Sort leftover drills by DMC code into labeled containers first: that stash is your free supply of replacement drills for the next kit that comes up short. Whatever's left over after that, use on freestyle projects. Mini cards take a few hundred drills, a small blank canvas takes thousands, and glue-on crafts take a pinch at a time. Mixed, unlabeled drills are best for abstract designs where the colors don't need to match.
Step one: sort before you craft
A mixed jar of leftovers looks great and is nearly useless. A labeled stash solves real problems: when a kit arrives missing a color, or a bag runs out three rows from the end, you check your stash before you order anything (our missing drills guide covers the rest).
When you finish a kit, pour each leftover bag into its own container and write the DMC code on the label. Track what you own on our printable DMC color chart checklist, so you can see at a glance which codes you already have.
Two storage setups that suit a growing stash:
- The ARTDOT 4-pack stackable organizer has 140 slots in drawers, with each container holding about 10 grams, roughly 2,000 drills, per the listing. It comes with blank labels and a collapsible funnel.
- For a smaller stash, Mr. Pen 28-grid boxes (two boxes, 160 labels) cost less and stack in a drawer.
Our diamond painting storage guide compares these with bigger cases.
Projects ranked by drills used
Pick by how many drills you have to spare and how much time you want to spend. Drill counts below use the same grid math as our diamond painting calculator (2.5 mm square, 2.8 mm round).
| Project | Drills it uses | Effort | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spare stash for future kits | Any amount | None | Labeled storage |
| Glue-on crafts (frames, lids, cards) | A pinch to a few hundred | Low | Precision craft glue |
| 2 x 3 in mini art card | About 490 round | One sitting | Blank cards |
| Ornaments, coasters, suncatchers | Hundreds per piece | Low to medium | A kit; leftovers fill or customize |
| 20 x 20 cm blank canvas | Up to about 6,400 square / 5,000 round | A few evenings | Blank canvas |
| 30 x 40 cm blank canvas | Up to about 19,200 square / 15,000 round | Weeks | Blank canvas and a plan |
Blank-canvas counts assume the whole surface is gridded. Check each listing for the actual grid area and drill shape.
Mini art cards: the easiest way to use up small amounts
The forever young freestyle mini diamond art cards are sold for exactly this. The listing describes 30 blank 2 x 3 inch cards for round 2.8 mm drills, with a holographic film layer. There's no pattern, so you can draw your own outline, do stripes, or fill a card with one color fading into the next. At around 490 drills a card, one evening clears a lot of half-empty bags. It's a newer listing with fewer ratings than our other picks.
Blank canvases: a full freestyle painting
Blank diamond painting canvases have the adhesive and a printed grid but no picture. You sketch a design in pencil on the film, or pick a simple shape like a mandala, a sunset gradient or a heart, and fill it from your stash.
- OneHippo 30 x 40 cm blank canvas, 5-pack: a full painting canvas per the listing, sold in round and square grid versions. Choose the grid for the drills you have most of. No frame or drills included.
- OneHippo 20 x 20 cm blank canvas, 5-pack: the same canvas in a size you can actually fill from leftovers.
Start with the 20 x 20 cm size. A 30 x 40 cm canvas takes close to 20,000 square drills, and most stashes run out of any single color long before that. Gradients and abstract designs forgive odd color counts; a detailed picture doesn't.
Small kits: ornaments and coasters
Small-format kits come with their own drills, but leftovers are useful there too. Swap in a color you like better, fill a background, or replace the drills that bounced under the sofa. These are also the projects that pass a finished-kit high to a beginner, so they make good gifts with a few extra bags of spares tucked in. Our guides to suncatcher kits, diamond painting coasters and Christmas ornaments cover the best sets.
Glue-on crafts
Anything flat and hard can take drills with glue: picture frames, jar lids, pen barrels or plain ornaments. A B7000-type glue is the usual choice because its needle tip places a tiny dot. The FITTDYHE B7000 (50 ml, precision tip) listing names greeting cards and ornaments among its uses and gives a surface drying time of 5 to 10 minutes, with a full cure at 24 hours. The listing doesn't cover safety, so read the warning label on the tube and work with a window open.
Use tweezers or your diamond pen to place each drill on its dot. Keep these crafts for display. A glued drill on a phone case that lives in a pocket will get knocked off eventually.
Give them away
If the stash has outgrown its shelf, schools and senior-center craft groups often take sorted drills for freestyle projects, and kids like them for sticker-style art. Bag them by color, label the codes and check that the group's age range suits small parts: drills are a choking hazard for young children.
What to buy
- Storage for the stash: ARTDOT 140-slot organizer or Mr. Pen 28-grid boxes
- A quick first project: freestyle mini cards
- A bigger freestyle piece: 20 x 20 cm blank canvases
If you only do one thing, label your stash. Every future missing-drill problem gets cheaper. For finished paintings rather than spare drills, see what to do with finished diamond paintings.
Product details come from each seller's Amazon listing, checked October 3, 2026. Drill counts are grid math at 2.5 mm square and 2.8 mm round. How we research · Affiliate disclosure