How to make seeded paper from your Stampin’ Up!® scraps

 

Today I am proud to be taking part in a Zero Waste blog hop, showcasing Stampin’ Up!® projects which re-use or repurpose waste to create beautiful new projects. 

The three main principles of Zero Waste are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle... in that order. Recycling is the last resort so to repurpose my little scraps of Basic White cardstock for another day, I used them to make some seeded paper for this rustic-looking card. 

 

This beautiful handmade paper can be used to make cards, gift tags and more – and the recipient can plant it in their garden to grow wild flowers to attract pollinating insects. 

Want to know how to make handmade seeded paper for your own craft projects? I’m happy to say it was really easy. 

 

I always save those narrow strips of Basic White cardstock as they are useful for greetings and sentiments. But for the past few weeks I have also been saving those oddly shaped scraps left behind by punches or dies. It soon became a habit to throw them into this bucket instead of putting with my other paper waste for recycling. 

 

My tip for saving small scraps of cardstock or paper for making handmade paper is to cut or tear it into smaller pieces as you go. Doing so will take barely any time at all compared to doing it all in one go when it comes to making the paper. 

 

Tutorial: how to make seeded paper from your Stampin’ Up!® paper scraps

 

To make the paper you will need:

• Paper scraps. For this first attempt I used only Basic White but you could experiment with different colours
• Water
• Wildflower seeds - try to use wildflowers which are native to your area
• A food processor or blender. Most tutorials tell you to use an old one you won't use for food but as my Basic White scraps don’t contain any harmful inks, I used my usual processor and washed it thoroughly afterwards
• Ink (optional)
• Towels/tea towels. One tutorial I saw used kitchen paper which rather defeats the object I think. Use something you can use again!
• A flat baking sheet
• Greaseproof paper (optional)
• A rolling pin or glass bottle
• A wire cooling tray or cooking spatter guard.

1. If you haven't already done so, cut or tear the Basic White cardstock scraps into small pieces. Place them in a blender; I filled my food processor about halfway which resulted in two sheets of handmade paper, each a little larger than a standard sheet of A4 cardstock.

2. Cover the paper with water and leave to soak. I left it overnight.

3. Blend in short bursts, moving it around with a wooden spoon between bursts. The texture you are aiming for is that of a very thick soup or cake mixture, so I added a little more water to achieve this. If you make it too wet, tip it onto a towel and squeeze of the moisture some out.

4. Tip the pulp into a large mixing bowl. Before adding any seeds, first I would advise removing half of the pulp and storing it in a sealed jar for later, or for making other colours.

5. Now add the seeds to the half in the bowl. Go easy here – I think I added way many. I also noticed that some of my seeds stained the paper yellow. If you wish, add a few drops of ink or food colouring to dye it. I used some retired Wild Wasabi ink for my second batch and ended up with something akin to Soft Sea Foam.

6. Make a pad of towels on top of a baking sheet and press the paper as flat as you can. Cover with a fine-weave towel or piece of greaseproof paper and flatten further with the rolling pin or glass bottle.

7. Add a towel on top and carefully flip over so the new towel is at the bottom. This is where the baking sheet comes in really handy. Repeat the rolling a couple of times, removing the wet towel and replacing with a dry one.

8. When the paper is as flat and thin as you dare, transfer it to a cooling rack or a spatter guard and leave to dry for a day or two, or even longer if required. 

 

Now you have your handmade seeded paper which you can use as you wish. As you can see, my first batch has yellow speckles where the seeds stained the paper, which is why I added ink to my second batch to make green. 

 

Before using your handmade paper, flatten it further in the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine or other die-cutting machine. This gives it a nice smooth finish to stamp on, and makes it thinner. 

 

 

 

 Be careful when using handmade paper with punches, especially if you have added seeds. I’ve blunted a tag topper punch on this paper, but big simple shapes worked well. You still run the risk of a seed catching so be very careful. 

