Starting with Nothing

As I was tinkering with some copper wire tonight I was thinking about how one person's trash can become a treasure you can then sell and buy stuff to create even more treasures.
But how do you start with nothing. 

First opportunity:

 Rocks! Everybody loves rocks. 

You can paint rocks. This may entail finding scrap paint. even house paint that you have that half can of. or ask on Facebook if anyone is getting rid of their craft paint or old house paint. If you get spray paint leftovers you can do marbling on anything, including rocks.

You can wrap rocks in wire. Where do you find wire? Just about any piece of dead electric or motorized equipment has wire, you just have to tear it apart to find it.  And who would say no if you asked for their dead gear.

Second opportunity:

Wire! Now you know where to find it.

Make jewelry. there are lot of tutorials on making pendants, bracelets, rings... with wire.

Make ornaments, simple or complex there are tons of cool designs.

Make beads that you can use on your jewelry or ornaments

Third opportunity:

Paper! Its everywhere.  

Fold it, cut it, paste it, make it into mache´. 
Sculpt it, decoupage it,  make envelopes, boxes, origami, beads...

Old newspapers, old magazines, egg cartons, cardboard boxes... You can even use your junk mail.

Fourth opportunity:

Sticks! Unless you are in the desert or prairie or arctic tundra you can find at least one, or two.

Big sticks can be carved or made into walking sticks

Little sticks can also be carved.

So there are a few ideas to get you started from nothing.  I just made 10 items that I will sell at $5 each from a few feet of scrap copper wire I pulled out of a dead motor someone was throwing away. I have enough wire to literally make 100 more items. $500+ from nothing is not a bad return.