Tagged: paper scraps

February 26, 2019

Tiny Scraps Artist Trading Card

I recently joined a Facebook group called Random Remains REVIVED. It was set up by the very talented artist Cat Hand. This group is all about giving leftover crafting scraps new life. Believe me when I say I have lots of scraps to revive.

My first project is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) using tiny scraps and some leftover die cuts that were laying on my desk.

Here is the process I used for making my ATC.

I use this old Walmart card as a template for cutting the corners on hand-made tags. Just line it up on one edge and cut the paper.

Flip the card over and line it up with the other edge and cut the paper. Now you have a tag with two even corners. However, this post is not actually about making tags, it’s about using up the scraps from making the tags.

Here is a pile of corners cut from making tags.

I cut a piece of cardboard 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ which is the standard size for an ATC. I painted it black with acrylic paint.

I randomly glued on the tiny corner scraps. The result reminds me of stained glass.

I then added some stylized die cut flowers and the word inspire. I chose “inspire” because I am inspired to use my scraps thanks to Random Remains REVIVED.

If you would like to join the Facebook group, the link is:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/363673540842507/

I hope this little ATC has inspired you to use some of your scraps no matter how small they may be. As you can see, small scraps can make a bit impact!

December 28, 2016

Easy Tags From Scraps

Okay, here is the last project I have for now that deals with using up your scraps of paper. This project is great for using long thin pieces of scrap paper, not tiny fragments. But the best part of this project is that you can use up some of your ugly papers!

My inspiration for this project came from this video:

First I selected my paper scraps, some ugly and some nice. The only requirement is that they be of the same thickness. You’ll want to cut your ugly papers into strips about 2 or 2 1/2 inches wide.

Here are my ugly strips.

Then you want to cut your nice strips into widths of varying widths also.

Here are my nice strips.

Now you will add any cheap glue to an ugly strip, making sure you’ve got good coverage.

Next, start laying your nice strips at a slight angle over the ugly strip.

Be sure your nice strips are covering the ugly strip and that they are lined up tightly against each other without any gaps.

Keep going until you have finish covering the entire length of your ugly strip.

This is what the back looks like.

Now trim off all the excess paper around the ugly strip. Most of these trimmed pieces will still be long enough to use again.

Cut the strips into lengths you like. I pretty much just cut each one in half, although I did to a little extra trimming off the top or bottom to achieve the look I wanted.

Cut the top corners off, punch a hole and insert cord or baker’s twine. Now you have unique tags!

They can even be topped off with the scrap embellishments you made from the directions in my last blog post.

I think these tags are such a great idea and each one will turn out differently. Again, you can make these crafts with any paper and any theme based on what scraps you want to use up.

I hope you will try these scrap projects I have posted lately. Not only are they using up scrap papers and saving you money, but they are so much fun.

When I come across other ingenious ways of using up scrap papers, I promise to share them with you!

December 19, 2016

Christmas Scraps

All paper crafters face mountains of paper scraps at one time or another. And most crafters, myself included, have trouble throwing any of them away. My basket of paper scraps has grown totally out of control so I spent several hours on YouTube watching what other crafters do with their paper scraps. I’ll show you two projects I found and tried.

First, I made a load of Christmas tags using pieces of scrap paper and simple embellishments. I didn’t want to get too fancy here because I know these tags will just end up in the trash after the gifts are opened.

Then I made a pile of strips from my paper scraps. The strips are all different widths and lengths.

I glued the strips to a piece of cardstock cut to the size of a card front. I varied the layout of the strips for interest.

I trimmed the strips even with the cardstock piece and then adhered it to a plain card. I made some simple embellishments and attached them also.

I hope you like these two simple projects for using up scrap papers. These are both Christmas themed because I have been crafting with Christmas papers, however, you can use any scraps you have and make these projects all year round.

Stay tuned as I have two more scrap projects using Christmas papers coming soon!