One of the great pleasures of simpler living is developing the confidence to be creative and discovering that it's not only fun but much easier than you thought. When you are living on a tight budget then, as the proverb goes, 'necessity is the mother of invention' and you will find that ingenious solutions present themselves. The biggest hurdle to overcome is the fear of making mistakes - they really don't matter! You'll probably learn more from your failures than your successes. If you're using free, cheap or recycled materials then you can afford to experiment and perfect your idea or design. The great advantage of making things yourself is that you can adapt patterns to exactly suit your needs and some of the following projects will guide you through that process.

The projects on this page will all be fairly easy but if you want to develop your skills and earn some extra money by selling your work, see our Creative Links page. This also has links to suppliers, craft websites and communal open source projects.

Bird feeders

Forest garden - follow the gradual development, includes a herb spiral *

Design-a-bag - includes vegetable and shopping bags

New from old - transforming charity shop bargains

Cork Notice Board - from The Guardian, you'll need to collect a lot of corks first so it may appeal to wine lovers!

Beeswax candles - step-by-step video guide from About.com

Willow Tree Seat - we loved this idea from Gardenworld

Pinata - great fun for children's birthdays

Draught excluders - keep the draughts out and save some money

DIY Bike Panniers - step-by-step instructions from upcraft.it