Diskette Notebooks

Quick and cute! Cheap and, well, cheap! Easy and recycle-y!
Believe it or not, this was made with the scraps left over from the paper stars last week. That's how recycle-y I am! (Ok, or how pack-ratty. Or how much of a slob I am that the offcuts were still lingering a week later. We will speak of it no more, for the scraps have been transformed.)
Supplies
2 (dead or useless) disks per notebook.
Scissors.
Scrap paper cut to size.
Hole Puncher.
Ruler and pencil if you feel fancy and all precise.
2 small metal key-rings (the junky kind that the mechanics use on those paper tags).

Cut paper! Punch holes! Attach keyrings!
Voila! C'est magnifique! ^.^

Paper stars came out nicely!

These have been turning out good!
I tried: magazine pages + glue stick,
wallpaper samples + double sided tape and
catalog pages and double sided tape.
Very satisfying!
These are from the pattern I mentioned in the SRP Metamorphosis theme below, from ThisRecycledLife- you can just add in sections to make them with more points, like the 6 pointed wallpaper star.
One thing I have to say is that as pretty as the wallpaper one is, the pretty side of the paper is just a little too slick to hold the double sided tape nicely, and I am sure it would need some kind of clamping to get glue to set.
Best and easiest results were magazine pages with double sided tape.
Again, thanks Paulette for finding this one! It's a keeper!
ps. that is my very handsome cat Jellyroll Morton inspecting the catalog star up at the top. He is a curious beast.

Memory Wire Bracelets

This was my March project, and it went pretty well. We have a big coffee can of mixed seed beads, and I brought in a bunch of African glass beads, some cheesy cheerleader charms, and some wooden beads I knew I'd never use.

Difficulty: 1 out of 5. If a teen can slide a bead on to a wire, they're golden.

Cost: 3 out of 5- more if you need to get beads from scratch ( if you don't have some lying around and don't have time to thrift-hunt).

Supplies
$2.00
for 12 Memory Wire Bracelet Blanks

$2.00 for a pair of chain nose pliers, if you don't have any. You probably do.

Optional: cutting pliers (in case you have kids who run out of time but want their bracelet finished off where they are, if you know what I mean.)

$1.00 - $???? for beads. The thing with the beads is that if you have the $$$, getting some nice seed beads that can be matched with your bigger fancy beads, your teens will be able to quickly make beautiful bracelets. If not, they will either hunt and pick through your mixed up mess of seed beads to find matching colors, or they will give up on matching and make kind of fugly color mixes in order to try to finish their project in the hour.

Hints or tips- Well, most teens will have no problem at all with this project. The only difficulty I had was that 2 of my special needs teens weren't able to really handle the little seed beads and ended up making (very very quickly, too) bracelets entirely made of the big beautiful African glass beads I had brought in to be used as accent beads. This meant that these 2 girls rapidly decimated the supply of the 'fancy' beads, while teens who were trying to make the project as intended were left poking sadly through the coffee can in search of matching seed beads. Again, this is a project where although it is so simple, differences in skill level make for very different results. I must say that the teens who made the bracelets as they are meant to be made had really cool pieces that they loved, and that they thought it was totally fantastic, and the two girls who didn't really follow the plan loved the clunky chunky bracelets they made, so it was an overall success. Would definitely repeat. Even had two boys make bracelets for their sick sister! ^.^

Coffee Filter Roses

This is an incredibly easy, cheap, and satisfying teen craft! Perfect for Valentine's Day.
I first saw this on craftster too, and then found a woman who appeared on the Martha Stewart Show demonstrating her technique for making the coffee filter roses. The craftster version is a little rough and ready, the Mommy Makes Roses version is a little obsessive, so I kind of combined both versions.
Link to original Craftster tutorial
Link to Mommy Makes Roses website and her Martha Stewart tutorial

Instead of using the round basket style filters, I used the cone shaped ones, and instead of painting them individually, I dipped them in watered down paint and dried them before cutting out the petal shapes. One other thing I did that worked well for me was I just wired on some leaves from silk flowers- I had used the flowers for a wreath a while ago but knew I'd have a use for the leaves at some point so kept them around- being a pack rat can have it's (admittedly small) rewards! But the leaves look nice and give the roses a little stability. Be warned- more adults are asking about the roses than teens- some I made in black and red were liked more by the goth girls. The library is even selling them as part of the Valentine's Booksale, and I used one to dress up a book display!






Difficulty: 3 out of 5. It's an easy project, but takes one or two tries to get the knack of it- clumsy teens might get frustrated (but will still be able to make something kind of reasonable looking).

Cost: 1 out of 5. Cheap cheap cheap. I am assuming that you have paint and scissors? Is that expecting too much?

Supplies
$2.00
Cone shaped coffee filters (or basket style if you need to go even cheaper.)

$1.00
wooden barbecue skewers

$1.50
paddle of 24 guage floral wire

$1.50
floral tape

Hints or tips- well, the tutorial is really good, but I think making it right on the skewer is easier and more efficient than the corsage-pin thing KaylaWTE does. If you felt like being finicky, gluing a bead to the end of the skewer would be a nice touch.

Alternative easier instructions for younger kids or teens without crafty skill!