 

If using your handmade paper with dies, flatten it first, as shown above, then run it through with the die a few times and be prepared to trim with scissors as well. Big simple shapes work best – don’t attempt it with anything complicated. Again, be aware of hard seeds.

 

Now I have lots of die cut shapes ready to use on future projects, but for my blog hop project I have embossed the paper using the Dandelions 3D Embossing Folder. Embossing folders work really well – just make sure your paper isn’t too thick as this could split the folder at the hinge. 

 

I embossed my dandelions towards the edge of my handmade paper – you can see where the ink is a little more concentrated – and tore the rest of the shape to fit the card. I folded the paper around the card which weakened the paper and allowed me to tear in a fairly straight line.

I have avoided all plastic on this card so used linen thread and some tiny die-cut flowers (from the Floral Squares Dies) as my embellishments. I want the recipient to be able to plant the whole card if they wish. 

The greeting says “Good things are worth waiting for” from the Enjoy the Moment stamp set, which is especially relevant in this case as the flowers won’t be blooming until the summer at least.

This Zero Waste blog hop has come about as a result of the recent launch of the SU Demonstrators Against Waste Facebook Group (#SUDemosAgainstWaste), which already has 250+ members. I am constantly seeking ways to live a greener lifestyle and do my best to reduce waste wherever I can. All my class kits are sent out in recyclable or reused packaging – and many mailing boxes get used time and again as customers kindly return them to me.

I'm not going to save the world but every little helps – which is the whole point of #ZeroWaste. We as individuals can never achieve Zero Waste but, as Anne Marie Bonneau, author of The Zero Waste Chef, said:

 

“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

 

 
Please now follow the links below to see what other Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators around the world have made for this Zero Waste blog hop.

Blog Hop Index

If this project has inspired you and you are a Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator, please get in touch for details of the SU Demos Against Waste Facebook Group. If you are a customer in the UK and would like to order any Stampin’ Up!® supplies, please consider me as your demonstrators. If you shop online using the January host code RNU3JCR9, I will send you a thank you gift next month.

To make it easy for you, please shop using this link

Does your wish list come to more than £99? Stop right there! I can help you get more for your money all year round, so please message me via my website 

 

Garden Goodness with two-tone tomatoes

I’m really not into Valentine’s Day projects. Hearts, flowers, soppy sayings and all that pink and red just turn me off. If you’re like me and want something a little quirky, how about sending a card made with Garden Goodness?

Why? Because tomatoes are also known as “love apples”, thanks to the French seeing their heart-like shape and assuming this must mean they have aphrodisiac qualities! They called them “pommes d’amour”! 🍅❤️

What do you think? Do tomatoes put you in the mood for luuurrrve?

To get the two-tone toms, first ink up with an orange ink (Pumpkin Pie used here), then sponge on top with a red ink (I used Merry Merlot because this was one of my Stampy Buffet projects and my other red inks were busy elsewhere). 

Autumnal card with Snow Front

I do hope you like trees as much as I do because there are going to be many more woodland-themed projects coming from me! I think every stamp set I have ordered from the new Autumn/Winter catalogue has at least one tree image.

For this project, I used the new Snow Front stamp set to make a small card with autumn trees. The 'snow' stamp is perfect to make autumn leaves for these little trees and, thanks to my tree obsession, I had a choice of products to put with it, eventually settling on the Pinewood Planks embossing folder for my background.

Stamp your greeting before embossing the white cardstock for a really professional look. I love techniques like this, which may the recipient go "how...?"
 

By the Bay Week: Simple or stepped up?

By the Bay Week comes to a close with two projects which aren’t a million miles from the Make & Take I showed you earlier in the week, and uses the same technique to mask the birds...



In fact, these were early prototypes for the Make & Take and are an example of how the same design can be extremely simple (the card on the left) or slightly more complicated (on the right). In fact, the card on the right isn’t complicated at all; it’s just more expensive to make as it uses the Rectangle Stitched Framelits to add stitching to most of the elements, and there are some pearls embellishing the card, too.

