I’ve been doing so many papery crafts of late I’ve accumulated a bag full of trimmings. This project is how to make beautiful handmade paper with hearts from scraps. Scrap card, scrap paper and bills! 💛
Not a scrap of paper goes to waste in my house and it doesn’t go to the recycling box either. I made this beautiful white paper out of some old bills – that were on white paper. Added in some bits of white paper and some trimmings or paper plates left from another tutorial.
I’m not going to do a full tutorial here, if you want to see a paper making tutorial you can see one I did for another project.
You will need:
- Papermaking mould
- J cloths and a sponge
- Somewhere for your sheets to dry
- Scissors
- Scraps of white paper and/or card
- Scraps of coloured paper
- A bowl to make the paper in
- A blender
- Tear up all the scraps of white paper and card and add them to the blender. You may need to do this in batches.
- Fill the blender with water and whizz up the paper mix.
- When you have enough or have used all your scraps cut the hearts.
- I used a heart shaped paper punch for ease but you can use scissors if you don’t have one.
- Put all the watery paper mulch into the bowl.
- Hold the frame over the bowl and tilt the edge of it nearest to you into the water, then level it up.
- Sprinkle some paper hearts over the top.
- Using a mug / jug pour a little of the mulch over the hearts – this will bind them within the paper.
- Follow the steps in this papermaking tutorial to form the sheet.
- You can leave it to dry on a flat surface but I like to hang mine on an airer or clothes horse to dry in the sun.
You’ll end up with a stack of these beautiful sheets of handmade paper with hearts in. All from paper that you have rescued from landfill. I love the way the hearts sit within the paper. They are sometimes really bold and revealing and at other times they are a bit more shy.
What are you going to do with these sheets now? I spend a lot of time just looking at them, I never really want to touch them after they are made. It is really nice to use them for art and craft projects though and to add to journals. There is a great joy to be found in writing an actual letter to a friend or loved one on these special sheets. There is so much pleasure in receiving snail mail, but on handmade paper, nice touch!
I did use a batch of handmade paper once to make a paper garland – check out that tutorial 💜
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