If this isn’t free/cheap, DIY art & decor, I don’t know what is! Click the photo to find out how to make or buy these things. Thanks to Pinterest and Etsy for the awesome ideas. Here’s Broke & Healthy’s Pinterest board.
Also, if you’re taking several paint chip samples, especially if it’s from a small business, be polite and offer to pay for these samples. If we abuse the system, one day they won’t be free for anyone!
1. Framed art
2. Spiral Notepads
3. Moving Cards
4. Coasters
5. Ceiling Art
6. Placemats
7. Earrings
8. Greeting Cards
9. Gift Cards
10. Party Banner
11. Lamps
12. Mini Gift Bags
13. Rolodex/Recipe Separators
14. Valentine’s Day Cards
15. Bookmarks
16. Mobiles
17. “Wallpaper”
18. Necklaces
19. Business Card Holders
20. Hanging Art (Adult Mobiles?)
21. “Pixel Art”
22. Wallets
23. Greeting Cards
24. Origami
25. Magnets
26. Christmas Ornaments
27. Abstract Art
28. Bike Wheel Decor
29. Colored Calendar
30. Confetti
31. Target Wall Runners
32. Name Placecards
33. Stitched Cards
34. Embellished Shapes
35. Mini Flag Runners
36. Pinwheel Framed Art
37. Gift Boxes
38. Retail-Style Jewelry Cards
39. Wreaths
40. Color Orbs
41. Clocks
42. Garland
43. Pinned Art
44. Mini Notepads
45. Mini Scrap Book Covers
46. Glass Table Top
47. Kid’s Games
48. Geometric Collage
49. Stitched Greeting Card
50. Utensil Holder
January 25, 2013 at 5:11 am
I had no idea about colors combination but after read your blog I cleared everything. You teach me and provide me good list of colors. Thanks
November 13, 2012 at 1:06 am
Do you have instructions on some of these? I am interested mainly in the clock. I have lots of paint chips. When I go into Lowe’s, they tell me to help myself to whatever I need. The trick is not to be greedy about it. I make several trips and take a few at a time. Thank you.
November 15, 2012 at 10:11 am
I don’t have any instructions, personally. You’ll need to click through to the original websites and see if the original designers posted any directions. Sorry!
August 2, 2012 at 10:06 am
I really want to do the paint chips on a desk top, just like the table above. But how would I go about securing the plexiglass to the surface once the paint chips are laid down????
August 2, 2012 at 11:54 am
Rachael, my guess is, if you use a glass table-top instead of plexiglass, the weight of the glass would be heavy enough to secure itself. Plexiglass seems a bit too light to me. However, if you DO use plexiglass, maybe screwing it down directly into the 4 corners of the table would hold it down?
September 14, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Just be careful when screwing plexiglass down. You will need to drill a hole in it first, or it will break.
July 31, 2012 at 4:03 am
i used to collect paint chips(wierd obsession i know)and i found them a couple days ago thinking “what in the world am i gonna do with these”but i found this site and now have used nearly all of my cards!(there was about 150 i think…..maybe less idk)i also had the idea of making a treasure hunt with them for my nieces(i hid clue cards made out of the chips everywhere telling a clue to where the next one would be and the final clue said where to find the mega prize)(that was two big eggs)
July 30, 2012 at 10:59 am
Omg!!! This is so cool! I have so many paint chips and didn’t know what to do with them and now I do!!! Thank you so much for posting this!!!!! I will definetly use the staple idea!!
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July 20, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Pretty soon paint chips will NOT be free in stores…..for this exact reason.
August 7, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Not necessarily- Lowe’s is running a contest on the best ideas using paint chips- the bicycle shown here is on their website.
July 15, 2012 at 5:18 pm
These are great! Thanks so much.
I have a bunch of paint chips that I want to make wall paper out of. How do you recommend I keep them on the wall? I can’t paint in my apartment and holes have to be kept at a minimum. I’m afraid tape won’t hold. Any suggestions? Thanks!
July 26, 2012 at 2:52 pm
just looking througfh these projects but,
i have an idea for : Felicia (July 15, 2012 at 5:18 pm)
glue the paint chips to either poster boards , a roll of paper -either brown packing paper or try to find a roll of plain white art paper… or maybe even contact paper (but it would be more expensive and may even pull paint off walls – so I would test a small spot near floor or in closet first.
then use the ‘command strips’ that stick to the wall and ur hanging and kind of “velcro” together to hold it up… or even poster sticky putty may work. Depending on what you use, i would glue the chips before hanging since it may bleed through thinner papers.
Good luck, sounds like a fun project!
June 5, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Thank you so much for posting my Paint Sample Wallet and for such inspiring ideas! This is awesome!
