Colorists love to color. It is what we do. It is our thing. Show us coloring book pages and we are ON IT! This is a fun, relaxing pastime that encourages creativity. But we usually end up with a lot of colored pages in coloring books. Like. A LOT of colored pages. Piled up, nestled away in drawers and on bookshelves, hidden under our beds….You get the idea. We become colored page hoarders. Which leads to the question: What should we do with all our colored pages? Maniacally stacking them into piles can only go so far. And eventually the family and pets start to complain. So I did a little research (for the sanity of my family). And I found 10 super fun and easy uses for colored pages. I mean these are actually doable and enjoyable.
Keep reading to learn 10 marvelously simple and entertaining uses for all your colored coloring book pages.
- Envelope Liners
Who doesn’t love getting a letter?! It is a modern-day thrill to open an envelope and peek inside to see a letter or card. But what if the envelope ALSO was a special treat? What if you wanted to up your game as a note-sender? Your colored pages are here to help! And it is as simple as Cut-And-Paste. Just cut a colored page to the exact shape and size as the inside flap of an envelope. And paste it on. When the recipient opens the envelope they’ll be delighted by the colorful surprise before they even read your letter.
You can choose any nice image that you have colored. Anything that appeals to you will work in this homemade DIY craft. Personally, I’m partial to animals. You can find all these printable coloring pages here: Llama With Wreath, Dachshund, Koala, Cat Close Up. And printable coloring pages are fantastic because you can adjust them to print different sizes, so you can easily fit the image into the envelope or make a collage of images! Don’t have any envelopes hanging around? Check out these crafty Brown Kraft Paper Envelopes With Self Seal Strips (Because licking envelopes = Yuck!).
2. Decorate Gift Bags
You went through the effort of getting (or making) a gift for someone. But do you just toss it in a bag? What are we, heathens?!? Nope. It’s time to up your gift-giving game with a diy homecraft project. Also, let’s be real, it’ll make your gift look WAY more cool than all the others at that party. Remember to act nonchalant when people ooh and aww. “What? That old bag? Oh I just whipped up a nice little decoration!”
All you need is colored coloring book pages, a plain gift bag, scissors and glue. You can glue your entire colored page to the outside of the bag. Or you can cut out your favorite shapes and designs and glue them on. Either way this will make YOUR gift obviously the best. Obviously. In this project I used some of my favorite holiday coloring pages. You can find them here: Horse With Wreath, Polar Bear With Cub, Stag With Wreath.
If you are fresh out of gift bags, I prefer Brown Kraft Bags. They really suit the vibe of a DIY decorated bag and the warm brown helps the colored page really stand out!
3. Make Book Marks
That’s right. We’re going full geek here. I mean maybe you love books. But are you Make-Your-Own-Bookmarks level geek? It’s time to up your bookworm game! And it’s so easy to make this simple craft at home. Grab your favorite colored pages, some cardboard, scissors and glue. Cut the cardboard into small rectangles (or whatever shape you want your bookmark to be) and glue your colored pages on top. Some crafters like to laminate their colored pages instead of gluing them onto cardboard. But I promised this list would be super easy and I don’t know many people who can easily get hold of a laminator.
Again, I’m a big fan of animals so I used them for two bookmarks. But the third is a woman in a dramatic pose – perfect for the next time I read a dramatic story! All three coloring pages are available now for printing and coloring here: Bulldog With Sunflowers, Fox, Woman With Strappy Shoes. For cardboard I encourage recycling! Cut up a delivery box and get crafting.
4. Decorate Phone Case
You worked hard on your coloring page. And you carry your phone with you everywhere. Doesn’t it make sense to combine the two? Along with your phone case and colored page, you will also need Decoupage glue such as Mod Podge.
Trace your cell phone case on the back of your colored page. Remember to trace out any camera holes. Cut out the cell phone case shape you just traced. Cover your phone case in decoupage glue, place the cut out colored page onto the case, and place more decoupage glue on top. I suggest you let all the glue dry, then apply another coat. Err, probably best if you DON’T keep your phone in the case while applying all this glue.
For this project I chose a colored page with a dynamic composition. Within the confined space of the phone case this dramatic cat pose is perfect! You can print this coloring page here: Cat In Corner.
5. Hang On Your Wall
You are an artist. Your finished coloring pages are art. They deserve a place on the wall. To be admired. The major hindrance to this project is YOU. When you put your art on the wall it’s no longer “just” a craft. You are declaring it is worthy of wall space. That it deserves to be seen and admired. For some colorists this is a big emotional obstacle. So let me be the first to tell you: You are fantastic! Your art deserve to seen. And YOU deserve to be admired for your artistic skills.
