Project Roundup: Crafting with Duct Tape

Recently, I took Jake and Charlie on a trip back to America to visit family. While we were packing, Jake decided to put some of his pocket money into a seldom used wallet to bring along. Charlie wanted one too, immediately prompting the phrase so often heard around here: "No problem, we can make you one!"

I have long been aware that duct tape crafting is a huge thing, though we'd never really gotten around to trying it ourselves. Online instructions abound, but I followed the steps for the wallet above using my beloved Martha Stewart Crafts for Kids book.

We only had the standard silver duct tape lying around to make Charlie's wallet, but while in America I stopped by a Staples and bought up their stock of cool patterned tape-its cheaper there than in England. Jake immediately ran home and covered his backpack with camo tape. I'll have to take a picture of it when he gets home from school.

Since then, I've gone online and looked around for more duct tape crafting instructions. So many of them seem geared towards girls, but the following projects all appeal to us (and to girls, too, I hope!) We'll be trying some of these out in the coming weeks and posting results to my Facebook page (also called Crafting a Beautiful Life), so check back for those and do share your own, too.

These amazing tape over cardboard sleds come from Artzycreations. Wish I'd known about them before our trip to America where that recent polar vortex gave the boys a rare chance to go sledding.

I recently posted about the virtues of crafting with cardboard, and these simple but very beautiful cardboard houses from Pink Sugarland are right up our alley.

Another craft I wished I'd thought about before our trip was this very portable game of checkers, instructions for which came from the Parents website.

This is another upcycled cardboard craft (it also utilizes plastic jugs for the handles on the back) that would get a lot of mileage in my house. It's intended as a Viking history project, and comes from a cool and crafty mom at Deceptively Educational.

And lastly, a quick and easy project with an endless possibility for customization are these arm and wrist bands from Sarah at Frugal Fun For Boys.

Have any other amazing duct tape projects you want to share? Leave a link to yours in the comments section below. Happy crafting.