But #simplestamping projects can be just as satisfying – and are perfect not just for beginners but for crafters in a hurry.

Now seems like a good opportunity to remind you that time is running out to get this beautiful stamp set... which is only available free with a £45 order during Sale-a-Bration, which ends on 31st March. Please don’t leave it too late, as it’s a gorgeous set which you’ll be using for years to come!

By the Bay Week! Sponged seaside cottage

It’s By the Bay week here at All Things Stampy – a time to celebrate this gorgeous but oft-overlooked Sale-a-Bration stamp set with a new project every weekday. Some of you may have been put off by the thought of colouring that highly detailed main image, but here is a technique which makes it simple...

Thanks to this wonderful tutorial from Mitosu Crafts, I created this sponged image. I used slightly different colours, as I prefer the vivid Pacific Point to the dark and moody Night of Navy, and I added a red front door to make it pop.

I was showcasing the fabulous Stitched Rectangle Framelits, which can be used to make many more sizes of rectangle than the ones included in the pack. Here I used a die wider than the pouch to create the stitched effect just along the top and bottom of the image.

Inside the pouch is a pack of Old Olive Baker's Twine for the host – it’s one of her favourite colours.

I also showed this version, made into a card. This one uses the darker Night of Navy ink around the edges and, instead of creating the stars with a chalk marker, I spattered Frost White Shimmer Paint across the image and the whole card for a brighter, shinier effect. I actually prefer this but didn’t demo it as it takes quite a while to dry.

Big thanks to Barry and Jay for their tutorial!

Nine Lives: simple and stepped-up

A simple cat card... and a stepped-up version for the more avid crafter. For the simple version, I left the Big Shot in the craft room and stuck to stamps, ink and paper. However, I did make the cat into a tabby using the clever two-step stamps in the Nine Lives stamp set. I stamped in Gray Granite and added just a tiny touch of Pool Party around the base.

For the stepped-up version, I coloured the cat using Stampin’ Blends and cut out my layers using the fabulous new Rectangle Stitched Framelits. I used Braided Trim instead of Linen Thread, added a background of Wood Textures DSP and finished off with some sequins. Which one do you prefer?

Peaceful Place... viewed through the round window

I absolutely love this image from Peaceful Place and I’m determined to make time to use this stamp set more, if only to prove to one of my doubting customers that it IS versatile!

For this card I began by watercolouring the image on watercolour paper. I stamped with Stazon and – top tip – if you do this using the Stamparatus, you can ensure you get a totally crisp image, which doesn’t always happen when stamping on watercolour paper. How? You stamp once and then if you’ve missed a bit, or it’s simply not crisp enough, you ink up the stamp again and stamp again... in exactly the same place. 

I needed an accent to go on the card and suddenly remembered I have these lovely wooden elements which I’d almost forgotten about. They're called Frames Elements and I received them way back in February when I received my box of goodies for my OnStage display projects. I used loads of them at the time, so was surprised to see that I still have loads left. 

Sneak Peek: Tropical Thinlits meets the macramé trend

Remember those push-the-boat-out tropical plants I showed you last week? These are the same dies but used to make a bang-on-trend macramé-themed card.

It’s worrying to think that macramé is now back in fashion, as I remember it the last time round. If that’s not a sign of getting old, I don’t know what is.

I made a basket using the Layering Ovals Framelits (just slice an oval in half!) and the Basket Weave embossing folder, then painted some die-cut leaves with watered down inks. You could paint the watercolour paper first and then die-cut; it really doesn’t matter.

I knotted some linen thread at the top to create the hanging element of the basket, splashed some ink around and finished it off with this beautiful ribbon, which I now know to be Gorgeous Grape, although at the time of making this card, all I had was a roll of unlabelled ribbon to play with and the excitement of knowing that a Colour Revamp was on its way but being unable to tell anyone about it!
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Mix It Up Monday: Wonderland

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts. I love greens and earthy tones, as you may have noticed, and I thought this combo was perfect for some trees, using a borrowed (and much coveted) stamp set, Wonderland. 

