My dear friend Helen Read started a group of “Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators Against Waste”, which is a fabulous resource to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our crafting. We wanted to do a blog hop with some of the ideas, and here it is!
I decided to pull out an idea I’d been wanting to play with for a while, making my own paper from cardstock scraps! Here’s a look at the steps I took. The mould and deckle I got was from Amazon, but you can make your own, and often find them at second hand or art stores. I got three 4″ x 6″ sheets from my small handful of scraps, but could have easily made more.
Collect scraps you’d like to use. 
Tear them into small pieces. 
Blend with a bit of water until it forms a pulp. 
Dump your pulp into a water bath, adding any inclusions. 
Mix your pulp up. 
“Pull” sheets with a mould and deckle. 
Drain the water from your sheets. 
Pull as many sheets as you can! 
Speed up drying with a heat tool, dehydrator, or low temperature oven.
I then tore an edge to keep the rough and handmade look going…
And here’s the finished project!
The best part of this is that you’re using scraps you would be throwing out (or hopefully at least recycling) otherwise, and making something completely unique and custom out of it. You can further customize it by adding a watermark (just press a stamp into the pulp while it’s still damp), including things like glitter or other inclusions, or even adding scent with essential oils, the possibilities are endless!
Take a look at some other ideas from our creators on how to reduce or eliminate waste from your crafting by hopping along the blog roll below…
And if you’d like to get some new supplies to make your own cards with, you can click on any of the items below to be taken directly to my online store.
 $10.25 |  $24.00 | |||
 $13.00 |  $41.00 |  $9.50 |  $13.50 |  $14.00 |
 $5.50 |  $5.50 |  $7.25 |  $34.00 |
And don’t forget to use my host code (in the top left corner of this and every page on my site) and you’ll get this amazing tutorial bundle for free!
Happy stamping!
Stefanie
I would never have even known you can do this. Thank you for sharing
This is Brilliant Stefanie. I used to do this ages ago and I have all the stuff to do it!! I will revisit again
Ha ha! Great minds, eh? I’m so glad you used coloured paper as I wanted to see what it looked like. Loving the “camo” look! Thanks for the shout out for the FB group too
Loving both your’s and Helen’s handmade paper ideas and I’ve never tried using my trimmer to tear a straight line~ terrific tip!
What a great idea!! I will definitely be giving this a go!
I have a recycling paper kit here, I need to do this. What a great idea and a fabulous result!
Wow, I’d never thought of making my own paper, love the finished card
Love, love, love your card and the recycled papermaking process you shared. x
I really want to try this, TFS 🙂