worried that creating crafts and art isn’t a very grown-up thing to do, don’t be. There are thousands of adults around the world that do arts and crafts not only as a hobby but as a full-time job! Besides exploring your creativity and finding various ways of expressing your mood and state of mind is extremely beneficial to your mental health and could very well improve other aspects of your life in the process.
Can Craft Be a Hobby?
Just like sports, card games, racing, and dance, crafting is very much a pursuable hobby and can take years of stress off your life. The nice thing about crafts is that there are various disciplines and levels of difficulty for you to explore, allowing you to broaden your knowledge of various crafts and eventually integrate them into your workpieces.
Do We Need Crafts?
The definition of a craft is the act of actively making things by hand, so even if you haven’t realized it, you’ve performed the act of crafting at some point in your life. The question of whether we need crafts is an odd one though, as there are many crafts and trades that we need objectively to survive in our everyday lives, but the objective value of recreational crafts differs from person to person.