I stamped with Old Olive and then stamped again without re-inking to get a paler shade. The very dark green in the foreground is gorgeous Mossy Meadow. Tip Top Taupe only plays a minor role on the front of this project, as the snowflake background, but it makes another appearance inside, where I’ve stamped the trees on a Very Vanilla panel (you’ll have to trust me on this, as I forgot to photograph it). 

Most of my supplies are still inaccessible so I kept the card simple, with just a touch of Linen Thread and some tiny pearls to finish it off. 

Wonderland Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140365]	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock [133683]	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550]	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645]
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]	Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad [138325]	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974]	Linen Thread [104199]

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Tutorial: Thankful Forest Friends matchbook

It’s said that there are only two certainties in life; death and taxes. But I would add a third … and that is what bears get up to in the woods. 

Perhaps it’s because my husband spends most of his time working with seven-year-olds, or maybe it’s just because I’m deeply immature, but I never tire of a poo joke. Subtlety’s not usually one of my virtues but I thought I’d play down my schoolboy humour in this project, keeping the joke purely in my head. I was making more than a dozen of these, so surely at least one person would “get it”?

And yes, a customer approached me at my Christmas workshop and said “this IS supposed to be bear poo, right?” Call ’em what you like, chocolate raisins are still one of my favourite foods of all time. 

For some inexplicable reason, considering how short of time I am at the moment, I decided to do a tutorial for this project. So here it is…

(I’ve used inches, purely on a whim, not sure why)

You will need:

Stamps

Thankful Forest Friends

Tin of Cards stamp set

Ink pads

Early Espresso

Old Olive

Tools

Fringe scissors

1 3/4” circle punch

Supplies

Tip Top Taupe cardstock measuring 2 3/4” x 7”

Farmers Market Designer Series Paper, wood pattern, measuring 2 5/8” x 2 5/8”

Old Olive cardstock: 2 3/4” x 1 1/4”

Old Olive cardstock: 2 3/4” x 1”

Very Vanilla cardstock for stamping

Small cello bag or similar to contain treats

Linen Thread

Instructions

1. Begin by scoring the Tip Top Taupe cardstock at 2 3/4” and 3” from one end

2. Measuring from the other end, score at 3/4” and 1” 

3. Put a few chocolate raisins in a bag, removing the very large ones because they’re poisonous to anyone except Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators. Don’t overfill or the bags won’t fit in the matchbooks. Also you may run out before finishing and the plan is to have lots leftover for research purposes

4. Take your square of DSP and attach to the square panel of Taupe cardstock 

5. Punch a circle from scrap paper and attach to the centre of the DSP. This will act as a guide so you can punch accurately

6. When you’ve punched it out, stamp the foliage just above the circle, with the crease at the top

7. Take your Old Olive pieces and cut a wavy line to about 1” and 3/4” as shown. Fringe with the scissors

8. Using tape to secure at the bottom edge only, attach the larger fringed piece to the Taupe cardstock, followed by the smaller piece on top. This will leave a little pocket into which you can slide the front of the matchbook

9. Fold along all score lines in the same direction, then apply tape on the inside as shown. Now you can use this to secure your treats

10. Stamp and cut out your bear. You don’t need to fussy cut around the toes as they won’t be seen
Apply tape to the bottom of the bear only - it needs to be free at the top or the matchbook won’t open

11. Slide the bear (carefully, this is REALLY tricky) between the two layers of fringed cardstock. Do the same with a greeting, if desired

12. Finally, carefully close the matchbook (I found this easier by putting it on its side so I could look down on the layers and see where to slide it in) and tie with linen thread for extra security.

Thankful Forest Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139723]	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set [138946]	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [126974]	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [126953]
Fringe Scissors [133325]	1-3/4" Circle Punch [119850]	Tip Top Taupe A4 Cardstock [138343]	Farmers Market Designer Series Paper [138448]
Old Olive A4 Card Stock [106576]	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550]	Linen Thread [104199]

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com