May 2, 2012 at 8:33 am
This is a great collection of paint chip ideas Ande! I’ve seen some of these ideas on Pinterest too, but there are some lovely fresh ones here that I hadn’t yet discovered. What a great idea for a post – thanks for curating all the great ideas for displaying here. I’m repinning so that I can have reference to it in future
April 4, 2012 at 10:11 am
Awesome ideas! The glass tabletop, pixel art, and placemats are so fun and crafty!
August 2, 2012 at 10:07 am
Do you have an idea as to how to secure the glass/plexiglass onto the surface of the table, once the paint chips are laid down?
March 29, 2012 at 12:04 pm
all these are to hard paint
March 28, 2012 at 12:07 pm
TY so much…can;t wait to use the scrapbook cover idea for our Kid’s Chorus…we also run a Lobby craft “Hands on” craft time follow up to our singing sessions… these are such fun! Now
we will have some fantastic new ideas because of you! Hugs!
March 26, 2012 at 8:55 pm
how do you hang r glue all of those to a wall? I would love to do this since i am a renter, but do not want to damage the walls
March 10, 2012 at 10:11 am
50 things to do with paint chips is fantastic. Thanks so much for posting it. I’m always amazed by the creativity of people. I can’t wait to share it with my stamping art friends.
February 12, 2012 at 3:21 pm
cool ideas! tfs
February 2, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Very pretty and original but while these cards are free to YOU, they’re not FREE to the stores that have to pay for them. So it’s a little like ‘stealing’ isn’t it? Can’t imagine what a store would say if they noticed someone taking a whole pile of those color cards….any comments or experiences? Somehow I doubt they’d say ‘oh sure…help yourself to several hundred…we don’t mind’
February 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm
As Long as you dont take to many at a time, there fine with it at home depot. Lowes enjoys seeing what you do with them. So yeah.
January 15, 2012 at 4:24 am
Great, thanks for sharing this article. Awesome.
December 22, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Just grabbed a boodle of paint chips today
Now I have TONS of ideas for what to do with them! THANK YOU!!!
December 29, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Woohoo, you’re welcome!
March 30, 2012 at 7:46 am
aw jess! i miss you. please come visit us soon. you are wemloce here any time day or night!! and our life is far from perfect, but we are very very happy with how things are im very thankful for it and really am just trying to focus on that more and more rather than being distracted by craziness that seems to take over!
November 13, 2011 at 1:26 am
Thanks for including a Word for Word Greetings collage as #48.
Visit our etsy shop for paint chip greeting cards, ready to hang wall art, paint chip poem magnets, buttons & more: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WordForWordGreetings
November 10, 2011 at 12:04 pm
How did you make the ceiling art? I would love to do that!
October 27, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Love all these creative ideas – looking at paint chips in a new light!
October 27, 2011 at 9:26 am
This is awesome! Trina, I love the idea for scrapbooking. Thanks for the eraser advice!
October 26, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Good Ideas!….I use paint chips for scrapbooking, they are great for matting photos. Also a little tip….you can use a white eraser, on the writing/numbers that is on the paint chips, takes it right off, without any marks. *:*
October 24, 2011 at 11:03 am
A girl after my own heart!!!! You’ve been bookmarked in my system for.ev.er!
I did a pennant project back in July ( link below) and I’ll be doing a similar one this week on my What I Made Wednesday post! Hope you stop by and check it out!
http://feellovdeveryday.blogspot.com/2011/07/red-white-and-blue-paint-chips-pennant.html
October 24, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Very cool, Lilly!! Thanks for stopping by!
August 24, 2011 at 6:40 pm
In the first necklace picture, what are those metal circles that go around the hole punch called?
August 29, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Yikes, I have no idea what the name of those are, Caitlyn… but if you go to just about any beading store, you’ll find everything you need to put this together.
October 24, 2011 at 11:04 am
Caitlyn,
Hi, over here at feel LOVD everyday. Just way your comment and I think you are referring to the “jump rings”.
March 24, 2012 at 10:02 pm
I’ve heard them called ‘eyelets’ in the scrapbook section. They’re cool to use for lots of different things like that.
October 26, 2011 at 2:10 pm
grommets… they sell them in the scrapbooking section in a bunch of different colors….
February 8, 2012 at 10:35 am
Caitiyn,
Those little things are called grommets.
Kathy
March 26, 2012 at 11:13 pm
If you are talking about the one that holds the chip to the chain..it’s an eyelet or grommet, and you can also buy jump rings in the jewellery section of any craft store that sells beads etc.
Hope this helps! Happy crafting!
August 14, 2011 at 3:29 pm
awesome stuff here! thank you so much for including our paint chip Christmas ornaments. I get discontinued stacks of them from paint companies that would have gone in the trash and love coming up with fun ways to use them
August 11, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Awesome Ande….Very creative.