I do a lot of card making and paper crafting, which means I also have a lot of scrap paper that goes into the recycle bin.  I thought it was such a waste to get rid of all this paper, so I started collecting the scraps of white cardstock, watercolour paper, and plain white paper in a separate bin with the plan to make my own recycled paper.

I bought a paper making kit from the kids section of Chapters/Indigo and used an old blender to create the paper pulp. I collected all of my scraps of white paper even if it had been stamped on, coloured, or written on. It was a messy, time consuming project, but it resulted in many sheets of textured, white recycled paper!

After the paper had finished drying, it was quite wavy and warped so I ran it through the Big Shot with new, unmarked cutting pads.  The result was perfectly flat, thinned out paper!

Now that the recycled paper was made, it was time to start experimenting with it and see how well it worked with the Stampin’ Up! products!

I loved the rough, uneven edges of the paper and wanted to use it as a background accent – see card below.  The paper tears really well if you use a ruler as a guide.

Next, I put the recycled paper through the Big Shot again to see how it would hold up to being cut by a die.  I used a background die from the Poppy Moments Dies and it cut through the paper nicely leaving smooth edges.  It turned out amazing!

Finally, the big test… stamping on recycled paper!!

Because the texture of the paper had been smoothed out with the Big Shot, stamping on the paper was a success!

I love the natural feel of the recycled paper and how it contrasts with the smooth texture of card stock. I think I will be using this paper on a lot of projects in the future!

If you are interested in trying out my handmade, recycled paper, it is now available in my Etsy Store, BirdwingPaperDesigns.

Leah

Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used For This Project

Most supplies used in these projects can be purchased from my Stampin’ Up! Store.

PAPER:  BWPD Handmade Recycled Paper, Peaceful Poppies DSP, Best Dressed DSP, Fluid 100 Watercolour Paper, Vellum, Whisper White, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, and Blackberry Bliss card stock

STAMPS:  Timeless Tulips, So Sentimental, Aug 2018 Paper Pumpkin

INK:  Pool Party, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Blackberry Bliss, White Craft Ink

PUNCHES & DIES:  Poppy Moments Dies, Painted Labels Dies

TOOLS:  White Stampin’ Emboss Powder

EMBELLISHMENTS & RIBBON:  Iridescent Sequin Assortment, Silver Metallic Pearls, Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon, Old Olive Mini Chevron Ribbon, Silver Metallic Thread

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