You’ll need some picture frames, a hammer and nails. There are plenty of ready-made frames you can easily order. Here is a classy Set of Four Frames that will fit 8×10 inch pictures. Insert your colored art into the frames and hang them on the wall. Couple rules for hanging art: 1. Hang a single famed piece at eye level. 2. When hanging two pieces, treat them as one single work of art and hang them together. 3. Hang gallery displays (three or more pieces) with consistent spacing between pieces. Usually about 2-3 inches.
For this project I used these printable coloring book pages: Dog Close Up, Cat Portrait, Fox On Grass, Boxer In Cap, Rhino
6. Decorate A Tote Bag
You are busy. You have lots of stuff to carry around. So why not strut your awesome creativity with a tote bag? Then up your sauntering game with a tote bag embellished with your coloring art. It’s super duper easy. Take a photo of your colored page OR scan it. Then take the resulting JPG image of your art and upload it to Zazzle. There are these fantastic Blank Tote Bags that you can insert your image onto. You can adjust the color of the tote bag to suit your color palette. Then order! That’s it! Zazzle will print the image onto the tote and ship it to you. Easy peasy!
Speaking of easy, this is a super simple gift idea too. Custom gift-giving never looked so creative. For this project I used this printable coloring page: Bunnies
Of course you don’t have to stop at tote bags! Heck you can upload your colored pages onto Pillows, Blankets, Mugs and more!
7. Decorate Flameless Candle
Is coloring the light of your life? Take your finished coloring pages and set them aglow with a flameless candle. This idea is all about ambiance. The flameless candle adds a bit of soft lighting. And your colored page adds a bit of color and personality.
I know many colorists prefer thick paper for coloring. But for this project thin paper is better (to let the light through). You’ll need a Flameless Candle, Mod Podge, a Foam Paint Brush, and your colored page. Slather some Mod Podge glue onto your candle, wrap the candle with your colored page, then add a layer of Mod Podge onto the colored page to set it in place around the candle. If your coloring page is taller than the candle, wait for the Mod Podge to dry then trim off the top of the paper. Ta-Da! Your candle is marvelous and oh-so unique!
I like printable coloring book pages for this project. That way you can print the image on the paper you want. Plus some printable coloring pages are available as JPG images (like the ones on my Coloring Shop), so you can adjust the size of the image to suit your project! For this project I includes these pages: Golden Retriever, Pitbull Up Close, and Kitten.
8. Line A Drawer
Peek-A-Boo! Ever open a drawer and notice a hint of personality underneath all the knickknacks? That’s probably a drawer liner. And your coloring page is probably the perfect bit of color your drawer needs! This is especially inspiring in your craft supplies storage drawer. You will need a few things: your colored coloring book pages, fixative, scissors and double-sided tape (tape is nice because it’s not permanent). First spray the colored page with fixative. That way your colors won’t smudge. Next make sure your page will fit in the drawer. If not, whip out those scissors and trim the edges. Like my dad always says, measure twice and cut once! Then tape the page into the drawer.
For this project I prefer thicker paper. I want my paper to hold its own against all the goodies I keep in my drawers. And I by goodies I mean all the random stuff I’ll toss on, forget, then desperately look for later. I’m hoping the drawer liner will be a great visual to jog my memory. 110 LB Paper would be nice and sturdy. For this project I also used this printable coloring page: Kitten With Yarn.
9. Wrapping Paper
I mean, it IS paper. So you can absolutely wrap a gift with your colored pages. The only drawback is your gift probably needs to be fairly small. If your gift is a smidge larger you can still use your colored paper. Simply wrap the gift in Brown Craft Paper then tape your colored page on top. I prefer tape instead of glue. Glue can accidentally seep through the paper and get onto the gift. Double-sided tape works great!
You can put the entire page onto the gift. OR cut out the most dynamic part of the page and tape it on. The brown craft paper is hearty enough to serve as wrapping paper. And your colored page adds the pizzazz! For this project I used the printable coloring page: Woman With Wave, Dream Believe Achieve.
10. Make Cards
You put all that time and effort into those coloring book pages. You gave it your all. Why not share your creativity with a heartfelt or funny message? In fact, you could color the page with a certain recipient in mind. Use their favorite colors. Choose a coloring subject that they like. In a way, this can be the ultimate customized gift. Simply fold your image in half and BAM, instant card!
What’s that? You want it to be more difficult? Okeydoke. How about you print out a coloring page on heavy Cardstock Paper? That way your homemade card will stand more easily. Also, thicker paper is often easier to write on. Pen can leak through thin paper.
If you don’t want to fold any of your coloring masterpieces, you can use a Printable Coloring Card – ready for your to print, color and fold! You can find this card here: Dog With Ball On Bouquet
And there you have it! 10 amazingly easy and fun uses for coloring book pages! It’s time to strut your creativity and start crafting! Do you need some easy-access coloring pages for these home crafts? Check out my hand-drawn coloring pages, all ready for you to print today: Coloring Shop
Remember to leave a comment below! Let me know the 1 item on this list you’re going to take action on first.
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